I'm not convinced being the no-god is something anyone would aspire to. He doesn't seem very happy.
I only think Kellhus would want to do so
if it served as a mechanism for becoming the God. Which I think is a relatively decent possibility at this point. The consciousness we see emerging (and asking questions) is the result of the all the souls being captured and condensed into one entity. It's a baby God (the
real God, not something like whatever the Hundred are -- which I suspect are
similar to super-ciphrang, but also more complex than that).
I'm not sure how the God can awaken? If it is omnipresent throughout time, how can it think or act? If there were no gaps in your perception and everything seemed to occur both simultaneously and constantly, how can you act or think? Memory becomes the same as being. ha ha ha ha ha
Not sure I'm interpreting you correctly, but to your question: It can't think or act, at least not yet. It's not, at this point in the story, really a "thing" yet. It's still split up into a million warring splinters, as Kellhus said to the Nonmen messengers. It is awakened by Kellhus becoming the No-God, merging all of the souls in the universe, and then closing the Outside (and him, now the Awakened God, still in the Outside). It leaves the universe essentially the same as our own; purely material. No souls, no sorcery.
I do believe that this ties into the whole Kahit, world-conspires malarkey, and also the timeline. I think that everything in the Bakkerverse is predestined (although free will still exists for the ensouled beings, they were just always going to make whatever decisions they made). This is also why Kellhus seems insane, and sort of it is, but also kind of isn't. He has seen the Shortest Path, the Thousandfold Thought, and it ends with him becoming the God. He also serves, in a way, as the saviour not just of mankind, but of all the souls in the universe, by freeing them from their shells (possibly enforced by the Demiurge-like Hundred) and then allows them to become one, ultimate being, the Absolute. I don't have the exact quotes, but there are sequences where Kellhus actually pretty clearly illustrates how the Dunyain's concept of the Absolute is very much like the real-life Gnostic concept of the Monad (also known, in real life, as the Absolute). I'll try to find them. I believe one of the scenes takes place when Akka's training him.
FB, I understand not being comfortable with the possibilities of TSTSNBN but I feel like TUC is going to be a more conclusive ending than TTT.
I'm interested in how you think things will end for the major characters' arcs, because I think if anything is left hanging, it will be those big metaphysical ambiguities.
Yeah, that's what I'm unclear on. If it really is quite conclusive, then I'm not sure what I feel about the various characters, or even how these things I've mentioned will play out. Do you think that TSTSNBN is actually going to be more of an epilogue sort of thing?
NooooOOOOOoooOOOOooooOOOOoooooo
.
Lol, you have to admit it would be a rather tragic and poetic arc for the character though.
Maybe? Damnation has not been established as bad enough for me to consider tolerating the Consult. Nor do I think the Consult necessarily have the most effective solution (but arguably, if Kellhus doesn't kill as many achieving the same end, he's simply more efficient than the Inchoroi or the Consult).
Well yeah, that's what all this rides one. What is damnation, really? I tend to lean towards it really being as bad as the Inverse Fire makes it seem. I mean, it would kind of undercut a huge part of the tension, suspense, and stakes of the series if, in the end, it's just like, "Ah, well, damnation isn't so bad afterall!". If that is the case, I'm very damn curious to see how Bakker could possibly turn it back around and still maintain that sense of epic stakes that the series is well-loved for.
What is the suffering or mortal men for a few thousand years compared to the everlasting torture of all men's souls for eternity?
Nothing really, that's the point of what I'm saying. Not sure I get what you mean really?