finally - a mechanism: baptism

James Jordan · 03 Dec 2002, 19:57 · from urth-v0212.mbox · original

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From: James Jordan <jbjordan4 at cox.net>
Subject: (urth) finally - a mechanism: baptism
Date: Tue, 03 Dec 2002 13:57:23 -0600
Message-ID: <urth-v0212-2350 at digest.urth.net>
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At 08:22 AM 12/3/2002, marc wrote:
>Here is a mechanism that we may want to look at for time travel:
>
>Remember that when Fava and Inclito's mother tell their stories, the narra=
tor
>has the ability to enter their story.  In other words, he can alter events
>that he hears about and use his "power" to enter the story.  He actually
>appears in Inclito's mother's story as a figure from her past, while he
>changes Fava's story.  I argue that his astral travel can be based off of
>something that he hears about - and that one of Typhon's big concerns when=20
>he scanned himself into mainframe was the conciliator, so that when Silk's=20
>spirit is reunited with his body from Pig at the very end of the flashback=20
>scenes of return to the whorl, it brings with it Pas' preoccupation with=20
>the figure of the Conciliator - and it also programs him with Typhon's=20
>obsession to meet and possibly influence the conciliator, sending Silk's=20
>spirit across time to find that man at his true birth - his baptism in the=20
>river.  If you want to argue
>that Severian was not dead at the exact first time that Silk appears, you=20
>have
>to factor in the very significant drowning in Gyoll that must be taking pl=
ace
>EXACTLY as Silk appears in that time - the true birth (or death) of the
>Severian we know - and therefore the logical focal point for his
>vivimancer-hood.

Now this is a good thought, but what does it mean? I'm finding it hard to=20
wrap around Typhon's supposed concern to find the Conciliator, this being=20
passed on to Passilk, and then on to the Narrator, etc.
         I suggest we think more about the Outsider here, since Severian's=20
baptism is clearly Outsider stuff. Like Silk's enlightenment, it is his=20
point of initiation into his "messianic calling."
         Silk has been Enlightened when the Holy Spirit falls upon him.=20
This is clearly like Jesus' baptism, and thus like all baptisms. Later,=20
Silk himself undergoes death, burial, and resurrection. Now the Narrator=20
arrives on Urth right at the time of Severian's baptism, death, and first=20
resurrection. That seems a better link, IMO: that one specially baptized=20
man is drawn to the moment of another special man's baptism.
         At the moment Severian is starting his new life, Silk Plus appears=20
to him and spends a little time with him. Is there some passing on of Silk=20
Plus's wisdom to Severian implied, if only a few key thoughts? Is the=20
Narrator helping Severian become the Conciliator?
         This SEEMS the right moment in Severian's young life for Silk to=20
arrive and pass on his wisdom to him.
         Now, either this is a coincidence in the overall historical "plan"=20
of the Outsider, so that Silk's lifespan has come to the same point in time=20
as Severian's baptism on Urth; or else as you have argued there is a draw=20
across time to this event.
         One might argue, building on the above, that the draw across time=20
is the baptism of Severian. The baptized, and then dead & resurrected, and=20
now mature and aged Silk, himself clearly a "conciliator," is drawn across=20
time to meet the Conciliator right at the beginning of his new life,=20
precisely because of who Silk is and who Severian is. If this does not seem=20
like "good SF," remember that Silk's enlightenment was a "purely spiritual=20
event" not paralleled by anything "scientific." In this narrative the=20
Outsider is a player, though only openly an occasional one.
         At the same time, if the only "mechanism" is the plan of the=20
Outsider, a link of the Spirit so to speak, then a "draw across time" is no=20
more credible than the "historical-predestinated coincidence" option=20
discussed above.
         In defense of the Blushas thesis, I can point out that "looping in=20
time" is a theme in the Severian books, and that introducing this event=20
might hint at another loop: Silk, living much later in history, goes back=20
in time to help initiate the Conciliator's work. This notion by itself=20
seems quite Lupine. But I submit we need corroborative evidence for a "draw=20
across time," for by itself this "coincidence" need be nothing more than=20
the "plan of the Outsider" to bring both events together at the same time.
         At present, I'm satisfied with the notion that Silk precedes=20
Severian in time, and that Severian is partly a disciple of Silk.

Nutria


--=20

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