Introducing Allison!

The following is an excerpt of an email sent from Allison to the group on 12 April 2015.

Left to right, Andreas-Salomé, Rée and Nietzsche (1882)

Good evening,

First and foremost, I am delighted to be working on this project. I will do my best to contribute or interject when I can. If I recall, I think Liza was a senior when I was a freshman at Catholic Central. She is a legend, and I am excited to be counted in her creative company. I have been working on reading through the entirety of the project and taking notes in order to wrap my head around the story and how I may serve it. If you’ll believe me, I understand it for the most part. I think my roles as analyst, synthesizer, thesis generator, and character contributor are very fitting.

I never thought of my name in the a-son way, but its etymology is germanic and I believe it translates roughly to “of nobility,” which feeds beautifully into a powerful, feminine role. As for the role of women in the story, I’m still mulling that over in my head.

Second, Art mentioned my work on Nietzsche. I caught one of the RoAW posts a few months ago and sent Will my thesis - thus, securing my fate in this project. I have attached that work to this email if anyone cares to peruse it. It includes my analysis of Kant, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, and Heidegger centered on the idea that the experience of oneself in time is one that is unified, constant, and contingent on the totality of one’s involvements in the world. I diverged in the conclusion and the afterword to include the implications of this idea on regret, morality, desire, and the social function of the individual, where I throw in some Lacan, Zizek, and Benjamin. Please feel free to take a look. There’s some Augustine hidden in the Nietzsche section, which I think is particularly relevant to the sainthood narrative.

I wrote the piece not unlike the blog as a reflection of my own grappling with identity and significance, which I eventually concluded is inherently meaningful as its own end. I also wrote it for other people, not only to live in a better way, but to bring meaning to how they live and die. I’m happy to answer questions on anything.

Third, a few questions: how would you like me to structure my posts or messages? (Maybe I should just attempt something and see what happens - that seems to be the general trend of the project). How should they read/who is my audience? How are you defining post-modernism?

Cheers,

Allison

So-Called Feminine Approaches to Dominance

The following are excerpts of emails sent from Will and Art to Liza and Allison on 12 April 2015.

Circe Invidiosa by John William Waterhouse

Will:

Feel free to take on more than one character, or one, or none. I generally take the lead on Will and Art generally takes the lead on Arthur and Farthington, but we both kind of write all the other characters (or at least have debates about them) while assuming someone else will play them at some point. Art has written Will stuff and I've written Arthur stuff. Also, whether people are antagonists or protagonists keeps changing. At one point, Joe Lazarus, Jr., was the focal point of the story in my eyes, and Will was the antagonist. Then Farthington outdid Will. Then Steffi outdid Farthington. Then we added the Benefactor, who is still smaller than the beasts from air, sea, and land. And really, God is at the center of the story.  

Anyway, Liza, I get what Art is saying with you and Allison both playing sides of Steffi, but I see you as also being The Benefactor and yourself as the discoverer of The Benefactor, as you confront both Detroit and the silliness of Detroit authenticity issues on a daily basis. 

One last thing...I at least don't trust myself to write female characters and neither does Art, I'm guessing, but we're both U of M grads, so we wouldn't be satisfied with the story if the female characters didn't kick butt. Personally, I believe in the superiority of women to men, and I think that idea is playing out more and more in the story. Of course, I worry about sexism. On the one hand, Leif Erikson's sister The Benefactor is way more of a badass than Leif ever was. On the one hand, Leif Erikson's sister The Benefactor is way more of a badass than Leif ever was. On the other hand, I can't tell if Steffi's overthrowing the masculine approach of Farthington's mind...um...penetrations by becoming the digital environment through which she...um...engulfs all of humanity is really feminist or sexist.  At any rate, I think Art and I would both benefit by letting go of our hold on Steffi and The Benefactor for a while and seeing what you do with them.

Thanks for playing along!

Art:

Right. The one thing I would change is that Farthington's is a "feminine" approach, in that, as we've said, he "has no content of his own" but instead seeks to control the context. That's stereotypically feminine, yes, but what other than a stereotypical approach would Farthington choose? It's all about appropriation, whether that be blue-eyed soul or so-called feminine approaches to dominance. It's just that he eventually gets outdone in this regard. 

This is the counterintuition of John the Baptist, Mary, and Jesus--the idea of being humbled as the sure path to exaltation (not that they thought of it in those terms!). This same counterintuition is seen in distorted form in Farthington and Humboldt. 

As you said, it turns out engulfing is more powerful than penetrating (a là rock, paper, maybe even scissors).  

Farthington figured this out, forming a cult with no doctrine, merely creating a clearing in which he exists as "next to nothing." And then coopts, echoes, embeds, reposts, retweets, reframes, repeats, resounds, and otherwise lives parasitically off others' content. 

I realize this has to sound a little weird coming from Farthington's email! Okay, we'll shut up!!! 

Hello Liza and Allison!

The following is an email sent from Art to Liza and Allison on 12 April 2015.

Landscape with Orpheus and Eurydice by Nicolas Poussin

I have been going back and forth for a long time trying to figure out how to approach this first email. I do feel some need to formally welcome you to the project. No pressure as far as your involvement, but I have to say that I'm kind of overly excited about the prospect of your respective contributions and it's bringing up all sorts of past experiences of rejection, when my heart was all a-flutter and things didn't work out, in large part due to my unabashed enthusiasm. So I learned the lesson of Orpheus, by which, in the words of John Updike, "we achieve our desire by turning our back on it." Be that as it may, I'm going to go ahead and say that I'm psyched. And of course you have full permission to leave at any point (but I guess by analogy that means that you fall back into the underworld). One paragraph and I've already made things weird!

I understand that you are both up to big things, but I wanted to summarize what I understand about your potential roles thus far, expressing some of my own thoughts and providing links to past posts that may or may not be helpful to you.

