(urth) Hierogrammates, Briah and Yesod
Lee Berman
severiansola at hotmail.com
Fri Aug 13 08:50:36 PDT 2010
>James Wynn-
>Lee, As someone who has faced IMO not-always-fair-play from objectors to his
>exegeses, this is just the way it is. Those most likely to give your
>models and explanations the most careful consideration are also those
>most likely to *hate* your models and explanations at a visceral as well
>as rational level.
James, I appreciate the expression of kindness and understanding it is truly
appreciated. You know BotNS is surely my favorite work of mysterious art, but
there are other mysterious art pieces in a similar vein. And there are message
boards devoted to them. I participate in a couple. I have found this sort of
venue to be very productive in achieving satisfying interpretations which a
single mind, working alone, could not produce.
Naturally there is niceness and meanness on all these message boards. I have
found that the nice approach with open-mindedness, respectful communication
and fairness to new ideas is the most productive approach. Apologies if it
sounds too hippie or New Age-ish but that's what has worked best for me.
However, I've found that the mean approach can be manipulated to produce results
also. As you say, the first, and most vigorous to speak up on a mean board will
have the purpose of tearing down and rejecting new ideas and perhaps even making
people feel bad. But ignoring the intent and treating the attacks as inquiries of
interest in a new idea does get a dialog going.
In the end there is rarely an acknowledged winner and loser. How could such a
think be judged anyway? It doesn't matter. It is like the sham wars and conflicts
that I think Severian goes through. What matters is not victory or defeat but the
effect of the conflict on the participants *and* observers. All can benefit and
grow from the experience if the desire is there to do so.
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