[TYPE-MOON] True Magic High 1-A+, Akashic Records and Root thread

[ShinMaximillion]

A magician is not deterred by the face of adversity, for a Magician carves an impossible path through it.

The purpose of the thread initially was to formally separate the Akashic Records as a different key from the Swirl of the Root, as Ultima basically suggested of us to do. But I figured since the Akashic Records are directly what grounds True Magic, I figured I might as well do them both.

In that thread, it was established that fundamentally, 「 」is essentially absolute unity and non-duality—beyond existence, intelligibility and being. And the Akashic Records were the very undivided self-unfolding of all phenomena that is grounded by the Swirl of the Root. Origins are what determine the patterning that the fate generated by World Souls and Human Souls tends towards, in virtue of being grounded in that fundamental principle.

So the Akashic Records are undivided actuality, and Origins are irreducible and expressions of that undivided actuality—that determines how all things in potential will come to be in actuality, viz their patterning, of how they are gonna come into actuality.

I'll be assuming you at least read the older thread going forward, because some things said there will not be repeated here.

But for a short explanation otherwise, where the explanation of the first thread may have failed here and there.

The Swirl of the Root as the Akashic Records:
The Swirl of the Root is the Absolute ground of everything, the source of existence beyond all else. In some cases, it is even said, calling it a 'cause', 'origin', or even 'zero', which is usually attributed to the Akashic Records, already obscures its essence.
The Akashic Records, in turn, are what is described as the Swirl of the Root—as the beginning and end of everything. It is also what is described of the Root, as ultimate knowledge/perfect knowledge, pinnacle of Magic (True Magic), pinnacle of truth, and the mystery of all mysteries; or in other words, the greatest 'mystery' beyond them all. But what the term 'pinnacle' means will be covered in the afterthought of this section.
The manner by which the Akashic Records serve as the beginning and end of everything is not insofar as the Akashic Records being a composite set of events. But rather, precisely insofar as all things are, they are ontologically posterior to the Swirl of the Root, and are yet to separate or differentiate. This is also why the Akashic Records are described in contradictory terms, as you'll see:

She continues in an unsteady voice, as if still staring at it.“…The Swirl of the Root. The place where all causes are swirling together—everything is prepared there, and yet it’s a place where nothing exists.

Here, Nihil [void] Shiki described it as where all causes (causes in this case are Origins by the way, as they are the causes of all unfoldings of all beings) swirl together—where all things are prepared, and so there's nothing that exists there.

Mash: The divine coordinates where the results of past, present, and future Swirl. Also known as the Akashic Records, it's the ultimate goal for magi — or rather, for the magecraft world.

And here, Mash goes a completely different direction, and describes it as where the divine coordinates where the results of the past, present and future are 'recorded'. And the meaning of the term 'recorded' will also be accounted for later, so worry not about that for now.

But alas, it calls into question exactly how they can it can both be the where all causes swirl and where all results are simultaneously. And the answer to that is a single word attributed to the Akashic Records: zero. It is said by the Grand Master of the Tohsaka family, one of the Five wielders of True Magic, who reached the Root after pushing jewel magecraft to its limits. Briefly gives us a hint, through Rin Tohsaka's recollection:

Even so, magecraft does have its benefits. Just as there are some things only science can accomplish, there remain heights only Mystics can reach. If science is racing into the future, then mages are racing into the past.

Saying that while within the human universe, mystery and knowledge are in conflict (viz., separation and duality), science races towards the future and modern wielders of magecraft race towards the past. But there's a reason why neither ever reaches the Root: it is because the past and future are not in conflict

I think the Tohsaka grandmaster said that. Whether you're heading into the past or the future, your destination is the same: zero, or something like that.

Rather, for Zelretch, the pinnacle of the greatest of Magicians (True Magic users) and Magi (magecraft users), whether you're facing the past or future, the destination is the same: it is zero. Which is essentially a middle way type of argument: if at the most fundamental level the past doesn't face the future, and the future doesn't face away from the past. And if the past cannot be defined as 'other' than the future, insofar as the arrow of time flows towards the future. Then the future has no meaning. And if the future is not facing away from the past, insofar as succeeding after a past moment. Then the past has no meaning.

Ryougi Shiki propose a similar argument via the inference rule reductio ad absurdum, very common in Madhyamaka sects of Buddhism; assuming duality and individuality as independent and self-existent to prove otherwise: that dualities are co-extensive and co-dependent on one another, and so are not absolutes nor the ultimate truth.

“It’s the same as this bridge. One kind of waste is scorned as foolishness, while another kind of waste is praised as art. Where, exactly, does the boundary between them lie?

She asks first, how is it that one kind of waste is scorned as foolishness whilst another is praised as art. Where does the boundary/separation lie? If it is anything but uncertain?

The boundary is uncertain. Even though we say we ourselves define it, in reality it ends up being decided by those on the outside.

