THE VAMPIRE
Plato Symposium 206e
BRAZILIANS MOURN THEIR DOUBLE DEATH
Chaucer The Knight's Tale 3053-56
Achilles had the same choice: a long ignoble life of worldly attachment – exemplified by marriage – followed by eternal obscurity; or a brief heroic life – a courageous death in battle – followed by eternal fame. He chose heaven. “The Vampire” offers a different perspective.
ABSENT WITHOUT LEAVE
The soldiers of a certain Northern Sotho battalion felt that they were being enslaved and exploited like zombies. They were neither national servicemen nor permanent force, but “auxiliaries”, which meant they were fighting neither out of duty nor for decent pay. Most of them were married with children. In times of political crisis, they were forced to spend “closed weekends” in camp on stand by. The rest of the time they could not afford to travel the long distances home to be with their families. Thus they were forced to remain in camp for weeks on end, and were encouraged to spend their pay on the cigarettes and alcohol available at the camp’s canteen. Consequently, they often had no choice but to go AWOL in order to attend to pressing domestic affairs. If they were caught, they either had to pay a fine or spend time in DB.
The system of auxiliaries has subsequently been scrapped.
THE ART OF BUSH SURVIVAL
Karl Popper, The Open Society and Its Enemies, Volume 2 (1966), p. 5.
Plato divided people up into their “natural” places in an ideal, three-tiered society: ruler, soldier, or worker. The soldiers were expected to obey their leaders blindly.
THEODORIC
Plato Republic 473d
“Theodoric” is Old German for “rule of the people”, theod (folk) + ric (rule).
PLATO’S SECRET
It is a modern myth that Plato withdrew in disgust from Athenian politics, after Athens had condemned Socrates to death, and founded his Academy solely for the disinterested pursuit of knowledge. In fact Plato and his students later tried to intervene in Mediterranean politics in the name of Plato’s “philosopher-ruler” ideal. The study of universals was really part of their political education.
TOKOLOSHE
The Weekly Mail and Guardian, January 27 to February 2 (1995), p. 10; “It is widely believed that anyone who owns one of these animal-like beings [a tokoloshe] can acquire great wealth at the expense of others... When a woman loses interest in her husband, it is often interpreted as being the result of rape by the tokoloshe.”
Whereas the Northern Sotho believe in zombies, the Zulu believe in the tokoloshe, a kind of mischievous imp, not unlike certain malicious European faeries.
Who would be correct? The Marxist who maintains that the tokoloshe represents the nouveau riche, controlling the production and reproduction of society? Or the Freudian who claims that the tokoloshe is an expression of the people’s guilt: the women for their adultery; and the men for their failure to find work to support their families? Both? Neither?
The ideas on witch persecution come from Keith Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic (1991), p. 670; African witch persecution is fuelled by envy and directed at the rich, hence discouraging technical progress and individual initiative, “sustaining a rough egalitarianism” (Thomas, p. 643).
MOLOTO’S STORY
D.W. Hamlyn, The Penguin History of Western Philosophy (1987), p. 73. Eudaimonia is Greek for “happiness” which, Plato and Aristotle argued, is the ultimate end in life.
THE END OF THE MEANS
Werner Heisenberg, Physics and Philosophy (1962), p. 103.
Of course, Buddhists do not really communicate with extra-terrestrial minds when they meditate. The suggestion, however, is that if minds, having no extension, could communicate directly, without a physical medium, then information could conceivably be exchanged quicker than the speed of light, in fact, instantaneously. The physical distance between the communicators would be irrelevant.
THE CLAIRVOYANT
All divination systems have the same basic end as philosophy and psycho-analysis: self-knowledge. Tarot cards systematically plot aspects of the soul. The Devil, for instance, represents desire, the Hermit, wisdom. The four natural virtues (see the Appendix) are found in the Major Arcana. The weaknesses of divination systems are their mysticism, fatalism, authoritarianism and irrefutability.
MOLOTO’S BAPTISM
“ZCC” means “Zionist Christian Church”
An interesting comparison of the medieval Church and African churches can be found in Keith Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic (1991), p. 52.
A STORY WHICH TEACHES ITS READERS HOW TO WRITE
John Hospers, An Introduction to Philosophical Analysis (1967), p. 55.
AN AESTHETIC
An anaesthetist has various means of reviving patients who struggle to awaken. One way is to apply painful pressure, using his fingers, to the patient’s jaw just behind the ears.
AFRICAN MASK
The mask was bought at the Market Square flea market in Johannesburg, 15 April 1995, while the Biennale Arts Festival was still in progress.
