Life Word Geeks?
posted by May 18 at 14:00 PM
onPosted by Sage Van Wing
I interviewed author Amy Fusselman yesterday about her new book 8 (she calls it a “non-fiction novel”). In the book she talks about the Beastie Boys a lot, so I asked her about her relationship to music. She told me that music is the greatest art. She said, essentially, that music is this great invisible force that nonetheless makes us feel something. It has an actual, visceral, physical effect on us, even though it is not something that you can see or touch. Literature doesn’t have this same kind of ability because you have to go through the words to get to the feeling, she said. This made me think of this I Ching quote :
“The wind blows over the surface of the lake. In this way, the effects of the invisible are made visible.”
I think I remember that there is an actual word to describe this phenomenon, but I can’t figure out what it is. I know there’s an italian word—dietrologia—for the invisible forces behind the visible. But that’s not quite right, because it has a more sinister sense—it usually refers to the backroom political negotiations.
What I’m looking for is a word for the exact moment when the powerful, yet invisible, forces of our world (wind, electricity, magnetic attraction, or God, I guess, if that’s your sort of thing), become tangible and real. A wheat field swaying in the wind, the spark of static electricity, etc.
IS there a word for that moment? Can anyone think of it?
Comments
Spirit move me every time I'm near you
Whirling like a cyclone in my mind
Sweet Melissa, angel of my lifetime
Answer to all answers I can find
Baby, I love you, come, come, come into my arms
Let me know the wonder of all of you
Baby, I want you now, now, now, and hold on fast
Could this be the magic at last?
Lady, take me high upon a hillside
High up where the stallion meets the sun
I could love you, build my world around you
Never leave you till my life is done
Baby, I love you, come, come, come into my arms
Let me know the wonder of all of you
And baby, I want you now, now, oh, now, oh now and hold on fast
Could this be the magic at last?
Could it be magic?
Hey, that's another author who blurbed Tao Lin.
As she writes, "Tao Lin's fiction will kick your ass and say thank you afterwards."
EEEEE EEE EEEE
This is going to drive me nuts. I know there's a good word for this, but I'm at a bit of a loss.
A quick search has yielded the word "theophany," which is when a diety appears before a person in tangible form. "Darsana" is a Sanskrit word that means "sight," but in the sense of divine visions. Both of these deal with the supernatural, though, so I'm not sure if they'd apply to natural forces as well, except poetically...
Groovy?
a made up word :
serendichronicity ?
You may have to venture into the realm of spiritual vocabulary, which is my necessity imperfectly precise. First I thought of "limen" indicating the border-like quality of the 'moment' aspect. Then I thought of "numen," but that is not then name of the instant as much as the quality of the thing felt.
Then there is "presence" as in:
"This phenomenon is not simply one of increased awareness, so that more of the rose [or music] is experienced through my eyes and nostrils [or ears] so that nore of the rose [or music] is experienced through my perceptial system. In the experience of increased presence, it is as if I meet my perceptions midway. It is as if something of me, something more or less palpable, is present... we feel as if there is somehow more of us partaking of the experience..." Essence, by A. H. Almaas.
Presence is a pretty plain word - not too impressive, but I think it may be what you are talking about.
Satan?
I don't have the word for you, but I love this section from Chapter 27 of The Pharmacist's Mate in which Amy Fusselman describes attending an AC/DC concert in Madison Square Garden:
I don't know about what the moment is called, but in the moment they "manifest" themselves
I doubt that's what you're looking for
"latent structure is the master of obvious form"
--heraclitus
The Godning moments of your life?
(another made-up word)
I, too, was going to say "manifest".
Rush.
ghosting?
From what I've been told, the term you're looking for is "acid trip". At least it sounds a good description of "the exact moment when the powerful, yet invisible, forces of our world (wind, electricity, magnetic attraction, or God, I guess, if that’s your sort of thing), become tangible and real. A wheat field swaying in the wind, the spark of static electricity, etc."
uhh indigestion?
utterly fucking pretentious?
you seem to have awakened to vaginal wonder. maybe "epiphany"?
I LOVE AMY FUSSELMAN! Did anybody go to her reading at E.Bay? Don't lie! I was there and you were not. Everybody please go buy her books 8 and The Pharmacist's Mate. She is the b-e-s-t best!
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