Brook Madregot runs between

Craig Brewer · 11 Aug 2010, 14:55 · from 2010-August.txt.gz

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From: cnbrewer at yahoo.com (Craig Brewer)
Date: Wed, 11 Aug 2010 07:55:39 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: (urth) Brook Madregot runs between
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I'll add something to the discussion, noting from the beginning that I don't 
have a personal stake in the argument, although I probably agree with how Roy is 
reading the textual passages in question.

My difficulty with the Yesod-as-later-Briah theory is thematic. What happens in 
the Briah universe is largely cyclical. Similar stories get played out over and 
over. The entire idea of a "New Sun" is about Urth/Earth's renewal, it seems, 
rather than complete transformation and evolution. Or, at the very least, when 
the New Sun arrives, Urth is transformed rather than overcome or left behind.

Yesod seems "higher" than Briah in a number of senses, but primarily 
spiritually. It's not exactly heaven, but it is a place where judgment gets 
passed on the "lower" realm. It might be a higher dimension (however we 
understand that word), but it doesn't seem to me like the kind of thing or place 
that is ever a realistic goal for Urth-ers to achieve. (A Christian wants to 
become a better or saved Christian, for example, but it's not precisely a 
Christian's goal to become an angel, if that analogy makes sense.)

If Yesod is actually what Briah is supposed to become, then I don't really 
understand how all of Severian's struggles and adventures are supposed to lead 
to that goal. I completely understand how he's supposed to transform Briah/Urth 
and bring about its renewal, "save" it, etc. But if that's the case, then Briah 
is going to go through evolution on its own path, not turn itself into a higher 
spiritual mode of existence. In other words, if Yesod is what Briah is supposed 
to become, then doesn't that make the entire drama of simply bringing a New Sun 
within the Briah-universe something pretty trivial?

It always seemed to me that Yesod/Briah were on levels in 
similar-but-not-identical ways that the levels worked in TWK: Briah is like the 
human level. Yesod is like the Asgard level. Asgard is "better" than where Able 
spends most of his time. And Able can work to make humans better people. But the 
point is never really to turn all humans into angels or all elves into humans or 
what-not. The levels are each valued differently, but that doesn't mean that the 
lower ones are supposed to become the higher ones, even if they can learn from 
what happens in the higher ones. Individuals, like Able, may well be able to 
move through and "evolve" through the different levels, as similar in the way 
that Severian learns quite a bit from his experience in Yesod, but there are 
still meaningful horizontal stories even if the ultimate metaphysical story is 
vertical.

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