Gavin,
gavin gee-clough wrote:
> SOM privileges language over reality; the abstract over the real. not
> the other way round.
Well, no. The presumption that statements are true to the extent that
they correspond to reality, is privileging reality over language. Or
that scientific theories are to be judged by the extent they approximate
to "the way things really are". The pragmatist, on the other hand, says
that "the way things really are" is a chimera.
>
> when you are reading - immersed in reading - you are experiencing a
> *reality* that the author and your own mind have in tandem constructed.
You are sharing concepts, which are pieces of language.
>
> the words are the bond between you and the author. words, per se, are
> abstract. words crafted into art become something bigger and more real -
> more immediate - than the 'words' themselves.
Percepts are also abstract, though in the end, I think one needs to
dissolve the abstract/concrete distinction as well. Think
shorthand/longhand instead, maybe.
>
> experience in the present is the terrain. reflection upon experience
> (thought) produces maps.
Except there is no pure experience in the present. Experience is always
modulated by the static patterns one brings to the moving finger of DQ.
Without the patterns there would be no experience. Reflection on one
stream of experience, is just another stream of experience.
This is, to be sure, normal consciousness, which the mystic says can be
transcended. In that case, though, the word "experience" becomes
problematic.
>
> mysticism and deconstructing (ie analysing) seem antithetical to me.
> perhaps what you mean is that deconstruction is a preparatory step. that
> is, like zamm, it is an intellectual path towards realizing the limits
> of intellect?
Yes. Deconstruction is what Buddhists call a skillful means (upaya), as
long as one does not become attached to it. Eventually, it has to
consume itself as well.
Caveat: The above are perhaps overly glib pragmatist responses, as I see
it, but sounding more certain than I really am about all this.
- Scott
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