Re: [CH] first rocoto
Michael Blakeley (mike@blakeley.com)
Wed, 13 May 1998 22:13:42 -0700
> From: John Lilly <John.C.Lilly-1@ou.edu>
> Subject: [CH] first rocoto
>
> All of a
> sudden, the heat started to build. I could feel the spirit of El Grande
> flowing through my body. I was on fire, a burning sacrifice.
So much nicer than a catacomb of cattle or random strangers....
Anyone read Lawson's book on Greek religion? Yeah, I know you're not
supposed to bring up religion, politics, or sex in polite company. As if
this is polite company. Anyway, the rest of y'all are _always_ bringing up
sex :-0.
Lawson basically says that the ancient Greek idea, which he's documented as
still alive in Greek Orthodox Christianity, is that men achieve communion
with the God(s) by "dissolving" physically (i.e., dying and decomposing, or
being cremated). This allows the soul to travel into the invisible
universe, where the gods and the dead dwell. "Dissolving" is a verb that
includes decomposing, burning, etc. and is as close as Greek comes to the
idea of complete physical destruction.
Knowing the average Greek palate, I think a pimento would suffice. :-)
So when you chomp down on that rocoto, or that red savina that I'm hoping
will set on my newly-flowering plant, and your tongue feels like a burnt
sacrifice, it really is. You're sending your tongue on a quick roundstrip
to say "howdy" to El Grande (or maybe La Granda?).
Exercise for whoever's feeling up to it: compare and contrast with Aldous
Huxley's "Doors of Perception" and "Heaven and Hell."
--
Michael Blakeley mike@blakeley.com <http://www.blakeley.com/>
Performance Analysis for Internet Technologies