started my second read of New Sun

John Watkins · 18 May 2010, 12:52 · from 2010-May.txt.gz

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From: john.watkins04 at gmail.com (John Watkins)
Date: Tue, 18 May 2010 08:52:26 -0400
Subject: (urth) started my second read of New Sun
In-Reply-To: <2804.75.31.54.193.1274186742.squirrel at brunians.org>
References: <SNT123-W8B0F26407B3B44D111DC0CFE10 at phx.gbl>
	<2804.75.31.54.193.1274186742.squirrel at brunians.org>
Message-ID: <AANLkTik2dFo90bBhn0V0Mrmv9zPKJroMiI8H30tT4YZz at mail.gmail.com>

I think the clear meaning of his statement in the Larry McCaffery interview
is that there's a bit more room for intellectual play within the confines of
orthodox Catholicism than stereotypes would suggest.  I'm fairly sure he can
say all three Creeds without lying.

On Tue, May 18, 2010 at 8:45 AM, <brunians at brunians.org> wrote:

> He's orthodox.
>
> .
>
>
> >
> >
> > In regard to Gene Wolfe as heretic, I'm not sure he'd reject that label.
> > Perhaps he'd embrace it.  From the Larry McCaffery interview:
> >
> >>GW- "I am a practicing Catholic, although I don't think that
> >>designation would give people much of an idea about what my beliefs
> >>are. People tend to have a very limited, stereotyped view of what it
> >>means to be a Catholic....I certainly don't dismiss religious or other
> >>mystical forms of speculation out of hand. I read it and try to make my
> >>own judgments about it. And in The Book of the New Sun I tried to work
> >>out some of the implications of my beliefs.
> >
> > Moving beyond established religious dogma seems to be an important part
> > of both Severian's and Silk's journeys.
> >
> > I too liked Lane Haygood's post and perhaps Wolfe does view spiritual
> > evolution
> > as an assymptotic spiral, approaching but never reaching ultimate
> > divinity. I
> > certainly didn't mean to suggest the Sun series implies Man would replace
> > God.
> >
> > Still, I'm willing to consider circularity as a possibility. I think the
> > section which describes the attachment to the person of the monarch as
> > both
> > the lowest and highest basis for governance is a partial inspiration. It
> > reminds
> > me of God declaring he is Alpha and Omega. This always struck me as a
> > circular
> > rather than linear alphabetic statement. The most elegant way to be both
> > the
> > beginning and the end is to be a circle. So Man is God, just at an
> earlier
> > point
> > in spiritual evolution.
> >
> > Part of Tzadkiel's semi-divine nature is the ability to traverse a
> > universe and
> > perceive multiple points in time simultaneously. I think the natural
> > progression
> > from that would be the ability to traverse multiple universes and
> perceive
> > all
> > points in time simultaneously. As Lane posits, a way to accomplish this
> > would be to exist outside all time and space.
> >
> > But perhaps what David Stockhoff hints at is another path to ultimate
> > divinity.
> > Instead of being outside the whole shebang, a being could gain
> > multi-universal
> > presence and perception by becoming one with all the substance of all
> > universes.
> > Thus God would not be outside creation and evolution but the very essence
> > of it,
> > simultaneously the beginning and end and everything in between. To me,
> > that
> > feels more like Wolfe's Increate than a remote, external entity does.
> >
> > But I qualified as being out on a limb from the beginning on this and I
> > freely
> > admit it could be a projection of my own spiritual leanings rather than
> > those of Gene Wolfe's.
> >
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