so - ask a non-existent, non-jesus gnuneo.

'The Sibyl, with frenzied mouth uttering things not to be laughed at, unadorned and unperfumed, yet reaches to a thousand years with her voice by aid of the god.' (Heraclitus, fragment 12)

1. Why a frenzied mouth?

2. Why can we not laugh?

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                                  14

          {Kappa-Epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Lambda-Eta Iota-Delta}

                            ONION-PEELINGS

    The Universe is the Practical Joke of the General
      at the Expense of the Particular, quoth FRATER
      PERDURABO, and laughed.
    But those disciples nearest to him wept, seeing the
      Universal Sorrow.
    Those next to them laughed, seeing the Universal
      Joke.
    Below these certain disciples wept.
    Then certain laughed.
    Others next wept.
    Others next laughed.
    Next others wept.
    Next others laughed.
    Last came those that wept because they could not
      see the Joke, and those that laughed lest they
      should be thought not to see the Joke, and thought
      it safe to act like FRATER PERDURABO.
    But though FRATER PERDURABO laughed
      openly, He also at the same time wept secretly;
      and in Himself He neither laughed nor wept.
    Nor did He mean what He said.



























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                      COMMENTARY ({Iota-Delta})

      The title, "Onion-Peelings", refers to the well-known
    incident in "Peer Gynt".
      The chapter resembles strongly Dupin's account of
    how he was able to win at the game of guessing odd or
    even.  (See Poe's tale of "The Purloined Letter".)
    But this is a more serious piece of psychology.  In one's
    advance towards a comprehension of the universe, one
    changes radically one's point of view; nearly always it
    amounts to a reversal.
      this is the cause of most religious controversies.
    Paragraph 1, however, is Frater Perdurabo's formula-
    tion of his perception of the Universal Joke, also
    described in Chapter 34.  All individual existence is
    tragic.  Perception of this fact is the essence of comedy.
    "Household Gods" is an attempt to write pure comedy.
    "The Bacchae" of Euripides is another.
      At the end of the chapter it is, however, seen that to
    the Master of the Temple the opposite perception occurs
    simultaneously, and that he himself is beyond both of
    these.
      And in the last paragraph it is shown that he realises
    the truth as beyond any statement of it.