15,634. RUDIMENTS, pt. 1,307

RUDIMENTS, pt. 1,307

(the emperor of nothing, pt. NINE) 

I'm the kind of person for whom

certain questions that would mean

nothing to anyone else somehow

or other consume me. For instance,

is there a connection between the

work 'malign,' - as when you talk

ill of someone or talk them down,

especially when they're not present,

and the word 'malingerer,' which

in other words is someone who

hangs about maliciously or with

bad intent. They would seem, 

visually anyway, to have common 

roots and bases  -  though I'm not

sure of that at all, except for the

Latin word 'mal' - rooted in 'evil.'

That would kind of cover each

case. Anyway, it's of no real

import.

-

I often think of words - somehow

it's easy for me, and strings of them

come. When this Jack Stove fellow

began telling me how it's all 'words,' 

the whole world we inhabit, (in that 

barn-fire scene) something clicked.

Christopher Columbus himself could

have entered no clearer sailing than

that. Stove had hit on it! Words. One

Mind. Concepts. Everything after

that was just clear. Perfectly. But

I couldn't really communicate that

back to him. One of the problems

with conclusions is that they're only

clear to the person concluding - all

the small items, pitfalls, experiences,

and undertakings that go into making

up 'conclusions' are, at base, totally 

personal things. THAT conclusion, 

if you follow the logic out, undermines

the idea of One Mind, by which Stove

claimed all things are shared. It turns

into a conundrum, like when you were

a kid and you start asking yourself 'How

do I know, when I see, say, 'yellow' that

that same 'yellow' is what you see when

you too say 'yellow.' It's stuff like that

that drives me crazy.

-

By those processes, it's hard to pin

anything down to any form of certainty.

Everything is always in flux and facing

change. I didn't say anything back to him

when I was there, but what I thought of

was to tell him how that is  -  everything

changing. His transference, my transference,

or anyone's transference, in terms of, say,

his firewood, is easy to explain, but I was 

too shy or nervous to get that started. I

think the 'transformation' of matter

is one of the greatest miracle-processes 

of Life as we know it  -  It's a completed

and constantly undergoing circle of

perfection, probably something that's

inherent in then very factor of what 

we call Life. Even normal biblically, 

and in religious and/or spiritual terms 

that have unknowingly become very 

common to us  -  'Transubstantiation,' 

for instance, a concept heisted by the 

'Catholic' Church (the WORD 'catholic' 

simply means 'a little bit of this, a little 

bit of that'), it's a catchall phrase to 

cover all the concepts and ideas from 

ancient religions which long-predated 

westernized, secular, society and which 

WE have the nerve to call pagan cults

and tribal and primitive 'religions', by

our own stupidities. All 'Gods' have

always been Nature Gods, or War

Gods. That's just the way it is, always

has been. His idea of One Mind, also

an old concept in terms, wasn't any

new breakthrough in terms of human

thinking or philosophy, but I was

nonetheless surprised when he made

mention  -  I began wondering how

deeper any of this may have gone

with him, and if we should discuss

such. I backed off because I couldn't

see any evidences of learning or of

research in the sections of the house

I saw. 

-

Humans have always used terms and

ideas that 'suggested' the idea of the

transformation of matter. I've already

mentioned transubstantiation, and

here add the phrase 'dust to dust, ashes

to ashes,' which cover the same concept.

That 'firewood' that over time transforms

from soil to tree, to timber to cutting to

growth, to log, into 'fire' and back into

the ether, first as gas, and as heat, and 

then again as cinder and back to the soil. 

That's a pretty complete, total cycle of 

being. And it reflects a life cycle perfectly.

Look at any cemetery of old (not so much

now, as many cemeteries have become

just drawers and shelves; losing the

cemetery feel and getting all cheap

and glitzy with marble and gilt).

-

I wondered, if I had brought any of 

that up, how he would have reacted  -  

furthering the conversation with ideas 

of his own? Or, rather, a complete fog 

(also a neat transformation of matter, 

fog is) that he wouldn't have grasped. 

I realized there was lots yet to find 

out from visiting him. Recluse? 

Local hillbilly? Or smart and

schooled man?