We are living in what the Greeks called the “kairos” – the right moment – for a “metamorphosis of the gods,” of the fundamental principles and symbols –Jung (p.797)
According to A. J. Ayer “we are authorized to have faith in our procedure [i.e. scientific method], so long as it carries out its function, which is that of predicting future experience and thus control our environment” – it has invalidated the sciences insofar as, in trying to control the environment wtih the avowed aim of creating an Eden and kill death an dpain, the sciences and the technology based on them have produced a hellish chaos… which is supposed to be the opposite of the place where we intended to go (p.797)
Sciences are but myths … Progress is nothing but a myth to the bourgeoisie –Sorel (pp.797; 934=endnote 3) … apparent comfort to privileged minority (p.803)
there cannot be a perfect structural fit between [digital] conceptual maps and the [analog] territory … adaequatio intellectus et rei is principially impossible (p.946=footnote 39) … essential problem is not in the precision of the map but in mistaking the map for territory which buddhism calls avidya (ignorance). A myth/metanarrative that acknowledges itself to be a myth/metanarrative (authentic myth –Sorel) is therefore better than a myth concealing such a thing (p.798) and can serve the purpose of Wittgenstein's ladder “used to accede to the place where it can be left behind” (pp.798-9). Ignorance means ignorance of being conditioned by metanarratives (ibid.) “Counter-ideology” (Sorel).
pseudo-postmodernism of petit récits and imperfect deconstruction/relativization (p.798) being not radical enough (still keeping the project of technology, modernity, private ownership and capitalism as natural/taken-for-granted, mistaking nomos - convention for physis - nature) (pp. 798; 941=footnote 19)
Mount Kailash as the sacred center of Bön, Indian and other traditions (pp- 799 etc.)
Lila-telos of evolution (p.800)
Kalpa, 14 manvataras, 3 or 4 yugas (krityayuga/satyayuga, tretayuga, dwaparayuga, kaliyuga) , in Europe ages (golden, silver, bronze, iron age). No such eras in taoism (Lao-tzu: pure simplicity → order not harmony → loss of reality of essential life → straying from Tao; cynical eruditionm pretending arrival at wisdom etc.) (p. 802)
taoism: “complete people” (making their essential nature return to nonbeing) vs. “mundane people” (fame, honor, ego,…missing key to Tao)
A.Watts: reverse law / law of inverted effect. Trying to go south yet going actually north… going to create technological Eden yet creating a ecological catastrophe (pp. 803n.)
circular vision of becoming (p.800) Heraclitus, Stoics etc.
traditional degenerative conception of human evolution and history (gradual dev. of avidya/lethe); vs. the ideology of progress and evolution
Figure-ground mind (gestalt) ~ secondary-process-only limited mind (Freud) (p.804)
architecture of delusion: selection – neglecting the rest – indifference – blindness – selected perceived as completeness (p.804)
story of blind man and elephant
incapacity to grasp the unity of the coin of life (p.805) Destroying the whole [coin] while trying to get rid of what is unpleasant [one side of the coin] “when an arc annoys us, we aim at it our powerful technological weapons, destroying the circuit of which they are a part, setting fire to the tree in front of us, we burn the forest in which we stand, bringing about our own destruction”
Four Noble Truths transferred to the current ecological crisis (pp.805-6)
story of the rainfall of maddening water (p.806)
Erich Fromm: our society as a whole is lacking sanity, “Just as there is a folie à deux there is a folie à millions”; Blaise Pascal: state of mind of normal individuals can be compared to a psychological disorder (p.806)
Goethe, The Sorcerer's Apprentice: at some time we lose control of the charm and wreak havoc on ourselves (p.807) … indian mythology - Matariswan –> myth of Prometheus (pp.807-8) , Yanomani: “eternal fire will bring you torments” (p.944=endnote 27) … c.f. D.Quinn's Ishmael! … Schumacher: people of the forward stampede vs home-comers (Schumacher)(p.944=endnote 28)
biblical story of the tower of Babel - attempt to arrive at paradise though building buy means of linear intelligence, fragmentary vision and delusion –producing confusion ending up in a disaster (pp.808-9)
fable of Golem - homunculus, letters aleph-mem-thau creating “emeth=truth”, Golem growing, then removing the aleph creating “meth=death”. the mud from dissolving Golem killing the Hasid who created the homunculus (p.809)