I found a short bio about Rene Schwaller de Lubicz, author of "The Temple of Man", which gave me more insight into his, shall we say, unique style of writing. This is from the Goodreads website : "Schwaller (being from Alsace-Lorraine) thought in German but wrote in French. Added to the inherent difficulties of expressing non-linear "living" insights in "dead" linear language, this odd combination places many obstacles before a first time reader".
I am one of those first time readers.
The bio continues : "As he wrote, apropos the insights into 'functional consciousness' , presented in his truly Hermetic work 'Nature Word', "Nature had shown me a great mountain, crowned with a peak of immaculate whiteness, but she was unable to teach me the way leading to it". Readers wishing to grasp Schwaller's insights may feel that they, too, have found themselves at the foot of a very steep mountain. He believed knowledge was the right only of those willing to make the effort to achieve it, the elite who would endure suffering in their pursuit of wisdom".
That about sums it up. I think Schwaller was very self-aware in that respect, understanding that interpreting his writing would involve some degree of suffering on the part of his readers. There is no doubt he was a brilliant thinker - and to be fair, the book I am talking about is a translation - but still.......I'm tackling it about 5-8 pages at a time and still having trouble processing what he's trying to say. He's okay at expressing his concepts, but not the specifics. I don't think I've ever experienced such an impenetrable use of the English language. The subject is Egyptian symbolism as it relates to consciousness.
In this week's episode of "The Von Trapped Family" (every Thursday on Facebook), David Gilmour mentioned a book he is working on, of Syd Barrett's lyrics, and he remarked that in talking to him, it was as if there was a barrier between Syd and the listener. "What he said made sense to him, and you could feel his desire to communicate, but it was like there was a wall in the way that you couldn't break through". Syd Barrett was becoming schizophrenic, and I only mention this because I love The Von Trapped Family (and they're gonna be on BBC-TV next week), but what Gilmour said very much reminded me of Rene Schwaller's urgent attempts to get out what he is trying to say in his book. He wasn't suffering from schizophrenia, but he was trying to describe what might be indescribable.
Same difference? Perhaps.
But in any event, there was a motion picture this evening, and it was a good one : "The Man Who Turned To Stone"(1956), starring Victor Jory as A Mad Scientist who happens to be the head of a detention center for young women. As the movie opens, Anna - a new inmate - is having an anxiety attack. She's been awakened by screaming, coming from elsewhere in the building. "What's that?! What is it"!? Now her fear has woken up two other women. One tries to soothe her : "Don't worry, dear, that happens all the time. It's just one of the girls. She's probably sick with stomach cramps. It'll be okay, they'll give her a shot and send her back".
The other inmate is more cynical : "Yeah......if she doesn't die first".
The first woman gives the second a look, as if to say : "Don't scare poor Anna. She's new here".
Then an older woman bursts into the dorm, a buttoned-down, pinned-back Shrew. She is "Mrs. Ford" (Ann Doran), the head of administration at the facility. Mrs. Ford is a disciplinarian who tolerates no nonsense. "What's going on in here? It's past 'lights out'! Who's making all this noise"?
After sorting out the blame, Mrs. Ford sends one gal to solitary and Anna to the infirmary. She protests: "But I'm okay, really. I was just a little nervous because it's my first night". This doesn't sway Mrs. Ford. Her decisions are always final.
The next morning, "Tracy" (Jean Willes) the other inmate who tried to calm Anna, is talking to the newly-hired prison psychologist "Miss Adams" (Charlotte Austin). Tracy complains about the severe punishments of Mrs. Ford and the rules of the dorm in general. "I'll talk to her about easing up", says Miss Adams, but it's not gonna do any good. Miss Adams was only hired because she's a friend of the Governor's daughter. If Mrs. Ford and the rest of the administration had their way, there wouldn't be any nosy, soft-hearted social workers around. When Miss Adams inquires about Anna and the woman in solitary, Ford tells her to mind her own business.
That night, while the inmates are watching a movie (provided by Miss Adams), a tall, gaunt Frankenstein-looking dude enters the infirmary. We watch as he picks up another girl and carries her away, kicking and screaming. As he walks down the hall with the girl in his arms, we see a change come over him.
