{Inspiration and Analysis}[26th August 1990]

[Redbook7:245-246][19900826:1208c]{Inspiration and Analysis}[26th August 1990]

19900826.1208

[continued]

I am finding it easier, as I grow older, to apply analytical thought (in a broad sense) to the ideas of inspiration, etc. Apart from being the I[nner] C[ircle] way of doing things, this contrasts with my youth when I seemed to be the field of a continual and violent battle between analysis imposed on me as a way of thought from outside, and inspiration welling up from within; the latter causing me to reject the former, despite the sense of obligation I felt towards the former.

In an over-analytical culture,* this is actually an excellent sign so far as my 64-year cycle is concerned: it suggests strongly that I am on a predominantly inner circle 64-year rotation, which is what I would hope.

**

*(cf TS Eliot on the ‘dissociation of sensibility’)

[See various references in earlier Vols, eg []]

**{On the other hand, I started off Conservative, passed through the Social Democrats, and am now thinking of joining the Labour Party. Then again, the Parties have moved more to the Right than I have to the Left.}

[continued]

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{Iranian Cycles}[26th August 1990]

[Redbook7:245][19900826:1208b]{Iranian Cycles}[26th August 1990]

19900826.1208

[continued]

The apparent movement of Iran* away from Khomeini-style fundamentalism at least in international relations – which** could be represented as a stage of national paranoia, now possibly coming to an end – gives rise to the reflection that Khomeini’s*** rule began in 1979, the same year as Margaret Thatcher’s,**** and the year before Ronald Reagan’s;# and his style of rule seems to be possibly coming to an end, or at least being modified, not long after the end of Reagan’s presidency, and – who knows? – not long before the end of Mrs. Thatcher’s, which is distinctly unpopular in the polls.#* The 64-year cycle degrees are as follows:

*(or at least Rafsanjani)

[Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, President of Iran 3^rd August 1989 - 3^rd August 1997]

**[The fundamentalism, presumably, not the apparent movement away from it]

**[(‘Ayatollah’) Sayyid Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini (1900-1989), Founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran (1979), of which he became Supreme Leader until his death]

***[Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom 4^th May 1979 - 28^th November 1990]

****[Ronald Wilson Reagan, President of the United States of America, 20^th January 1981 - 20^th January 1989]

#{What is the difference between all these countries (with the USSR), and Iraq? One difference is that they are all democracies or oligarchies, and Iraq is a tyranny:

[PostedBlogger06for08112021]

{Science and Law}[26th August 1990]

[Redbook7:244][19900826:1208]{Science and Law}[26th August 1990]

19900826.1208

A lecturer at the British Associations’ Swansea A[nnual] G[eneral] M[eeting] told his audience that forests were “dominated by usually tall woody vegetation”.*

Whether you find this funny** depends upon which side of the fence you happen to be sitting on at the time. I, as a confirmed fence-sitter, can see that. But what it does do is to help confirm the C[ircles] A[nalysis &] S[ynthesis] similarities of Law and Science, because this sort of remark is exactly the sort of thing which gets judges laughed at too: ‘Who are the Beatles?’ as one judge famously remarked in the late 60’s or early 70’s (was it [Jerry] Harman?).

The point in Law is the doctrine of Judicial Notice: there are only certain things which a judge is presumed to know. The reason is basically the same as that which leads scientists occasionally to make statements of the crashingly obvious: that a carefully analytical statement of the obvious may lead to the discovery that the obvious is in fact untrue.

*Ind[ependent] 900825:4

**(Actually, the Ind[ependent] seems to have thought the humour was in the way of describing trees.)

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{Circle of Epilepsy [continued (7)]}[25th August 1990]

[Redbook7:243][19900825:1212i]{Circle of Epilepsy [continued (7)]}[25th August 1990]

.1212

[continued]

And, finally,* the ‘twist’** as the bliss passes into unconsciousness,*** ie at C~ – which I had forgotten to include as I wrote the last paragraph.*

Well, my speculation of many years**** is that Creation is created and sustained by spin, since so far as I know only spin is self-referential# – and because spin is found so frequently at all levels of nature. {However,} the fundamental spin of Creation {(originally)} must be by reference to its originator, the One, the Creator, and so presumably only by reference identically to the Spirit of that One Soul.

