The Ever-Present Origin - Michael Goodnight - Editor

More documents

Recommendations

Info

homogeneity of the viscera, as well as their essentially non-directionalarrangement, definitely place them in relation to the magic vitalconsciousness.The viscera simply have a more eminent position within the larger unity oforgans in the magic structure; their functions are more decisive than thoseof the other organs. How decisive may be discerned from the fact thatthey served as the source for divining destiny and events for themagicians and medicine men. We can comprehend this curious procedure- which is only seemingly a nonsensical superstition - by remembering thatthe viscera represent the intertwined unity which we have ascertained ascharacteristic of the magic structure of consciousness. Magic man, activelypartaking and completely intertwined in the magic vitality, was surely ableto sense a disturbance or indisposition - the immediate occasion forsuchoracles and prophecies - within the visceral texture as it lay spread outbefore him, for such a display was not only coincidence, since indeed, inmagic everything is co-incidental.The importance of the ear, on the other hand, derives from the primordialnotion of the "receptivity of the ear." Sound or tone is procreative; the ear,the projected likeness of the cavern and the labyrinth, is receptive and,consequently, is also parturient: it gives birth to the rnagic world.We can discern the degree to which tone is a primordial force that worksvia the magic structure to shape the world if we observe the meaning ofthe Latin word carmen. It signifies a "song" or "poem," but originallymeant a "religious and magical incantation." Singing in this sense is acharm for spell-casting, which is to say an effecting by tone or sound. Eventoday such words as French charme, Spanish encantado, English"charming" are imbued with this basic sense which expresses the "charm"or "spell" that men or objects are able to cast an us.Since the relation between tone and spell indicates their inseparability aswell as their pre-eminently magic character, it will not be surprising thatwe feel justified in ascribing the predominant role within the magicstructure to the ear as well as to the inner "vital" organs. The magic world,as well as an essential part of our present constitution, came forth fromthe magic tone which - becoming effective via the ear - evoked a world. Itis this same tone, like that of the jungle drums, whose rhythm is one of themost vital expressions of magic man, that gave birth to dance. Dance istone become visible: the medium of conjuration and of "being heard" bythe deeper reality of the world where man is united with the rhythm of theuniverse.Whereas the viscera or intestines are evidence of unity or identity - theprefix "in-" means not only "in" but also "one" - the pulse of the heart is anexpression of polarity, like the mouth which can both speak and remainsilent. (In its unitary function the ear can only hear.) We have alreadyspoken of the root kinship of the words "myth" and "mouth." And althoughetymologists have not as yet demonstrated whether the German word for42
mouth, Mund, can be traced to the same root (mu), we believenevertheless that we have sufficiently established the primacy of themouth with respect to the mythical structure.As for the heart, the Gospel of St. Luke (2:19) records, in an appropriatelymythical manner, that "Mary pondered these words in her heart," whilethe Gospel of St. Matthew (12:34) clearly expresses the mythicalcorrespondence and relation between the heart and the mouth: "Out ofthe abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh." Even today we refer tothe heart as the organ of courage and disposition, and such phrases as"take heart" when we mean "have courage" and our synonymous use of"stout-hearted" and "courageous" are not just coincidences. Even apartfrom this, Creuzer's somewhat willful etymology which relates mythos withthe German word Gemüt, "mind, heart, disposition," is not entirely farfetched.Whereas in the mythical structure one "ponders" or "holds" something inone's heart, we speak today in the mental structure of "keeping an eye onsomething," again an expression that is most likely not just coincidental.This turn of speech is merely one of the subtle hints suggestive of theprimacy of the eye which comes to dominate the mental structure. Theperspectival world is primarily visual, just as the unperspectival isprimarily sensorial and the pre-perspectival primarily emotional.But the perspectival world is at the same time the world of thought, just asthe unperspectival was a world of contemplation and the pre-perspectivalone of hearing. In the world of thought, in the mental structure, it is thebrain which is the primary inner organ. Once again the close relationshipof the mental to the magic structure is evident, for the brain too has thenature of a labyrinth. As long as its functions remain dominant, thinkingwill be unable to escape from its ambiguity, despite its attempts to eludeit.In the ninth and tenth cross-sections we have made only tentativeascriptions for the integral structure, and those that we are able to makehere will acquire their legitimacy only in the course of our furtherdiscussion, particularly in the light of the manifestations which remain tobe discussed in the second part of the present work. But we can perhapsventure to make several ascriptions for the integral structure in the nextgrouping without causing misunderstandings. This eleventh grouping is across-section through the forms of realization and thought of therespective structures which will be emended and completed in the courseof the remaining discussion.A summary of the discussion up to this point yields the following crosssection:Structure11. Forms of Realization and Thoughta) Basis b) Mode43
Page 5 and 6: deficient forms which have become a
Page 7 and 8: they could not reach their intent w
Page 9 and 10: identity, or with his being equated
Page 11 and 12: was especially influential on Greek
Page 13 and 14: anticipated by Pope Sabinus, who in
Page 16 and 17: discovery of Augustine's words. "I
Page 18 and 19: concretion of space, our epoch is c
Page 20 and 21: While plumbing the hidden depths of
Page 22 and 23: With Leonardo the perspectival mean
Page 24 and 25: perspective, had become common prop
Page 26 and 27: not an avenue. Although man's horiz
Page 28 and 29: order to obtain a sequential view o
Page 30 and 31: the truly unrepresentable become ev
Page 32 and 33: apparent in the development of aper
Page 34 and 35: characteristics of the structures,
Page 36 and 37: Structureaugmentation, a loss or a
Page 38 and 39: "silenced music" of which St. John
Page 40 and 41: meantime the integral perception an
Page 44 and 45: Archaic — OriginaryMagicempathy a
Page 46 and 47: IntegralCreed)Method(Divinity)(Eteo
Page 48 and 49: that structure itself. Orestes' act
Page 50 and 51: in its silent meaning, for he dedic
Page 52 and 53: directed way, and to a mythical dem
Page 54 and 55: Even though we may be unable to do
Page 56 and 57: of arational possibilities which ar
Page 58 and 59: chapters 5, 6, and 7, we would like
Page 60 and 61: presupposes in any event the mental
Page 62 and 63: capability is being formed in him w
Page 64 and 65: At the moment when consciousness be
Page 66 and 67: temporal aspects enumerated. We are
Page 68 and 69: understanding the phenomenon of tim
Page 70 and 71: temporal forms which co-constitute
Page 72 and 73: crystallizing in a new perception o
Page 74 and 75: dream-like and somnolent aspects an
Page 76 and 77: ealization now manifesting itself a

The Ever-Present Origin - Michael Goodnight - Editor

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?