Dear Cyndy,

Again, I'll essentially annotate your letter.

> "If you are really abandoning the English version,
> I shall have to be content with the abstracts you send.
> But don't neglect to send them."

It's a matter of priorities. When my mind is vacant, I keep busy
with translations into English.  Added up, the German texts stored
in my computer since 1983 would aggregate, believe it or not, 30
volumes of 300 pages each at 400 words per page. I'll never have
time to translate even a fraction. The two novels alone, to the
translations of which I would assign priority, amount, as of today
to 1700 pages. No one will ever read them.

When I'm manic and my head is buzzing with ideas and visions,
I expand the original German version. That's been the case yesterday
and today, when I see Charlotte trying to extricate herself from
the Doehring House and make herself independent especially of Mengs,
frustrated and angry at the cooking school nonsense, taking the law
into her own hands and trying to recover her non-refundable deposit
by stealing an equivalent amount of kitchenware. The school stole
from her, so she steals from the school. Isn't that justice?

I've also started to append to Chapter 52, a fourth dialogue, this
one centered on faith (Glaube) as being a model of idealization,
and doubt (Zweifel) as an example of de-idealization.  Admittedly,
that simplification is misleading. Theology and philosophy overlap.
Consider Spinoza, Leibniz, Nietzsche, Kierkegaard. Mengs and Joachim,
like myself, are fascinated by reflecting on the contrast between
Leibniz whose theology is integral to his philosophy, and Newton,
an equally passionate theologian, for whom philosophy (physics)
and theology occupied separate compartments of the mind. As for
German philosophers, I have Joachim quoting Nietzsche:

Also hat Nietzsche doch recht gehabt als er schrieb:
"Man hat nur das Wort Tübinger Stift auszusprechen,
um zu begreifen, was die deutsche Philosophie im Grunde ist, 
eine hinterlistige Theologie. "

Perhaps Nietzsche was correct after all when he wrote:
"One need only utter the words: Tuebinger Stift
to realize that in essence German philosophy is
a devious theology."

Tuebinger Stift, (Tuebingen Foundation) is a Protestant
seminary whose notable alumni include Hoelderlin, Hegel
and Schelling.

> "You comment that there is spiritual value in being in love
> with a witch.  ??  What is the value, pray?  and for whom? 
> the witch or oneself?  Sounds more like masochism to me."
 
The spiritual value of being in love with a witch is that 
such love confers the ultimate immunity against scolding,
pillorying, burning the witch. It enables one to recognize
"that of God in every man (witch)", to recognize the witch
as a human being. The value of course is reciprocal to the
lover and the beloved. You will agree that it is far nobler
to love a witch than to burn her at the stake. Once you
understand Isaiah 53, you will understand that being a witch
oneself is the noblest of all.

1 Who hath believed our report?
and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?

2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant,
and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness;
and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.

3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows,
and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him;
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows:
yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

5 But he was wounded for our transgressions,
he was bruised for our iniquities:
the chastisement of our peace was upon him;
and with his stripes we are healed.

6 All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned every one to his own way;
and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
yet he opened not his mouth:
he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb,
so he openeth not his mouth.

8 He was taken from prison and from judgment:
and who shall declare his generation?
for he was cut off out of the land of the living:
for the transgression of my people was he stricken.

9 And he made his grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in his death; because
he had done no violence,
neither was any deceit in his mouth.

10 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him;
he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul
an offering for sin, he shall see his seed,
he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD
shall prosper in his hand.

11 He shall see of the travail of his soul,
and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge
shall my righteous servant justify many;
for he shall bear their iniquities.

12 Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great,
and he shall divide the spoil with the strong;
because he hath poured out his soul unto death:
and he was numbered with the transgressors;
and he bare the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors.

> And speaking of the spirit, I am intrigued by your comment
> about Lutheranism. Did your parents become Lutherans in Virginia? 

My own aversion to public, organized religion has made my parents'
involvement with the Lutherans a matter of embarrassment for me.
My mother, who was brought up by her grandparents in Braunschweig
was introduced by them into the German Reformed (Zwinglian)
congregation to which Helmut's father succeeded as the Pastor.
Her grandfather, - my greatgrandfather, - a sewing machine 
mechanic by trade, was liberal and as openly contemptuous of
ecclesiastical and civil authority as seemed practical. He would
draw the blinds, when the Kaiser paraded down the avenue. He
was disdainful of the church. After he had died, his pastor felt
constrained to eulogize him by scolding him post mortem for his
infidelity. 

My mother, a very intelligent girl with a mere 8th grade education,
who grew up in poverty, relied on the church to protect her as she
climbed the social ladder. Church membership as a badge of social
legitimacy characterized her attitude throughout life. Her wish that
I accompany my father and herself to church in their declining years
is one of her few requests with which I did not comply. Before she
met my father, she had been affianced to a young Jewish literary
critic named Hans Georg Schick, who introduced her to German
and Scandanavian literature, especially the naturalistic novels of
Knut Hamsun, and who introduced her also to the music of Bach.

