States of Mind

From The Interpretation of Dreams:

"...a certain psychic preparation on the part of the patient is necessary.  A twofold effort is made, to stimulate his attentiveness in respect of his psychic perceptions, and to eliminate the critical spirit in which he is ordinarily in the habit of viewing such thoughts as come to the surface.  For the purpose of self-observation with concentrated attention it is advantageous that the patient should take up a restful position and close his eyes; he must be explicitly instructed to renounce all criticism of the thought formulations which he may perceive.  He must also be told that...success...depends upon his noting and communicating everything that passes through his mind, and that he must not allow himself to suppress one idea because it seems to him unimportant or irrelevant to the subject, or another because it seem nonsensical...."

"I have noticed...that the psychological state of a man in an attitude of reflection is entirely different from that of a man who is observing his psychic processes.  In reflection there is a greater play of psychic activity than in the most attentive self-observation; this is shown by the tense attitude and the wrinkled brow of the  man in a state of reflection, as opposed to the mimic tranquility of the man observing himself.  In both cases there must be concentrated attention, but the reflective man makes use of his critical faculties, with the result that he rejects some of his thoughts which rise into consciousness after he has become aware of them, and abruptly interrupts others, so that he does not follow the lines of thought which they would otherwise open up for him; while in respect of yet other thoughts he is able to behave in such a manner that they do not become conscious at all-that is to say they are suppressed before they are perceived.  In self-observation, on the other hand, he has but one task-that of suppressing criticism....the point is to induce a psychic state which is to some degree analogous...to the state of mind before falling asleep-and also of course, to the hypnotic state."

Just wondering out loud if what good is done in Freudian therapy (and some good does seem to come of it at times) owes something to a practice not unlike certain types of Buddhist meditation techniques. 

Nowhere Man

Just finished Aleksandar Hemon's Nowhere Man, a tale of a Bosnian refugee written by a Bosnian expat.  The dust jacket says he publishes regularly in the New Yorker, Esquire, Granta, and Paris Review.  The book was published in 2002.

The writing was crisp and engaging - well written enough that my original attempts to keep myself reading by scheduling a pace were unnecessary.  The theme is homelessness, the disconcerting sensation of having nowhere you really belong.  The hero (antihero?) is an ethnically Ukranian native of Bosnia who moves to Chicago just before the civil war breaks out.  Vignettes are set in Chicago, Oak Ridge, Kiev, Sarajevo and Shanghai.  The effect of looking at Pronek from multiple points of view is quite striking. 

So, what does Hemon have to say?  And by inference, what do the literary powers that have given him "extraordinary recognition" (dust jacket) want to hear?

• Sex is central (but not sacred, oh no, not sacred). 
• Relationships are doomed from the beginning and we never really understand each other.
• By and large, people are ridiculous.  They should be viewed with cool, detached irony.
• Nationalism is ridiculous - dangerous, murderous, yes - but in the end ridiculous.
• Politics are ridiculous, and politicians are out of touch with reality.  This applies to both the establishment (George Bush, Sr.) and the revolution (Greenpeace).
• War is hideous. 
• Life really has no particular meaning or point.  The closest we come to a point is, well, sex, which is ultimately meaningless too, and doesn't seem to lead to lasting relationships, but it is, well, central.  What few moments of transcendence we get (however, illusory they may be) are from sex.
• Things that seem to have a meaning (Pronek's early passion for music, and his romantic and relationship yearnings) turn out to be ridiculous.
• Life having no point, a plot is, well, pointless.
• Literary criticism, by the way, is also ridiculous - "Queer Lear" and "Karaoke and (Re) presentation."
• Absent the existence of transcendence and meaning, the best thing is to be present and aware of the current moment.  This is almost a spirituality of some kind.

The dust jacket says his prose has "literary verve," "engrossing narrative, engaging warmth, and refreshing humor," with an "exhilarating sense of seeing everything new again."  I did find the narrative engrossing.  I actually enjoyed his technique - split points of view, a pastiche of vignettes, and his descriptive powers are substantial.  I suppose that translates into literary verve?  But I didn't find any warmth to engage with, nor did I find his cool irony "refreshing." 

The Tale of Genji (again)

I'm giving the Tale of Genji another go.  Trying to take this Christmas shutdown and get a running start.  Maybe I'll get all the way through this time.

I need to find another handle to this tale than the main character.  I find Genji uninteresting.  He's a medieval Japanese Brad Pitt.  He gets attention because he's attractive, a good performer, moves in all the right circles and is irresistible to the ladies.  But as far as I can see, there's not much else there.

Note to self:  What emerges if we pay attention to the women?

The power of acceptance

Howard Rheingold also said something (in the same essay) that has shaped my approach to Taoist texts. 


"When I started out on my life's journey, I thought this little book [the Tao Te Ching] was a mystical tract that would lead eventually to a noetic revelation.  Thirty years later, it's easier to recognize it as good, sound, immensely practical, astonishingly enduring advice about the way water flows, people act, history happens, universes evolve."


With that as an introduction, here is the passage of Chuang Tzu that has struck me the hardest so far.  This one is from The Second Book of the Tao by Stephen Mitchell


"...Master Yu got sick.  Master Ssu went to visit him.  'How are you?'  He said.

Master Yu said, 'Amazing!  Look at how the creator has bent me out of shape.  My back is so curved that my intestines are on top of me.  My chin digs into my belly button, my shoulders arch over my head, and my neck bones point to the sky.'  Yet he seemed peaceful and unconcerned.  Hobbling over to the well, he looked in and said,  "My, my!  How totally He has bent me out of shape!

....I received life when the time came, and I'll give it back when the time comes.  Anyone who understands the proper order of things--that everything happens at exactly the right time--will be untouched by sorrow or joy....When you argue with reality, you lose."

Stephen Mitchell's commentary has this to say--

"Master Yu is afflicted with a neuromuscular syndrome that has bent him over like a paper clip.  'Afflicted?'  No:  presented; graced....People think that detachment must be a cold, humorless business.  But Master Yu couldn't be more witty or engaging."


Not quite a Christian faith that all things work to the good of those who love God, but remarkably sane and admirable.

Thomas Merton and "translating" Chinese

"The rather special nature of this book calls for some explanation.  The texts from Chuang Tzu assembled here are the result of five years of reading, study, annotation, and meditation.  The notes have in time acquired a shape of their own and have become, as it were, 'imitations' of Chuang Tzu, or rather, free interpretative readings of characteristic passages which appeal especially to me.  The 'readings' of my own grew out of a comparison of four of the best translations of Chuang Tzu into western languages, two English, one French and one German.  In reading these translations I found very notable differences, and soon realized that all who have translated Chuang Tzu have had to do a great deal of guessing....Since I know only a few Chinese characters, I obviously am not a translator.  These 'readings' are then not attempts at faithful reproduction but ventures in personal and spiritual interpretation."


The Way of Chuang Tzu,
Thomas Merton


I am struck by this passage because it almost perfectly describes my own work with the Tao Te Ching.  I would call my version of it a personal paraphrase.  My own method owed its origins to Howard Rheingold who wrote in The Millennium Whole Earth Catalog


"Translating Chinese verse is an art that by its nature leaves room for many different interpretations.  Something emerges from between the lines when you read different translations of the same simple verses, something that no single translation captures."


Rheingold also first put me onto Jonathan Starr's character by character parsing of Lao Tzu that eventually formed the core of my engagement with the text.