A CONCRETE CLOUD TO STILL A SOUL
Plato Timaeus 37d
Plato Symposium 206e
BRAZILIANS MOURN THEIR DOUBLE DEATH
Chaucer The Knight's Tale 3053-56
Achilles had the same choice: a long ignoble life of worldly attachment – exemplified by marriage – followed by eternal obscurity; or a brief heroic life – a courageous death in battle – followed by eternal fame. He chose heaven. “The Vampire” offers a different perspective.
ABSENT WITHOUT LEAVE
The soldiers of a certain Northern Sotho battalion felt that they were being enslaved and exploited like zombies. They were neither national servicemen nor permanent force, but “auxiliaries”, which meant they were fighting neither out of duty nor for decent pay. Most of them were married with children. In times of political crisis, they were forced to spend “closed weekends” in camp on stand by. The rest of the time they could not afford to travel the long distances home to be with their families. Thus they were forced to remain in camp for weeks on end, and were encouraged to spend their pay on the cigarettes and alcohol available at the camp’s canteen. Consequently, they often had no choice but to go AWOL in order to attend to pressing domestic affairs. If they were caught, they either had to pay a fine or spend time in DB.
The system of auxiliaries has subsequently been scrapped.
THE ART OF BUSH SURVIVAL
Karl Popper, The Open Society and Its Enemies, Volume 2 (1966), p. 5.
Plato divided people up into their “natural” places in an ideal, three-tiered society: ruler, soldier, or worker. The soldiers were expected to obey their leaders blindly.
THEODORIC
Plato Republic 473d
“Theodoric” is Old German for “rule of the people”, theod (folk) + ric (rule).
PLATO’S SECRET
It is a modern myth that Plato withdrew in disgust from Athenian politics, after Athens had condemned Socrates to death, and founded his Academy solely for the disinterested pursuit of knowledge. In fact Plato and his students later tried to intervene in Mediterranean politics in the name of Plato’s “philosopher-ruler” ideal. The study of universals was really part of their political education.
TOKOLOSHE
The Weekly Mail and Guardian, January 27 to February 2 (1995), p. 10; “It is widely believed that anyone who owns one of these animal-like beings [a tokoloshe] can acquire great wealth at the expense of others... When a woman loses interest in her husband, it is often interpreted as being the result of rape by the tokoloshe.”
Whereas the Northern Sotho believe in zombies, the Zulu believe in the tokoloshe, a kind of mischievous imp, not unlike certain malicious European faeries.
Who would be correct? The Marxist who maintains that the tokoloshe represents the nouveau riche, controlling the production and reproduction of society? Or the Freudian who claims that the tokoloshe is an expression of the people’s guilt: the women for their adultery; and the men for their failure to find work to support their families? Both? Neither?
The ideas on witch persecution come from Keith Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic (1991), p. 670; African witch persecution is fuelled by envy and directed at the rich, hence discouraging technical progress and individual initiative, “sustaining a rough egalitarianism” (Thomas, p. 643).
MOLOTO’S STORY
D.W. Hamlyn, The Penguin History of Western Philosophy (1987), p. 73. Eudaimonia is Greek for “happiness” which, Plato and Aristotle argued, is the ultimate end in life.
THE END OF THE MEANS
Werner Heisenberg, Physics and Philosophy (1962), p. 103.
Of course, Buddhists do not really communicate with extra-terrestrial minds when they meditate. The suggestion, however, is that if minds, having no extension, could communicate directly, without a physical medium, then information could conceivably be exchanged quicker than the speed of light, in fact, instantaneously. The physical distance between the communicators would be irrelevant.
THE CLAIRVOYANT
All divination systems have the same basic end as philosophy and psycho-analysis: self-knowledge. Tarot cards systematically plot aspects of the soul. The Devil, for instance, represents desire, the Hermit, wisdom. The four natural virtues (see the Appendix) are found in the Major Arcana. The weaknesses of divination systems are their mysticism, fatalism, authoritarianism and irrefutability.
MOLOTO’S BAPTISM
“ZCC” means “Zionist Christian Church”
An interesting comparison of the medieval Church and African churches can be found in Keith Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic (1991), p. 52.
A STORY WHICH TEACHES ITS READERS HOW TO WRITE
John Hospers, An Introduction to Philosophical Analysis (1967), p. 55.
AN AESTHETIC
An anaesthetist has various means of reviving patients who struggle to awaken. One way is to apply painful pressure, using his fingers, to the patient’s jaw just behind the ears.
AFRICAN MASK
The mask was bought at the Market Square flea market in Johannesburg, 15 April 1995, while the Biennale Arts Festival was still in progress.
A CONCRETE CLOUD TO STILL A SOUL
Plato Timaeus 37d