My paternal grandmother was a suitably pious Jewess, but her 
husband, so far as the Synagogue was concerned, was a rebel. The
best thing about the Jewish religion he would declare, was the food.
I'm probably repeating myself with the story that when my grandfather
was summoned to Detmold for an audience with the Duke, and ordered
to appear in a tuxedo, he informed the chamberlain that if His
Highness wished to inspect his tuxedo, that might be more conveniently
forwarded by mail. When my parents married in 1927, my mother was
escorted to the Town offices by my Onkel Fritz and by my grandfather
who expressed his approval of the marriage, declaring: Ich haette
fast selbst ein Christenmaedchen geheiratet. (I almost married a
Christian girl myself.)

At the time of their marriage, my parents had resolved to forgo any
religious affiliation. My father, who had been a member of a Jewish
fraternity, was asked to resign. With the advent of National Socialism,
the Christian religion appeared to offer some protection. My mother
reactivated her membership in the Reformed Church; my sister and I
were baptized in our elegant apartment by Helmut's father in 1936.
There was no issue about my father's possible "conversion". It
was probited by the Nazi laws.

In the summer of 1939, when you and Jane were boycotting me in 
Canaan, my father had his mind on passing a NY State English
language exam and the NY State Medical Boards. Religion was neither
on his mind not on that of my mother who was supporting my father
and herself as a companion to a rich New York lady whom she was
expected to accompany to the pet cemetery and to join in mourning
the departed dog.

My mother became melancholy and found it necessary to look for
other work.  Because, not being a Jewess, she was not welcomed by
Jewish relief agencies, and because there was no Reformed Church
or social agency, my mother applied as the next best hope to a
Lutheran social organization for referral to another job. So far
as her employment was concerned, the effort failed, but the Lutherans
were eager to recruit my father because they needed a doctor for
their Konnarock mission. It was taken for granted that religion
would go with the job.

So far as my mother was concerned, the employment in Konnarock
reestablished the role of the Church as the social protector 
with which she had grown up. It was easy for my father to adapt
to my mother's propensities, and he had the intellectual capacity
to fashion the theological basis for his new life. His theology
is documented in letters exchanged with Helmut's father, and in
a few essays that he had occasion to compose. He was, if anything,
even more isolated in his intellectual and emotional experiences
than I have found myself in the corresponding stages of my life.

The music of Bach was the indispensable vehicle of religious
experience for both of my parents. There were of course no local
concerts; but our phonograph records survived the destruction
of most of our household goods. A phonograph record player was
one of my parents' first major purchases. I maintained it for
them for 47 years. I remember vividly during the few months of 
my 8th grade sojourn at Germantown Friends School scouring the
Philadelphia record stores for a copy of the St. Matthew Passion.
I found the three volume set of 78 rpm discs at H. Royer Smith,
the fabled record store, I believe it was on Walnut Street, a 1937
performance in English, by Serge Koussevitzky and the Boston
Symphony with the Harvard Glee Club and RAdcliffe Choral Society.
Just two or three years ago, I found a CD version of that same
production, which takes me back into my childhood whenever I
listen to it.

About two years ago, soon after Margrit's death, a friend of
Margrit's, Margret Steinrueck, a retired Berlin physician, about
whom I've written to you, sent me as a gift a box of 188 CD's
of the complete works of Bach. Last week I resolved finally
to set aside an hour each evening to listen to one of the 80
discs of the cantatas. I download from the Internets, print
and staple a pdf file of the orchestral score for each cantata.
Then I insert my hearing aids, try to find a relatively unscratched
pair of reading glasses, and listen, following the score,
trying to fathom the Baroque entanglement of the music, the text,
the fateful history, and the mysterious spirit which meant so much
to my parents.

> I send Katenus a Biblical quotation which I hope will
> not infuriate him (Let me know his reaction, please)
> "The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life."
> (from somewhere in Corinthians, I think. 
> Doesn't it sound like St Paul?)

I spoke with Katenus on the phone this evening, and transmitted
the quotation, with which he was quite familiar and immediately
identified as 2. Corinthians 3:6. Katenus was puzzled by your
concern that it might infuriate him. He asked me to convey to
you his interpretation. He's not sure that you understand.
The spirit referred to is pneuma, hagia pneuma, holy spirit,
which "bringeth life" because it unites your breath, your pneuma,
your spiritus with the universal, all pervasive hagia pneuma,
the source of all life. As for the letter which killeth, that
is the letter of the law, from the Mosaic Law to the Code of
Federal Regulations, to 248 Code of Massachusetts Regulations
which is to be discussed with Judge Macdonald Thursday after next.
All law is deadly to the spirit. Better to marry a witch than
a lawyer. The deadliness of the law derives from the circumstance
that the law which is external, purports to control the life which
is inward. Katenus wants you to understand, wants me to explain
to you, what this citation:
"The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life." has to do
with the protests in Washington about the impending Supreme
Court decision. Katenus, megalomaniac that he is, says that
none of the Justices, and certainly none of the demonstrators
understand what the fuss is all about, namely bewilderment
that we've been overtaken by a technology and "science" which
no one, except of course Katenus, understands; a technology 
and science which threaten the autonomy, and hence the humanity
of each of us. Half the protesters think that government
involvement will tame and control the spiritual monstrosity.
The other half of the protesters think that enshrining this
monstrosity in the temple of government will make it invincible.
Katenuses advice to all parties is to relax. The Tower of Babel
effect assures that in due time, the medical monstrosity will
die a natural death, and neither judicial, legislative nor
executive embalming will bring it back to life.

And please don't forget: The just shall live by faith.

Jochen