Monday, August 16, 2010

Michael's canoe tips over the falls


Welcome to the Dark Side, Michael. Or perhaps we should say, "Welcome to the desert of the Real".

4 comments:

Aaron Traas said...

"Welcome to the desert of the Real"

I can't think of a more apt phrase for the plight of those who actually believe what the church has always taught.

BillyHW said...

Women shouldn't vote either.

tubbs said...

"the lady doth protest too much"
There was a brief close-up of Voris' face is this video. Is he suffering from lipodystrophy?

Anonymous said...

Strange that I saw a rerun of "The Matrix" on tv just this past weekend, in which that "Welcome" quote was memorably uttered. It's an interesting film.

Then I stop by the Picnic and catch this post, and curiouser about the origin of this memorable phrase (and thinking postmodernism, Lacan or Lyotard or one of those dudes -- pals of my colleagues here in Higher Education), I find it's from Jean Baudrillard.

http://www.stanford.edu/dept/HPS/Baudrillard/Baudrillard_Simulacra.html

There's even a study guide from some bright young art historian (I'm guessing) about the Matrix and Baudrillard.

http://transcriptions.english.ucsb.edu/archive/courses/warner/english122tg/MartixBaudrillard.html

All the pomo trash leaves me a little cold and as someone who spends too much time on a computer already I am little interested in "virtual" reality....I think of Abba Anthony, the Desert Father -- i.e., "actual desert" monk -- whose quote that follows has had special meaning for people in my life who at one time or another have gone nuts or had people around them go nuts. Nuts in a serious way.

'Abba Anthony said, "A time is coming when men will go mad, and when they see someone who is not mad, they will attack him saying, "You are mad, you are not like us." '

Perhaps I'm a postmodern sap but I liked that in the Matrix even though "the mind makes it real" (as when the character Neo is shot inside the Matrix and dies in real life too) the professed love of the lovely "Trinity" is what "re-minds" him that the Matrix is not real, and he comes back to life, "beginning to believe" as Morpheus puts it.

'Abba Anthony said, “I no longer fear God, but I love Him. For love casts out fear.” (Jn 4:18)'

Fear of the Lord a good place to start however, on our way to the desert. I'm not entirely sure I know what Aaron's comment means but it's interesting to ponder.

Tom