Zen and the Art of Vanquishing Voldemort (was: Why should Harry be expected.

[lupinlore]

No: HPFGUIDX 122924


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "nkafkafi" <nkafkafi at y...> wrote:


> 
> Trying desperately to yank this sub-thread back on topic, did you 
> ever consider looking at DD as a Zen master? It might be the key to 
> the mystery of his character. True, he doesn't use a stick (pretty 
> redundant when he has Snape in his toolbox) but he seems to share the 
> extremely annoying philosophy that Zen (erm... I mean vanquishing 
> Voldy) cannot be taught. Harry must make the voyage himself. 
> 

Hmmm.  This is interesting, but it slides to close to all the
"alchemical" posts for me.  And I freely admit we are dealing with
matters of taste here.  My gut instinct, however, is that whereas JKR
does have pretty strong moral, philosophical, and even theological
ideas, she is not setting about to write an allegory or to
specifically exemplify a set of theories or approach to the world.  

On somewhat firmer ground, I think this way of seeing Dumbledore is
slightly undercut by DD's admissions at the end of OOTP.  There he
doesn't talk about letting Harry develop for himself (although he has
almost certainly been doing some of that), but rather that he just
couldn't give Harry needed information because he couldn't bring
himself to hurt Harry in that way (and I personally suspect that
finding Harry with the Mirror of Erised way back in '91 was a key
turning point in the way DD reacts emotionally to Harry).  At this
point DD doesn't appear so much a Zen Master as a deeply conflicted
man who just honestly doesn't know what to do.


Lupinlore