When the proper limits fail, the created brain of the Individual may become aware, among other things, of its own relative spin, as a part of Creation, relative that is to the stillness of the Absolute. And that awareness of relative spin is reflected in the twisting motion of the fall into unconsciousness.

If#* that is correct – then it is no wonder that epilepsy was regarded as holy, in the ancient world.

*[See last previous entry]

**[See [Redbook7:240-241][19900825:1212e]{Circle of Epilepsy [continued (3)]}[25th August 1990]]

***(E[ncylopaedia] B[ritannica] 4 has hallucinations &c here)

****ref [] ?

#(I think it is, anyway)

#*[There is likely to be a (much more) plausible scientific explanation for all of this; some apology is owed, and is offered, to those suffering from the various different types of epilepsy, for this level of speculation.]

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{Circle of Epilepsy [continued (6)]}[25th August 1990]

[Redbook7:242-243][19900825:1212h]{Circle of Epilepsy [continued (6)]}[25th August 1990]

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[continued]

I make a speculation on epilepsy, taking into account ‘the twist’:* in some individuals the unconscious barriers, or limits, between our individually separated state and the Absolute, the Spirit, are, perhaps, for soundly physiological and/or neurological reasons, less than they should be for ordinary separated Human life. Epilepsy is a manifestation or expression of this.

At times the wholeness of the Spirit breaks through to the unprepared, undeveloped Human Soul. The most memorable symptom of this for Dostoyevsky was the bliss he experienced just before the attack began; but another symptom, which by its nature would only become apparent during a period of frequent attacks, was a rapid transition around the later stages of the Outer Circle, J~-G~-R~-C[,] ie a mental breakdown with loss of memory and of analytical powers.

The (presumed) loss of consciousness, and presumably the pain (which might arise entirely within the brain), are a response to system overload, or a safety cut-out to prevent direct impact of the Absolute on the undeveloped individual Consciousness (‘No man can look upon the face of God and live’ – although some say they have).

The sadness, wonder and alienation are characteristic both of the later stages of the O[uter] C[ircle] G~ breakdown, at R~, and the almost identical early I[nner] C[ircle] at r~;** the C type characteristically is impressionable and silent, not at this stage asking questions; and these two degrees are clearly related in their attributes.

The sudden return to cheerfulness via one of the strong impressions of an everyday event (a donkey braying) marks the movement out onto the circle again as a recovered and volitional Individual, although which Circle is dominant is not clear: possibly, for Dostoyevsky, the I[nner] C[ircle], if ‘The Idiot’ is his method of Crisis Resolution.

*[See last entry but 2, [Redbook7:240-241][19900825:1212e]{Circle of Epilepsy [continued (3)]}[25th August 1990]]

**(Hence the confusion in timing, in other [sic] accounts)

[But see next entry]

[continued]

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{Circle of Epilepsy [continued (5)]}[25th August 1990]

[Redbook7:241][19900825:1212g]{Circle of Epilepsy [continued (5)]}[25th August 1990]

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[continued]

It’s interesting, too,* that at this early stage in ‘The Idiot’ I have already found the beginnings not only of the C type in Prince Myshkin, as everyone knows, and the A~ type in Royozkin, as presumably nearly everyone knows, but also the 3 graces of the left hemisphere in the 3 sisters Alexandra, Adelaide and Aglaya.**

*[See last previous entry]

**(ref ‘The Idiot’ P[ar]t I, Ch[apter] 5)

[continued]

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{Circle of Epilepsy [continued (4)]}[25th August 1990]

[Redbook7:241][19900825:1212f]{Circle of Epilepsy [continued (4)]}[25th August 1990]

.1212

[continued]

All this* lends more support to the notion of epileptic (& similar) fits being related to the C degree.**

The description at (5)*** is interestingly reminiscent of C in [0], whose eyes perceived everything, and made no judgements, and who, of course, did not speak.

The blissful happiness and harmony at (1)*** is characteristic of C~;**** the loss of memory and of analytic [sic] powers# is characteristic [of] the later stages of breakdown on the O[uter] C[ircle] G~ semicircle, I guess, although a period of recollection and reflection may follow C on the I[nner] C[ircle] C-r~-g~ sector. #*

(Perhaps ‘The Idiot’ represents Dostoyevsky’s method of doing, or sublimating, this? Characteristics of a degree can be delayed by the individual’s own efforts, and often are.)