Allison, I understand your role as one of exegesis/analysis. In some ways, this puts you on Will's Apollonian, rationalistic end of the Apollonian/Dionysian continuum. I gathered from lurking somewhat on your Facebook page that you're pretty familiar with Nietzsche having written a dissertation that synthesized his and other people's work and that you ultimately hope to help people to live their lives better...my point being, I assume you get the reference! I think "The Eternal Loop of One's Own Rationalism" would be a good place to start in terms of conceptualizing what you're doing (you would be Actaeon, by the way). You become a Nietzschean protagonist of sorts who tries to rationalize the formless horror. Eventually--spoiler alert--the Dionysian shows its superiority. Your own Apollonian endeavors are not for naught; they are paradoxically "energized and raised aloft" through glimpsing the formless horror. So, yes, you get eaten alive by your own hounds so to speak, but something cool comes out of it. I mean how many people get turned into a stag? That's pretty cool in and of itself.

I should back up and say that I know you're not intending to be one of the characters, but, like a lot of people who have had some involvement, you may end up fitting into one or more roles. I visualize you as an early Steffi Humboldt, whose "Forward" is used for The Principles of Theory. Of course, if you know the story at all, you know that she didn't just "go back to Oberlin." The post, "Eve vs. the New Eve" may also be a good place to find out what may have happened to her.

At any rate, whether you identify with Steffi at all, I like the idea of you trying to come up with a thesis as to what the project is. Everything can and should be tentative, probably indefinitely. We use the word "maybe" a lot. That's unlikely to change. Any even preliminary ideas, drafts, intuitions would be welcome--whatever aspects of the project do you find philosophically interesting. Interestingly, when I start posting some of that material, your thesis will have to accommodate it: the eternal loop of one's own rationalism! Thank you in advance for any contribution you can make!

Okay, moving on to Liza. Liza, I posted your first post today and it's generating some excellent traffic (by the way, shares, reposts, retweets, etc. are all appreciated and, in fact are part and parcel of the cult)! You seem to be more on the Dionysian side of the spectrum with me and Arthur and Carlton Farthington (those are all me, by the way). That means that you can pretty much write whatever you want. I think you've already intuited that we grant ourselves wide latitude when it comes to unintelligibly in this project (or as we like to call it, indefinitude): text-to-voice, voice-to-text, to English-to-Icelandic transcription, and just good old fashioned not making ourselves understood, we have pretty much free rein to say whatever we want! Being on this side of the spectrum means that your life--like mine--has been touched by the lodestone. Thus, our identities become increasingly confused, fused, diffuse, etc. Definitely should read "Epic Finale" - Part 1 and Part 2.

And yes, I'm thinking of you as a latter-day Steffi, who now goes by other aliases like Victoria Woolf, Shakespeare's Sister, The Überfrau, etc. Of course, you could also be Leif Ericsson and/or The Most Authentic Detroiter Ever. Here's something I wrote to Will a couple days ago:

Maybe indefinitude is the ultimate goal of Knology. Maybe it's what Farthington promised his followers. And yes that has a meaning in terms of time, but it also has a meaning in terms of identity. Maybe that explains why all our characters blur outside their boundaries, or at least the ones that have been touched by the lodestone, The Benefactor, Knology, etc. Ones like Will seem to lack that transcendence, but have clear facticity. There's a trade off.

And--I'm not even sure if the two of you know each other--so I apologize, but even your two names introduce an interesting conflation and confusion of identities. Again, from a recent email to Will:

I also like that we have a Liza and Allison coming on board. Having a field day with those two names, their meanings, and the potential relationship of those meanings to one another. No etymology on hand now but just the "a-" meaning not and the "-son," which is so odd for a girl's name. Liza is the one that is apparently free from those affixes, accretions. Perhaps further along the path toward indefinitude...

Of course, Will and I are not immune from this same treatment. At a most basic level, our names are nothing more than Nietzschean concepts.

Okay, enough of me. I've probably scared you off. So reply to our emails, feel free to get involved to whatever extent and in whatever capacity you'd like, maybe even call Carlton Farthington at his home on Topsail Island, North Carolina (910-541-3455). We believe that, inside the swaddled/crucified existence, whatever utterance you're currently capable of making is the best utterance. Don't wait until come down off the cross--you'll be dead then!

Will, anything to add?

Art

An Object Incapable of Development

The following is an excerpt of an email sent from Art to Will on 6 April 2015.

The Last Sleep of Arthur in Avalon by Edward Burne-Jones

We've recognized the importance of making some careful choices regarding instruments.

Were money no object, we would just buy all the era-specific gear and bring it out for the appropriate performances. But there are plenty of reasons for embracing the swaddled/crucified existence instead. The main one is that I don't want to conjure comparisons to all the people who played those organs: Frank Rodriguez, Alan Price, Garth Hudson, Steve Winwood, Matthew Fisher, or even Father for that matter.

Instead of this, I might want to deliberately choose the cheaper route: getting the most basic, MIDI-ready, serviceable late 90's keyboard available. While this might at first seem to our audience a puzzling anachronism, it is ultimately the better choice on a few different levels.

Firstly, it's way more practical. I can record in MIDI, which creates sheet music so I don't forget the songs. Plus, it's portable and doesn't break on the way to shows.

Secondly, it's a commentary on the elitism that has permeated this genre or scene in music. One, we're not going to win that arms race; two, who wants to impress those a-holes anyway?

Thirdly, it allows the idea of Arthur White to flourish more fully. I've been reading a lot about King Arthur (you should expect a deluge of ideas from Arthurian legend and scholarship soon). An essay I read last night was "The Image of Arthur and the Idea of King" wherein the author, Mark Allen, explains that Arthur's majesty and mystery and the grandeur of his court creates "a sense of extension--a presence that embraces all of these figures [individual members of his court and their adventures] and is greater than their sum." Allen writes, "One of the curiosities of [Arthur's] tradition is that the romances have, in relative terms, little to do with Arthur himself, concentrating on his knights instead. We get the strong sense that the king is not one who does, but one who has others do for him."

