Also, we, along with our producer Mer-Man, take a little time to talk about Knowing and In the Mouth of Madness as well.
You can download the episode right here, through a little of the old right-click-save-as business.
Show Notes!
Dissatisfied with his explanations on the show, Mer-Man sent me an essay with a little more detail about the philosophies behind Knowing - here it is, in its entirety:
Exhibit A: Cage visited the German city of Goerlitz in 2006 just because he was interested in it's connection to the somewhat unconventional, early 17th century Lutheran mystic Jacob Boehme (AD 1575-1624). Cage's sojourn is briefly mention in this article from the Herald Sun.
This I take as more than sufficient evidence that Cage is quite enamored with Boehme and his particular theology and this would all have been going on little more than a year before “Knowing” went into production.
Exhibit B: Boehme's theology, borrowed partially from the theories of (the also unconventional) Jewish, Kabbalist & Rabi Isaac Luria (AD1534-1572), suggested that God in the beginning was infinite, filling all space and therefore to create anything He first had to make room by contracting himself, thereby providing available space in which to create the universe. By creating “otherness” He (God) attained a greater degree of self-knowledge as he now understood Himself in terms of what He was not. In some interpretations of Boehme's writing, the fall of Adam and Eve is taken as a good or at least necessary thing for all parties involved to achieve self-knowledge. In becoming separated from God, Adam and Eve can comprehend both their own individuality as well as God's status as creator, this part of the process then leads to the next stage, their desire to return to God, an act that completes both God and Mankind. This also figures into Boehme's Christology. Boiling it down to its most simplistic the formula is this: For Father to be Father, the Son must become something separate from the Father, For the Son to be the Son, the Son must know the Father, to find ultimate fulfillment the two must reintegrate. This is clearly the plot of “Knowing.” Cage, estranged from his own father and all out of faith can only return to his Father and regain his faith, when he is able to let go of his own Son.
Exhibit C: Boehme, went against the grain of orthodox Christian theology by denying that man is reconciled to God ultimately through Grace alone but rather through this process of “Knowing.” Cage's sister in “Knowing” is named Grace she is still in contact with their Dad.
Exhibit D: Boehme's theology also dealt greatly with the “wheel within a wheel” passage from the book of Ezekiel. Though, on the one hand, this could be in the movie because it is popular with “ancient astronaut” theorists, I think, given all the evidence I've piled up here, it could also pertain to Cage's interest in Jacob Boehme.
Exhibit E: Boehme also compared God's presence in the world to reflected light, the little girl at the beginning who starts the story is named Lucinda Embry. Lucinda means “Light.”
That's 5, count em, 5 exhibits!
Also, just for the record I'm not finding any of this because I love Boehme's theology, I happen to disagree with much of it. For example the error of Boehme and Luria is the presupposition that spacial dimensionality was co-eternal with the Fundamental Principle of Reality (ie: God), hence their assertion that God would need to contract himself to “make room” before he could create. Anyway my own philosophical mincing about is irrelevant to the issue at hand, that “Knowing” is totally clearly about Boehme. Nobody needs to let this effect their enjoyment or lack there of, of the film, I just feel the need to point this out so I can continue to kid myself into thinking my education up until this point hasn't been a total waste.
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