Wednesday

From the Notebooks

What can a man like DH Lawrence tell us about the afterlife? He may have intuited quite a bit, even if he didn't understand it himself.

In his excellent little book, Studies in Classic American Literature, Lawrence wrote:

The central law of all organic life is that each organism is intrinsically isolate and single in itself.

The moment is isolation breaks down . . . death sets in.

This is true of every individual organism, from man to amoeba.

But the secondary law of all organic life is that each organism only lives through contact with other matter, assimilation, and contact with other life, which means assimilation of new vibrations, non-material. Each individual organism is vivified by intimate contact with fellow organisms: up to a certain point.

I think Lawrence is saying that, in order to have contact with another, we must break down a little, we must lessen our isolation. But if we break down too much, if we totally eliminate isolation, we die.

Death results from termination of isolation; yes, but the termination of isolation is necessary for ultimate communion, which is the logical extension of what Lawrence is saying: A break down of isolation is necessary for important communion with others to take place. Likewise, a complete break down of isolation is necessary for final communion with The Other to take place.