His eyes darken, his cheeks hollow out and his skin acquires a ghostly pallor. Oh my goodness, his face is turning into a Death Mask! He starts to stumble, as if he's running out of steam, but he still manages to bring the girl to her final destination - a secret room on the top floor of the dorm. Inside, there is a laboratory. "Dr. Murdock" (Jory) awaits. "Very good, Eric. Thank you for bringing her. Now sit down so we can give you your treatment". With the help of Mrs, Ford and two other senior staff members. Murdock places the girl in a steel bathtub, filled with a copper-infused solution. To her head he attaches a band of electrodes connected by wire to a generator, then he does the same to Eric, who is sitting in in the transmission chair. Murdock flips a switch, a minute later the girl in the tub is dead, but Eric, who appeared to be on his last legs, has gotten much better. His pallor is gone, he looks....refreshed.
"That should hold him for a while", Murdock says to the others, but one objects.
"Dr. Murdock, vy do vee keep vasting these transmissions on Eric? The effectiveness is diminishing! They only last for a month now, soon it vill be just a veek! Vy not let him go, he vill dy soon anyvay".
To Murdock, this amounts to insubordination. "Listen here, Dr. Freneau. Eric will not die! The treatments will continue to work! We made a pact, all of us, and I intend to keep it. Besides, we need Eric's strength. He is one of us and I won't tolerate such talk"! They speak of Eric as if he isn't even there, and in a way........he isn't. But now he's got his health back, for the time being at least, so the discussion is overwith.
The next morning, Tracy is talking to Miss Adams. She mentions hearing screams again, coming from the infirmary. She asks Miss Adams to please check on Anna, the new girl. Anna is okay, but another girl is missing, the one who was dragged off by Eric. Miss Adams goes back to the dorm to ask the inmates about Eric. Who is he? Does he actually work at the detention center? No one seems to know, but all the girls are terrified of him. This raises Miss Adams' antenna. She calls a friend of hers, a psychaiatrist (William Hudson), who agrees to help her investigate Dr. Murdock and his staff. Hudson is an observant fellow, and when he asks to speak to Murdock, he notices a painting hanging in his office. "That looks like an original Rembrandt".
"It is", replies Murdock. "I was fortunate to pick it up in Amsterdam several years ago".
"It must be worth a fortune".
"Possibly. I wouldn't know. It's worth doesn't interest me. I only paid one hundred dollars for it".
Hudson is perplexed by this admission. How could Murdock have acquired a Rembrandt for a hundred bucks? He does some investigating and discovers that the last time any of the Dutch Master's work sold so cheaply was over two hundred years ago.
Could it be?
Nah. I mean, c'mon. How could Murdock be 247 years old? Hudson is an MD, for God's sake, a medical man. He's never heard of anyone having such a long life, let alone continuing to work all that time. And yet there's something strange about Murdock and his whole crew. All of them are very cultured, three of the four come from Europe. What's an art connoisseur like Murdock doing as the head of a women's prison? Something ain't adding up, so Hudson sneaks into Murdock's office to do some more digging, and.........wow, it's true after all. In a file cabinet, he finds an ancient diploma that places Murdock in France in 1732.
Confronted with this evidence, Murdock confesses everything : "Yes! I went to university in Paris, along with Mrs. Ford, Dr. Freneau and Eric. He is a scientist too, you know.....or at least he was. And all of us are over two hundred years old! Aha, so now you know. You can be like us too, if you will submit to one of the transmissions"......
But Hudson has heard enough and decides to take a pass. He's seen what's happening to Eric, anyway: "Yes, and what about when they don't work anymore? That's why Eric looks the way he does, why he moves so slowly and doesn't speak. It's as if he is slowly turning to stone! That will eventually happen to all of you"! Just at that moment, Mrs. Ford enters, followed by the other double centenarians. "Seize him and put him in the bathtub"!, cries Murdock, but Hudson pulls a gun. Smart guy that he is, he had a backup plan in case the whole thing went pear-shaped. Miss Adams is waiting downstairs with Tracy. They cut the lights and turn all the inmates loose. Murdock and Mrs. Ford are done for.
I loved "The Man Who Turned To Stone", though it was more like a classic "studio horror" movie than the weird little low budget affairs we've been used to. The acting was refined and professional as were the production values, and the script had that "why you Raving Lunatic! You'll never get away with this"! sensibility. "Are you telling me they're two centuries old"? "Yes, that's exactly what I'm telling you"!
You get the drift. There are many exclamation points in the dialogue. It's a lot of fun, however, and very creepy. I give "The Man Who Turned To Stone" Two Big Thumbs Up. The print was theater perfect, too, which always makes a difference. ////
I shall now head out for my CSUN walk, then come back and try to decipher a few more pages of Schwaller before searching for tonight's movie. See you at the Usual Time.
Tons of love! xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo
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