From thelema93-l-owner@www.hollyfeld.org Mon Dec 13 03:11:05 1999 Return-Path: thelema93-l-owner@www.hollyfeld.org Received: from www.hollyfeld.org (h004033a6307e.ne.mediaone.net [24.218.42.227]) by prop.sonic.net (8.8.8/8.8.5) with ESMTP id DAA26885 for ; Mon, 13 Dec 1999 03:11:00 -0800 X-envelope-info: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by www.hollyfeld.org (8.9.3/8.9.3) id GAA05348 for thelema93-l-outgoing; Mon, 13 Dec 1999 06:09:28 -0500 X-Authentication-Warning: www.hollyfeld.org: majordom set sender to owner-thelema93-l@hollyfeld.org using -f Received: from tele-post-20.mail.demon.net (tele-post-20.mail.demon.net [194.217.242.20]) by www.hollyfeld.org (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id GAA05345 for ; Mon, 13 Dec 1999 06:09:27 -0500 Received: from newaeonbooks.demon.co.uk ([194.222.147.127]) by tele-post-20.mail.demon.net with smtp (Exim 2.12 #2) id 11xTLg-000HnV-0K for thelema93-l@hollyfeld.org; Mon, 13 Dec 1999 11:09:01 +0000 Message-ID: Date: Sun, 12 Dec 1999 14:26:08 +0000 To: thelema93-l@hollyfeld.org From: Cavalorn Subject: A Qabalistic Exegesis of the Monty Python Parrot Sketch MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Turnpike (32) Version 3.05 Sender: owner-thelema93-l@hollyfeld.org Precedence: bulk Reply-To: thelema93-l@hollyfeld.org Status: RO 93. (In keeping with the tone of the list at the moment....) The relationship between humour and religion has always been both an explosive and a fruitful one. Where they fuse, they mutually accentuate one another; witness the Nasrudin tales of the Sufi tradition, or the satyr-plays of ancient Greece. When they clash, as they so frequently do in the west, religion becomes increasingly solemn and comedy increasingly iconoclastic. If there is no laughter _in_ religion, then there will assuredly be laughter _at_ religion. Can comedy and religion draw from the same well? Let us see. The famous Parrot Sketch is not only an enduring classic of comedy, it is a goldmine of Qabalistic lore, as may easily be demonstrated to anyone with a basic comprehension of western Qabalah as studied and practiced by the likes of Crowley. What is the core element of the sketch? A dead parrot. What then does this parrot represent? Why is it so important that it is dead? The parrot, (possibly a blind for PaRAKeeT), clearly symbolises the veil of PAROKETH upon the Tree of Life. This veil, which is as it were a lower harmonic of the veil of the Abyss, acts as a scintillant barrier between the ordinary functions of the mind, and the resplendent centre of consciousness that is Tiphereth. The constant motion of this veil is said to equate to the constant mental activity that keeps us from direct apperception of our own internal radiance. The loquacity of the parrot reminds us of Castandeda's 'internal dialogue', the flow of _chittam_. Its bright plumage is associated with the splendour of the veil, and with the temptations and distractions it urges upon the aspirant in meditation. Moreover, it is not capable or original speech, but merely mimics what is said to it. This mimickry or reflection reminds us that the thousand thousand antics of the mind are not the Self, but merely the reflection of Self in the troubled waters of the lower Ruach. The principals in the sketch are the Customer (John Cleese) and the Shopkeeper (Michael Palin, I think). The Customer is clearly the Aspirant, the Everyman, the Fool on the passage to enlightenment; whereas the Shopkeeper is the stolid inertia of matter, the force of gravity, the obstinacy of the material universe against which the aspirant must strive. The Demiurge, in short. The lesson of the sketch is that the sub-Paroketh mind is by nature illusory, and an inadequate tool wherewith to explore the inner planes. The Parrot, despite what the Shopkeeper may say, is Dead. We may read this as: the everyday world, with its frequent and varied demands on our time and attention, is constantly dragging our minds away from concentration on the One Goal and into unproductive complexity. We must recognise that a mind in this state of plurality and activity may not attain to Tiphereth. We must recognise that the Parrot is Dead, even if the world of the mundane insists otherwise. Further confirmation of the identity of the Parrot is found in the Customer's perception that it was only sitting upright upon its perch because it had been nailed there. A nail is Vau, 6, the number of Tiphereth; which demonstrates that the existence of the Paroketh Parrot is totally dependent upon Tiphereth, of which it is in a sense an emanation, in the same way that the Ape of Thoth is an aspect of Tahuti. And herein lieth a mystery. Paroketh, like the Abyss and its associated sphere of Da'ath, is relative and illusory. It does not partake of the firm reality of the Sephiroth. It is not energized or empowered by the Lightning Flash, as we are clearly instructed in the phrase 'That parrot wouldn't 'voom' if you put four million volts through it!' The Shopkeeper-demiurge is determined to maintain the illusion. (We may note that he is not malefic. He is simply doing his job.) Rather than address the fact of the parrot's lifelessness, he draws our attention to its 'beautiful plumage'. The allure of material or intellectual reward is, traditionally, one of the prime hazards of the Path. The polychromatic plumage recalls the path of Samekh, the Rainbow, and 'Hodos Chamaeleonis' which must be faced before the balanced harmony of Tiphereth is attainable. (Yeats once expressed the opinion that he had become lost on this Path). The parrot, and the veil, are infinitely mutable; the prefix 'poly', as in Polly Parrot, affirms multiplicity as opposed to the Unity which is characteristic of God. But our Customer is at least partially illuminated. He has become aware that the Parrot is in fact dead, and nothing can convince him otherwise. Once a profound truth has been seen, it cannot be unseen. One final codicil is present in the Hollywood Bowl verison of the sketch. The Shopkeeper has finally acknowledged that the Parrot is dead. The ordeal is over; the initiation is passed. Instead of the Parrot, he offers a slug, which can, allegedly, talk. What is this slug but the Dweller in the Abyss, the next great Initiation which confronts the Aspirant? Is not the alchemical Salt of the Empress, whose path is above the Abyss, proof against slugs? And indeed it can talk, as Neuburg discovered to his cost. 93 93/93 Cav -- Give me a woman who's taken her knocks, Who's tasted both gutter and stars. Give me a lady with holes in her socks. Give me a princess with scars. ____________...oooOOO---thelema93-l@hollyfeld.org---OOOooo..._____________ To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe" to thelema93-l-request@hollyfeld.org To unsubscribe your@email.com send "unsubscribe your@email.com" To unsubscribe from the digest send to thelema93-l-digest-request@hollyfeld.org http://www.hollyfeld.org/heaven/elists/thelema93-l.phtml