Bewildering Stories introduces and welcomes...
Matthew Isaacs
Matthew lives in Louisville, Kentucky, where he is very fond of hiking in the great Outdoors. He has also earned a degree in Art and an interdisciplinary degree in Philosophy and Religious Studies. The degrees must come in handy for Matthew’s approach to literature, which he says includes “cosmic horror, weird fiction, transcendental science fiction, Romanticism, nature writing, and philosophy.” In fact, that’s an excellent start to describing Bewildering Stories. In non-fiction, Matthew has collaborated on a book on existential philosophies. Its title seems to be partially borrowed from Mark Twain: Letters from the Earth: A Catalog of Worldviews.
“The Cycle of Yaldabaoth” describes a worldview that seems to include most of Matthew’s literary interests. Matthew’s explanation of the poem’s title, form and meaning are well worth our readers’ attention:
In regards to the title, I wanted to use the Gnostic concept of the imprisonment of life in the material world, without casting the material world itself in too negative a light. Thus, I did not want to use a title like “The Night a Prison” or something like that. “Yaldabaoth” or “the Demiurge” fit the bill.
The name “Demiurge,” however, has an existing history in cosmic horror. Clark Ashton Smith used it as an alternate name for Ubbo Sathla, and Michael Shea used it as the title of his anthology of Cthulhu mythos stories. My hope was that on an initial reading there would be a sense of Romantic transcendentalism, and only upon investigation of the title would the reader discover the darker concept of imprisonment.
I assumed at worst the reader would ignore the name in the title as a typical borderline unpronounceable Lovecraftian deity. I do agree that the title is a mouthful, and if you feel like “The Cycle of the Demiurge” would suit it better, I am fine with that.
It’s a relief to learn, Matthew, that you did not coin the name “Yaldabaoth,” which one cannot even hear without instinctively brandishing a religious symbol and, at the same time, fetching out a handful of one’s supply of consecrated garlic. To quote a Bewildering Stories motto: “Activate all talismans of good fortune at your disposal. Voodoo optional.”
The demiurge, under various names, was considered at least by some Gnostics as well as the Manichaeans as the mechanical, non-spiritual principle of life and death in the material order. In the ancient world, which knew little of medicine and science, it was a way of expressing resentment for natural evil, including illness, infirmity and death. In effect, the concept evaded the question “Why would a good God do this to us?”
To answer the question in Challenge 973, the sentence “[Life] grows of decaying things” is correct. We celebrate the principle every time we have dinner.
However, the sentence “Life is not born of its own” contradicts our experience that every person, at least, has two parents, presumably of the same species. Children who are told otherwise — perhaps that they were delivered to a chimney top by a stork on its annual migration from Africa to Europe — may wish the storks well. Hence the humorous title of the Challenge.
Now, a latter-day Cathar — a member of a Manichaean sect of the High Middle Ages — might object. “Wait a minute: what do we mean by ‘life’? If life originates in matter, which is evil, rather than in the spiritual world, which is good, then how are we any different from a disease? On the other hand, if life is born of the intervention of a spiritual ‘ourgos,’ then we’re okay or, at least, not a natural evil.”
It all seems to depend on how one feels about one’s life and the world.
Matthew Isaacs’s bio sketch can be found here.
Welcome to Bewildering Stories, Matthew. We hope to hear from you again soon and often!
