Percy-L: Literary, Religious, Scientific, and Philosophical Discussion of Walker Percy

[Lauren Stacy Berdy <lauren.stacy.berdy AT gmail.com>]

Yes, Janet I saw your comments.
( once again I am apologizing to the group that I am off the on the side of the road  and not onto the particular thread/ tangent ) however, I mean well..................

" a fault in the soul's terrain"
this is the phase that I had trouble with..........
and your explanation or examples didn't get me over to the to the other bank .
Intellectual and insightful explanations and other examples from Dr. Percy writings just won't do here or father Smith in Thanatos  etc.

He was and we are still trying to figure out how a persons intentions change?

Leroy is his kind of example. Leroy has different meanings for different things that are cast in front of him.
"But the terror comes from his goodness  and lies underneath."
and here is the big problem.
How do you catch yourself thinking about your actions?
I "mean to do something means I intend to do it...... BUT something happens the self trips over itself it gets caught up in  conditoning. ( runaway loop)
Leroy has a previous perception about black people.....his choices are determined by the totality of significance  at that moment.
Percy says that ordinary he is good goodness resides inside of him
But then what happens in another moment he abstracts and shifts to thought?  How does the bad intention get modified???????????????????????????
the point is that one acts thru intention and there is no seperation of the mental and the psychical. He would fix a tire for Tom but not for "bantus" "the other"

you see I believe with all my heart that Percy was trying to get at how we make new meanings..........the brain holds on to the old meanings,how does the shift happen?
its not about choice it happens with perception and realization and that changes the reality..........social change requires a different totally accepted meaning. Like autocracy to democracy. Meanings become fixed hence all the tribes in the book. It's meaningless conflict

" some fault in the soul's terrrain?????"  I don't believe so I often wonder if Percy did?

I am sorry that this is messy with thoughts but it is a messy conscientiousness isn't it?

Lauren Stacy Berdy
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LaurenStacyBerdy.com

On 7/15/2014 8:06 AM, janetcantor37 AT yahoo.com wrote:

Lauren,

Did you see my comments on this section? It answers your question about where the terror came from paragraph.

Did that help you?

Janet

I apologize for not responding to the specific excellent inquires that have been placed into out laps . I am looking forward  to reading the responses. 
If I can I will add something into the pot. ( perhaps I am not playing by the rules? I am sure......... someone will let me know)

I am re reading the book  electronically.

I don't know how to find the specific chapter. Yes, it is a sad commentary on my technical skills. I have all the other books save for LITR which I lent out long ago.......
All of this is to say that I might be a head of the reading group
again, I am sure someone will let me know.

Recently I came upon a paragraph in LITR  P 119
 I  wanted to explore with others?
 I am not sure how to understand it?
However, I believe that it is important in understanding and not only Dr. More as well as his creator Dr. Percy .


We are in the " the little Napoleon" with Leroy and the Tom.( again in my version page 119)

and I quote
"Where did the terror come from? Not from the violence; violence gives release from terror. Not from Leroy's wrongness, for if he were altogether wrong , an evil man,the matter would be simple and no cause for terror. No, it came from Leroy's goodness, that he is a decent, sweet natured man who would help you if you needed help. go out of his way and bind up a strangers wounds. No, the terror comes from the goodness and what lies beneath, some fault in the soul's terrain so deep that all is well on top, evil grins like good, but something shears and tears deep down and the very ground stirs beneath one's feet."

I haven't formed a question although a few are quietly bubbling up. Don Giovanni is about evil and Dr. More knows many of the arias.
I believe this is part of the scented trail that Percy is leading us on away from the  settled campsite of how we see the very ground that we walk on?

Once again thank you for this exploration






  

"

-- 
Lauren Stacy Berdy

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