Quasi Christ?

David Stockhoff · 11 Feb 2009, 15:40 · from 2009-February.txt.gz

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From: dstockhoff at verizon.net (David Stockhoff)
Date: Wed, 11 Feb 2009 10:40:19 -0500
Subject: (urth) Quasi Christ?
In-Reply-To: <mailman.12096.1234361443.6116.urth-urth.net at lists.urth.net>
References: <mailman.12096.1234361443.6116.urth-urth.net at lists.urth.net>
Message-ID: <4992F163.803 at verizon.net>

Fine with me. I only meant to contrast it with "divine."

But I still see it as half political. Feudal, almost. As it would be if the sky gods came to us and said, OK, if you talk about how great we are and support us against the earth gods, we'll make sure it rains at the appropriate times and protect  your human governments. Deal?

Nothing could be less divine than that. Whether the Hieros serve the Increate or not, they must deal with humans in ways that are roughly comprehensible to at least some humans.

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Message: 1
Date: Tue, 10 Feb 2009 22:39:36 +0000
From: "Son of Witz" <sonofwitz at butcherbaker.org>
Subject: Re: (urth) Quasi Christ?
To: "The Urth Mailing List" <urth at lists.urth.net>
Message-ID: <W509624387252111234305576 at webmail32>
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> >-----Original Message-----
> >From: David Stockhoff [mailto:dstockhoff at verizon.net]
> >Sent: Tuesday, February 10, 2009 01:45 PM
>   
And Severian becomes more like the Pope than Christ, especially considering Roy's quote about the Conciliator's conciliation as a mundane and semipolitical one, as opposed to one with the Increate.

this insistence that the "Conciliator's conciliation" is mundane and political is strange to me.  Can't we see it as metaphor, and not as mundane plot.  In the microcosm of this metaphor, he's effected a salvation of humanity in the eyes of those who serve God.  That the text could be read to imply that the Hierogrammates had no real connection to God, doesn't mean that it is so. Even Angels serve God without understanding him completely.  Can't we accept these characters as serviceable metaphors for Archangels and Angels, and see the scifi trappings for what they are, dressings on a metaphor?

Hopefully that's clear.  maybe I can boil it down more.
The microcosm of a metaphor need not encompass the whole macrocosm it's illustrating.  The map is NOT the territory. it's a limited, scaled down representation of the territory.

~SonOfWitz

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