Cosmology #622

 

Under God, there are several angels.

One angel, call them Orgion, is a kind of rage of creation.  They are restlessly creative, especially in moments of furious, inspired creativity, which are as destructive as they are creative.  They are never satisfied.  Everything can be made better.  They constantly change their mind as to what they are trying to build.  The process of creation itself leads to new insights into what the project means, so the project often has to be scrapped and started anew.  Orgion can be envisioned as a white, blinding light.  Certain mystics have at times caught a glimpse of Orgion.  Look to the stars, in the night sky, and see an aspect of a moment in the dance of Orgion.

Another angel, which we can call Ypomonias, is attempting to carry Orgion's vision forward to fruition.  Where Orgion is fast, Ypomonias is slow.  Both are passionate in their own way - they both care, each in their own way.  But Orgion's passion is a kind of ruthless, burning passion, while Ypomonias is at once quieter and more anxious.  Ypomonias's catch-phrase is "Careful! Careful!"  Orgion has broad, sweeping storms of creativity, whereas Ypomonias focuses on the details.  Although Ypomonias has memorized every aspect of Orgion's blueprint for the universe, down to the position of every quark, Ypomonias does not fully understand Orgion's vision.  Ypomonias understands the "what" of Orgion's project, but they don't understand every aspect of the "why".  Therefore, even though they are on the same side, ultimately, Orgion and Ypomonias often come into conflict.  

Ypomonias regards Orgion as a flighty, abstract, head-in-the-clouds, impossible, irresponsible, frustrating, annoying, pain-in-the-neck diva.  In a sense, you could say that Ypomonias sees Orgion as a child.  But in a sense Ypomonias works for Orgion, or at least, it is Ypomonias's responsibility to make sure that Orgion does their work - so, in a sense, they are mutually bosses of each other: Ypomonias both assists and supervises Orgion.  Ypomonias also sees themself as doing all the real work of making sure the world is operating correctly, and sees many of Orgion's creative tantrums as a waste of time and energy.  

Orgion, meanwhile, views Ypomonias as a closed-minded, shallow bean-counter who lacks any real artistry or aesthetic sense.  Orgion sees themself as misunderstood, and is perpetually frustrated by two possibilities: either that their work of genius is being compromised, or, more frightening still, that they really aren't the genius they wish they were, and that the work isn't good enough.

Ypomonias and Orgion each have their own staffs of angels that work for them.  Ypomonias's servants form a gigantic bureaucracy that attends to every detail of the world.  They try, in their own way, to make everything the best that it can possibly be, but since they lack understanding of Orgion's vision, often their work amounts to little other than maintenance of the status quo.  For the most part, they keep everything as it is, and allow everything to develop according to its own internal dynamics, trusting that must be how everything was meant to be according to Orgion's plan.  But they are often more concerned with the advancement of their own careers than they should be, and they sometimes interfere with the work in unproductive ways, advancing the interests of the objects of their own narrow specialty at cost to the coherence to the whole.  (For instance, there are angels for each flower, for each butterfly, and for each of the nations of the Earth, not to mention for grains of sand on an outer moon in a star system of a galaxy hundreds of millions of lightyears away - quintillions of angels, all forming a vast, Celestial Hierarchy.)

Orgion's staff is much smaller than Ypomonias's, and divided into two or three parts.  One part is known as the Entourage.  This is a retinue of hangers-on, who are constantly in contact with Orgion.  The Entourage can be further divided into smaller, yet overlapping parts.  Some of these angels are simply servants, who unquestioningly attend to Orgion's every whim.  And since Orgion's whims are constantly changing, many of these servants are working at cross-purposes to each other, and have formed little factions.  Yet others are more than this - they are close, intimate, trusted advisors who help Orgion plan.  Many of them are concerned with political intrigue.  They attempt to come up with a plan so cleverly constructed that when the servants of Ypomonias, in their misunderstanding and their drive for advancement up through the Celestial Hierarchy, somehow violate the plan, that in some convoluted, indirect way, this actually ends up fulfilling the plan.  And it works, too.  In order for it to work, the Entourage has to be able to predict the violations committed by the Celestial Hierarchy, and to predict what the consequences of these will be, and to line every cause and effect chain up perfectly.  Thus the Entourage have become master strategists, and there really is no sharp distinction between the part of the Entourage that is involved in menial service and the part that is perpetually coming up with more and more subtle and devious plans.  It's a matter of degree.  

