He stood upon the slopes of the mountain, the sun a molten pulse behind him, great and golden, a throbbing fire that knew no mechanism, no dull iron chains of human reason.
It was/is also prophesized and portrayed in the mural titled An Epic of American Civilization painted by Jose Clemente Orozco in the library of Dartmouth University 1932-4. In fact this mural addressed the same themes as Lawrence especially in his prophetic novel The Plumed Serpent
Speaking of the cult of the dark gods this meme is now firmly entrenched in the White House where much of its agenda is controlled by the very dark opus dei cult, the founder of which was a full-blown sociopath.
Indeed the opus dei cult is a collective manifestation of his sociopathic character. The behind the scenes dark machinations of it are described in two recent books
OPUS by Gareth Gore in which the dark machinations are described in great detail. So too in the book STENCH by David Brock - the title Stench is a very accurate one word description of how the opus dei cult operates.
'Mount Analogue.' That's Rene Daumal, isn't it? I read that around the turn of the millenium and remember being deeply impressed.
Your Lawrentian beatitudes, in their power and ferocity, encapsulate and call forth that profoundly religious, prophetic aspect of DHL, which underpins his life and work but which many don't (or can't) recognise. It called to my mind as well for some reason a passage in Henry Miller - in 'Time of the Assasins', I think - where he has a vision of himself standing transfigured on a mountain top.
Your piece also has to me the air of a Credo or summing up. I was wondering, is this the last thing you intend to write about Lawrence or is there more to come?
It's come as both an exhortation and an admonishment to me, trapped as I am at the moment in the circuitry if the machine - the need to provide for my family having thrown me into a call centre and feeling the walls of depression closing in. Une saison en enfer.
We can only be redeemed from fire by fire though, as Eliot says. And there's a deep and essential difference between the fires of Hell and the redemptive, transformative Lawrentian fire you evoke at the end of your piece.
Yes, "Mount Analogue" was by Daumal. I have been deeply influenced by the thought and life of Daumal and Simone Weil. Imagine my surprise and delight when I found out that Weil, late in her life, prior to being exiled from France, would visit Daumal in the countryside to discuss metaphysics.
Miller is an interesting case-study, since he, I think, was fundamentally Lawrencian, but he fought hard against that side of himself, and kept only the most superficially Lawrencian bits. Aldous Huxley, in one of his essays, stated that Miller embodied what the masses thought of a Lawrencian figure, without embodying any of Lawrence's deeper traits. I tend to agree. If Lawrence didn't exist, and one had to create him anew, I would first of all look to Nikos Kazantzakis for inspiration.
As for what I will write in the future: I don't know. Lawrence will always be a lifetime companion for me, but I doubt I can say anything else that I have not already said. Currently, I write, but I write for myself; various note and jottings that are not fit for public consumption. I have explored the whole of the Western world and found a great, gaping hole, so I explored the South and East, and while there are bits here and there, there is a great lack as well. Certainly, one may gain inspiration from the Zhuangzi or the articles on crafts by Soetsu Yanagi, but there is little that truly flows with life. Maybe the Book of Life is waiting to be written, or maybe it cannot be written, but must be lived.
All I can offer you is the hope that just as Rimbaud's work as a merchant, by some accounts, lead to him achieving some sort of illumination, I hope that you can find some solace and illumination, and can find your way out of your current impasse.
It could be said that what you have described is a manifestation of what Jack Forbes the white mans Wetiko Psychosis which is described here:
http://www.awakeninthedream.com/undreaming-wetiko-introduction
It was/is also prophesized and portrayed in the mural titled An Epic of American Civilization painted by Jose Clemente Orozco in the library of Dartmouth University 1932-4. In fact this mural addressed the same themes as Lawrence especially in his prophetic novel The Plumed Serpent
Speaking of the cult of the dark gods this meme is now firmly entrenched in the White House where much of its agenda is controlled by the very dark opus dei cult, the founder of which was a full-blown sociopath.
Indeed the opus dei cult is a collective manifestation of his sociopathic character. The behind the scenes dark machinations of it are described in two recent books
OPUS by Gareth Gore in which the dark machinations are described in great detail. So too in the book STENCH by David Brock - the title Stench is a very accurate one word description of how the opus dei cult operates.
'Mount Analogue.' That's Rene Daumal, isn't it? I read that around the turn of the millenium and remember being deeply impressed.
Your Lawrentian beatitudes, in their power and ferocity, encapsulate and call forth that profoundly religious, prophetic aspect of DHL, which underpins his life and work but which many don't (or can't) recognise. It called to my mind as well for some reason a passage in Henry Miller - in 'Time of the Assasins', I think - where he has a vision of himself standing transfigured on a mountain top.
Your piece also has to me the air of a Credo or summing up. I was wondering, is this the last thing you intend to write about Lawrence or is there more to come?
It's come as both an exhortation and an admonishment to me, trapped as I am at the moment in the circuitry if the machine - the need to provide for my family having thrown me into a call centre and feeling the walls of depression closing in. Une saison en enfer.
We can only be redeemed from fire by fire though, as Eliot says. And there's a deep and essential difference between the fires of Hell and the redemptive, transformative Lawrentian fire you evoke at the end of your piece.
Yes, "Mount Analogue" was by Daumal. I have been deeply influenced by the thought and life of Daumal and Simone Weil. Imagine my surprise and delight when I found out that Weil, late in her life, prior to being exiled from France, would visit Daumal in the countryside to discuss metaphysics.
Miller is an interesting case-study, since he, I think, was fundamentally Lawrencian, but he fought hard against that side of himself, and kept only the most superficially Lawrencian bits. Aldous Huxley, in one of his essays, stated that Miller embodied what the masses thought of a Lawrencian figure, without embodying any of Lawrence's deeper traits. I tend to agree. If Lawrence didn't exist, and one had to create him anew, I would first of all look to Nikos Kazantzakis for inspiration.
As for what I will write in the future: I don't know. Lawrence will always be a lifetime companion for me, but I doubt I can say anything else that I have not already said. Currently, I write, but I write for myself; various note and jottings that are not fit for public consumption. I have explored the whole of the Western world and found a great, gaping hole, so I explored the South and East, and while there are bits here and there, there is a great lack as well. Certainly, one may gain inspiration from the Zhuangzi or the articles on crafts by Soetsu Yanagi, but there is little that truly flows with life. Maybe the Book of Life is waiting to be written, or maybe it cannot be written, but must be lived.
All I can offer you is the hope that just as Rimbaud's work as a merchant, by some accounts, lead to him achieving some sort of illumination, I hope that you can find some solace and illumination, and can find your way out of your current impasse.
Thank you Farasha 👍