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06 Jul 00 - 10:37 AM (#252845) Subject: Thought for the Day - June 6, 00 From: Peter T. In one of his always interesting articles, Mircea Eliade, the cultural anthropologist, gives his take on the dangers and powers of destruction. He notes that modern artists and architects have embarked many times on "sacred destruction" -- the destroying of worn out formal or sentimentalised structures -- with the hope of creating a new world. He points out that in earlier peoples there was this same instinct in ritual form: the periodic returning of the world to chaos and pre-order, because it had become "worn out". It must be all swept clean: the dead waste is choking out the new life. He points out, of course, that dictators and radicals of all political stripes have caused great grief and millions of deaths in the past century in the creation of what the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia called "Ground Zero" -- wiping the slate clean of the past, which, freed of euphemism, means killing people, destroying history. But the impulse to clean the slate, to throw out all one's past and start again, seems to be archaic or sacred or have some kind of mythic power over us. Every time we clean house, or put a new sheet of paper on the easel, it pops up. It fights with the other impulse: to cherish, to sustain, to keep the memory alive, to find the seed in the existing flower. The worst part of the one leads to sheer destruction to no purpose, or to an all too grim purpose; the worst of the other leads to stifling reactionary shackles. The creative experience must probably be made up in part of finding the right rhythm between these forms of life. Certainly one thing lacking today is what archaic cultures had: forms of ritual that remind one that destruction is only partial, and embedded itself in continuing forms of cultural expression. |
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06 Jul 00 - 10:49 AM (#252854) Subject: RE: Thought for the Day - June 6, 00 From: GUEST,Mrr While cleaning slates, perhaps change the thread name to July 6? Picky, picky! But I really like Peter's Thoughts and this is the first time I've seen something like Thought For Last Month so I had to laugh, please don't be offended Peter, it's still a good thought! I'm big into ritual! |
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06 Jul 00 - 11:04 AM (#252865) Subject: RE: Thought for the Day - June 6, 00 From: Willie-O Peter, Mrr and I can't match your philosophizing, so we must content ourselves with nitpicking. Wasn't the Khmer Rouge slogan "The Year Zero"? Ground Zero is the impact point of a nuclear warhead. Cheery thoughts both. Please feel free not to thank me for sharing. Willie-O
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06 Jul 00 - 11:39 AM (#252899) Subject: RE: Thought for the Day - June 6, 00 From: SINSULL Peter, Wrong month or not: This reminded me of a short story I was forced to read in high school called "And The World Was Made Clean". Eugenics had been carried to such an extreme that only two people were left on the earth - a red-haired, non- freckled woman and a red-haired, freckled man.They hated each other, pretended to be willing to start a new world together despite their differences, and killed each other. "And The World Was Made Clean". I disagree that we lack the rituals to show that destruction is only partial. Death, decay, and new life are basic to every religion and recognized by every atheist I know. We live it every time we grind fallen leaves into mulch or recycle a Pepsi can. SS |
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06 Jul 00 - 11:44 AM (#252904) Subject: RE: Thought for the Day - June 6, 00 From: Jim the Bart Starting over seems to be a dream long held by cultures and individuals. Who hasn't wished that he or she could revisit a past situation and "get it right" this time. Unfortunately, to really fix a past error would require not only "knowing then, what you know now", but also knowing the effect of changes that you would make. When you get down to it, the best bet is to just start where you're at and build on what you already have. That seems to be our strength as a species anyway - the ability to remember and change based on experience. That's cultural "evolution"; much preferred, in my opinion, to "revolution". After all, which statement seems more positive: "The people are evolving" or "The people are revolting"? Thanks, Peter T., for once more stimulating a little thought in a tiny, fevered brain. |
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06 Jul 00 - 12:30 PM (#252917) Subject: RE: Thought for the Day - June 6, 00 From: GUEST Nature's Way will probably take care of it all for us. S/He is a great equalizer, resolving all things in time. We can foolishly try to harness or control the original design by thinking we're capable of fashioning it to our needs - by damming or diverting rivers and drying up seas - for humane purposes, admittedly, but also so that a desert dweller can have a swimming pool. Inspirational references: Ceremonial Time by John Hanson Mitchell; July-August edition of Utne Reader. btw, you Canadians have more water than you need, and the Americans are running out. Hmmm...what are the possibilities for solving the Americans' dilemma? |
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06 Jul 00 - 02:00 PM (#252952) Subject: RE: Thought for the Day - June 6, 00 From: Peter T. ZERO, GUEST. TO QUOTE CHARLTON HESTON: "THEY WILL HAVE TO TAKE THE WATER OUT OF MY DEAD FINGERS." Hmmmm. Doesn't have that ring. Must work on it. yours, Peter T. P.S. Sorry about the month thing -- I have started the thread again elsewhere. |