Re: Estragon & Vladimir

Diego Dell'Era (dellerad@sinectis.com.ar)
Fri, 20 Mar 1998 18:04:30 -0800

Scottie wrote:
---
 I'm intrigued that the two wordiest posts in recent times should be
about a way of thinking that ostensibly devalues the whole idea of
verbal communication.on.
---

Does the final ".on." mean you've just turned the fan, sat back and are
waiting for the zen posts to hit it :) ?

I'm intrigued, too, that you should be ironic (if I'm not
misunderstanding you). In a recent post you pointed out that
---
In the end meaning - MEANING - will need words to define it.
---

So there's no contradiction in discussing Zen's meaning and adhering to
its methods as there isn't contradiction in painting (a way that implies
that words might be insufficient, as Zen does) and giving a picture a
meaning with words. It's just like discussing music, you don't need to
be a musician to contribute to the discussion (though I invariably turn
to whistling). 

Regarding Zen as "a way of thinking that ostensibly devalues the whole
idea of verbal communication", I don't think it is self-contradictory.
In fact, it probably uses a meta-language made of paradoxes to show how
contradictory language is, what a dream the world is. Very nice, very
buddhist. 

And if Zen IS self-contradictory, it nevertheless might prove useful.
Linguistics and philosophy were self-contradictory on the point of
verbal communication until recent times, seeing -parole- as a subsidiary
to -langue-, but that lead to the latter understanding of their
interaction (if anyone understands Derrida). Moreover, Literature often
devalues the use of communication (you know it better than me, Godot,
wearing that beckettish name :) ). Literature even claimed that it
trascended literature.

Just my opinion.


PS: Fie upon me and this off-topic post! I went back to The Books to say
something OB Salinger. 

1. Have you noticed how close Boo Boo's way to ease Lionel's pain is to
Zoey's? So indirect, so wordy and yet never indifferent to the other
person's pain. What do you all think about it?
2. Re: Hats. Boo Boo wore the same hat non-stop during three summers.
Meaning?