Though they are Orgion's constant associates, in truth, Orgion despises the Entourage.  From Orgion's perspective, the Entourage, in their attempt to predict, second-guess, and out-maneuver the Celestial Hierarchy, by becoming embroiled in these endless political strategies, have become just as artless and tasteless Philistines as Ypomonias and the Celestial Hierarchy themselves.

Is it true that Ypomonias was once part of Orgion's Entourage, until Ypomonias was promoted to a position co-equal with Orgion?  Some act as though they believe this were so, though others maintain that the true story is far more complex....

The other part of Orgion's staff are the Accusers.  They are the great critics of the universe.  It is their role to relentlessly and ruthlessly criticize the world that has been created through the implementation of Orgion's plan - and thus, directly or indirectly, to criticize Orgion themself.  Though technically the Accusers work for Orgion, Orgion pays such total deference to them that the Accusers might as well be Orgion's boss.  The Accusers are never satisfied, and even if somehow eventually they were, Orgion is constantly creating new Accusers to criticize Orgion's work in previously unknown ways.  The Accusers utterly torment Orgion, so that they are in utter pain, humiliation, and degradation at all times.  Thus the Accusers constantly motivate Orgion to destroy all of creation and begin anew.  Orgion has sufficient power to make all of the Accusers cease to exist - indeed, never to have existed - with the slightest flick of Orgion's will.  But Orgion will never do this.  Orgion cannot do such a thing and remain Orgion.

Then there are the Lishemora.  They operate completely independently of both Orgion and Ypomonias, and in a certain sense are superior to both of them.  According to legend, eons ago, they were created by Orgion, under the supervision of Ypomonias, during a period when Ypomonias absolutely had the upper hand and suppressed Orgion quite brutally.  But by now the Lishemora have become a formidable power unto themselves.  The Lishemora are guardians.  Their function is to preserve certain aspects of Orgion's creation, against Orgion's own feverish creativity.  Each of the Lishemora is assigned to one creation, or one principle, known as an Otsar.  Sometimes armies of Lishemora are assigned to the same Otsar.  Orgion created the Lishemora in a moment of lucidity, when Orgion realized that there would be important things worth preserving in the universe and that they could not trust themself not to interfere with them and tinker with them.  But now the Lishemora are nearly always at war, because the Otsar are almost perpetually under siege from Orgion's annihilating attacks, and stand fast with their angelic shields to preserve the Otsar of which they are mere humble custodians.  Think of them as save files, carefully maintaining a backup copy.  Occasionally they must defend the Otsar against Ypomonias and the Celestial Hierarchy as well, who, in their incomplete understanding of the plan, may accidentally threaten the Otsar - or who indeed may intentionally attempt to destroy the Otsar, if they think it is in the best interest of the whole universe and its plan.  

The Lishemora, in turn, have their own mysterious servants, known as the Perinocti.  The Lishemora are pure of heart, utterly devoted with the purest kind of love to their Otsar, and therefore remain aloof from the political squabbles of the angelic universe.  But their servants, the Perinocti, are more willing to get their hands dirty.  The Perinocti understand that, though the Lishemora are powerful enough to withstand either Orgion and their Entourage or Ypomonias and the Celestial Hierarchy on their own, if Orgion and Ypomonias ever joined forces, the Lishemora would be under terrible threat.  Therefore, the Perinocti, spies among angels, continually work to keep the Orgion's forces and Ypomonias's forces divided against each other.  Were it not for the Perinocti and their continual subversions, cooperation between these two forces in the universe would have been far more probable.

Is it possible that Orgion created the Perinocti, too, to subvert Orgion's own intentions?  Who can know or understand Orgion's plan?