Kerouac was of course a "product" of the "culture" in which he appeared. A culture which was essentially "one dimensional" with zero understanding of the intrinsically esoteric Spiritual dimensions of life, and of the necessity, as understood in the Eastern contemplative traditions including Zen, of a Living Spiritual Master as a guide to the difficult process of out-growing and transcending all of ones inherited presumptions about ones socially constructed personality. And the (inherited) cultural structures of mind, which to use a metaphor, are the "invisible sea in which one swims".
Such was also the case with Kerouac's fellow "beats" with (perhaps) one or two exceptions.
Although he was not a "beat" one particular example of which used to attend their alcohol and drug addled parties and was always the last one standing with an extraordinary clarity of mind. All the "beats" were in awe of his capacity to do so. Unlike the rest of them he was actually living and practicing a highly disciplined way of life which are the necessary prerequisites even to begin an authentic Spiritual Way of Life.
In his later years Kerouac became a narrow minded right wing curmudgeon
Kerouac was of course a "product" of the "culture" in which he appeared. A culture which was essentially "one dimensional" with zero understanding of the intrinsically esoteric Spiritual dimensions of life, and of the necessity, as understood in the Eastern contemplative traditions including Zen, of a Living Spiritual Master as a guide to the difficult process of out-growing and transcending all of ones inherited presumptions about ones socially constructed personality. And the (inherited) cultural structures of mind, which to use a metaphor, are the "invisible sea in which one swims".
Such was also the case with Kerouac's fellow "beats" with (perhaps) one or two exceptions.
Although he was not a "beat" one particular example of which used to attend their alcohol and drug addled parties and was always the last one standing with an extraordinary clarity of mind. All the "beats" were in awe of his capacity to do so. Unlike the rest of them he was actually living and practicing a highly disciplined way of life which are the necessary prerequisites even to begin an authentic Spiritual Way of Life.
In his later years Kerouac became a narrow minded right wing curmudgeon