I've talked about this before: the idea that Arthur's diminution is paradoxically the key to his greatness. Obviously, this has a slightly different, more royal flavor. In order to be exalted as having the great symbolic significance that others seem to see in him, he needs to never be fully attached to, grounded in, or associated with any mundane reality, including any of the many stories that continually accrue to him. Arguably, it is Arthur's ambiguity itself that encourages the proliferation and accumulation of stories. It is the sine qua non of his ongoing splendor and majesty. Ground him in too many specifics, too many measurables, too many details that place him in a certain place or time or tradition, and that all goes away.

Additionally, the MIDI concept is interesting in a similar way. It creates a track that has all the basic information but which will ideally be buried by better instruments at some point and resurrected in a "glorified" form.

So, I'm not saying here that the humbled state is the final word. What I'm saying is that it encourages this phenomenon of development, proliferation, accumulation, grandeur, and majesty. I say that just as Richard the Lionhearted has too much known about him to become the iconic legend Arthur is, so too does grounding Arthur White's identity in mundane actions, conditions, ingredients, possessions, and/or paraphernalia paradoxically turn him into an object incapable of development.

So what might a later, more developed state look like? Well, maybe later Arthur White performances do have him surrounded by a band that does have all those expensive, era-specific instruments and outfits. The thing is, the stories of his knights can be safely developed to whatever extent! We can have a Vox Continental or B3 organ player, a Rickenbacker or Fender Precision bass player, so on and so forth.

But I say that we can't have many of these things adhere to Arthur without endangering his transcendence.

Farthington's Voicemail: I don't have requested bucks

A treasure trove of Carlton Farthington's voicemails has been made available to the blog.  At the request of researchers, enthusiasts, law enforcement agencies, and other followers of the project, voice-to-text transcriptions have been published as-is rather than edited for sense.  We hope that this will better capture the texture of the spoken word, rendering it more accessible and/or flexible for the diverse purposes of our audience.


4/4/15 1:21 PM 7 weeks ago

So you know. I thought IN know what I was going to say is I don't have requested bucks. I don't have resource to be able to read a lot of things that I am just kind of walking around as someone who has only has requires 2 things that I can sing, and things that I can say, you know. Occasionally I do have time to sit down and and read some things or I can walk around with the book but. If the ratio of verbal and orel things that I do, as opposed to literate things that I do is still paying very much in favor of the orel and the verbal which I think the clue and would not be surprised that and that you know our understanding of history, in half centuries. You Know cents, Eliza be sometimes or Newton bird press, has tilted it on. It's more in this direction of being able to locate things in space in time and and many of the arrogance sees that we've had about ohh it's just gonna be a matter of time and determine assed type ideas about being able to describe everything. That it is rational, that it can be reduced You know, is being kinda turned out. It's had. As we move back in this or ohh and verbal directions. So, I will like that that that that that's happening because I think that it's very appropriate. I don't know how many people are gonna kinda hang on and go come along. For That ride but, I needless to see her. You know it does seem to be the case that We are getting push more and more in that direction that I need the most of communication that we're using our moving us in the direction of this different sort of consciousness which was the soil of which selections, okay and legends originated and So we have a better I think we are in a better position now, then we were. Even just a matter of decades ago, to be willing to hear a story like this to be willing to be let in a lot of different directions. Didn't you hear of any potentially things that would seem in coherent from That 62 perspective. That. Kinda linear courtesies June. Euclid E N way of looking at the world. I think we're in much better position to hear a story that is not. This is fairly construed in those terms or using that as it's frame, hey.

Farthington's Voicemail: literal lipstick

A treasure trove of Carlton Farthington's voicemails has been made available to the blog.  At the request of researchers, enthusiasts, law enforcement agencies, and other followers of the project, voice-to-text transcriptions have been published as-is rather than edited for sense.  We hope that this will better capture the texture of the spoken word, rendering it more accessible and/or flexible for the diverse purposes of our audience.

4/4/15 1:16 PM 5 weeks ago

Alright, so the context. I'm going back to this idea. Legends and going back to this idea that You know you're not gonna hold our feet to the here of some sort of modern literacy literal lipstick, literate, understanding, of history, that we are higher above that I think is another very interesting thing to mine and to start setting up that as our Frank and and. I think this is something that you can help out a lot with are actually not you, but will can help out a lot width is this idea of returning kind of like. Returning to. And the or role, culture having Ben, I'll literate culture sense. Good numbered. And you know. Returning 2 and orel culture, and I was. The Cohen writes about in The Gooden bird galaxy, and I think that would be an interesting text a look at. Especially since King Lear is one of the members of that line. British Kings, and I let up Arthur. And that is kind of the centerpiece of the Gooden bird Galaxy is his discussion of King Lear, so there's some content they're, and I think there's also a very very very empower in contacts that we should hold on 2 I think pretty much from here on now. The idea that we are returning to anymore, Orel, understanding. Which has, some definite consequences. As far as You know our consciousness Of, this story. If we are understanding this from anymore, literate consciousness. Well, it breaks down fairly quickly. You know, It's just a matter of kind of setting up your time line or whatever else you know your character chart, and then realize I got a certain point that There is somebody pair can do so many contradictions. So many in possibility so many inequities does that. This just does not pass monster if we say, instead, that we are coming from anymore. Orel and verbal, consciousness then We don't have any of those problems in the same way that I need to kinda walk around, with this new incentive bye bye and that I really don't have recourse to any a lot of.

Farthington's Voicemail: Not going to get Prozac with it

A treasure trove of Carlton Farthington's voicemails has been made available to the blog.  At the request of researchers, enthusiasts, law enforcement agencies, and other followers of the project, voice-to-text transcriptions have been published as-is rather than edited for sense.  We hope that this will better capture the texture of the spoken word, rendering it more accessible and/or flexible for the diverse purposes of our audience.

