As episode 6 starts, school is still in session and exam time is fast approaching. The Village is abuzz over a new propaedeutics of history taught by The Professor (seen on the poster below). The Professor and an unknown someone called The General (mentioned briefly in the previous episode) have created a way for students to learn an entire 3 years course in a matter of seconds. The Prisoner, as is his wont, remains sceptical.
And, as is my wont, I don't wish to go into an extended plot synopsis. My aims in not going into too many details of the 'this happens and then this and that causes so-and-so to do this which then...' of the plots of each episode is partly to avoid spoiling the episodes for those who may not have yet seen them (and it's my fervent hope that the upcoming remake will attract a sizeable new audience to Patrick McGoohan's masterpiece) but also because each episode is usually so rich with meaning, so dense with symbols that trying to encapsulate every twist and turn of each story will cause this already monstrous essay to grow completely out of control.
So with that said, I fear that because of the nature of this episode, and how its philosophical underpinnings relate to the journey of the initiate Prisoner, I may have to reveal the identity of the General in the course of this essay. I've avoided embedding entire episodes in our discussions of them as it hasn't seemed necessary. Although I can't imagine why anyone would be reading this if they weren't already a fan of the Prisoner I'm going to embed The General here so that if you haven't yet seen the episode you may, if you wish, watch it now. (Full disclosure: I can't imagine why anyone would be reading this at all, for any reason.)
Of course you may also wish to turn off the computer, go outside, kiss a lovely person of your preferred sex, and dance beneath the stars. If so, I will make no attempt to stop you.
SPOILERS BELOW:
According to Duncan, in the Masonic ritual of the 2nd degree the Senior and Junior Deacons have the following interaction:
SD: By what further right, or benefit does he expect to gain admission?JD: By the benefit of a passSD: Has he that pass?JD: He has it not, but I have it for him.SD: Advance, and give me the pass.JD whispers 'Shibboleth'
As we have seen, in order to gain access to The General, the Prisoner has been given passes by a young administrator called Number 12. It should be noted this is the same number given to the evil twin Prisoner in Schizoid Man. Whether this is coincidence or intentional, I don't pretend to know.
As the initiation portion of The General begins, we see men in top hats marching past a stairwell, as though in imitation of the 2nd Degree tracing board.
The stairwell being that which brings the candidate into Solomon's temple. The men in top hats travel through the inner chamber.
We've had brief cause to discuss the two images above. The purpose of the top hat is to shield the face of the Worshipful Master from the light in the east. Tellingly, in addition to the top hats the Village board members also all wear dark glasses. The Prisoner adopts this disguise in order to break into the temple.
You will note that his number is 56. In Thelema the number 56=Nu, or Nuit, which is far too complex a subject to do anything with now except mention it as a tease and to give me cause to quote:
"Enough of because! Be he damned for a dog!"--Liber AL val Legis (the Book of the Law)
In his introduction to Neal Wilgus' The Illuminoids, Robert Anton Wilson observes: "Everything you fear is waiting for you in Chapel Perilous, but if you are armed with the wand of intuition, the cup of sympathy, the sword of reason, and the pentacle of valor, you will come through it all safely." The General, through its enactment of the Prisoner's initiation into the second degree, is a ritual in which the candidate must use the sword of reason. Unable to do so effectively in Schizoid Man, (which coincidentally or not shows the Prisoner fencing with himself) the Prisoner has progressed and performs his duties admirably in this episode.
The Prisoner crosses the 4th Threshold
The Prisoner has proved himself by his answers to questions (or his not answering them) but by the end of the episode, posing them as well. The General, it turns out, is in fact Wolfram Alpha 0.1, able to answer any question. Well, any question save one.
The question which the Prisoner poses, and which fries The General's circuits, namely, "Why?" is the envenomed tip of the sword of reason. Why did 'why' destroy the General? Because the answer to any 'why' question is an infinite regress of 'because' 'because' 'because.' Eventually the answerer will either return to the first because in the series or collapse into an exhausted, "I don't know, honey, please shut up now."
Philosophically and psychologically speaking the only acceptable answer to the Prisoner's question is, "Because I choose to." And why do you choose to? "For no reason whatsoever." This, then, is the causeless cause, the supernal darkness from which the supernal light chooses to emanate, the reasonless reason the Word is spoken.
to be continued--be seeing you!
