If there’s one thing I’m a sucker for, it’s medieval mysticism and conspiracy a la Eco‘s Templar plots in “Foucault’s Pendulum” [currently reading] or the fictitious renaissance seer Rambaldi who supplies much of the macguffinalia of Alias.

So finding a post on Tesugen which mentioned Raymundus Lullus set me going a treat.

Who was he?

Well, by all accounts Ramon Llull (1232-1316) seems to have been a pre-renaissance-renaissance man, who looked to establish a relational theory of all knowledge to convert all humankind to one religion (Christianity) by pursuing a kind of semiotic / semantic analysis of all human thought regardless of culture or creed.

From “What Was Llull Up To?” by Anthony Bonner:

“In the histories of logic and of computer science which mention precursors and pioneers, we often find mention of Leibniz, the great l7th-century mathematician and philosopher, who was one of the first to try to build a mechanical calculator, and who tried to formulate a Mathesis universalis, a sort of scientific language which would permit any two disputants to settle their differences merely by taking pencil and paper and saying, “Let us calculate” But then we find that Leibniz got certain important ideas from a character called Ramon Llull who lived in the l3th century, who carne from a place called Mallorca, and who spent his life trying to convert Muslims and Jews. As if this weren’t peculiar enough, when he has appeared in modern treatises, it has usually been as the typical romantic genius or in his case, medieval mystic who wasn’t quite right in the head. Even a man as sensible as Martin Gardner (1982) calls him quixotic and paranoid!. So what Llull was up to is a question that indeed needs a bit of clarification.”

From The Birth of the MACHINE: Raymundus Lullus and His Invention.

“his great invention was the idea of producing the totality of human wisdom by a mechanical method of combining a strictly limited quantity of signs. Armed with this method, Lullus had the proper intention to demonstrate all the truth of the Catholic church. For this reason, his first and highest task was, of course, the mission! His machine should deliver the transparence and the proof of the Catholic doctrine. The direction of his project was clear: to persuade the Muslims and the Jewish population who remained in Spain and on the coast of northern Africa.

Totality of wisdom, transparence of truth and the necessary opening of a dialogue by his machine are the three principles to be kept in mind. In observing the blueprint and the circuits of the lullistic machine 1, with its archaic yet surprising design, one finds all the information about the hardware of this machine – built of paper! A triple-circle arrangement is, as we would say nowadays, the central processing-unit of this machine. Three circular paper disks are fixed on an axis on which they can be turned. The paper disks contain the limited stock of letters, a special lullistic alphabet. When the circles are turned step by step, all the series of all possible combinations of these letters are produced, which is no small feat.”

Reading Kunzel’s breathless reports on “Doctor Illuminatus” as Ramon was known by his contemporaries, I’m reminded of the lesson of “Foucault’s Pendulum”: We always find what we are looking for.

From Jessica Helfand’s “Reinventing the Wheel”:

“The circle has no beginning and no ending. It is unbiased, solid and unwavering in its geometric simplicity, denoting unity and eternity, totality and infinity…

…Philosophers ponder something called a ‘hermeneutic’ circle, which refers to the inherent circularity of all understanding. Indeed, the idea of a circle as a self-fulfilling loop – a trap, or set of recurring, cyclical limitations – illuminates perhaps a darker view of its otherwise pristine character…”