Re :GG: story/clarification/apology

[Kate Clunies-Ross <katecluniesross@hotmail.com>]

im Morrison wrote
> ....The point of this somewhat silly allegory being that if you really
> think hell is other people, I suspect you either  haven't meet the right
> people, have meet too many of the wrong people, have failed to recognize
> her the right people are, or have let the right people go.

I'm getting A bit confused about where this thread is going....but thats
just me, and I'm sorry, everyone, if I'm just a bit thick!
In my last posting I mentioned I agreed (presumably) with GG in feeling that
Heaven definitely was not other people. Well, it just shows that I shouldnt
make generalisations, and I should express myself more precisely.  What I
meant is not, of course, that other human beings are hellish; it is
something far more subjective...its that ones reaction to other people can
make life hellish. If you are misanthropic/simply scared of human
contact/afraid of strong emotions/unable to understand the feelings of
others, then you are going to find any attempt to make emotional or social
contact extremely painful.
> From what I have read, I suspect GG may have been like this, although my
understanding of him may be woefully inadequate. I dont think however that
he would blame society for his inability to form relationships...if he was
indeed aware of this as a  shortcoming, I feel sure that he would recognise
that it came from within himself.
"heaven" and "Hell" then are not Other People, but your reaction to other
people.
Sartre, in that play, makes this very clear ; to create hell, he _chooses_
the very people that the protagonist finds inmsufferable  to make the
(after)life pure hell. Another person might find them great...(well, perhaps
not, given the way Sartre draws the characters!)
And if Gould had been different. and formed close and 'meaningful'  (oh, I
hate that word) relationships? Would it perhaps have diluted the passion he
put into his work, and weakened his need to communicate so clearly with us,
his listeners? Maybe.I cant tell. If it had been so, we might have missed
out on something very beautiful.


> I don't mean to say that people can't make you're life hellish.  They
> can.>But I also believe that people can make your life heavenly.

Yeah, and if I had GG for a neighbour, he could play all night and I'd be in
heaven, whether or not I had a gorgeous guy to make passionate love
with....but its a nice story!

> PS:  George Bernard Shaw said hell is full of musical amateurs.  Well,
> being>a musical amateur myself (guitar) I can tell you that some of the
> best times>in my life were spent making amateur music with people.

I think GBS also said something to the effect that when he died, he'd prefer
to end up in Hell, because whilst Heaven was OK for climate,  Hell would be
better for interesting society. Make of that what you will. I'd better not
comment on where GG might have preferred to end up....probably in neither
place!  So he's probably hovering by us in his discarnate state, reading all
this over our shoulders and scratching his head in puzzlement. (I like that
image!)

Kate
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