Hierogrammates, Briah and Yesod

Lee Berman · 13 Aug 2010, 15:50 · from 2010-August.txt.gz

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From: severiansola at hotmail.com (Lee Berman)
Date: Fri, 13 Aug 2010 11:50:36 -0400
Subject: (urth) Hierogrammates, Briah and Yesod
Message-ID: <SNT123-W17DBFBF03E8147AAB5E07BCF980 at phx.gbl>

>James Wynn- 

>Lee, As someone who has faced IMO not-always-fair-play from objectors to his 
>exegeses, this is just the way it is. Those most likely to give your 
>models and explanations the most careful consideration are also those 
>most likely to *hate* your models and explanations at a visceral as well 
>as rational level.

James, I appreciate the expression of kindness and understanding it is truly
appreciated. You know BotNS is surely my favorite work of mysterious art, but
there are other mysterious art pieces in a similar vein. And there are message 
boards devoted to them. I participate in a couple. I have found this sort of 
venue to be very productive in achieving satisfying interpretations which a
single mind, working alone, could not produce.

Naturally there is niceness and meanness on all these message boards. I have
found that the nice approach with open-mindedness, respectful communication
and fairness to new ideas is the most productive approach. Apologies if it 
sounds too hippie or New Age-ish but that's what has worked best for me.

However, I've found that the mean approach can be manipulated to produce results
also. As you say, the first, and most vigorous to speak up on a mean board will 
have the purpose of tearing down and rejecting new ideas and perhaps even making
people feel bad. But ignoring the intent and treating the attacks as inquiries of 
interest in a new idea does get a dialog going.

In the end there is rarely an acknowledged winner and loser. How could such a
think be judged anyway? It doesn't matter. It is like the sham wars and conflicts
that I think Severian goes through. What matters is not victory or defeat but the
effect of the conflict on the participants *and* observers. All can benefit and 
grow from the experience if the desire is there to do so.

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