Notes

         This morning, one of your former students, Kris, thanked you for ‘the challenge’, and you wonder what it is not to be challenged. You also wondered how to respond. More to the point, you asked me for help because word choices are complicated from your perspective. How to express yourself, with sincerity, in the fewest words possible, that is a challenge in itself.

         Doug and I love to challenge our minds and while we have similar interests we have dissimilar abilities. People are attracted by such things and friendships develop. If while challenging myself I challenge others with like interests too, all the better from my perspective. Getting the blood to flow through the brain is a good thing, but too much questioning appears to me, to invite anarchy on my personal level. There is a good line from the philosopher Eric Fromm in the conclusion of CSI’s “House of Hoarders” last Thursday night.

The reference from Fromm is that human beings have two different orientations, having and being. The ‘having’ orientated people need to possess things or people while the ‘being’ orientated people focus on the experience, on meaning and exchanging in sharing with other people. The dialogue goes on to further focus on modern culture in relationship to ‘hoarding’ which helps create a deeper, more introspective story for the viewers. Immediately I see Facebook and its ability to both the Having and the Being people. And, as I see Facebook as somewhat analogous with the ‘HeavenOrHellBothOrNeither in the books I am more closely attracted to the human dynamics of the Dead in the story.

You are at a loss as to how you stumbled onto your last statement in that you were thinking about how ‘challenging yourself’ is a part of the life of most every human being. This is where you need to stop and let the thought go. It serves no further purpose. The next time you are on the keyboard let’s go directly to scene ten and give it a work out. Post. – Amorella.

You wrote one sentence that reflected the above point of “Letting the thought go”.

I need to return to the reality of the characters not quantum theory. I spent more time on particles and waves and Jim P. suggested the Sufi “99 Names for God.” I found the names but I do not see their similarities with quantum physics. Earlier in the day Doug sent me more quantum oriented material which reflects his own questions which, while surely valid, are beyond me also. Perhaps I am attempting to do too much, to rewrite the Bible, as one of my dearest Otterbein teachers, Dr. John Coulter, once suggested. Broad stroke thinking leads to lots of blotches.

Conscious thought though is the vehicle of communication among the Dead.

Unconscious thought also, orndorff. Remember in the three books it is already established that the Dead have a switch of consciousness and that first they must deal with their unwilled  unconscious thoughts to put themselves in a proper order to meet their fellow human Dead as well as a (culturally induced angelic-like) Betweener or two.

You are presently concerned with how quantum physics uses concepts of light and gravity in singularity through point particles while ‘waves’ returns to blight your mind with light. Waves are easier for you to comprehend. Sound and fury but no proof either way.

Back to a wave or a point particle, a singularity in a solidified universe, something perhaps more suited for the twenty thousand year advancement of marsupial humanoid species than present earthling. Certainly more than the dead earthlings of 700 or so years before the common era. Still, the gamut of the Merlyn series covers a lot of territorial and cultural time as far as both species are concerned. These concepts have to remain constant through both species for book six to conclude the series not just the second rebellion of the Dead which began in the mid-twentieth century and lasts, I assume, until the mid-twenty-first century.

The second rebellion last until you finish book six, orndorff. Be real, boy. – Amorella.

Of course. I didn’t mean literally. I am thinking though that there will have to be an Afterword to generalize how the rebellion of the Dead of both the Marsupial-humanoids and the humans alters the modern cultures of both species, much I suppose as the Classical Age of Greece (coming on the heels of the first rebellion) altered the human culture of the Living at the time of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle – a renaissance of thought reverberating from the Dead to the Living.

Although, now that I have written this, I see it appears foolish and unthought through. All I have is the original thesis of book four: “This rebellion was/is a matter of consciousness first. This is what rebellions are always about. Who am I? And, how do I wish to exist within myself and within my relationship to others of my species.”

These are the only journal notes I have on books five and six.

Notes for Book Five

30 October 07 > Reference below to Karen Ralls book, The Knights Templar Encyclopedia

The library didn’t have the book, but as I feel it will be valuable for reasons unknown to you presently, you are going to buy it at Barnes and Noble later today or tomorrow. I feel it will be helpful in this book [book three] as well as in book five. You see, Richard, the people that are in this book in Grandma’s Stories will also be seen again as characters in book four.   **[Note: nothing so far in book four relates to any of the characters in Grandma's Stories]

 How can you do that Amorella. You used the Dead once, and you want to use them again? It doesn’t seem fair. I don’t want to be seen as exploiting the Dead even if they are fiction. - rho

 Boy, you exploited the Dead your entire professional career. Who are you fooling with here?

 There were tools for students learning about what a human being is, that’s the way I looked at it.

 In here, the Dead and the Living are both tools.

 Yes. Ma’am.

 Do you think the Dead revolted so you could write a fictional book about it?

  I would  not assume so in a billion years. I just didn’t want to exploit the Dead out of respect.

  Would you exploit me boy?

  No, Ma’am/Sir. To be honest here, I don’t think it is possible for me to exploit you. I think I would be exploiting my own imagination, my own humanity for power. It would be too tempting. I could be corrupted too easily. I am corrupted enough as is. This is very complicated. I would just as soon be left alone and not bother anyone. I like to avoid conflicts because they take up too much time and energy. Conflicts are not economical, but their are exceptions. Conflicts as learning tools seem reasonable enough for instance. Besides, in between the lines of the notes and the books is an implied built in arrogance and audacity that is scary (to me) in its own sort of way. -rho

You may know what arrogance is boy but you haven’t seen audacity like you can read in the so called histories of the world. You want to see some human audacity? I’ll give it back to you in books four, five and six.

**

You think ‘something is out there’ and one day we will have to talk about that, but let’s save it for book five, shall we? Nothing more today. – Amorella.  (11 July 07)

Notes for Book Six:

This is all very simple in context. Everyone is waiting for someone else to do something. Many of the religious Living expect G---D to do something. Only the Dead wait for the Living to do something.

20 nov. 07 What would be the point? The end game is how it ends. Black resigns. In this case the Black represents the dark humor.

 How can this be?

 This book [book three] ends on a happy note. It will make sense within itself in context, that is the three books come together in an end rhyme. The dark humor returns in the next [last] three books. I mean, you can’t have the Dead win can you?

 The Living have to have a sense of hope and rebound, to raise their fists and say, “Enough of this bullshit, it is time to move on.” That is in the last paragraph of the last book [book six]. Someone says it, it might as well be you.

  Such very, very, very dark humor. - rho

  “I think so.” – Amorella.

**

26 jan. 08 > I like working on this part, but it is sad that once these two chapters are done there will be no more marsupials  [reference to book three]

They [the marsupials] will be referenced and alluded to in book six, particularly to 1947. Later.

**

The above are reminders from earlier notes.

The only thing these notes show is that I am writing a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy in terms of the connection of these six books. I can look at these every so often and put in what I need to put in when the time comes. For instance, first, since I have seen the reference to Grandma's characters in book four I can now go back and insert them; and second, I will be sure to have the dialogue: “Enough of this bull, it is time to move on,” in the last paragraph of the last book. It sounds like one of the characters is disgusted with the whole Merlyn series to me. No doubt my words utter through some poor character’s mouth. And, it is not very polite either, but no doubt an honest and authentic thought at the time yet to be.

Sometimes you get hung up on the gallows humor, orndorff. Post. Let’s be done for today. – Amorella.