tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20433842.post3960999687462409022..comments2024-03-07T12:57:35.296-05:00Comments on Varieties of Unreligious Experience: The Large GlassConrad H. Rothhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01916542057749474124noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20433842.post-77314449362607917062007-07-05T20:21:00.000-04:002007-07-05T20:21:00.000-04:00Certainly in my experience - "spending twelve str...Certainly in my experience - "spending twelve straight hours" with anyone, male or female, is a rare event (unless it's twelve hours spent floating down a river, looking up at the sky)<BR/><BR/>And the only non riparian, non-sexual time that I can ever remember - was almost 30 years ago with a young painter/sculptor I had just met named <A HREF="http://www.kohvarillaguild.com/ata.htm" REL="nofollow">Jeff Varilla </A>.<BR/><BR/>Each of us had been through the galleries of the Art Institute so many times that we could recall each painting side by side along the walls -- and so we spent the entire night until daybreak comparing our mutual memories.<BR/>It was exhilarating -- and exhausting -- and I never did it again with anyone (but then -- I've also never again met anyone else who could do it.)<BR/><BR/>So I'm thinking - that this 12-hour day between C. and G. might end up being a very memorable -- and maybe even once-in-a-lifetime - experience for each of them -- and due to the bizarre nature of internet relationships -- I probably know as much about each of them as they know about each other.chris millerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09575033275184403015noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20433842.post-61757517606187338332007-07-04T12:49:00.000-04:002007-07-04T12:49:00.000-04:00Conrad (and Paul whom I don't know): isn't it weir...Conrad (and Paul whom I don't know): isn't it weird that I got the same impression as Paul about the relationship between you and that friend of yours not long ago? Now I have learned from experience, I won't leave a harsh comment -it is not my business.<BR/>And I am wrong, anyway.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20433842.post-8963950024866695992007-07-03T11:50:00.000-04:002007-07-03T11:50:00.000-04:00Conrad & Gawain: I certainly wouldn't presume to p...Conrad & Gawain: I certainly wouldn't presume to psychoanalyze . . . a mere reminiscence prompted by the poking of a personal vexation.<BR/><BR/>It sounds like a very interesting visit, and I was quite pleased to read the account. It's fascinating to see other aspects of those we know only through their words.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20433842.post-80747550848804057492007-07-03T11:03:00.000-04:002007-07-03T11:03:00.000-04:00Paul, obviously I cannot speak for your Mozartian ...Paul, obviously I cannot speak for your Mozartian friend, but in this case ego was not involved; Gawain was not criticising me, insulting me, or asserting 'intellectual dominance'. In fact he was highly--almost embarrassingly--complimentary about my writing.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20433842.post-66474951316711373632007-07-03T09:58:00.000-04:002007-07-03T09:58:00.000-04:00gawain: I was particularly peeved because I'd neve...gawain: I was particularly peeved because I'd never make such a claim either way. They both have their peaks and troughs of transcendence and banality.<BR/><BR/>My appreciation for each of them has certainly deepened over the years, but I'd no sooner pick Aphrodite over Athena than Athena over Aphrodite.<BR/><BR/>I interpreted it as a (largely unconscious) conversational gambit, an intellectually unscrupulous way to assert psychological control and prop up an embattled ego. "Really, you think so? Well, you're young." is hardly the basis for an equal exchange of ideas.<BR/><BR/>One thing I've learned "as I've gotten older" is that I'm far more interested in finding peers than in exerting intellectual dominance.<BR/><BR/>Wolfie was certainly an egotistical little monster, but happily I don't have to have him over for dinner to enjoy to his music.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20433842.post-51691205167851156212007-07-03T09:02:00.000-04:002007-07-03T09:02:00.000-04:00Purcell was pretty bloody good too. (G, young man,...Purcell was pretty bloody good too. (G, young man, it was Beethoven that had the hearing problem). Life begins at 40... so I am only 17, in some respects that is the best age, one feels little different at 57. Same old stirrings, just become more illusory! Don’t kid yourself either way. C, expect a visit from the Bodleian.Roberthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00533678970029159873noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20433842.post-42643233783400747362007-07-03T03:30:00.000-04:002007-07-03T03:30:00.000-04:00C, old man: you're overdoing the age thing. and ...C, old man: you're overdoing the age thing. and besides, where is -- the parting punch? :)<BR/><BR/>paul: i didnt get mozart till i was in mid 30's. but i still would not dare suggest he was better than Bach. he certainly would not hear any such thing himself.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20433842.post-8060317696641128432007-07-03T00:30:00.000-04:002007-07-03T00:30:00.000-04:00"He says that the Varieties reveal the interests o..."He says that the Varieties reveal the interests of a younger man, not yet weathered by life."<BR/><BR/>Hrm. A few years back, on the way to a Bach concert, a friend of M-'s told me that I'd understand that Mozart was far better than Bach "when I got older."<BR/><BR/>Some people are very much tied the age that they are, and the psychological weight of it seems to inspire much balderdash.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com