Deleuze’s Difference and Repitition ← not easy!
Kafka, The Trial.
World Without End
by Ken Follett
the bitch in the house… and the bastard on the couch…two different books
The good luck of right now by Matthew Quick
Will order it tomorrow after reading fairly bad reviews from the New York Times book review but countered by a sense of affinity
Hi obe. 
Hello Arcturus, nice hearing from You. I have a confession to make related to oak trees in general : I too have AN oak tree which I believe by now has druid type powers, it’a roots anchoring my soul into an existential terrain. It has redemptive powers which has taken me into it’a power, I was so terrified about loosing “it” that it leas me to a duplication of itself on an old English park scene which I can always see. My daughter asked for it but I will not let it go.
Just finished The Magus of Java (Kosta Danaos). Interesting read but… 
From the blurb at the back of the book:
[i]In 1988 the documentary Ring of Fire was released to great acclaim. The most startling sequence in the film is that of a Chinese-Javanese acupuncturist who demonstrates his full mastery of the phenomenon of ch’i, or bio-energy, by first generating an electrical current within his body, which he uses to heal the filmmaker of an eye infection, and then setting a newspaper on fire with his hand. Ring of Fire caused thousands to seek out this individual, John Chang, in pursuit of instruction. Of the many Westerners who have approached him, John Chang has accepted five as apprentices. Kosta Danaos is the second of those five.
In his years of study with John Chang, Danaos has witnessed and experienced pyrokinesis, telekinesis, levitation, telepathy, and much more exotic phenomena. He has spoken with spirits and borne witness to the afterlife. Most important, he has learned John Chang’s story. John Chang is the direct heir to the lineage of the fifth-century B.C. sage Mo-Tzu, who was Confucius’s greatest rival. His discipline, called the Mo-Pai, is little-known in the West and has never before been the subject of a book. Now, John Chang has decided to bridge the gap between East and West by allowing a book to be published revealing the story of his life, his teachings, and his powers.
The Magus of Java is the story of Kosta Danaos’s apprenticeship with John Chang, and it is the story of the Mo-Pai, who for the past 2000 years have kept their teachings secret. Included are scientific, physics-based explanations of Chang’s paranormal abilities that we in the West consider impossible–abilities witnessed by the author and vividly described. The Magus of Java will surely expedite what may well become the greatest revolution of the twenty-first century–the verification and study of bio-energy.
KOSTA DANAOS is a former engineer for General Dynamics, a martial arts instructor in jujutsu and tai ch’i chuan…[/i]
This is a section of the documentary that introduced John Chang to the west.
youtube.com/watch?v=072oMtT8nnI
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I was assigned Hesse’s Siddhartha for my humanities class (the current chapters are on India), and I have just finished reading it in a single sitting. Given that, going into the book, I was already aware it was going to be more about self-discovery than the religions and cultures of India, and that Kipling’s Kim, which I had read a few years ago, was infinitely more pertinent to the subject matter, I was predisposed to dislike Siddhartha. It says a great deal about a book when one goes into it with scorn and comes out as its advocate. It’s not irreproachable, but it was well worth my time.
It also says a great deal more about you. 
So you were correct in thinking that it was “going to be more about self-discovery”.
You needn’t say but what do you intuit it has taught you? As I said, you needn’t say, but to yourself. 
I myself have had the same experience with books and movies and even with people.
Moby Dick… Is it just me or are there covert undertones of homo-eroticism in this book (even the whale itself is a sperm whale; plus his name is Moby Dick ← ok, that part may just be me, but there are passages that I could quote that are undeniable)? I’m only at Chapter 11 (it’s a huge book) so we’ll have to wait and see.
No, it’s not just you, gib. The book is replete with homo-erotic images and hints especially between Ishmael and Queequeg. I wouldn’t read it through a modern ‘queer eye’ perspective, though. In my opinion, that would miss the point. I think the sexual suggestions should be seen on a psychological level and read with the mindset of the time it was written.
