Re: [FairfieldLife] Last Rites for the Voice
On 09/06/2018 06:23 AM, dhamiltony...@yahoo.com [FairfieldLife] wrote: Like LB Shriver’s publishing of Survival in Paradise, the Voice is gone entirely now. Even in digital came the Death of the Village Voice. Recalling LB out on the movie theatre corner with paper bag over his shoulder distributing copies of Survival in Paradisethen hot off the Press. * * The Village Voice now, “..bought it in 2015 to restore it to its early glory, stopped print publication almost a year ago, it seemed that it would be only a matter of time before its online presence ceased as well. The Voice didn’t appear to have a strong sense of identity anymore, in part because the New Yorkthat it covered — downtown, the underground, bohemia and its ephemera — didn’t exist anymore,neither in a physical sense nor as a state of mind.” https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/05/opinion/end-village-voice.html * * Yahoo-Groups as a place of forum it seems for a lack of corporate maintenance (Verizon) could easily stop too as a place. It took 24 hours yesterday for posts to appear, kind of throttling the free flow.. Maybe they're trying to "put the genie back in the bottle" or so they think. If Verizon were to decide that Groups was not profitable and shut it down there would be much outcry and bad press for them. So instead maybe they're just trying to make it unusable. It's obvious these days that the corporate masters aren't happy about the free speech on the Internet.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Last rites
Get a grip - almost everything you've posted in the last fifteen years is a concern for what other people think of you. These are your last moments and your last words. When you die there won't be any person thinking about what to expect - you will be dead. In fact, all you have now is the past - there is no now or future. At present, all you have are memories and most of that is forgotten. I know you thought you saw Rama lift up off of a sofa but it was an illusion. You need to deal with it and stop projecting - that's what I think. ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : The notion of spending my last moments concerned what others thought of me and hoping for them to forgive me doesn't appeal to me. What I hope for at the moment of death is a sense of expectation and looking forward to what comes next. Looking forward strikes me as a more worthy way to "sum up a life" than looking backwards does. From: "s3raphita@... [FairfieldLife]" To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Sent: Wednesday, February 11, 2015 4:02 AM Subject: [FairfieldLife] Last rites One of my favourite writers has always been Robert Anton Wilson (RAW). He wrote some sci-fi/fantasy, of which the best known is probably the Illuminatus! Trilogy. I've given his fiction a miss as I have a limited attraction to sci-fi but his non-fiction books like Sex, Drugs and Magick and the Cosmic Trigger trilogy are entertaining, witty and passionate defences of his libertarian, anarchist and esoteric take on life. He was influenced by such fringe prophets as The Beast (Aleister Crowley) and the crackpot psychoanalyst Wilhelm Reich. And he was a friend and defender of Tim Leary. One feature of Wilson's writing was always a heartfelt hostility towards Christianity - especially Catholicism, the faith he was indoctrinated in as a child. Now, I'm not a Catholic but even I thought that sometimes his attacks on that denomination were a bit over the top. Whatever. Anyway, death comes to us all and for Wilson the year 2007 was his last. I was intrigued therefore to hear him saying in those last months that what absorbed him more than any other rumination at that critical period was the thought that if he'd hurt anyone during his lifetime he hoped that they could forgive him. When I heard that I immediately thought: Bejesus! if someone were to challenge me to encapsulate the essence of Christianity in a sentence then I reckon that saying "a Christian would be someone who at his life's close hoped that anyone he'd ever hurt could find it in themselves to forgive him" is as good a try as any. That's the true Last Judgement. The last moments of a person's life have always been considered of particular importance in most religious traditions and no doubt the Last Sacrament in Catholicism is a more-or-less inadequate attempt to capture something of what Wilson was expressing. The caricature that is our stereotype of such situations is of a fearful man or woman on their deathbed wracked with fear and shame at a life's wasted opportunities and guilt over shabby deeds done - in other words, someone wrapped up in their own selfhood. That has to be a most un-religious state! What I liked about RAW's quote is that he wasn't being morbid but was looking outwards *towards others* he may have distressed. Rather touching (and *not* in a sentimental sense). And it reminds me of a thought I've often entertained: Christianity is *not really* about whether you believe in God, the Trinity, the Virgin Birth, . . . , but is actually about "a way of life" - love, mercy, pity - and the traditional dogmas are just window dressing (essentially trying to say in the language of myth what is inexpressible in literal speech). It's not that I want to paint RAW as having had a "deathbed conversion" - he didn't need one! An agnostic like Wilson was closer to the message of Jesus than any confirmed Christian who also happens to be a prig and really believes that sinners are destined to eternal Hell.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Last rites
Well said ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : The notion of spending my last moments concerned what others thought of me and hoping for them to forgive me doesn't appeal to me. What I hope for at the moment of death is a sense of expectation and looking forward to what comes next. Looking forward strikes me as a more worthy way to "sum up a life" than looking backwards does.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Last rites
The notion of spending my last moments concerned what others thought of me and
hoping for them to forgive me doesn't appeal to me. What I hope for at the
moment of death is a sense of expectation and looking forward to what comes
next. Looking forward strikes me as a more worthy way to "sum up a life" than
looking backwards does.
From: "s3raph...@yahoo.com [FairfieldLife]"
To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, February 11, 2015 4:02 AM
Subject: [FairfieldLife] Last rites
One of my favourite writers has always been Robert Anton Wilson (RAW). He
wrote some sci-fi/fantasy, of which the best known is probably the Illuminatus!
