(urth) Standard Wolfean Riddle
James Wynn
crushtv at gmail.com
Fri Aug 13 13:08:34 PDT 2010
On 8/13/2010 1:11 PM, David Stockhoff wrote:
>>
>>>> YYYYYYYYeeeeeeeessssssssoooooooodddddddd
>>>> ...Briah(n-1) Briah(n) Briah(n+1) ....
>>>> AAAAbbbbbbbbaaaaddddddddoooonnnn
>>>
>>> So then, supposedly OUR universe is some Briah (n+)? Do I have this right
>>
>>
>> Well, if we take Wolfe at his word when he says that Urth is a
>> previous version of Earth, then, yes, that follows -- in particular
>> ours is the one into which the Increate is actually born as the Theanthropos
>
> I hope I can be forgiven for this heretical question...but if the
> Increate is born as the Theantropos in Briah (n+19), what is the
> situation with the Christ figure of Briah (n+20)? Is he better than
> Jesus? Or is Jesus perfect so all Briahs above (n+19) have the same
> Christ-figure? Or perhaps the perfection of Jesus requires that we are in the universe Briah (n+infinity)?
>
> I find these questions difficult.
>
As I have said before, I think it is a mistake to analyze these stories
to see how their settings (as opposed to their themes) conform to
systematic theology. However, I'll play along.
I presume that Severian is the Christ of Briah (n). There was no Jesus
of Nazareth. If one asks, well how could there be all these
parallels...some having to do with the RCC...if there was no Jesus?
Wolfe addressed that question in There Are Doors.
In that novel, the parallel worlds*** remain sync with each other by
virtue of being in approximation to each other.
(***The parallel worlds, from Green's perspective, might be inscrutable
from a cycle of expanding and collapsing universe iterations since such
iterations are not divided by Time--because Time also collapses along
with each universe iteration)
The parallel worlds are like strings on a guitar that are strung to the
same note...strike one and those next to it vibrate along with it.
Therefore in Lara's world, grooms wear black at their weddings because
men die after having sex. In Green's world (ours), grooms wear black
too. It's just a formality for us, but we actually do it here only
because they do it there. The parallel worlds have the same languages
and very similar customs differing only in minor and peculiar ways (such
as no ice trays in Lara's world).
Presumably, the Briahs (n -/+) remain in sync because they are compelled
to by their approximation to each other. So there will be similarities
between Briah (n -/+) that make no internal sense. There might well have
been a Catholic Church with nearly the same rituals (and an American
moon landing as well) even though there was no Jesus to influence the
next 2000 years of history.
u+16b9
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