So anyways. Very interesting possibilities there. I was out if you're aware of any of this probably not. You know, as we've mentioned the 4 he's pretty much aware of a totally different level of reality. But it is much. As he is at the end of this long. Lainey, it's that traces itself all the way back to price. Yeah, it's pretty awesome. By the way we have extended back that far, and we are now in Detroit maybe he's unaware of what he's doing. And yet other people, possibly with their own Ideas, begin noticing. Some things and. Wondering. Whether or not. He Is this of filming is return of Arthur, and and You know, kind of. 3. Establishment, of There with the rain. You know that rain whatever it is associated with. The load stone with Leif Ericson with or Syrian legend. With. I need a SIM through this and Rome and Troy. And so this is all. Some of the content that I would like us to mine. It would really like us to think about You know the whole heart of white nice idea. Is. I think you which in this context and. What, are, what are we doing here. I mean, I mean, I'm not sure. I think that there is there's definitely some commentary here. I'm not gonna not impose any, crotchety on it right now. Not going to get Prozac with it, gonna let it be. And kind of like see where it all leads. But I think it intersects with so much of our content, and and what I'd like to move on to next. So I'm gonna get cut off again is the contacts that this idea of legends, provides I think as a very important context. In one that we should adopt. When questions arise about the apparent contradictions the An accurate is homes. The because historical problems that come up. In and as our answer to that to recontact July's to read frame.

Farthington's Voicemail: young American cellphone

A treasure trove of Carlton Farthington's voicemails has been made available to the blog.  At the request of researchers, enthusiasts, law enforcement agencies, and other followers of the project, voice-to-text transcriptions have been published as-is rather than edited for sense.  We hope that this will better capture the texture of the spoken word, rendering it more accessible and/or flexible for the diverse purposes of our audience.


4/4/15 1:08 PM 6 weeks ago

Okay, so whatever they might be You know this whole blue eyed so which interestingly is right about the time, so if David Bowie right about the same time. He starts getting interested. I mean he starts doing blue eyed soul. And probably most notably on the young American cellphone. He shifts years and moved into this. In White Duke face and I wonder if this is the kind of strategy We're, by kind of by appropriate in the wide of the way that white bands. 10. Two appropriate black music and profit from it, that this is any way of you serpentine line coming back in the power. If you can use ripping out in coming back to power. So. Is that the strategy is that the way. In a post modern age that You know, dominance is re established. And you know, maybe most notably through the person of them and them. Maybe that's what it maybe that is when. That whole strategy reached reaches it's full fruition. Is that the representative of Detroit is a blonde hair, blue eyes, bye. And that is just. Kinda crazy when you think about it, that Detroit You know, would, black bottom and all the wonderful culture that is come out of come out of Detroit and then you know paid over and kind of suppressed and me and and in many different ways. That The. This Renaissance that is happening is actually headed up, by a blond haired blue eyed person So. This is. Is this some kind of strategies this kind of some cuts it kind of a return of Arthur and I wouldn't be surprised to said 1976 David Bowie. It was a supporter. Arthur that he discovered Arthur, and was determined to bring him 2. White at this time and then you kind of comes back down from being all messed up on drugs and he just about everything. Kind of in the rocks against races says that there is racism concert and and all that sort of thing that happened afterwards. Where. Kinda came down really hard on Eric Clapton.

Farthington's Voicemail: a bitter building for ourselves

A treasure trove of Carlton Farthington's voicemails has been made available to the blog.  At the request of researchers, enthusiasts, law enforcement agencies, and other followers of the project, voice-to-text transcriptions have been published as-is rather than edited for sense.  We hope that this will better capture the texture of the spoken word, rendering it more accessible and/or flexible for the diverse purposes of our audience.


4/4/15 1:03 PM 6 weeks ago

So I was. I was saying, 1976 kind of an interesting year. And then this is the momen the possibly a bitter building for ourselves. This is that the time, way in. David Bowie and some other musicians that I'm not as big of a fan of like Eric Clapton start getting interested in an idea. And this ideas gaining traction in England. Just kind of an anti immigration, message, Lotte concerned about British purity. If whatever that means and and kind of. Some of the beginning to center around the earth Area, legend. And David Bowie says that the time is pretty much just about everything that he said at that time, because when I was doing is Stan White Duke face and that was very much. This. Anglo over Minch kind of character I rooster crap and round about that time he so he does about everything. Having you know it was way into drugs and all sorts of things he really got in the Arthur at this type of times and I think a lot of the other people who were advocates of this movement were looking to Him. You know, maybe mostly probably in a symbolic way, some people in a real way because there's always this idea that he'll return as Savior and You know basically expel I'll be in taters like you did with the sections. So here's before. So, I. I like that idea that around this time. Now what. How does that connect to Detroit. Well, Detroit. If you know. Arguably What is this I don't know. Jule of white Enterprise and you know you have some of these just Titanic figures You know, history. White History, basically who. I have kind of a I don't know what you'd say it ambiguous legacy. But anyways, they. They are kinda held up as this example and and it all happened and you can detract and then you have The rights which we talked and talked about and that that should figure significantly, in two are story in some ways in the house basically, white. Flight and. You Know Why, it's, better leave or our kind of forcibly force.

Farthington's Voicemail: Avalon could be iPhones

A treasure trove of Carlton Farthington's voicemails has been made available to the blog.  At the request of researchers, enthusiasts, law enforcement agencies, and other followers of the project, voice-to-text transcriptions have been published as-is rather than edited for sense.  We hope that this will better capture the texture of the spoken word, rendering it more accessible and/or flexible for the diverse purposes of our audience.