Trilogy. I've given his fiction a miss as I have a limited attraction to sci-fi
but his non-fiction books like Sex, Drugs and Magick and the Cosmic Trigger
trilogy are entertaining, witty and passionate defences of his libertarian,
anarchist and esoteric take on life. He was influenced by such fringe prophets
as The Beast (Aleister Crowley) and the crackpot psychoanalyst Wilhelm Reich.
And he was a friend and defender of Tim Leary.
One feature of Wilson's writing was always a heartfelt hostility towards
Christianity - especially Catholicism, the faith he was indoctrinated in as a
child. Now, I'm not a Catholic but even I thought that sometimes his attacks on
that denomination were a bit over the top. Whatever.
Anyway, death comes to us all and for Wilson the year 2007 was his last. I was
intrigued therefore to hear him saying in those last months that what absorbed
him more than any other rumination at that critical period was the thought that
if he'd hurt anyone during his lifetime he hoped that they could forgive him.
When I heard that I immediately thought: Bejesus! if someone were to challenge
me to encapsulate the essence of Christianity in a sentence then I reckon that
saying "a Christian would be someone who at his life's close hoped that anyone
he'd ever hurt could find it in themselves to forgive him" is as good a try as
any. That's the true Last Judgement.
The last moments of a person's life have always been considered of particular
importance in most religious traditions and no doubt the Last Sacrament in
Catholicism is a more-or-less inadequate attempt to capture something of what
Wilson was expressing. The caricature that is our stereotype of such situations
is of a fearful man or woman on their deathbed wracked with fear and shame at a
life's wasted opportunities and guilt over shabby deeds done - in other words,
someone wrapped up in their own selfhood. That has to be a most un-religious
state! What I liked about RAW's quote is that he wasn't being morbid but was
looking outwards *towards others* he may have distressed.
Rather touching (and *not* in a sentimental sense). And it reminds me of a
thought I've often entertained: Christianity is *not really* about whether you
believe in God, the Trinity, the Virgin Birth, . . . , but is actually about "a
way of life" - love, mercy, pity - and the traditional dogmas are just window
dressing (essentially trying to say in the language of myth what is
inexpressible in literal speech).
It's not that I want to paint RAW as having had a "deathbed conversion" - he
didn't need one! An agnostic like Wilson was closer to the message of Jesus
than any confirmed Christian who also happens to be a prig and really believes
that sinners are destined to eternal Hell.
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Re: [FairfieldLife] Last rites
The notion of spending my last moments concerned what others thought of me and
hoping for them to forgive me doesn't appeal to me. What I hope for at the
moment of death is a sense of expectation and looking forward to what comes
next. That strikes me as a worthy way to "sum up a life."
From: "s3raph...@yahoo.com [FairfieldLife]"
To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, February 11, 2015 4:02 AM
Subject: [FairfieldLife] Last rites
One of my favourite writers has always been Robert Anton Wilson (RAW). He
wrote some sci-fi/fantasy, of which the best known is probably the Illuminatus!
Trilogy. I've given his fiction a miss as I have a limited attraction to sci-fi
but his non-fiction books like Sex, Drugs and Magick and the Cosmic Trigger
trilogy are entertaining, witty and passionate defences of his libertarian,
anarchist and esoteric take on life. He was influenced by such fringe prophets
as The Beast (Aleister Crowley) and the crackpot psychoanalyst Wilhelm Reich.
And he was a friend and defender of Tim Leary.
One feature of Wilson's writing was always a heartfelt hostility towards
Christianity - especially Catholicism, the faith he was indoctrinated in as a
child. Now, I'm not a Catholic but even I thought that sometimes his attacks on
that denomination were a bit over the top. Whatever.
Anyway, death comes to us all and for Wilson the year 2007 was his last. I was
intrigued therefore to hear him saying in those last months that what absorbed
him more than any other rumination at that critical period was the thought that
if he'd hurt anyone during his lifetime he hoped that they could forgive him.
When I heard that I immediately thought: Bejesus! if someone were to challenge
me to encapsulate the essence of Christianity in a sentence then I reckon that
saying "a Christian would be someone who at his life's close hoped that anyone
he'd ever hurt could find it in themselves to forgive him" is as good a try as
any. That's the true Last Judgement.
The last moments of a person's life have always been considered of particular
importance in most religious traditions and no doubt the Last Sacrament in
Catholicism is a more-or-less inadequate attempt to capture something of what
Wilson was expressing. The caricature that is our stereotype of such situations
is of a fearful man or woman on their deathbed wracked with fear and shame at a
life's wasted opportunities and guilt over shabby deeds done - in other words,
someone wrapped up in their own selfhood. That has to be a most un-religious
state! What I liked about RAW's quote is that he wasn't being morbid but was
looking outwards *towards others* he may have distressed.
Rather touching (and *not* in a sentimental sense). And it reminds me of a
thought I've often entertained: Christianity is *not really* about whether you
believe in God, the Trinity, the Virgin Birth, . . . , but is actually about "a
way of life" - love, mercy, pity - and the traditional dogmas are just window
dressing (essentially trying to say in the language of myth what is
inexpressible in literal speech).
It's not that I want to paint RAW as having had a "deathbed conversion" - he
didn't need one! An agnostic like Wilson was closer to the message of Jesus
than any confirmed Christian who also happens to be a prig and really believes
that sinners are destined to eternal Hell.
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