ATD | Kabbalah & Divine Light (HUGE SPOILER - only read if you finished!)

[Bryan Snyder]

Admittedly I did not understand the "as above, so below" when it is
mentioned (I think twice in AtD??) and I have to dive into M & D (but am
really looking forward to it).

 

I understand. you know. the phrase but I just didn't quite get it and it
seems, from all the discussion here, that the statement is pretty crucial to
this Book.

 

Anyone mind filling me in on what I am sure will seem so obvious after being
informed?

 

Thx everyone.

B

 

From: owner-pynchon-l at waste.org [mailto:owner-pynchon-l at waste.org] On Behalf
Of Mark Kohut
Sent: Friday, May 11, 2007 2:56 PM
To: pynchon -l
Subject: Re: ATD | Kabbalah & Divine Light (HUGE SPOILER - only read if you
finished!)

 

Bryan,

 

Wonderful connections.......I agree with your feeling about "respect"......

in a pub conversation, I would argue that TRP might believe: if the universe
ain't like this,

it could be and maybe Ought to be.....

 

Ties in all of the "as bbove, so below" lines from M & D and ATD.?........

there is something relevant to this in Vineland, I think, which I must find.

 

And perhaps one might say TRP's deep disillusionment with life (as lived),
with History as it has been is because we humans in the aggregate do not
come close to living out

a worthy Divine Light??....

 

Thanks,

MK

 



Bryan Snyder <wilsonistrey at gmail.com> wrote:

"Moreover in Kabbalah, Divine Light is the carrier of consciousness.

"The human soul is a part of the Creator [that is, Divine Light]. Therefore,
there is no difference between Him and the soul. The difference is that He
is the 'whole' and the soul is a 'part'. This resembles a stone carved from
a rock. There is no difference between the stone and the rock except that
the rock is a 'whole' and the stone is a 'part'". (Yhuda
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yhuda_Ashlag>  Ashlag, Introduction in
Ha-Sulam.)

Thus, a human's consciousness is a part of the Divine Consciousness, where
the rest of the infinite Divine has been hidden from the human. This
kabbalistic [sic] concept that consciousness is an aspect of Divine Light is
similar to the protoscientific [sic] hypothesis that the electromagnetic
field generated by the brain is the carrier of consciousness. In other words
if the hypothesis is correct, consciousness would be an aspect of light
(electromagnetic radiation) and not an aspect of the physical brain per se."

So I'm wondering if anyone has any idea, either suspicion or gleaned from
some source somewhere, about TRP's feelings about Kabbalah.  While reading
GR, it seems like he parodies it entirely but he does it with . what I could
only describe as some perverse respect. while he seems to poke fun. it seems
like the fun an insider would poke.

 

Take care and happy reading. and re-reading. and re-reading. 

B

 

 

  

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