Passing it on

[_mercygirl_]

I've been trying to figure out whether it's ethical to excerpt this passage that a friend of mine wrote--with or without any more information about him.  I'm stumped though, so I'm just prefacing it here with the declaration that I quote him with the best of intentions.  I like how it's written, and I identify with it quite a lot

Comments

How can this person meditate without an attention span?

[talentedmrraber]

Sorry, for some reason this passage provoked me to write a fairly harsh critique. I don't mean to offend, although you say you identify with it. I also identify with it, which is probably why I felt compelled to subject it to some unflattering scrutiny. You know, inner demons

Re: How can this person meditate without an attention span?

[_mercygirl_]

Don't be concerned that I'd be offended! I'm delighted, rather, to have a thoughtful (and may I say, also tastefully written) response.

My quibbles are few, but they are: While I imagine the person he describes as, yes, probably guilty of a little more introspection or self-involvement than is generally suitable, I think that person is obsessed with immersion...it's just a serial immersion, or a multiple immersion, rather than a singular one. I think anyone who would argue that such a kind of immersion is inattentive risks missing much him/herself as a result of a scope too narrow

Re: How can this person meditate without an attention span?

[talentedmrraber]

You're right that multiple or serial immersion is a valid course of action... in fact, in our crazy mixed-up modern world, it is the necessary course, what with our standing obligation to bring all institutions and philosophies before the bar of individual conscience. (i.e., we can't take any larger projects for granted, the way you could take the Catholic Church for granted in ye olden dayes). Naturally in these circumstances we will be somewhat fixated on the workings of the individual mind. So, we're thrown into a vertiginous mise-en-abyme: our mental activity can only be understood by reference to larger structures which can only be understood via our own mental activity. Waah! OH NOES!!!!

I'm not sure I agree with your diagnosis of this particular iCasanova, but that's kind of trivial.