Interview

PLUMBELL'S INTERVIEW WITH LEW PAZ
February 2006

How long have you lived up here in the Redwoods of Northern

California?

Following decades of travel, I settled here just after my 60th birthday,

about

eight years ago. I had passed through here, camping in the area

several times,

and I

knew if I ever settled down, this would be the place, near

the ocean, the

forest, the

University, which has a great library, and some

fine coffee houses

nearby.

And during those nine years here, you completed your book at an

unhurried pace.

Well

the first years centered around an accumulation of research, then the

last few became

kind

of Zen-like "write when you write" sort of thing,

with no

element

youthful ambiti

ous writer"

involved

. It was

more of

endeavor to

explore and

integrate my own conceptual stance on

existence,

tidying up

home and yard

during Spring cleaning, sufficient

enough so

that

visitors

find

their way

around. Most people haven't the time to read Nietzsche or Dostoevsky,

after they leave college. And very few ever consider pondering volumes by Kierkegaard

or Kant, or other such philosophers. So I decided to condense the widsom and insight

of such writings into clear, precise elucidation, so the reader can perhaps find a

spiritual

compass, a subtle guidance, for their journey.

So,

you're reaching for a larger audience than

a professional

scholar

concerned

with?

I really don't know how widespread an audience I might attract. So far

I've

had

scholars of high professional status buy my book, as well as those

rare

ordinary/extraordinary

people who

just intuit there is substance

within its pages.

Actually, it has something to offer

anyone with the

intelligence and courage to

question their own convictions.

Courage?

Of course. People, especially Americans, most often think of courage

something

physical -- mountain climbers, soldiers on the front lines,

and so on

There

are elements of

courage that manifest within such activities, but

there are

other

qualities of courage.

Sometimes courage is a balance

between external and

internal, like medical care

workers who travel to

dangerous war zones to help

the hurt and suffering, sometimes

working with

the victims of contagious

epidemics -- that sort of compassionate courage. Then we have

those facing no

direct

external danger, who dare a deep inner ex

ploration in order to d

iscover

some

tangible

relationship to

the spiritual

source of

existence. But this too

manifests

in a complex,

somewhat

wayward

variety of

attitudes and

approaches. Still,

when

comes to

self-

discovery and inner exploration,

there is always a kind of inner

courage

called

for

because

one becomes aware of risking one's sanity, perhaps even one's

soul,

and

under

certain conditions, one's life. And definitely one risks the security

of mass

somnambulism, because the quest demands a stepping away from acculturated

formulas

of belief. Such

exploration demands a

willingness

to give up all in order

find some

deeper

more substantial meaning to

one's

existence. Thus we have

the

reading audience,

in no danger while

reading my

book. But, because it points in this

inner

direction,

reading it requires

certain

intellectual courage. And let me tell you,

most

people

do not have the

courage

to approach these depths even safely in the

security of

their

home

just

reading a

book such as mine. Oh, I have found multi-dozens

on Google groupsites tossing questions about ultimate issues back and forth. But few

seem to be willing to commit themselves to truly pondering such things, like reading

my book,

which will definitely challenge their belief systems.

It definitely takes

a special

courage to

question

one's

convictions, to go deeper.

It's disturbing to realize the majority of people have such a

tendency

their minds to important knowledge such as what you deal

with in

your

book.

Yes, and that is why I have no idea of what kind of audience I might

attract. It's

impossible to say, because people of inner courage, with truly

open

minds, come from

all walks of life. But they are quite rare.

Yes, and I recall you touched on this in your book, as an element of

social

conformism, describing

people's

willingness to

believe philosophical, religious

and political lies as long as their well-structured

lifestyle is

not disturbed.

It's been proven that it takes tons of validated evidence to make a

person

change a

well established belief system that is false, yet only an

ounce of

questionable evidence

favoring

that person's chosen belief system

to convince

them not to change.

I assume you're not counting on a best-seller.

(laughing) Right. Most people, when they sense that a book will take

them

beyond

the comfort zone of their established worldview,

quickly turn

away.

They prefer chicken soup for the soul, whereas I offer a hot-pepper gypsy

stew

for brave souls only.

Would you say your book is similar to the writings of Carlos

Castaneda?

Well, possibly certain affinities.

If you read the works of Castaneda's ex-

wives,

Margaret Runyan

Castaneda and Amy Wallace,

you find that

though

certainly a gifted writer who

most likely did undergo many experiences of a

psychedelic nature,

and he presents us with valid insights as to our

existential/spiritual situation, like many gurus, his personal life was riddled with

games of deceit and other such crap. H

e was

actually a vain, morally weak,

spiritually

bereft

person, plus

somewhat anti-

human in his own "sorcerer's" view

things.

And his work is

vulnerable to the

claim of

being largely fiction,

whereas my

work is based on

validated

in-depth

research of a high

empirical

quality,

while remaining keenly

aware of the limits

of reason and

logic.

PB:

Yes, you deal with the limits of reason and logic in your chapters concerning

where science falls short.

LP:

Well, not where science falls short, but scientism, with its materialistic

orientation of empirical methodology. Science is a self-correcting system, but it

has elements of backwash, just as religion does. In fact, scientific materialists and

religious fundamentalists are equally closed-minded. Of course, you also find

particular degrees of closed-mindedness among Jungians, followers of Gurdjieff,

Scientologists, Buddhists, and on and on. The trick is to find the pearls of truth

within the piles of fabrication, elaboration and assumption.

PB:

In other words, you find every organized belief system to have its own kind

of closed-mindedness?

LP:

Yes. Everyone builds a barrier of defensiveness around their bubble of belief,

whether spiritual, philosophical, or political. They want just enough truth

involved to give them confidence in their belief, yet refuse to consider anything

which demands that they expand their system of belief to coincide with more

extensive validation of what existence is all about.

And you have no system you're attempting to convince people to

believe in?

No. My book consists of psychological and spiritual windows,

gateways, and

the

readers have a chance to gaze onto new horizons, and

enter more enriching

fields of

experience. The choice is put before them. It's

up to them to choose. I

just try to clear away centuries of briar and bramble tradition is prone to produce.

The spiritual journey is fraught with entanglements and obstacles of varied sort.

I try to uncover a path to the gateway of deeper truths.

The one's who enter

the

gate have an intimation that

a life fully lived is an

exhilarating experience of

fateful choices.

Well, I guess we shall leave it at that -- giving people the significant

choice

whether or not to read your book.

(laughing) Splendid!

To view the artwork of Lew Paz, click on the following link:
Artwork

To purchase your copy of Pushing Ultimates, click

here

hey