"The Texture of Time" and the Theory of Reverse Reincarnation

[Ron Bass]

I discovered copies of twelve of Nabokov's other sixteen novels on my bookshelves but alas my copy of Ada is missing. I will pick up a copy and revisit the text before commenting in detail on "the texture of time".

The theory of reverse reincarnation will appear in different forms throughout TO MY TWENTY-FIFTH CENTURY BIOGRAPHERS, usually but not always in fragmentary subplots. 

In Chapter 1 Lisa Coverdale reveals her knowledge of The Tibetan Book of the Dead in the song lyrics referencing her "study in the future" -- which I take to be a "post-final bardo" destination. Those who are interested in pursuing this path may enjoy reading Brion Gysin's masterful late novel, The Last Museum. Another novel that displays a variant of the-texture-of-time-in-practice is Veronica by Nicholas Christopher, which I have twice read with enjoyment.

[Dan]

Thanks Ron. I like the fact that lisa's theory of reverse
reincarnation will itself reappear in different forms.

[Ron Bass]

Lisa Coverdale isn't the only theorist in the book. The following snippet is from Chapter 5. Mimosa O'Toole is the author of Zen and the Art of Hooking and a student of Yogi Baksheesh, Spiritual Advisor to the Exceptionally Evolved.  Y.B.'s grandfather Friedrich emigrated from Germany in 1938. As he freely admitted, had it not been for one Jewish grandparent he would in all likelihood have emigrated in 1945 instead. Incidentally, at Cal Tech he knew the "magickal practitioners" involved in the local version of Aleister Crowley's lodge, and was known to refer to a certain science-fiction writer and cult leader as "Old Mother Hubbard". With that:

Mimosa recalled the words Yogi Baksheesh said to her as she was leaving his studio two nights ago: "When I was twelve, my grandfather Friedrich, an astrophysicist at Cal Tech, who was on his deathbed, said to me: 'We change universes far more often than a reasonably hygienic person changes underwear. The problem, if indeed it is such, is that very few of us have even the faintest notion, except perhaps in dreams, that this is occurring.'"  Well, Mimosa reminded herself, speaking out loud one of the transcriptions from yesterday morning’s meditation session: “This life is just one of Y-1 variant traversals of N plus-or-minus X dimensional space.” She concluded silently: “And now it’s time to go running.” 

[Dan]

Leave it to the Irish to fuse eastern religion and a good time
professionally had.

On Apr 30, 7:45 pm, Ron Bass <ron.b...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Lisa Coverdale isn't the only theorist in the book. The following snippet is
> from Chapter 5. Mimosa O'Toole is the author of Zen and the Art of Hooking and
> a student of Yogi Baksheesh, Spiritual Advisor to the Exceptionally Evolved.
>  Y.B.'s grandfather Friedrich emigrated from Germany in 1938. As he freely
> admitted, had it not been for one Jewish grandparent he would in all
> likelihood have emigrated in 1945 instead. Incidentally, at Cal Tech he knew
> the "magickal practitioners" involved in the local version of Aleister
> Crowley's lodge, and was known to refer to a certain science-fiction writer
> and cult leader as "Old Mother Hubbard". With that:
> Mimosa recalled the words Yogi Baksheesh said to her as she was leaving his
> studio two nights ago: "When I was twelve, my grandfather Friedrich, an
> astrophysicist at Cal Tech, who was on his deathbed, said to me: 'We change
> universes far more often than a reasonably hygienic person changes
> underwear. The problem, if indeed it is such, is that very few of us have
> even the faintest notion, except perhaps in dreams, that this is
> occurring.'"  Well, Mimosa reminded herself, speaking out loud one of the
> transcriptions from yesterday morning’s meditation session: “This life is
> just one of Y-1 variant traversals of N plus-or-minus X dimensional space.”
> She concluded silently: “And now it’s time to go running.”
>