Infinite Summer

Pages 172 - 176

Here is how to avoid thinking .....
Here is how to do extra .....
Here is how to don red.....
Here is how to put on a big.....
Here is how to win, later .......

This goes on for a few pages.

I believe that he is parodying the eastern religions and the writing of the sage or the enlightened or the ancients.
The writings often follow this type of format. A book I am reading by a Taoist has sentence after sentence that start with "To do .... or To understand...... or To - whatever. On and on.

Some of DFW's lists like this include the ridiculous and also the profound. I think he is nudging us and saying -
"Take what you want and leave the rest" or something like that. Don't believe everything you read. No one, even the ancient sages, know everything. They are human too - and anyone who is telling us how "to do" something has their own baggage and their own slant on the world and may be and may not be helpful. Think for yourself. Maybe also a comment on all the self help books of the Year of the Yushityu ..... - HA! Now that's funny.

*thumbs up*
I like this interpretation. Now that you mention it, that section definitely has an asian flavor to it.

_________________
"It is easy to put on a show & be cocky. . . Or I can show you some really fancy movement. But to express oneself honestly, not lying to oneself. . . now that, my friend, is very hard to do." --Bruce Lee

I think this is well echoed in the section that starts on p 200, with the paragraphs that start with "That..."

I love these two sections.. Esp about the roommate who can light smoke and put out a cigarette without ever really waking up and you'd better not question them about it because chances are they learned it in prison.
the Buddhist view point also resonates with me...
This morning I tried to write a bit about
this is how I wake up in the morning...
It makes things very immediate and of course my writing like DFW is laughable to the extreme.