Of Occult Texts and Religion, Lovecraft meets AC Clarke’s 3rd Law: A Presentation of Theology, Physics, and Cosmic History

[Gray Raven]

To begin with, we should recall the canonical statement of Lovecraft from the opening lines of his story, The Call of Cthulhu:

 

“The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents.  We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far.  The sciences, each straining in its own direction, have hitherto harmed us little; but some day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality, and of our frightful position therein, that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the deadly light into the peace and safety of a new dark age.”

 

That statement summarizes Lovecraft’s writings and hints at his consistent philosophic underpinning.  S. T. Joshi describes Lovecraft’s philosophy as a belief in the workings of the universe as mechanistic and materialistic.

 

“The central tenet in what Lovecraft called his ‘cosmic indifferentism’ is mechanistic materialism.  The term postulates two ontological hypotheses:  1) the universe is a ‘mechanism’ governed by fixed laws (although these may not all be known to human beings) where all entity is inextricably connected causally; there can be no such thing as chance (hence no free will but instead an absolute determinism), since every incident is the inevitable outcome of countless ancillary and contributory events reaching back into infinity; 2) all entity is material, and there can be no other essence, whether it be ‘soul’ or ‘spirit’ or any other non-material substance.  [From S. T. Josh’s A Subtler Magick: The Writings and Philosophy of H. P. Lovecraft, Wildeside Press, 1999, pg. 29]

 

Lovecraft’s disbelief in the existence of a spirit or a soul was confirmed when Lovecraft read the ideas of Albert Einstein and Einstein’s presentation of the connection of matter to energy.

 

“The truth is, that the discovery of matter’s identity with energy—and of its consequent lack of vital intrinsic difference with empty space—is an absolute coup de grace to the primitive and irresponsible myth of ‘spirit’.  For matter, it appears, really is exactly what ‘spirit’ was always supposed to be.  Thus it is proved that wandering energy always has a detectable form—that if it doesn’t take the form of waves or electron-streams, it becomes matter itself; and that the absence of matter or any other detectable energy-form indicates not the presence of spirit, but the absence of anything whatever.” [S. T. Joshi quoting from Lovecraft’s writings, pg. 30-31]

Lovecraft’s acceptance of scientific materialism was behind his idea that so-called Gods are not spiritual entities but rather vastly more knowledgeable and thus, more powerful alien creatures.  Which then has as a corollary that magic is just a form of unknown science.  This idea is summarized by a similar notion of the Science Fiction author Arthur C. Clarke.  I believe the next most important canonical statement for any Call of Cthulhu game/book was offered up by Arthur C. Clarke. 

 

Clarke’s Third Law: Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

Source: Profiles of the Future (revised edition, 1973)

 

Thus, Lovecraft’s Cosmic Horror theology is that there is a True History and a True Physics that we ordinary citizens have yet to stumble upon.  This True History and True Physics is presented to the readers of Lovecraft’s writings, which are, of course, ‘True’.  Everything Lovecraft wrote lays out the True History of events in our current physical universe. It’s an obvious truism for the C of C games/books.  Lovecraft gives us, the players and GM, the first glimpse of the workings of The Mythos.

 

Now, since my cultural background is Rabbinic Judaism/Kabbalah and a long-time student of Lao Tzu’s The Dao De Jing, I will make use of these metaphors and symbols to understand the underlying theology and physics of our universe and thus the description of the Mythos.  Now, I do not imply that these two cultural backgrounds are the only way into the Mythos, but since I do know them intimately, I can make use of their metaphors and symbols more accurately.  For instance, not being a student of, say, Vedic/Hinduism means I really can’t address the nature of Brahma and how it might apply to the metaphor and symbol of the Creator Deity.  Therefore, what I am writing will only be through the lens of my cultural bias and background and should be read and understood that way.  Your own background needs to be plugged into all that I’m about to offer to see how you feel and think about the theology and physics of the Mythos of C of C.  Here is a listing in order of Power and knowledge of the Mythos races.