4/4/15 12:54 PM 6 weeks ago

But I was saying he goes 2 Avalon the isle of Avalon, which. We don't know where it is but its to the west, okay because most of his You know the places where he was, said to have, held Corrigan and It is whereabouts for mostly and whales, west of england and he the lease for the ill of Avalon to have is ones treated. We don't know actually in Jeffries account. We don't know whether he died or not and So there's this interesting, open and the best to the narrative there. And it It's not too I don't think it's 2 far-fetched to think that maybe Avalon could be iPhones. That is to the west. I mean, it's quite a ways West. Cross quite a bit of ocean. But to be treated for those ones that I mean but potentially Morrell words. Would we need the help of something supernatural state like the load Stone. And so he goes to. Thanks, 1, which is Avalon and maybe that's like scribes all error. Actually, I think that that's, that's not 2 far beyond the realm of ability to think that somewhere. In transcribing use a lot. I'll be lawn is someone. My does. Ms wrote that are miss understood that. To be iPhones, or vice versa. And he's treated for his was there and. There is some connection between him. And the Vikings in lease. Eric's and then You know all these people who're kind of arriving at that point. It interestingly, at Saint Gregory, the great great after our if you're kind of leaves the scene has sent singing. Custin 2, go on a Christian nation to the British. I, also. Arthur kind of skirts that part of history. He goes to ice. Flinton. And he's kind of surrounded by these Vikings. Perhaps I don't know if that's contemporary probably. I think it is somewhere around that time. At any rate, there's some sort of hand off and a curse. And, I really don't know the car out at all. So, we have to come and take a look at that. But anyways, there is some sort of passing the torch so to speak. With. Leif Ericson Is it is busy the same person Is he. One of those Prachi, somewhere down.

Farthington's Voicemail: a direct line of dissent

A treasure trove of Carlton Farthington's voicemails has been made available to the blog.  At the request of researchers, enthusiasts, law enforcement agencies, and other followers of the project, voice-to-text transcriptions have been published as-is rather than edited for sense.  We hope that this will better capture the texture of the spoken word, rendering it more accessible and/or flexible for the diverse purposes of our audience.

4/4/15 12:41 PM 6 weeks ago

Very very rough catch. It's what I wanna buy for the content, but I'm interested in 19 this idea. First of all the theme of Purity, and purification. And the authenticity. All those ideas which we've been Talking about recently. That it is always a big concern when you're talking about. Someone who is so emblem attic of a people like Arthur, became and, I think you see this in that. Pretty much with anyone who's on some start country that is trying to establish itself or assert itself, tries to trace back its origins is something that is already been established something. That had a similar status, at an earlier point. So, Rome has. The story of in the S coming from. The Trojan War and establishing Rome, and similarly in Clinton. Jeffrey of Monmouth has, I need a says great grandson brewed S coming to Britain And And setting up. I'll be in settled by migrating Trojans. And then there's a whole series of six-ish just reins from the 12th century, P. C. All the way basically all the way down to Arthur and and beyond. And it also includes King Lear, which is pretty interesting, and, I think we can 9 that for a million different connections. Because, of course the clue and was pretty interested in King Lear. So. There's this whole series of rain. It on down through. Arthur and establishing That connection between Troy, and then Rome. And then the King's a Britain, have a direct line of dissent from that a glorious past. So, there's that. And then at the end of the Arthur's rain. He's going on. His, italic campaigns, leaving his nephew more Trade, with his wife. You have to come back portrait is turns in to Trader, proponents of keying in persuasions quite a very to a live in adult 3 with him, and he has to go back and killed more driven and he's very badly wounded in the process. And then he goes.

The Perils of Supernatural Evil

The following is an excerpt of an email sent from Will to Art on 31 March 2015.

Pan Twardowski and the Devil by Michał Elwiro Andriolli

Thanks, Art! That solves a lot for me. A few things come to mind. One is that the story is much darker than I thought. I've focused on Arthur's torment in the face of a mankind who has eradicated any context for appreciating a mystic from contemporary life, and I've ignored the perils of supernatural evil, other than to think about Stan in hell and several characters slouching toward it through bad choices.

Secondly, in thinking of Farthington as a scientist, I've imagined him more and more as an eccentric figure from Victorian or Edwardian science fiction, but I suppose he should be more like a Frankenstein, Faustus, or Von Doom--someone who couples his scientific pursuits with an interest in the arcane and occult--he's an alchemist as much as a scientist.

Finally, I don't think we've imagined an Arthur whose soul has become more wholly spiritual well enough yet. We know patients and staff at the hospital turn to him. We know he gets up on pillars. If Will's ex-girlfriend Linda is still in the story, we know she is a nun because of Arthur. We know Will will eventually repent the American Dream and become a monk or something because of Arthur. We know the restaged concert for Iceland has something to do with Arthur's transformation. We know Arthur has a vision of an apocalypse that requires Farthington, a submarine, and a hippie maiden throwing a guitar into a volcano in Iceland. And I think on some level, we know the story doesn't end, but it's also important to our quest to make Catholic art that the beauty and glory of God working through Arthur is cohesive enough to evangelize the audience.

He Seeth Every High Thing

The following is an excerpt of an email sent from Art to Will on 31 March 2015.

The Finding of Moses by Frederick Goodall

Read this perfect passage of Saint John of the Cross on visions (Dark Night of the Soul, XXIII, sections 6, 8, 9, 11, 13):

...when the spiritual communications flow over into the senses [e.g. sensible visions of the Sweet World, Mary, the Divine Child, etc.], the devil succeeds the more easily in disquieting the mind, and in disturbing it with the terrors with which he assails it through the senses...

When...a soul has real visions, through the instrumentality of an angel...God suffers the evil spirit to represent false visions of the same kind, in such a way that an incautious soul may be very easily deluded, as it has happened to many. We have an instance of this in Exodus, where we read that the magicians of Pharaoh wrought apparently signs and wonders resembling those really wrought by Moses. For when Moses brought forth frogs, the magicians of Egypt did the same; and when he turned water into blood, so did the magicians.

