“I'm not sure if yr NXM criticisms are on the money.”
Oh no? ‘Cause for all GM’s brilliance and (in the eyes of some) “deity” status, he’s not one to ever be wrong about something or make mistakes. I mean, Lord knows that, in the history of human stories, tales, and myths, no deities ever make mistakes.
I’ll have to take yer brief synopsis as accurately reflecting the themes of the book.
“At the heart of the book is the metaphor that humanity is slowly "dying out", only to be "replaced" by the mutants.”
To begin, sounds strikingly similar to PKD’s novel Our Friends from Frolix 8. Here, ole Phil treats us to a tale of the “Oldmen” vs. the “Newmen,” where the Oldmen are humanities last remnants, and the Newmen are the mutants and freaks which are replacing the dying out husk of humanity. Of course in PKD style, the Newmen have psionic powers, are super smart, extra-dexterous, and/or etc..
Now, the problem with such a motif is that it illustrates and in its way reinforces the myth that there is an “us” vs. “them” mentality which necessarily drives the world of humans. Again, a symptom of the sickness of popular magick. It’s not an “us vs. them” world in any sense except for our own human shortcomings. The world is a whole composed of a staggering complexity of relations—not conflict, relations.
Second, this promotes several sketchy and, IMO, counter-productive ideas.
1) That there is a linear time that takes precedent over a non-linear or holistic time.
2) That “evolution” is a sound and acceptable principle.
3) That there is a species of people not able to what another species of people does. Now, this is a touchy issue which isn’t so easily generalized: there are races of humans that appear to have advantages and disadvantages compared to others; however, it is arguable that this is not mere genetics, but also a matter of social milieu conditioning. I tend to think that it is likely that human beings are much more “equal” wrt abilities, functions, and etc. then is typically recognized simply because there is such an immersion within a culturally located POV. Again, ties into the disease that is pop magick because is promoting and maintaining the idea that certain humans based on a specific criteria are in a necessarily “evolved,” and thus, unattainable state wrt other humans.
“It heralds a time when we are all evolved into something new and strange and different.”
Ah yes, the search for the holy grail that lies in either direction in time, but always misses its mark: right here and right now. We can spend forever pining for the “golden age” of yesteryear or we can spend the same energy hoping for the “golden age” yet to come. All this is simple minded diversion from the importance of the moment—we find our Heaven and Hell here and now, after all.
“When the *magic* becomes available to everyone.”
It already is. Each of us is already a magician. It is not a matter of “availability,” but a matter of shrugging off our sleep and becoming willfully aware. Again, GM seems to be promoting useless ideas here in the name of pop magick, and thus, does both people and magic/k a disservice.
“A very, very common theme in Morrison's work.”
All the worse for Mr. Morrison and those who read him then… |
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