 

1)      I assume that there is an existing entity that could be called The Primal Cause, which could be the personification of the Cosmos itself.  This entity is the ‘highest God’, a vast and powerful sentient being that is above even the Outer Gods.  I posit such a creature since Lovecraft does not seem to imply that his supreme being, Azazoth, is anywhere presented as the creator of the universe.

a)      However, if we plug in the metaphor of the Dao to describe this Creator God, then this God has no personality and can offer no direct interaction with humanity.  The Dao is simply the True Nature of how the Universe/Cosmos works.  This is fine, but it doesn’t offer any fun gaming insights.  It just gives us a sense that the Cosmos operates in a harmony of complementary forces.  The Dao gives rise to Yin and Yang, which then gives rise to the ‘Ten Thousand Things’.  Amongst these would be all the Gods of the C of C mythos.

b)     If we plug in the metaphor of Rabbinic Kabbalah to describe this Creator God, things get more interesting in terms of its ramifications for C of C Mythos.  According to Rabbi Isaac Luria’s mythology, Ayn Sof, the Hebrew name meaning Infinite, and thus the name of the Creator God, created a flawed Cosmos that we live in and one that is in disharmony.  Ayn Sof tried to emanate from itself a finite form that would be comprehendible to finite creatures.  During the process of creating the Cosmos, the whole thing shattered on its first tree to create this incarnation of the Cosmos.  The shattering event meant that the Cosmos exists now, in human terms, in a state of disharmony.  The shards of that disharmony manifest in Mythos terms as the Outer Gods.  We, humans, were created in the hopes of restoring harmony to the Cosmos that we live in; this is called Tikkun Olam, “To heal/repair/restore the World, aka the Cosmos”.  In Mythos terms, utilizing Luria mythology, Ayn Sof, the Creator Godlike entity, is also in a permanent state of disharmony and is also completely limited from repairing the mess it made when the Cosmos was created.  This means that the Creator God is totally useless and can no longer act to aid in the restoration of the Cosmos.  All we humans can hope is that by reading Rabbinic text, we learn the means to do Mythos magick that may help to restore this disharmony and to affect the shards that were personified into the Outer Gods.

2)      The Outer Gods are the first sentient beings who were created after the Big Bang, aka The Shattering of the Spheres, as described by Luria.  Azathoth is the supreme deity.  It is the personification of the Dao, the underlying nature of how the Cosmos works.  The personification of Yin is Shub-Niggurath.  The personification of Yang is Yog-Sothoth.  Nyarlathotep was created by those three beings to manifest their ability to sentience and consciously interact and intervene in the Cosmos.

a)      How you, the GM, decide which other Gods are also part of the Outer Gods is up to you.

3)      The Great Old Ones.  The first creatures who were created after the Big Bang gained sentience and ultimately developed advanced enough knowledge of physics, and thus, according to Clarke, this science could be considered as Mythos Magick.  The first Interstellar races and beings who could leave their star systems and even their galaxy to interact across the Cosmos.  These beings had vast intergalactic empires and fought wars across the stars.  As stated in the 5^th edition of Call of Cthulhu Rulebook, Chaosium Inc, page 66, in ‘The Mythos Prehistory of Earth’: in 2 Billion BP, the Elder Things were the first of the Great Old Ones to visit Earth.  1.4 Billion BP is when Cthulhu and its spawn first visit Earth.  ETC.  3 Million BP is when humanoid creatures evolved on Earth, became active on the planet and created the Hyperborea age of history.  These are the first creatures of Earth to worship deities.  According to the 5^th edition, pg. 67 the beginning of the worship of Tsathoggua and its spawn.  Note that Tsathoggua is one of the Great Old Ones.

4)      Lesser Alien Races also exist.  The designation lesser refers to the fact that their power is less than the Great Old Ones, but still, their mastery of science is far superior to what humanity has attained.  They are the Independent Interstellar races, such as the Yithians, the Elder Things, and the Mi-Go, for example.

5)      The evolution on Earth of Neanderthals and Homo Sapiens.  Within the recorded history of our species, all the varying Homo Sapiens cultures have worshiped a multitude of Gods.  How does a GM treat these Gods?

a)      Are they worshipping imaginary beings or actual beings?  For example, one way a GM can think about things is to say that these Gods are akin to Santa Claus.  Thus, these Gods are simply humanly created imaginary entities.  Those Gods have the same lack of reality as Santa Claus, Bilbo Baggins, Doctor Strange, or Sherlock Holmes; these are all completely fictional literary characters and creations.

