DW Quote

[JaapSuter]

Hi,

is there anybody who can comment on the following quote by Dwain Weston?

"No ethics, no morals, no conscience, no guilt."

I'm trying to find out what context this came in, as my limited knowledge of the English language tells me this is not quite a motto I'd want to live by.

Was it meant in a joking way, or am I missing something?

Thanks,

Jaap Suter

[Tom Aiello]

It was a joke, really.

Dwain had a very oddball sense of humor. He was talking about his desire to start a cult, so that he would be rich and not have to work anymore. The basis of his cult would be self-gratification. He would require all the cult members to stand up and repeat the "no morals" mantra several times a day.

There's more to it, actually. Another part went:

"What is the purpose of life?

To derive pleasure."

I can't remember the whole thing. Dwain did successfully convince at least one person to tape the whole thing to their mirror and repeat it every morning. He was very proud of this accomplishment, and claimed it was proof that his cult would soon sweep the world, and set him up for life.

You had to know him. Dwain was high value as a person, as well as a BASE jumper.

[Raymond Losli]

No...You are not missing a thing my good fellow.

No this was a hypothetical / perfect society, way of Life and religion... (the church of Dwain Weston)..
In which of course was set up as him being the... Devine, Ruler of

" No ethics, No morals, No conscience, No guilt." ... To this statement he also said ...

"Living by this mantra does not mean there will not be any ...Consequences."
.

edit to add :

and like Tom said....

You must repeat this every morning to yourself 10 Times immediately right after you wake up.
.
.

[JaapSuter]

Thanks Tom and Raymond, that puts things in perspective.

Rhonda Leah also sent me the following link:

http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/foru...362048#1362048

which has some more details.

Thanks again!

Jaap Suter

[Crimpfiend]

Oh my heavens, Dwain would love that you're questioning his mantra . It was 3/4 joke and 1/4 not - he WOULD actually liked to have had his own cult . Like Tom said, you had to know him to fully understand it's context, humor and irony.

[JaapSuter]

I'm a huge fan of Chuck Palahniuk's Fight Club (the book, not the movie), and somehow the quote reminded me of it. I guess it's the nihilistic cult-ish monkeys shot into outer space aspect of it. To quote:

It's only after you've lost everything, that you're free to do anything.

Sounds like it's in line with what Dwain was talking about .

I can highly recommend all of Chuck's books by the way. If you liked the Fight Club movie, you'll like his books even better.

Cheers,

Jaap

[Nick_D]

Dwain was certainly a man of his time and I always enjoyed his wit and humor. I think in time that quote of his will become part of BASE lore. It has that quality of being mysterious and it makes you think . . .

However, don't forget about another now gone BASE jumper, who did actually have his own cult, Mike Allen, BASE 163.

Mike was a true BASE wanderer. He and a buddy would stand on opposite sides of the road with their thumbs out, and which ever one got a ride determined in which direction they headed. He was also blessed with an insatiable thirst for knowledge. He was a true student of the human condition. Mike even visited India and studied their culture. On his return to the U.S. he was hitching down a dark Texas road, traveling from one antenna tower to another, when a young man in a pick-up gave him a ride.

In the short time they spent together Mike related to this guy what he had learned in India and how it applied to modern day life in America. Several years later Mike found out, much to his surprise, the fellow in the pick-up had started his own church. And he based it solely on everything Mike had told him. Mike was invited to the church and when he showed up he was introduced to the large congregation as, "The Prophet." If Mike was still alive he wouldn't make hay out of this, and he'd laugh hearing me say this, but he was truly the only BASE God, I've ever known.

NickD
BASE 194

[rhondalea]

It's only after you've lost everything, that you're free to do anything.

Sounds like a Solzhenitsyn fan:

You can only have power over people so long as you don't take everything away from them. But when you've robbed a man of everything he's no longer in your power-he's free again.

[Nick_D]

Very esoteric . . .

Rondea Lea has it totally right, freedom only comes with abandon . . .

You can't have some goal, not even a plan really. You should really take life as it comes and for what it actually is, a cosmic opportunity that you are so lucky to have, and while you have time, to make your brothers and sisters feel better about themselves . . .

NickD
BASE 194

[audacium]

Hello all,


Thanks very much for clarifying on this, I was asking myself often what Dwain could have meant with this. I already printed it out a while ago (it hangs over my desk actually), but I have not yet started with mumbling it each morning ten times ...guess I am not yet a true believer in this "soon to overwhelm BASE as whole" cult...I will start tomorrow.

And when we are talking about freedom I cannot abstain from throwing in "A Clockwork Orange" from Anthony Burgess, I prefer the book a lot to the film from Kubrick though the movie is very good. Freedom comes from abandon and from choice...


All the best, Eduard.

[rhondalea]

I was asking myself often what Dwain could have meant with this.

Was Dwain a fan of Heinlein?

rl

[Tom Aiello]

Was Dwain a fan of Heinlein?

Not that I know of. And being a huge Heinlein fan (I own all of his works), and having spent a fair bit of time just hanging out with Dwain, I'd have probably picked up on it.

I think Dwain home-grew a lot of the philosophy that the rest of us had to read books to pick up.

[rhondalea]

And being a huge Heinlein fan

<AOL> Me too. </AOL>

I just got a distinct resonance of Heinlein from the context of the email; specifically, the characteristics of genius in "Gulf," along with a hint of rational anarchy (the reference to consequences). (A discussion of rational
anarchy is here, for those who haven't read Heinlein.)

And, too, it all made me think of Valentine Michael Smith.

rl

[Skydawg]

And too, it all made me think of Valentine Michael Smith.

rl

I groke that