Part 82: Chapter 9-16

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Arve Eriksson

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Published on March 23, 2014 4:14:30 AM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bppyaCE8sr0

Duration: 22:38

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Time to explain this 'eternal recurrence' thing. First of all, it DOES NOT ORIGINATE in Nietzche's writings, although he... sort of "made it popular". Essentially, to make eternity last, well, forever, you at some point rewind everything to the beginning, and proceed as normal from there. Sort of like stringing one eon together to cover the span of the Earth's existence. In the context of this universe, that would indeed mean that Shion wouldn't have to die from her condition, that the Gnosis disappear, that the world won't end due to Shion summoning the Gnosis (squared!) - but also that EVERYTHING, every last personal tragedy, every last Cherenkov, every failed Dive experiment, Dimitri Yuriev, would end up happening again, in the same way, at the same time, until time just stops. Do we really want that...?

Reading material:
Real world: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eternal_recurrence,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Das_Lied_von_der_Erde (check the lyrics for Der Abschied)

(Also consider listening to Mahler's third and fifth back-to-back, and you'll understand how I feel after playing this series. Richard Strauss's Also Sprach Zarathustra is good listening as well, but not even close to being a requirement.)

I'll discuss Kevin's actions and motivations a bit more in the following videos. Note that he's portrayed as mostly human in the events covered here. The other testaments were just bad customers when we ran into them, but Kevin? A sleeze, sure, and as arrogant as you could ever get... but still describing human concerns to motivate his actions. He's not afraid of death, he's not seeking it through some sense of despair - it's simply the way he believes he will save Shion (and the world, too, I suppose).
I'm guessing watering flowers can be a trascendental experience.