b)     Alternatively, all human Gods, all historical Gods worshipped by every human culture, are worship of actual beings.  These could then be, in Mythos terms, the Elder Gods.  Daniel Harms Encyclopedia mentions two alternative theories concerning these beings.  As Harm says, “According to some scholars”, who I assume refer to August Derleth and Brian Lumley, the Elder Gods are some sort of ‘Good Gods’ who are in conflict with the ‘Bad Gods’ of the Great Old Ones.  As stated in the Fifth Edition rulebook on page 65, this idea of a “war of heaven” between these two forces was left out of the Mythos of the game.  Then Harms refers to an alternative theory, which I assume is referring to the writings of Gary Myers.  For Myers and for myself, the Elder Gods would also be known as The Great Ones, the Gods of Earth.  According to this theory, the Elder God Noden would, in fact, be a Great One and thus a God of Earth.  Now, if the Great Ones are indeed the Gods of Earth, I then speculate that they are all the Gods that are devised and worshipped by humanity.  Therefore, within historical Western Civilization, earlier pantheons of these Gods are the Gods of Summer, Babylon, Assyria, Greece, Rome, Egypt, India, Africa, Meso-America, Oceana, and so on.  This would also mean that the God that the Hebrew tribe that established the Kingdoms of Judah and Israel called YHVH, or Adonai Elohim, HaMelch Ha Olam (The Lord God, King of the Earth) is describing one of those Great Ones.  This also means that when a group of Jews split off and began to worship a God they called and or associated with Jesus the Christ, he is another Great One.  This also means that when Mohammad comes to teach and preach to the God who has come to speak with him, known as Allah, this is another Great One.  To summarize, all these cultural Gods are either fictitious or are just part of a cumulative pantheon of the Great Ones.  That is a crucial decision for each GM to make.  Or not.  A GM could simply ignore the whole thing and not deal with any historical human divinity and religion.  But, not dealing with this might be an oversight, as I am about to explain.

6)      The upshot of all this is a GM needs to consider what is meant by The Great Ones, the Gods of Earth.  If, as I do, all human historical cultures and religions are describing real Mythos beings, then Jesus, Allah, Kali, Thoth, Zeus, Odin, etc., are just some of the many Great Ones.  The sacred scriptures of these cultures contain metaphors and symbols that are, from the point of view of C of C Mythos, totally meaningless or just very different forms of Occult Texts, which do offer some limited insights into the Mythos.

a)      Therefore, if the GM wants to go down this possible road, then the TaNaK, aka Hebrew Bible, the New Testament, the Koran, the Vedic Scriptures, the Pali texts of the sayings of the Buddha, etc., are all to be treated as extremely obscure Occult Texts in the C of C game.  How valuable are their symbols and metaphors to an understanding of True Mythos knowledge is to be discovered.  These texts and stories were crafted by the Great Ones for one purpose: to hide the truth of the Mythos.  To protect their tiny puny children, humanity, from the dark, foreboding mind, wrenching truth of the Mythos.  Thus, there are only hints and fragments of the truth locked away and hopefully hidden from humanity to keep them lulled into complacency and happiness with ignorance.  For example, in the Fifth edition, pages 190-192, in the section entitled “Post-Classical References to Mythos Entities, by Language, therein lies some of those hints.  Perhaps in the New Testament Book of Revelation, is there a lingering hint of a Mythos future history for the inhabitants of planet Earth?  How you incorporate those sacred scriptures really depends on you, the GM’s intimate knowledge and familiarity with those texts and, of course, with the True history contained in the Mythos.

 

As I hope you can now see, thinking about how to or not deal with human historical religions will impact the C of C game and will impact what anyone in the game can gain from an ‘Occult Text’.  Do those texts describe just literary fictions, the equivalent in game terms of trying to seek Mythos knowledge in Tolkien’s The Lord of the Ring or in Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes canon?  Thus, historical sacred scriptures have no game impact.

 

However, if you assume that Occult Texts do contain real knowledge of how the C of C Mythos and the physical universe work, i.e., that they do describe magick and thus, under Clarke’s Third Law, that magick is some kind of insight into physics not yet realized by human scientists, then you, the GM, have to deal with the theological implications of that decision.  All the Western Civilization collections of Occult Books assume an underlying theology.  Many of those Occult Books assume Christian mythos and theology and make use of Christian metaphors and symbols from that theology.  This means, therefore, that the New Testament is an Occult Book.  References to devils, demons, The Devil, angels, etc., in those Occult books point back to the New Testament and its theology.  Thus, again by accepting that an Occult book has Real game knowledge means that the sacred scriptures, the New Testament and the Old Testament, are the theological background of those Occult books, and thus, those sacred scriptures MAY also have Real game knowledge.

