Another one of those names I hear of a lot but have no idea what his story is. But I have a dose of trust for the sages (and love me some big pictures) so that raises his importance on my radar
He was the leader of the perennialists or traditionalists, who wrote about the transcendent unity of religions, but from the inside, as men who actually belong to specific traditions. Guénon in particular wrote critiques of the modern world, studies on symbols, and on pure metaphysics. I think the stuff he did on metaphysics is the best he wrote.
Interesting distinction. Speaking of Nietzsche, you might really like his first book, The Death of Tragedy. Your dry/wet distinction could be a good description of his Appolonian (dry, lawful, rigid, heroic, 'yang' energy) versus Dionysian (wet, subversive, ironic, passionate, ecstatic, 'yin' energy) it's a short read and his early works read very differently then Zarathustra. I'm reading it now and find it really refreshing.
I love the Birth of Tragedy. It may even have been the first Nietzsche book I read and it's one I love to re-read (despite his later dislike of it). I can see a bit of a mapover between the Apollonian and the Dionysian but not entirely. While the Dionysian is obviously drenched, it's less obvious that the Apollonian is. The Apollonian thinks it isn't and that is I think one of the millennia long mis-perceptions of Apollonians. Socrates may have talked all logic and reason but at the end of the day the man was a zealot for virtue and died for it. That's as moist as any Dionysian I've ever met!
Haven't had much chance to read your stuff lately, glad I took the minute!
I prefer the term 'rapture' to...I guess, in this case, 'enmoistened'? But each to their own :p
Also give old Nietschy a chance, there's a lot of wisdom in TSZ, in fact it actually parallels the Zen parable of the bull somewhat. Maybe see it as a true test of ego-less-ness, to survive it without succumbing to egotistical megalomania <|8^)
Rapture is certainly a cleaner term! I like the moistened one because it works as a nice opposite to dry but also it carries a negative rhetorical value which I think is (helpfully) provocative.
You might be right about TSZ. I think I *might* be mature enough not to get drunk on it now. I like to think of my soul as barren enough that neither ego-lessness nor egomania can take root but that's its own form of delusion I'm guessing!
That's a nice categorization. Reminds me a lot of Guenon, who is a sage in that map, writing about incredibly big picture stuff.
Another one of those names I hear of a lot but have no idea what his story is. But I have a dose of trust for the sages (and love me some big pictures) so that raises his importance on my radar
He was the leader of the perennialists or traditionalists, who wrote about the transcendent unity of religions, but from the inside, as men who actually belong to specific traditions. Guénon in particular wrote critiques of the modern world, studies on symbols, and on pure metaphysics. I think the stuff he did on metaphysics is the best he wrote.
Interesting distinction. Speaking of Nietzsche, you might really like his first book, The Death of Tragedy. Your dry/wet distinction could be a good description of his Appolonian (dry, lawful, rigid, heroic, 'yang' energy) versus Dionysian (wet, subversive, ironic, passionate, ecstatic, 'yin' energy) it's a short read and his early works read very differently then Zarathustra. I'm reading it now and find it really refreshing.
I love the Birth of Tragedy. It may even have been the first Nietzsche book I read and it's one I love to re-read (despite his later dislike of it). I can see a bit of a mapover between the Apollonian and the Dionysian but not entirely. While the Dionysian is obviously drenched, it's less obvious that the Apollonian is. The Apollonian thinks it isn't and that is I think one of the millennia long mis-perceptions of Apollonians. Socrates may have talked all logic and reason but at the end of the day the man was a zealot for virtue and died for it. That's as moist as any Dionysian I've ever met!
Haven't had much chance to read your stuff lately, glad I took the minute!
I prefer the term 'rapture' to...I guess, in this case, 'enmoistened'? But each to their own :p
Also give old Nietschy a chance, there's a lot of wisdom in TSZ, in fact it actually parallels the Zen parable of the bull somewhat. Maybe see it as a true test of ego-less-ness, to survive it without succumbing to egotistical megalomania <|8^)
Rapture is certainly a cleaner term! I like the moistened one because it works as a nice opposite to dry but also it carries a negative rhetorical value which I think is (helpfully) provocative.
You might be right about TSZ. I think I *might* be mature enough not to get drunk on it now. I like to think of my soul as barren enough that neither ego-lessness nor egomania can take root but that's its own form of delusion I'm guessing!
As ever, great to hear from you Kingston.