These men are emotional/sexual beings. They’re thrown together through some of the most extreme situations where they’re broken down physically, mentally and emotionally. They have to rely on each other. They have to develop strong bonds between each other or they’ll die. Testosterone is pumping at abnormally high levels over long periods of time. In these circumstances, beliefs about how relationships supposed to work, start to fracture and boundaries begin to crumble.
I can so totally relate to everything you’ve said here. We do become so attached to things which hold meaning to us.
There was a time a few years ago that I was concerned that my faithful companion , my Oak, would be cut down. Some other trees have been cut down to make way for a parking lot. [size=200]ROAR[/size]!!! But mine was not.
But alas, in a way, the way I am only now able to view it and it’s landscape and presence has changed because of a children’s playground within its vicinity.
It isn’t simply the space itself but the surrounding space that also adds or added beauty and such substance to it. Its harmony and balance and majesty has been transformed in a way because of that playground. But still…it holds a part of myself within it and a part of itself within me that can never really change. And all I have to do is to close my eyes and it is there instantly before me. I have taken a few pictures of my tree but really is that necessary?
Are you speaking of a photo here, obe?
Actually, no Arcturus
It’s a turn of the century painting of an old Eglish park. The uncanny resemblance to my tree is akin to Your description of the the surroundings, which seem to define it within am almost hidden and mysterious backdrop. It seems oddly a kind of unexplainable set of ideas and events which brought it to me.
Almost as if it was meant for me to have it. It has become my prized possession, and strangely I convinced that the artist and I meet on a sort of spiritual level in this representation.
I do not have your ability to recreate images in my mind so if anything I would like to hold on to is this painting.
Did you put this image here in ilp, obe? If I remember, in a post I think you said you would. Is it here?
Actually I have posted it I don’t remember now where but I will look for it later on today, and send You the forum name. Incidentally its kind of strange, but my spelling corrector just brought up Rodin. I remember vaguely a picture of the thinker which I posted early on upon joining ilp.
I look forward to it with bated breath, obe. Do not disappoint - unless you want to.
You know what. The other day, while I was out taking a walk, with all of this snow which we still have, I came upon this big mound of snow and within it, I saw the shape of Rodin’s thinker…instantly. It was kind of wild. I love seeing certain unexpected images in things.
Another day while out walking, I saw the form of a wolf, a white one to boot, relaxing in the street…from about a block away. What was awesome about it was that the closer I came to it, I still saw this wonderful shape of a wolf in the street. I examined the “snow” wolf closely. It really was so incredibly random but at the same time, appeared as if a sculptor might have done it - at least to me. No, no one sculpt or shaped it except for nature. It was remarkable how the snow shaped the “thinker” and this beautiful wild animal. I’m not sure how many other people would have seen the things i saw but there they were. I don’t know how they could not! lol
The painting is in this forum titled (post your favorite art here ) 3rd page. Gotta run, sorry to be rude
lol Rude? Why would you consider that to be rude? Obe, if I felt that you were being rude, that just might make me the most sensitive (negatively speaking) person here. You weren’t being rude…you were just being busy.
Thank You for that, and of I may comment on shapes and forms appearing out of formed elements.
Oh,Arcturus, I would be exagerating,if I were to claim some special route to some kind of gateway into the spiritual and the occult, and I wouldn’t want to exhaust myself as Gobbo did in trying to prove anything unusual .
The only point worthwhile mentioning is the focus achieved through the various levels of abstraction, tend to be become more objective, and even without referring to Jung’s synchronicity, coincidental events tend to emerge a pattern of unexplainable sililar events.
There has been a few laughable recorded cases of obvious Paxilm merit, the one which comes most clearly to my mind happened about a year ago.
A chocolate factory, in the midst of producing candy formed the image of the Virgin Mary. Production was halted, the neighberhood’a mostly Catholic community becoming aware of what’a in their backyard, arranged pilgrimiges ,firmly in the belief that an imimminent miracle is at hand.
This is not the type of experience I am referring to William James work is well documented with arguable but credible instances of this kind
I CANNOT furnish any concrete evidence other then personal anecdotes which surfaced in unusual circumstances. l