spatial temporal rules of astral travel

Lee Berman · 26 Dec 2010, 03:12 · from 2010-December.txt.gz

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From: severiansola at hotmail.com (Lee Berman)
Date: Sat, 25 Dec 2010 22:12:53 -0500
Subject: (urth) spatial temporal rules of astral travel
Message-ID: <SNT123-W157DEC43C5A2C8B37D7401CF1F0 at phx.gbl>

>Son O' Witz: I understand the dying sun as a threat of judgement by the Yesodis. 
>Urth is being judged, and Severian, as the Epitome, stands for all.  This much is clear. 
>How this relates to Erebus and Abaia, well, I don't remember any mention in UotNS. 

Well for me that is exactly the point. There IS no mention of why there is the need for
judgement, what the basis for that judgment is, how Severian is tested, how he passes
the test, why a Flood is needed, why genocide is needed etc. Wolfe spins us around in
circles until we are dizzy then puts us back on Urth and Severian's story continues. 
Things move so fast we don't quite realize we've been given no answers and have no idea 
what the hell was going on with Tzadkiel and the Ship and Yesod.

I actually came to this list some 6 years ago hoping to find the answers and found that 
nobody seems to know the purpose of Severian's trial and the Flood. So, with no other place to 
look I went to the only place I could think of to find answers about a Flood: The Bible.

What I found was interesting. When we think of the Biblical Flood, we tend to focus on Noah 
and what was saved.  Often ignored is what was destroyed on earth. Why God found it necessary
to perpetrate such genocide. 

What I found in the Bible led me directly back to a portion of BotNS: Dr Talos' play. So much
is right there- the fallen angels, their mating with humans, the racial corruption, the Nephilim 
giants, the demons, the ruined Creation, etc. Confusing but when compared to Genesis, a lot less
so.

This was the "VRT replaced Dr. Marsch" moment for me, where the whole BotNS story got turned on
its head and I realized what is really going on here. Well, I'm not saying it works for everyone 
but for me it gave meaning to so many dreams and stories and weird references which had never made
sense to me before. But best of all, the reason a Flood was needed on Urth became clear.

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