This thread most certainly should be moved back to the Terrestrial. My blackened soul is afflicted by torment when I make the long pilgrimage to Spirit Paradise.
“A scholar said he could not read the Book of Mormon, so we shouldn’t be shocked that scholars say the papyri don’t translate and/or relate to the Book of Abraham. Doesn’t change anything. It’s ancient and historical.” ~ Hanna Seariac
"What has Athens to do with Salt Lake?" is a hat-tip to Tertullian's famous "What has Athens to do with Jerusalem?", which was an expression of a separatist, anti-Hellenic strand in early Christianity. This is consistent with the LDS talking point that Joseph Smith's restored gospel is purified from Hellenic elements. Yet Agromanticus is talking about how the discourse and practices of the LDS Church can be mapped on to pagan Athenian culture.
In any event, we know that Agromanticus cannot be a believing Mormon, because the statement that "all words are made up" cannot be reconciled with the existence of the Adamic language, a divine language revealed by God. He has also been reading anti-Mormon literature (Conan Doyle).
Is his growing numbness a refernce to the death of Socrates?
I can't make head nor tail of that mine thing. Mormons, eh?
Tom wrote:This thread most certainly should be moved back to the Terrestrial. My blackened soul is afflicted by torment when I make the long pilgrimage to Spirit Paradise.
Absolutely. Whether one enjoys or understands this, it is obviously a literary riffing on Mormon topics. You know the kind of thing that’s usually in the pinned Hall of Fame.
This forum is for topics other than and not connected to Moromonism.
From the Ernest L. Wilkinson Diaries: "ELW dreams he's spattered w/ grease. Hundreds steal his greasy pants."
Johannes wrote:I'm finding the satire quite well-encoded, although parts of it can be detected by the Nevermo eye.
Is this the sort of thing that you people talk about in the Celestial Room?
I don't know Johannes, but this is fascinating. The most interesting thing that ever happened to me in that room was when a relative of Leonard Arrington decided it wasn't logical to say no frivolity could exist in the Celestial Room, and proceeded to try to pinch the butt of a very devout TBM woman to prove his point.
No no Jaxon, before you can understand the issue of Cassius you must be able to to comprehend the meaning of Mopologetics. Of course it is a real word. Jaxon, all words are made up.
Certain clues in the narratives of both days suggest that our narrator is writing to us from the future. That includes refering to mopologetics as a, "neologism coined a generation ago to reference a specific activity and a specific class of individuals." I may be reading too much into the second, but the SITREP noting that our narrator has been moved to the Dream Mine but referencing it as the relief mine seems to pay homage to it's purpose more so than it's mythology which would support the idea of it fulfilling it's purpose in saving the Saints in the calamities that would proceed the second coming. It's unclear why at least Jaxon bears some rank, but it further suggests that whatever is taking place at the mine it is organized with a strong hierarchy akin to law enforcement or military rather than ecclesiastical in nature. That would suit a more theocratic setting such as may occur during the tribulations.
If so, and tying this into the Rosicrucians connection, more specifically The Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz, if the underlying theme plays out over the metanarrative of the approaching wedding of the Groom and Bride, what would be this "wedding" and how does it relate to Cassius?
Our narrator appears to be knowledgable of the workings of Cassius, and familiar with what - or better said, who - are apparently five pillars of said institution. If Abelard is a clue, our narrator need not be anti-COJCOLDS but perhaps a philosophical heretic. Perhaps an academic of the Sterling McMurrin variety, and his visionary self-discovery a result of taking to heart the advice that all truth is Mormon, and through this he has become engaged with the occult knowledge of the Rosicrucians towards his own exaltation. It would explain the homeopathics, and their apparent absurdity to his observers/interrogators/scribes. But could it really be a member of our Cassius faculty who is speaking to us from the future as from a dream? While there are candidates that come to mind whose hand can be sensed in the writing, the circumstance of the narrator at the beginning of day 1 is not that of the heretic but of the weary who has given all to the faith. He seems to be someone who has given his essence to something and what we have left is mostly rind. It would be unimaginable that Dr. Scratch, the good Reverend Kishkumen, or any of the other faculty would find themselves at the whim of the Brethren at the twilight of their mortality. Are we to understand from the title (and moksha's clue) that this is the destiny of Dr. Peterson? Other than failing to actually produce a magnum opus, it would seem his later years took him on quite a different journey than I would have predicted to arrive in this condition and with such views as he shares. Indeed, that would be quite a story. But if so, why would his interrogators need to do more than ask to get information from him on the so-called "Cassius Five"?
Other items that raise more questions than answers: The difference in numbers between the SITREP (#31415 and #926535) implies there is much taking place that we are not privy to through the narrator or glimpses into the other reporting. Perhaps the numbers hint at some other significance or code to be deciphered? Or simply there to put one onto the wrong scent? Or, perhaps a hint we should not assume what we read is coming to us in chronological order?
The Tarot album cover from day two it a hint of a sorts, but as to it's purpose as illumination to the narrative? I do not have a guess at this point.
The world is always full of the sound of waves..but who knows the heart of the sea, a hundred feet down? Who knows it's depth? ~ Eiji Yoshikawa
Also, the avatar Agromanticus comes from Trithemius' description of Georgius Sabellicus, a vainglorious fraud who claimed he could perform the miracles of Christ. It does mean "field/earth diviner," which would be not an altogether inappropriate allusion to Joseph Smith's activities.
"Petition wasn’t meant to start a witch hunt as I’ve said 6000 times." ~ Hanna Seariac, LDS apologist
The authorial voice interests me. It's a parodic version of a cranky and self-absorbed old man. The obvious assumption is that it's Professor Peterson, but the prose style is very different from DCP's. I'm inclined to think that a specific person is being satirised, but who? Maybe there is a clue in the classical learning being applied in surprising ways to draw parallels with Mormonism. I'm thinking... Hugh Nibley?
It's also clearly someone with a belief in homeopathy. Which prominent Mormon (or ex-Mormon) personalities are users of homeopathy?
I don't know Johannes, but this is fascinating. The most interesting thing that ever happened to me in that room was when a relative of Leonard Arrington decided it wasn't logical to say no frivolity could exist in the Celestial Room, and proceeded to try to pinch the butt of a very devout TBM woman to prove his point.