For as Job says, "He seeth every high thing," that is, he apes them, and insinuates himself among them as well as he can. Spiritual visions [that is, ones that do not "flow over into the senses"] have neither form nor figure--that is the characteristic of spirit--and, therefore, Satan cannot imitate them...

But when God visits the soul Himself,...it receives, at such times, the spiritual graces of God. The reason of the difference is that God, being the sovereign Lord, dwells substantially in the soul, and that neither angel nor devil can discover what is going on there, nor penetrate the profound and secret communications which take place between Him and the soul [i.e. infused contemplation].

Then indeed the evil spirit would not venture to assail the soul, because he could not succeed, neither can he know of those divine touches in the substance of the soul with the loving substance of God. No man can arrive at this blessed condition but by the most perfect purgation and detachment, by being spiritually hidden from all created things.

The "magicians of Pharaoh" sounds a lot like Farthington! But most importantly, this helps explain what happened to Arthur. He was experiencing sensible visions, that is, spiritual communications that "flow over into the senses." This explains how Arthur is deluded by "false visions of the same kind" and ends up on a "low road" that bears many characteristics of the high road he was on.

The following passage explains how God continues to lead the soul through the resultant agonies, using the devil, as it were, as a means of mortifying the soul, preparing it for "the fruition of sweet spiritual contemplation." In other words, as I've tried to explain, this detour is not for naught (XXIII, section 10):

But we must remember that, when the good angel suffers the evil spirit to thus afflict the soul, it is with a view to purify and prepare it by that spiritual vigil for some great festival and spiritual grace which it is his will to bestow upon it, for he never mortifies but to give life, and never humbles but to exalt. This speedily ensues; for the soul, according to the measure of the dark purgation it has undergone, enters on the fruition of sweet spiritual contemplation, and that so sublime at times that no language can describe it. The horror of the evil spirit so refines the soul as to render it capable of so great a good, for these spiritual visions appertain to the next life rather than to this.

Arthur's latter state should be better, more secure than his former one, as "the soul becomes wholly spiritual." An analog can be see in Hamlet: when he returns from the waters, he is no longer tormented by the ghost, having gained that "liberty of spirit so precious and desirable."

At this point, he is finally and truly not a "pipe for fortune's finger."

Epistemological Context

The following is an excerpt of an email sent from Art to Will on 29 March 2015.

Werner Erhard at "Breakthrough Racing" event, Sears Point Raceway, 1979

Yeah, it's not Being There, even though it may have some aspects of that after ECT. It's way more like Household Saints.

I haven't figured out what exactly happened but I think your "motivators" make sense. There's probably a very human explanation, like loneliness. I also think that Knology, like a lot of sensitivity-awareness group seminars, would claim to welcome people growing deeper in their own religions of origin, because, as people like Werner Erhard figured out, it's far more powerful to control the context than it is to control the content (e.g. Scientology). I say that Farthington would have affirmed Arthur's childhood visions (content) in the interest of providing him a frame for understanding those visions (context). Will's regimen/tactics would definitely have diminished Arthur's vision by the point he arrives in Tokyo; perhaps in his desolation Arthur sees a way of returning to the deep communion he once felt. Now that it's no longer effortless, Knology seems to provide the clearest pathway. Knology disclaims any status as a religion, saying it only desires to see people fully enlivened in their relationships, their job, their places of worship, blah, blah.

In Erhard's words

The other main difference between est (Erhard Seminars Training) and Scientology lies in the treatment of knowing. Ron Hubbard seems to have no difficulty in codifying the truth and in urging people to believe it. But I suspect all codifications, particularly my own. In presenting my own ideas, I emphasize their epistemological context. I hold them as pointers to the truth, not as the truth itself. 

I don’t think anyone ought to believe the ideas that we use in est. The est philosophy is not a belief system and most certainly ought not to be believed. In any case, even the truth, when believed, is a lie. You must experience the truth, not believe it.

All sorts of doctrine in that statement, but ostensibly only setting up an "epistemological context."

Crazy Hippies

The following is an excerpt of an email sent from Will to Art on 29 March 2015.

Captain Nemo witnesses the attack of the squids from the viewbay

I'm still stuck, but I'll continue to ponder.

Arthur Miller's common man isn't a mystic, and as figures of science go, Farthington is kind of cartoonish...kind of in the tradition of Verne, Stevenson, and Wells, but sillier.

I get that there is a fallen analog to the high road, but I don't get why he wouldn't take a more attractive low road. I guess I don't see what Knology offers that can even seem better than the mystical visions. If I've seen and had conversations with Mary, what could Farthington possibly say that would stand up to that? I can get being hollowed out, but why in that situation would he not just be hollow.

Why not either succumb to entropy or fight to get Mary back?

I can see friendship being a motivator, and I can see being understood as a motivator. What am I missing in Farthington? Is part of my problem that cults have never really had much appeal to me, other than as tabloid entertainment, a moment to say, "Those crazy hippies..."?

Scripturally, I've been thinking a lot about Jesus' words to Nicodemus in John:

For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.

The last line especially gets me. There is a crystal clarity and simplicity to it. Don't worry about the judgment, because it is totally obvious what the judgment is--God gave you The Light and you preferred the darkness. Now let's get down to brass tacks...salvation. The judgment is easy and obvious. The salvation is baffling. I think about the balance of those two ideas in our story telling. We are pretty good at baffling and convoluted, but I want that aspect of clarity, too. In sharpening cliches, I guess I want to follow Jesus' lead in showing the simplicity of the complex and the complexity of the simple.

