Greenpoint

This second volume of works by Russell Lichter (whom I dubbed The Hermit of Blackpoint in the first volume) is entitled Greenpoint. Like Blackpoint, Greenpoint is the name of an actual geographical location in northern California. Highway 37 on its way from Novato to Vallejo bisects an oak forested area of several square miles, bordered to the east by the mouth of the Petaluma River and Richardson Bay, and to the west by miles of wetlands and cow pastures. Greenpoint is on the northern side of that highway, Blackpoint on the southern. Despite their contiguity they have different genii loci and different topologies. Most Blackpointers could not afford to live in Greenpoint and most Greenpointers wouldn't want to live in Blackpoint. And yet, the two form one whole.The geographical message here is that the works of the first volume form an emotional and spiritual continuum with the works of this volume. They come from, so to speak, the same place, both physically and metaphysically. While some may object to this, there is a lot to be said for remaining true to one's roots in a world that is becoming increasingly rootless, and where isolation and insecure disconnectedness abound, even at the highest economic and social levels.While the Asian philosophies that highly influence both the author and the publisher talk in terms of ?having no abode,? and ?non-attachment to all phenomena,? it is the publisher's view that a little Western thought is needed to balance this out, and the author, knowingly or unknowingly, has done so. While it is true that we do well not to be overly-clingy, it is the view of the great systematic German philosophers that place is not merely incidental, but of great spiritual significance. This is to say that the balanced man is willing to let go of…