And the feelings at (6)*** – sadness, wonder, anxiety, depression,#** and alienation from one’s environment – sound like the r~ degree (as I experienced it), bearing in mind both the near-unity of r~ and R~#*** (so near to C) and the fact that this is likely to be part of the Crisis Resolution period.

*[See last two previous entries]

**(cf the ‘left’ side of the Sistine Chapel ceiling, culminating in the Libyan Sybil, & Jonah at the ‘top’ end)

[&/or ref last previous entry]

***[See last previous entry but one]

****[Inner Circle (per last previous entry but one); &/or s~?]

#{c[ontra] [[Redbook7:248][19900826:1828]{Recall}[26th August 1990],] 248}

#*(I need to think [how] this recollection happened at G~-R~-C on the O[uter] C[ircle]).

{See [[Redbook7:248][19900826:1828]{Recall}[26th August 1990],] 248}

#**Manic Depression, of course, is supposed to be characteristic of [(/associated with?)] A~ <900826>

[& depression with M~!]

#***(R~ being characterised by a tendency to paranoid (and other) schizophrenia, which (6)** sounds rather like.)

[Surely (6) is R~ more than/instead of r~]

[continued]

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{Circle of Epilepsy [continued (3)]}[25th August 1990]

[Redbook7:240-241][19900825:1212e]{Circle of Epilepsy [continued (3)]}[25th August 1990]

.1212

[continued]

I think it is permissible to add to this* something of which Dostoyevsky may not have been aware, and which I have not found in the superficial texts I possess, but of which I have both direct and anecdotal experience in observation of the onset of an eplileptic fit: the tendency to twist or turn as the fit takes hold,** which would be at or immediately after (1) on the table above.***

*[See last previous entry]

**II. [[Redbook2:202-203][19810914:1900a]{An Epileptic Fit}[14^th September 1981]] 202-3,

[[Redbook2:35-36][19740121:0035]{Fits}[21st January 1974],] 35

***ref [last previous entry,] 240

[continued]

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{Circle of Epilepsy [continued]}[25th August 1990]

[Redbook7:240][19900825:1212d]{Circle of Epilepsy [continued]}[25th August 1990]

.1212

[continued]

Since Dostoyevsky wrote ‘The Idiot’ (which I tend to think might be more appropriately translated as ‘The Fool’)* after fleeing from Russia to Germany, Switzerland and Italy, it is most likely that this** is an authentic account of his epilepsy, probably as authentic as his account of the ‘feeling of terrible guilt’ afterwards, and sense of harmony which he experienced immediately before each attack.***

The experiences may be summarised:****

I[nner] C[ircle] C	/	(1)	Immediately before each attack:	Blissful happiness & sense of harmony.***
O[uter] C[ircle] C?	{	(2)	During each attack:	Violent pain (&, presumably, loss of consciousness).
	\	(3)	Immediately after each attack:	? #
G~ (& see (6) below?) J~-G~-R~-C	/	(4)	During a period of frequent attacks:	Complete stupor, loss of memory, breaking-up of logical sequence of thoughts and of ability to follow sequence of events.
C	{	(5)	Shortly after a period of frequent attacks:	Looked about in silence & never asked any questions; strong impressions.
r~? #*	\	(6)	Recovering from a period of frequent attacks:	Terribly sad, felt like crying, constant wonder & anxiety, depression, foreign[-]ness of all around.
[This \ hatched,→ indicating uncertainty?]	\	(7)	Recovered state:	(i) Sudden recovery from depression, pleased, everything in head cleared up. (ii) Became well & strong again.#**

*{not necessarily more accurately}

**[See last previous entry]

***Letter to Nikolai Strakhov, quoted by David Magarshack, translator's Introduction to ‘The Idiot’ (Penguin Classics), and extracted at III. [[Redbook3:181][19870413:1450](FITS)[13th April 1987],] 181

[&/or s~? See next entry but one]

****[From last previous entry unless otherwise stated in fns]

#[‘A feeling of terrible guilt’? See letter extract referred to in fn=*** above]

#*This may describe the period of attacks under (4) above.

[&/or R~? See next entry but one]

#**[Or is this during the recovery period (6) or even the period shortly after the attacks (5)? See fn=** above.]

[continued]

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