Chapter 51: 491-498
Page 493
his Soul's off God knows where
mind-body dualism [1]
and out-of-body travel.The mind-body dichotomy is the starting point of Dualism, and became conceptualized in the form as it is currently known in the Western world in René Descartes philosophy, but also appeared in pre-Aristotelian concepts. wikipedia.
Descartes is a philosopher whom Thomas Pynchon has expressed negativity about in other works. See Against the Day.
what, in thy Absence, is doing the Staring for thee?
the philosophical "problem" of self-consciousness? With the mind off elsewhere, what is looking out of the mind's eyes?
what Verger of the Temple of the Self...?
verg·er (vûrjr)
NOUN:
Chiefly British
One who carries the verge or other emblem of authority before a scholastic, legal, or religious dignitary in a procession.
One who takes care of the interior of a church and acts as an attendant during ceremonies. American Heritage Dictionary
Page 494
Really? 'The Black Dog'?... Things...Never Said."
The Black Dog was Winston Churchill's name for the massive depression that sometimes took him over.
Page 495
of a certain farm animal?
a pig of course,perhaps Pynchon's favorite animal [see V.and other works] which, along with the Black Dog, is one of the Things That Are Never Said....and counterpointed to the Names of the Holy Trinity,"names most likely to matter".
Page 496
Sensorium
The term originally enters English from the Late Latin in the mid-17th century, from the stem sens- (see: sense).The term sensorium (plural: sensoria) refers to the sum of an organism's perception, the "seat of sensation" where it experiences and interprets the environments within which it lives.
In earlier use it referred, in a broader sense, to the brain as the mind's organ (Oxford English Dictionary 1989). In medical, psychological, and physiological discourse it has come to refer to the total character of the unique and changing sensory environments perceived by individuals. These include the sensation, perception, and interpretation of information about the world by senses, perceptual systems and minds (MedTerms 2001). wikipedia
Philadelphia, where he has just been elected Dog Catcher
Philadelphia is like Washington, D.C. at this time, where "rival packs of
wild dogs" existed in Against the Day at a later time. Against the Day Dogs rule?
another dog allusion which feeds the idea that "man's best friend" is almost like the humans in Pynchon's work.
"I'm a Dog Person"--Dixon, page 495
whim-wham
WHIM-WHAM- A word from around the 16th century from which the word Whimsical was derived.
A whimsical decorative object or device.
A fantastic creation of the brain or hand. whim-wham
Page 497
Cavern beneath the Earth....Ceilings! high as Heaven!
A hallowed place? Notice how large the space becomes immediately after the entrance arch that is only 6 yards by four feet. Reminds one of the rooms that are larger inside than out. Perhaps "inner space" and hallowed underground spaces [lower than lowlands; depths that had "no names" in Gravity's Rainbow] contain--or could contain--much more than we think?
Pencil of Time
Compare knives of the seasons from GR.
tears of the Rocks
And what follows. All [the awareness of mortality] is even older than the Indians.
Mason, the melancholic one, looks around as if "furnishing a room"
Dixon, however, feels "oppressed".
form of Life
An important phrase, concept, in Wittgenstein's later work, Philosophical Investigations.
"This Complicated Form of Life: Essays on Wittgenstein" by Newton Garver online at Questia.
Ogham
Ogham (Old Irish Ogam or Oġam) is an Early Medieval alphabet used primarily to represent the "Old Irish" language.
Ogham
Monology
monology. n. soliloquy; monopoly of the conversation. monologian, monologist, n. monologic(al), a. monologize, v.i.. © From the Hutchinson Encyclopaedia. ...
[2]
Its Pages are the Days turning, Unscrolling, as a Pilgrim's itinerary map
The Service is Text (like the Good Book) and the Pages are the "Days Turning"...Cf. the 'day' in Against the Day, passim.
Is Mason's vision positive in TRPs worldview or not so, given his seeming embrace of death, mortality?
Page 498
Eldritch Powers
The Eldritch Beings Beyond Comprehension is a term given to great and mighty nameless things that rest below the rungs of reality in some dark and forgotten place, perhaps in the Nastiest Planes or the depths of The Underdeep, with great powers and innumerable intellect, The Eldritch Beings Beyond Comprehension live for millions of years.[3]