She then furthers the argument, saying humans (subject) say we ourselves define the separation between things, even when in reality it often ends up being determined by things outside (objects outside of the defining subject) of the human that defines that. In other words, it is neither the case that separation has independent existence in virtue of the human who defines the separation between things. Nor contrary to this, is not even in virtue of the thing the human seems outside of itself, that which it then defines as separate from it, depending on the object itself. And she concludes that, if it is the case, then the subject cannot independently define duality/separation/boundaries without first acknowledging the object outside of it. And it is also the case that the object cannot determine separation by itself, for it is the subject that 'defines' the separation to begin with.

If that’s the case, then perhaps there was never any boundary to begin with.

She then concludes that separation never existed as an independent substance, self-sufficient principle within reality. That then, perhaps, boundaries were never a thing to begin with. The world is divided entirely by empty boundaries. There is no wall in society that truly separates abnormality from normality.

—The ones who create those divisions are, ultimately, us.”

That the world is divided by empty boundaries, a conclusion that Madhyamaka would probably agree with, hehe. Alas, this is also further elucidated in Fate/Extra CCC, they say all of creation is an illusion. That in reality all things are nothing, and if you remember earlier, I showed that Void Shiki defines this zero too, as nothingness. It is said that one must transcend Maya (the root of the illusion of duality as the essence of reality) and reach Nirvana to recognise this truth. Divine Spirits in general, for example, like Amaterasu, are already at this level naturally because they exist in realms (the Reverse Side/Age of Gods textures)—whereby dualities are not primary modes of experience but secondary.

All human beings have two sides, a yin and a yang. Maybe this Rin is something that could never exist as the real Rin, the Rin of some alternate world.

In this same scan, they describe how, unlike the gods, humans (who all have a yin and yang) within them must unify their yin and yang sides. To become one with the universe (no longer perceiving it as external/separate or dual essentially), and becoming blessed with power by "the other side"—the Akashic Records.

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The Akashic Records; the Taiji: unity of yin and yang

The Akashic Records is the Supreme Ultimate, Taiji, being even directly called as such numerous times, one example being:

At the Root, all things are recorded. Maybe Shiki is dreaming within the Taiji...

Here, the Root aspect refers to the records; the Akashic Records themselves. And herein, they are called 'Taiji', such that when one comes into contact with them. They perceive not the differentiated world as they would when not there, but instead, what occurs is:

... — dreaming the dream called the history of this world, including our records at this very moment.

They don't perceive the world as something external; instead dreaming all of the history of this world, all of its records, including that of oneself, as a dream. The reason for this is more interesting than this itself. Taiji is usually deeply paired with Wuji; the connection is retained even etymologically.

Wuji is compounded from Wu and Ji, the Wu signifies nothingness/no/negation, and Ji signifies 'boundaries/polarity/duality'. Together, the word Wuji, in itself, signifies the ultimate reality as without boundaries, duality and limits, in virtue of being pre-differentiated and ontologically prior to the determinative separation between yin and yang. Taiji is usually the same ultimate reality when viewed in relation to the differentiated world. The Tai of Taiji signifies 'extremity', 'supremity', 'summit', 'limit' and compounded with ji, Taiji is the extremity of duality.

Wherein yin and yang reach their limits, and they together become a coincidence (coincide in unity-without-opposing one another).

This is ultimately where the descriptions of the Swirl of the Root as the "greatest mystery", "ultimate knowledge", pinnacle of "truth", and even "summit of dimensional theory" (the definition of dimension is extremely broad and includes spiritual ones in Type Moon) come from. It doesn't mean all things are reaching an end, common to their domain of existence. No, but something more fundamental than that, it is the perfection of duality—viz integration into undivided actuality. And we can actually observe the reliability of this conclusion, from anecdotes of the Akashic Records level of existence:

I was dreaming. I was aware of that.

Gray experiences the Akashic Records, and she begins by saying she's dreaming, dreaming of herself as that undivided actuality—herself as the end of all things. The first thing she notices is that every description she tries of it ultimately fails. And the descriptions that fail are descriptions that attempt to dualise it, and I think this part was intentional:

The surroundings were like darkness, yet in truth, it was not darkness at all. It was not light either—perhaps it was the absence of color itself, or so I thought. I was severed from everything. Only the flow remained. It was a vortex.

There was nothing there, and yet, everything was there. A swirling chaos of contradictions. My intuition told me that if I stepped into it, I would never be able to return.

It was not light, but if it is not light, then it should be dark, no? But it was also not dark, neither light nor dark.

Not the coexistence or co-extension of these dualities, no, it was the absence of them altogether, the absence of colour. The word colour is also used in 'Type Moon', for descriptions as obscuring purity, like, for example, Reines saying descriptions add colour to the ultimate reality that obscures its essence. The next part of this exposition essentially confirms that:

I was severed from everything. Only the flow remained. It was a vortex.
There was nothing there, and yet, everything was there. A swirling chaos of contradictions**. My intuition told me that if I stepped into it, I would never be able to return.

It is the absence of everything. Gray is cut off from everything to the extent that the only thing that remains is the flow—a swirl—where nothing is there, yet everything was there.
A swirl of chaos, contradictions:

Yet, my feet did not stop. Not even the will to stop arose. The flow itself was me, and I was the flow. Why should I fear returning to the place I was born?
"……… … … …"

The flow was Gray herself, and Gray was the flow; all things are the Akashic Records in essence. It may be confusing as to how something absent from everything, as an undivided reality (without parts), can simultaneously be everything.