 

Another example of a type of text that a GM might encounter and need to consider is the Theosophical texts of Blavatsky or Steiner, amongst others.  Are these Occult books?  If so, then do they describe the equivalent of The Lord of the Rings with its history of Saruman, i.e., literary fictional characters and events?  Or do they metaphorically refer to something like the coming of the Great Ones to Earth?  That is up to the GM to decide.

 

Thus, when you, the GM, think of an Occult Book, you need to consider what underlying cultural and religious references that text is working within the metaphors and symbols it makes use of.

 

For my own purposes, I take all humanly created sacred stories and texts as describing the activities of the Great Ones of Earth.  Thus, they are all for game purposes, Occult books.  This means that a practitioner of the Christian faith, the Jewish faith, the Islamic faith, the Hindu/Vedic faith, etc., all are trying their very best to keep the Truth from their flock.  These Gods pray that the Great Old One still and will always sleep.  As for the prayers directed to them by humanity, what of them?  Since those Great Ones are so vastly below the power of even any of the Great Old Ones, those Interstellar Beings that came down from the Stars to the Earth, such as Cthulhu, there is little that a feeble Great One can offer as a response.

 

Thus, holding up a Christian cross when encountering a Mythos being or worshipper would do nothing.  Since Jesus Christ is merely a Great One and is vastly inferior to the power of the vastly more powerful Great Old Ones.

 

A player would possibly need to hold up and make use of an Elder Sign.  However, recall who made the Elder Sign?  Was it the Elder Gods or the Elder Thing?  As Daniel Harms states in his Encyclopedia Cthulhiana, 1994, Chaosium Inc, pg. 63: “The degree to which the Elder Sign will protect a human wielder against a Mythos creature is debatable.  Some say it will protect him from even human servants of the Mythos, others from the non-human followers of the Great Old Ones only, and still others hold that it provides no personal defense at all.” 

 

I hope I have given you something to think about and consider.  May you walk in darkness safely and always have an Elder Sign to clutch to your bosom.  Pray and hope that they will do you any good.  Lastly, and perhaps most importantly of all, may you always make your Sanity Rolls!

[EricW]

Physics genius Ludwig Boltzmann, who developed the mathematical description of the second law of thermodynamics, also gave us a glimpse of the mythos. 

He developed the concept of a Boltzmann Brain. The Boltzmann Brain is a thermodynamic thought experiment, intended to illustrate that the second law is probabilistic, that given enough time entropy can reverse by random chance - that a replica of any living person, or a being of immense power, could simply pop into existence. 

In his book "A brief history of time", Stephen Hawking mentions once giving a lecture to catholic scientists in which he explained Cthulhu might really exist - thanks to the Boltzmann Brain. 

Scientists seem to hate the Boltzmann brain concept, they think it represents an undiscovered flaw in their cosmological theories. But so far the brain hypothesis has survived at least 2 fundamental revisions of cosmological theory. 

But what if it is all true?

Well a really large Boltzmann brain would have structure, order, physical laws - it might look a lot like what you see around you, when you gaze up at the night sky.

What about the other Boltzmann brains?

Well here it gets interesting, and we're going way beyond known physics with this conjecture. If there were other Boltzmann brains, and if there was a way for them to interact with each other, what they would crave above all else would be pool of low entropy on which to feed. Most Boltzmann brains would be feeble and small. Only by discovering patches of low entropy, like our universe, attaching like vampires, and feasting on the work that low entropy made possible, could these lesser Boltzmann brains sustain and extend their existence. 

What if there was a way for humans to somehow bridge the gap, to make it easier for such incomprehensibly alien monstrosities to sink their feeding appendages into our cosmos? 

Well the region where these entities manifested, the physics of our universe might be weaker, and the alien physics of the monstrosity which had manifested a little of its presence in our reality would have some influence. 

Of course all of this is wild conjecture and speculation. But thinking about it shook my faith in atheism. Note none of this provides any evidence that entities described in the world's mainstream holy books are real. But a world where there is a remote chance supernatural entities might actually exist, and the likelihood such entities would be utterly inimical to anyone who cared about the security and integrity of all that is decent, and the even more remote possibility such entities might be able to offer unnatural advantages to those who serve their hunger, is a world where it pays to keep an open mind. 

Sleep well tonight, fellow mythos dweller. 

Edited October 29, 2023 by EricW