That quest informs every part of the story to me, but I'm still hung up on Arthur and Farthington. In your vision of Arthur, are the mystical visions just part of childhood, and does he not know that Mary is Mary or that The Sweet World is new creation? I've always thought of Arthur having visions throughout his life. Does he dull them with the sensual life and Farthington helps give them back to him?

Is Arthur just dumb? I don't like that idea much. Somehow in my mind, he keeps turning into Peter Sellers in Being There.

I know that you have to repeat yourself a lot to answer this question and that I'm slow in understanding it. I appreciate your help!

Also, I feel bad that I still haven't seen Household Saints. I just haven't figured out a way to get a hold of it.

Secret Ladder Disguised

The following is an excerpt of an email sent from Art to Will on 29 March 2015.

Jacob's Ladder by Nicolas Dipre

Off the cuff, I think it's just that Arthur fell from grace, doubting his gift, and then he lost it in its original form entirely.

As I've said before, if you ever have a chance to see Household Saints, this gives a clear trajectory of how this sort of thing can happen, especially in modern times, when, as Arthur Miller puts it in his essay "Tragedy and the Common Man," "modern man has had the blood drawn out of his organs of belief by the skepticism of science." You've got to see this movie!

It's the same old drama played out in the lives of everyone, but perhaps most explicitly in the experience of the Chosen People. Read Isaiah 55.

The main point is that God's word never returns to Him empty. It achieves the end for which it was sent.

Would it have been better if Adam and Eve had abided by God's law in the first place? Maybe.

Would it have been better if Arthur had languished in those simple childhood visions? Maybe.

But probably not. This, of course, is the felix culpa concept.

If he had been faithful all those years, the "high road" would have necessarily involved passing through St. John of the Cross's dark night of the soul. That would have been the safest route. St. John of the Cross believes that visions belong to a much earlier stage of the spiritual life and pass away entirely during the dark night.

The danger with visions, unlike with infused contemplation, is that the the devil knows about them and can parrot or piggyback on them. Infused contemplation is the "secret ladder disguised." When the soul is to able to escape in this night, when the sensible and spiritual members of his household alike are at rest, the devil doesn't even know it.

At that point, the soul is safer than it has ever been.

It's not at all surprising that Arthur would fall prey to something at his relatively undeveloped state. And he did not--as would have been the case in past centuries--have access to that clear path toward complete union with God.

So, as I've said elsewhere, Arthur takes the "low road" toward the definitive salvation described in Isaiah 55:

Yes, in joy you shall go forth,
in peace you shall be brought home;
Mountains and hills shall break out in song before you,
all trees of the field shall clap their hands.

In place of the thornbush, the cypress shall grow,
instead of nettles, the myrtle.
This shall be to the LORD’s renown,
as an everlasting sign that shall not fail.

As I've said (and diagrammed!) elsewhere, this "low road" has many characteristics of the mystic "high road" laid out by John of the Cross and others.

Although many of the people and experiences Arthur encounters along this path cannot rightly be called God's messengers or guides, they lead him in an albeit roundabout way to his final destination. Thus, "in joy shall you go forth, / in peace you shall be brought home" because as God communicates through the prophet: "So shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; / It shall not return to me empty, / but shall do what pleases me, / achieving the end for which I sent it."

When you drop off the sure path to salvation, what greets you is not the entirely opposite path, but rather a path set up by the devil that retains many characteristics of God's original plan.The devil, inasmuch as he has no true being of his own, can only parasitically appropriate the goods that endlessly shower forth from God and twist them to serve his own purposes. Thus, the lodestone looks a lot like "the stone that the builders rejected." Thus, Carlton prescribes a path of purgation, illumination, and union. And so on and so forth. So many other aspects of Arthur's postlapsarian existence have an analogue in the Christian life.

One last thing. I think that Jesus might have a similar opinion of Carlton's devotees (maybe even of Carlton himself) as he did about prostitutes and tax collectors.

Obviously, it's a little different here. But I say that someone who has fallen into a cult sometimes has a better chance of salvation than someone who has never fallen into something so socially unacceptable. Where else in modern life can you find people living so extremely, throwing caution to the wind?

I think that Jesus would have an easier time among these types than he would the ones who faithfully attend every fish fry and diligently give up chocolate every year for Lent (like me).

Why Does Arthur Follow Farthington?

The following is an excerpt of an email sent from Will to Art on 29 March 2015.

Laputa's observatory contained the lodestone, which enabled it to float.

So, in my quest to have our story communicate a Catholic message, I'm trying to reassess, given the ways characters have blurred since their inception, some of the big character and plot questions I have.

For now, I've got this one: why does Arthur follow Farthington? More precisely, why would a guy who sees visions of Mary and the Garden of Eden and/or the new creation (The Sweet World) have anything to gain from following Farthington?

At this point in the story's development, it is that Farthington has found concrete evidence of things Arthur has experienced in mystical visions. Because he is the only guy walking around with proof of a reality nobody else believes Arthur experiences, Arthur assumes Knology must mean something, too. Unfortunately, Farthington has just stumbled onto the lodestone, the tunnels, the secrets of Iceland, etc.

What we get then, is a variation on the theme of something simultaneously being true (the lodestone) and untrue (Knology). Arthur has visions of Farthington playing a heroic role in the perils of turbulent reversals, but hasn't seen a complete enough picture of Farthington to distrust him.

I feel like I've made Arthur's attraction to Farthington too simple for your tastes, but I'm wondering if I'm on to something. I need a reason why someone who sees the splendor of heaven would cast that splendor aside for Farthington. It seems more likely that he would have to attach to Farthington to serve his quest to reach The Sweet World than to reject that quest in favor of something as empty as Knology.

All-White Option

The following is an excerpt of an 8 March 2015 email exchange between Will and Art.

Art:

Oh, I forgot the other nearly all-white option. 

