THE ARK — YLYLCYN

I haven't thought much about the arcanum of THE ARK for a little while. Some times I wonder if it's the best word for what I'm trying to describe. An important aspect of Transcendental Qabala is its syncretism - it ties together the 'western' traditions of art, thought, and music that are tethered to the birth and development of science - but does not neglect aspects of thought and practice from India and Asia. Does the name "Ark" have too much of a Judeo-Christian ring to it? I could say more on this topic, but I'll leave off for now.

My intention was to write about decision. The Ark can only be attested by a decision. It can only organize desire and activity if it is decided upon, but the only way for it to be decided upon is for activity to be carried out in its name; faith and works are mutually dependent, in other words. This brings us to the question of WILL. Sometimes I wonder if there would be any such thing as will were there not shame and fear to block its path. Is there any such thing as will? Does it have any positive characteristics? Is it able to ‘decide’ at all? Is will anything other than time in the absence of shame?

The ark contains a past and a future - both virtual, which is not to say unreal. In the past, something happened. Something key. An act of mercy? Certainly an opening. Something opened. A spiral began to unfold in a world that was otherwise nothing but circles. Did it close? We wager that it did not. The Ark is carried in the name of this event that took place. A relic from the event is contained inside the Ark itself. What does the relic look like? We should not be overhasty in identifying it with something from Golgotha. Maybe it was a scientific discovery. Maybe it was calculus. Maybe it was transcendental idealism. All we can do it posit that it took place and that it is worth fighting for. We certainly hope that it is so. I might say that we know that it is so, at least it certainly is unquestionably so from the perspective of one who has grasped the tremendous value of this event. The concept of the truth procedure is mixed up in here to some degree, but we should not be too quick to accept hellenistic-style materialism any more than, say Christianity. Yes, there is a certain apophaticism that we have to stick to, but we have to be wary even of apophaticism. This really isn't a matter of concepts any more than it is simply a matter of art or politics. It is a matter of a particular substance which I call Leyethe and a particular kind of structure that I call a Gend.

The name of the past that the Ark contains is: The Loss of the Caul. The caul was lost, which, we are pretty sure, was a good thing, though it created problems. The Ark also contains a future. The name of the future contained in the Ark is: 01010n's descent. If it is difficult to conceive of the past, how much more difficult to conceive of the future. Ten times more difficult. But not because it can't be conceived rationally. It is easy to conceive of it rationally. It is much more difficult libidinally. We cannot bear the degree of hope we would be burdened with if we took aim at the possibility of 01010n's descent and stared her in the face as she descended. So we don't.