Hierogrammates, Briah and Yesod

Lee Berman · 13 Aug 2010, 05:29 · from 2010-August.txt.gz

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From: severiansola at hotmail.com (Lee Berman)
Date: Fri, 13 Aug 2010 01:29:00 -0400
Subject: (urth) Hierogrammates, Briah and Yesod
Message-ID: <SNT123-W1045D8611140599643FFFACF980 at phx.gbl>

>Roy C. Lackey- There it is again, as I said earlier, Yesod on a higher *plane*. 
>And entropy. Not that this will make a damn bit of difference, but there it is.

Roy I have seen many who seem to agree with your view of Yesod as a universe above
and separate from Briah and its sucessions. I don't disagree with it. I see it as
a valid interpretation of the text. Where we disagre is that you see yours as the
only possible valid interpretation of the text.

I have an alternate interpretation which feels just as valid and works a bit better
for me in the overall connection of everything in the story. Some others seem to find
validity in my view also.

I've decided to co-opt a graphic of an alpha helix which roughly corresponds to how I
see the arrangement of the universes in BotNS. It is quite imperfect for the job as it 
was created for some other purpose but perhaps it will be helpful.

http://www.imb-jena.de/image_library/GENERAL/alpha_r_helix_1.gif

So, let's say that Briah is the lowest end of this helix. The first bend, marked with an
HA represents the end of Briah/beginning of Yesod. The next,ascending section represents Yesod. 
The HA spot is normally a barrier to travel because nothing can withstand the compression of the 
Grand Gnab, not to mention the subsequent Big Bang. 

But if you go faster than the speed of light you can smash right through the barrier. Or if
you have a hyperspace like Brook Madregot or a wormhole shortcut, you can bypass the HA mess
of destruction and creation and slide right from Briah to Yesod or vice-versa.

I am hoping that this model shows that Yesod can be seen as on a higher plane from Briah
but also on a sequential line with it. 

If I could draw a blue line which traces the shape of the helix/universes but just outside it,
I think it would show why the Brook Madregot would flow downhill from Yesod to Briah and also 
allow Severian to travel through time within Briah. 

This model also could depict the wormhole/shortcut Roy mentions (line segment 0, B1). I think it
illustrates why Severian's ship would be moving with so much energy by taking this shortcut with 
steep slope/sharp descent between coils of the helix.

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