(urth) TWK: 7 world cosmology

[Roy C. Lackey]

I have to quibble with the Gnostic view of the cosmology of TWK that
hartshorn and others have championed. I don't see it that way because I
don't think it satisfies the most important criterion.

I agree that the Sun Cycle can (perhaps should) be viewed as Gnostic. The
Increate, aka the Outsider, is known of and referred to by the authors of
the several manuscripts concerned. That is not the case, however, with Art's
manuscript. In the Seven World cosmology, the deity at the top of the heap,
in Elysion, is labeled variously as the High God, the Highest God and the
Most High God, but they all refer to the same entity. There is no mention,
direct or otherwise that I am aware of in TWK, of any overarching "one true
God" outside of or otherwise apart from the Seven Worlds.

In the absence of any contravening internal evidence, I see no reason to
believe that "Highest God" and "Most High God" mean anything other than what
normal superlative usage would imply. MHG cannot mean second fiddle, cannot
refer to the Demiurge.

Able isn't very smart; I don't think he has the guile, even if he had a
motive, to deceive his brother by writing him a letter in which he
deliberately concealed his knowledge of the true creation and operation of
the universe, if he thought or had reason to believe that it was something
other than what he reported it to be, the Seven World cosmology. I don't
think Able qualifies as another of Wolfe's unreliable narrators, at least
not in the sense that he had something to hide. His narrative omissions are
due primarily to a lack of discernment. And no other character in the story
gives the reader any cause to believe that there is any deity outside the
Seven Worlds.

On a more practical level, I just can't see Michael as working for the
Demiurge. And the entire notion of upward spiritual migration loses its
appeal if it brings people closer to the Demiurge. If the "one true God"
isn't running the Seven World cosmology, what hope have the people of
Mythgarthr for salvation of any sort, spiritual betterment, transcendent
love (Able for Disiri), or any of the other finer, higher sentiments and
aspirations commonly associated with 'true believers'?

-Roy