From: "Chris" 
Subject: Re: (urth) typhon's knowledge
Date: Tue, 31 Dec 2002 19:24:52 +0000

Speaking of myth, I have been toying with an idea which I am hoping someone 
can put me on the right track with (or off the wrong one). The Learned Ones 
of this list have certainly seen a lot, and I would be surprised if someone 
hadn't already pursued this in more detail.

I am thinking that *one* way to describe what's going on is that the nature 
of Yesod is that it is a world of *myths*, and not just a world with myths, 
but essentially it is the mythical realm and follows mythical rules. It is 
also one of four distinct stages of creation, of which our physical world is 
also one. If one traces from the Creator to Creation, just one step short of 
the physical world is Yetzirah; an "Ur-Earth". Qabbalistically, there are 
four worlds of creation, starting from Atzilut (which is Nothingness), 
closest to the creator. The next rung down is *Briah*, whose focus is 
bringing Something from Nothingness, and whose associated archangel does 
happen to be Tzadkiel (also associated with Chesed, the sefirot of "Mercy" 
or giving, which is appropriate). Next down is the world of Yetzirah, the 
world of Forms (Something from Something) - this is where one might say the 
myths go to play. I believe this is the stage where the New Sun series takes 
place; perhaps you could say it is an alternate way of telling the same 
story that is our universe... The use of the term Yesod (which is the 
sefirot of "Foundation") could refer to the fact that Yetzirah can be said 
to correspond to 6 of the lower sefirot taken together, the lowest of which 
(low being in the direction of creation, away from creator) is Yesod. The 
world as we know it in our physical sense is Assiah (Completion) and is 
associated with Malkhut, the "lowest" Sefirot of all (this is a vast 
oversimplification).

There are numerous things that would seem to go along with an interpretation 
like this. Talos' play may be a very big hint toward how to look at the 
overall story.

Another thing which I may pursue in an unrelated (or related way) is the 
association of Severian with Sammael - the angel often associated with 
Geburah ("Severity") and I guess you would say the counter-part or 
counter-balance to Tzadkiel. While these two angels are in opposing spheres, 
it's important not to read any antagonism into the relationship: the two 
form a thesis/antithesis pair that is necessary for the process of 
synthesis. A point of note is that in qabbalah each persistent, named angel 
is associated with a star - exactly *one* star per angel. The terms in which 
this was described to me reminded me very heavily of the association of the 
Conciliator with his New Sun.

If I use this framework, I am as yet uncertain whether to say the Long Sun 
books take place in Yetzirah or Assiah. Either seems possible. It's 
maintained by mystics that it's possible for a person in this world to 
temporarily translate his consciousness to the world of Yetzirah (though no 
higher than that? not sure about that), which would make it possible for 
Silk to talk to Severian even from a different realm. An interesting side 
effect of this is that if that's how the communication takes place, then the 
difference in time and distance between Silk and Severian becomes completely 
irrelevant.

I have far more to learn on both of these subjects before I can really do 
much useful with it - that is, if I'm not running down a blind alley.

Chris

>Roy claims that Typhon knows very little about the conciliator or about
>flooding.  However, he hints at several things in his appearance in Sword 
>of
>the Lictor.  He claims that water brings new life and rebirth.  He 
>understands
>the role of the conciliator and his idenitity, promising Severian that if 
>he
>kneels before him, the Conciliator come again will also kneel before him.  
>And
>what does Severian see when he looks out the eyes of Typhon?  A vast plain 
>of
>water.  This is what Typhon sees from his mountain, with his false eyes.
>As for  the idea of the Conciliator was not unknown in Typhon's time - the
>conciliator was a rewriting of christology - an echo of the promise of a
>savior that MUST have been extent if Buzz Aldron was extent in that distant
>future.  The conciliator became meshed with Christ in myth- and of course
>Typhon knew about that, since he is an allegory of Satan.  He is 
>re-enacting
>the temptation scene - he knows everything about the conciliator and his
>mission.  Even if there was no need for a sun before the age of Typhon, 
>there
>was still need of a spiritual salvation with which the conciliator became
>associated.  Come now.  How can the memory of Buzz Aldron outlive the 
>memory
>of Christ?  You really believe that Typhon, the satan figure of the text of
>New Sun, is ignorant of the role of the savior figure?  He might, after 
>all,
>have had access to the book of Canog that Dr. Talos must have perused to 
>write
>Eschatology and Genesis.  And the whole secret of the future is of course 
>in
>that text, composed from notes Severian revealed at the time when he meets
>Typhon in the past and is incarcerated.  If Typhon lived even another year 
>or
>two, he might have seen that text, with its gnostic eschatology and genesis
>ripe for his analysis. He might have even tried to use it when he took all 
>the
>other writings of ready-made religions and made his whorl.  (if the whorl 
>was
>already sent, then he still had an immense storehouse of myths that would
>become inseparable from the story of the Conciliator, who, before the
>publication of Urth of the New Sun, seemed to be homologous with Jesus 
>Christ.
>  Could Sappho and Aurelius outlive the documents of Christ in someplace 
>like
>Buenos Aires?).
>
>Marc Aramini
>
>
>
>--


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