Concert for Bangladesh George Harrison. I could just go with the white suit and flip flops like I originally said way back when. Of course, in my current line of work, I can't grow the long hair and beard. Another reference I made way back when was the Brian Wilson on Letterman. I wish I could find that early 2000's video of him when they kept asking him questions at his piano across the stage and he couldn't answer them. 

I think just all white would be a safe bet. We could always go nautical with a little navy kerchief and/or ascot and a braided belt. Do we need to hire a style consultant? Actually, hold the phone! How about Carlos Santana and John McLaughlin in this one? Or this one? 

Actually Mahavishnu with the turtleneck sweater on the back cover would be perfect! That's totally me!

Will:

I've been thinking about accessories for Arthur. They seem to be of the highest importance. I can think of multiple ways to mess up. Too many of them will make Arthur into kind of a disco clown. If they are too nice, Arthur will seem far more preoccupied with style than he is. The stylishness should seem a little stiff or unnatural, since Will imposes it. If we underdo them, we'll miss out on what I'd call the liturgical aspect of an Arthur White performance--the idea that putting on a suit is akin to putting on vestments and that Arthur becomes a type of priest and the performance a spiritual ritual. A scarf worn as a stoll might work. 

I think about Meatloaf with that opera singer handkerchief thing he does. James Brown and Al Green did something like it, too...the frequent sweat mopping. So did Elvis. In my eyes, a better security blanket for Arthur is a rosary. I think having it hang out of the suit partially when Arthur's hands are busy makes sense, and keeping it in his hand and marking off silent Hail Marys would really distinguish Arthur from other performers. 

It would also mark our project clearly but in a subtle manner.

Some Hint of Transfiguration

The following is an excerpt of an email sent from Will to Art on 8 March 2015.

The Transfiguration by Raphael

Arthur is really hard. Will is really easy, since he's such a metro-Detroit cliche, not to mention a cliché of most anti-social 60-year-old rock 'n' roller businessmen. I'm drawing from Frank Tagliano of the show Lillyhammer a lot lately (played by Little Steven from the E Street Band).

So, I can see the Wes Anderson arrested development polo/khaki combination. That also works nicely for the yacht rock look.

I also see sort of a working man/Thomas Merton look. A denim jacket makes sense. In my head, at least, Arthur and Will are both aspects of the everyman. Arthur is the saint we're all supposed to be that we all repress. Will is the reflection Americans as self-made men. So an everyman look makes sense to me.

Realistically, I think Will would just pick out Arthur's comeback clothes. Will's not the kind of guy who would let Arthur wear whatever he normally wears on stage, even if he has turned a corner in his desire to support Arthur on Arthur's terms instead of his own.

Will, of course, has douchey fashion taste and would pick out the same sort of stuff for Arthur that any over-the-hill rocker or former teen idol would wear. I guess the ideal balance for me would be the following:

• The clothes are white.  Long ago, Will just decided that the band wears black and Arthur wears white.

• They should look a little unnatural on Arthur, since he didn't pick them out.  Perhaps a tag is left on, or a sticker, or press marks from how they were folded in the store, or maybe they are just too stiffly ironed, as if they haven't been laundered for the first time yet or worn ever.

• There should be some hint of transfiguration. Arthur hits a higher level of being while wearing them--something between his old glory and his soul glow.

I just bought a pair of white jeans...they aren't that hard to come by, and a v-neck or deep-v t-shirt is easy enough to come by. A white polo would work fine, too, for a country club reference. You are tall and skinny, so it all would look good on you. And from there, you just add a light colored-jacket, probably obtainable at H+M for cheap. Jeans and a t-shirt hit the Thomas Merton thing in the sense that they are everyman clothes, the white thing would hit Will's attempts at branding, and a jacket would evoke the old days of Arthur in suits.

Basement Meeting

The following is an excerpt of an email sent from Art to Will on 8 March 2015.



Still confused on Arthur's attire. I guess if we thought of something really symbolic, we could just go with it. What about highly Country Club and/or Yacht Club?

One of the weirdest situations I've been in was when I went to this quasi cult ("large-group awareness training seminar") gathering in Philadelphia and stayed with the parents of a rich middle-aged former alcoholic who had failed to launch (and, even in the context of this empowerment group, was continuing to fail). He had every advantage...and an addled brain.

Now this guy was WASP, so that's very different than Arthur, but could we imagine an addled Arthur living at the family boathouse in Bloomfield Hills? Or eating his meals everyday at the Yacht Club on Cass Lake, all on the family tab? I'm imagining a daily uniform of khakis, white oxford, monogrammed v-neck or turtleneck cable-knit sweater. Maybe even a captain's hat.

And just spending the days sailing...that's all he can manage any more. Kind of like Yacht Rock in general: we're so burned out by the last two decades we can't do anything else but go on sailboats. And we can't listen to anything heavier than a Christopher Cross guitar solo (although I flipping love this song).

And I love cable-knit sweaters. And you're welcome.

Alternatively, Arthur could be doing the same thing at a Country Club somewhere back in the lakes area of Bloomfield Hills. I like that tight tennis gear that you see in just about every Wes Anderson movie.

Of course, I guess it might be even more likely that Arthur would be returning to his Catholic roots at this point, setting up a Thomas Merton-style hermitage in the family's boathouse. Hermitage-era Thomas Merton clothing might work well too. That would be a totally different feel. Kind of working class/proletariat on top with karate style pants and split-toed socks.

One last thought: the yacht club look might be the most symbolically satisfying, making Arthur more like an Ophelia/Hamlet-type hero whose madness consists in being "native and indued" to (or at least reconciled with) that primordial element of water.

By the way, I like the idea of Carlton Farthington trying to sell his ideas as a "large-group awareness training" (LGAT) rather than a cult. That was really what was happening toward the end of the 70's and into the 80's.

This is where we have the slogan: "Because knology. Is is what's being."

This is the sort of thing that latter-day Diana Ross and John Denver fell into. Much less about dirty hippies looking for some place to crash and burn.