Carl writes:
> I am also amazed by the guffaws that RWE's
"transparent eyeball" elicits.
Many people have a blind spot when it comes to Emerson. I once made a presentation at the Queer Center in New York about how the right of same-sex marriage flows directly from Emerson through James to contemporary thinking.
> I can't imagine a more compelling image for a
healthy negation of the ego.
But for most leftists it is the *feeding* and *strengthening* of the ego that is paramount. Pleasure today. Pleasure tomorrow. Pleasure forever.
> Since RWE's message of "self-reliance" is often
misinterpreted as being the forerunner of today's
"greed is good," it is important to focus on the
*loss* of self that RWE speaks of along with his
feeling of being part of something greater:
Emerson has always seemed to me one of the most misunderstood of American writers.
> "... all mean egotism vanishes. I become a
transparent eye-ball; I am nothing; I see all; the
currents of the Universal Being circulate through me;
I am part or particle of God."
Very New England Buddhist.
> but I think RWE's transparent eyeball could see the
way to a socialistic future for the U.S.
It definitely is. Homegrown socialism. The problem is that such a vision requires more sacrifice than leftists are willing/able to make. So we are stuck with capitalism.
Brian Dauth Queer Buddhist Resister