VV (1) - More fun with the Qabalah, 1 of 2

[The Great Quail]

I have just read this through before sending, and it is long and 
rambling, for which I apologize. But my coffee-maker broke down this 
morning, so any attempts to organize this into More Coherent Thought 
is doomed.

Thomas asks,

>Are there any references to the Qabbalah in V.?

Direct references? Not to the best of my knowledge; but I haven't 
read V. in years, and I am only halfway through now. There are a few 
things which certainly reflect the Qabalah, though -- but those are 
inherent in most of Pynchon. More in a bit....

>I remember that there are
>pointed Qabbalistic references in GR (I did not have the time to reread the
>book for GRGR).

There are numerous Qabalistic pointers in GR; even the numerology of 
the chapters have heavy Qabalistic significance. And of course 
frequent mentions of Kabbalists, Qlippoth, as well as a few 
references to Merkabah, a related Judaic mysticism.

Before I continue, I would like to mention that the Qabalah is a very 
open and encompassing system; it is notoriously easy to adapt other 
systems of thought into a Qabalistic framework, from Tarot and 
Astrology to Gnotic Christianity to the secret notebooks of Rosie 
O'Donnell and Madonna to Pynchon's fiction. It may be said that it is 
a useful hermetic exercise merely to seek out Qabalistic 
correspondences in the universe at large; which I tend to do, no 
doubt having read too much of the stuff in a very formative time of 
my life.

And now, a few small paragraphs to orient anyone who cares about this 
but fell asleep during Qabalah 101. (What? You all went to Miskatonic 
University, right?)

I feel there are two Qabalistic themes in nearly all the fiction of 
TRP: the sense of loss/desire to return, and the perils of false 
paths.

I. Ye Olde Sense of Loss

1. Qabalah 101:
Godhood flows down from the Ain Soph, the Incomprehensible, The 
Limitless, The Three Negative Veils of Being, whatever; it flows down 
the Tree of Life via the ten Emanations called Sephroth (11 if you 
count Daath, or the Abyss of Consciousness; sort of the imaginary 
number "i" of the Qabalah), from Kether to Malkuth. Each Sephirah 
"breaks down" the Essence further, like a prism splitting white light 
into colors; this creates a "fallen" state, but also allows the 
increasing levels of multiplicity and complexity needed to forge 
Creation. Finally the Godhood is shattered and "imprisoned" in 
Malkuth, which is essentially the universe as we see it. It is also 
the prison of Shekinah or the Gnostic Sophia, the female half of God, 
the Bride of the World, Mater Matter, She Who Will be Re-united at 
the Wedding of Tikkun, healing the whole universe and bringing about 
cosmic unity for all the wee lost sparks. (Fina has nothing on her.)

2. Pynchon note:
This sets up the idea of a "return," after a "fall from grace," or a 
broken symmetry. From this a-priori sense of loss comes the longing 
for a mystical/spiritual voyage back up the tree to undivided 
Godhood, where Mrs. Buffo will announce a cosmic suck-hour, we will 
all return to Lacan's undifferentiated womby unity, and all suffering 
and ignorance shall end. (Of course, to see the face of God is to 
suffer annihilation/absorption into God; so plan your Qabalistic 
return at a convenient time.)

3. Quoting GR:
"It's been a prevalent notion. Fallen sparks. Fragments of vessels 
broken at the Creation. And someday, somehow, before the end, a 
gathering back to home. A messenger from the Kingdom, arriving at the 
last moment."
     ("Gravity's Rainbow," V-148. Although in a typical Pynchonian 
move, the next lines indicate this is probably just a fairy tale; not 
to mention the satirical context of the entire section.)

4. V. Thoughts
The Animate experience a frustrated need for cosmic forbearance. 
Additionally, there is a search for V. the unattainable, the usually 
female, but sometimes geographical and even then still metaphorically 
female, Shekinah, Sophia, the mystic convergence of desire and 
fulfillment. And as I speculated in my last email, the V. could also 
be the falling half of the Seal of Solomon, the absent tongue of 
fire, the Pentecostal stain hallucinated(?) by desperate Hanne, so 
close to Inanimation herself, the missing link between Above and 
Below that is harmonized in the Sephirah Tiphareth -- the force of 
love and compassion and harmony, the mediating intelligence. 
Qabalistic, Mystic, Conflated symbolic V.

(continued....)
-- 
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The Great Quail, Keeper of the Libyrinth:
http://www.TheModernWord.com

I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library.
      --J.L. Borges