The answer to that is that it is everything in a different mode of being. Or rather, it is duality that is the Akashic Records, but in a different mode of being. But the reconciliation of this will be covered in the True Magic and Soul section. Duality being at its extremity is systematically demonstrated even more so, right after the aforementioned cited passage:

At this moment, I could see it.
Inside the vortex.
A space where mind, body, time, and space bled into one another like tangled, dissolving threads.
And within it—an incomprehensible record, spreading outward.

We're told in the presence of it, dualities like: mind and body, time and space.

Altogether bled into one another, like folding a cloth of different things first into one. Then, after they become tangled with one another, they begin dissolving, and all that remains is an incomprehensible record: the perfection of all things into non-division. Now, with regard to it specifically being the perfection or actuality of all things, into indivisible unity, we can refer to Ryougi's exposition wherein she speaks of it in pleromatic (fullness/perfection/self-fulfilment) terms:

No matter how long I stare into the distance, I see nothing. No matter how long I wait for something, I still see nothing.It’s profoundly calm… and utterly fulfilling. This is death. Because every meaning is gone, here merely being is perfection.

She says no matter how long you wait for something, nothing is there, yet it was profoundly calm and utterly fulfilling. Because even meaning presupposes duality with what is meant (as meaning and meant are two different things even when interrelated), every meaning is gone, so being/existence is in itself perfection. It turns out even words and language conventionally has its beginning in that undivided actuality, because language and words are ultimately composite things that require duality as a condition. And it is the precondition of duality, which is why this undivided actuality, despite being only just a derivative aspect of the Root, also can only be described in negative terms:

“Ryougi Shiki” sank endlessly. There was no end. No—perhaps I had never fallen at all. Here, there is nothing. Not merely an absence of light, but not even darkness. Because there is nothing, nothing can be seen. There is not even the concept of “falling.”The very word “nothingness” likely cannot exist.

Shiki attempts to describe her experience as falling and sinking endlessly, then realises that it is inaccurate. Then says no, she never fell at all, because there's nothing, there's nothing 'to fall to'. It wasn't merely an absence of light, but even its dual counterpart, darkness. Because there's nothing, there's nothing to see, even the word 'nothingness' likely cannot exist.

For every phenomenon, there is an original cause—the Absolute One from which it all began.
It is both the beginning and the end of this universe.

The Akashic Records is an Absolute 'One', from which every phenomenon began, the original cause. It is also the telos of all things, according to the actuality of its existence, according to which all things proceed towards their own actuality as well.

There, there exists 'that which has recorded everything.' Though rather than being a record, it simply is, so it cannot truly be called information. It merely exists.

Their creation is said to be 'recorded' there, but that is only an analogical description of what it actually is. Because in truth, it cannot be said to be anything but that which 'simply is', it cannot be called anything, not even information; it is pure existence itself: it simply exists. This is essentially existence monism taken to the extreme, the idea that differentiation itself depends ontologically on pure existence, and pure existence itself is independent of differentiation, for it is a precondition of it.

It possesses neither will nor any possible directionality. It is simply something like a whirlpool of the Root, endlessly pouring forth causes.

So it possesses neither will, nor any possible directionality in itself, but as it exercises its infinite causal power, outpouring causes endlessly forth, directionality [Origins] come to determine how things will unfold from the Akashic Records according to their archetype/patterning/principle. Origins are the principles of things, and the Akashic of all things. The Akashic Records have no directionality in themselves, because it is where things are simultaneously from and where they are already. Origins, on the other hand:

Origin
If the absolute attribute known as "Origin" determines the fundamental aspects of magic, then the deeper element, which governs the very essence of existence itself, is the Origin. The Origin is not only possessed by magi but by all beings. It represents an inherent directionality, the fundamental essence that all existence is believed to possess as indivisible.

Are still part of the "indivisible essence of Existence itself" when expressed, outpouring how things get to where they are, and how things begin. So the Akashic Records are the fact that things are, and so "it simply is" and "is perfection", but Origins are how things are, and in what virtue are they perfect.

There is a definite starting point for what you call ‘you,’ a place where your existence first came into being. But that place holds no such thing as life. What exists there is merely the initial cause*—only a direction that determines how things will unfold."

They exist all the way within the Akashic Records (co-extensive with the Root), before (ontologically) things even unfold or become, as the preconditions for how things become. So they have a metaphysical identity with the Akashic Records; they are two ways to refer to the perfection of all things.

It is the cause of everything [すべての原因であり], the zero [ゼロ] that set all phenomena and events [現象・事象] into motion.

It appears the Akashic Records are the cause—zero insofar as it sets all phenomena and events into motion—consequently contains the beginning and end of everything as pure actuality.

The Swirl of the Root (Akasha) The origin point from which all phenomena and events arise. It is the source of all existence itself, and even the Akashic Records—said to contain everything from the beginning of the world to its end—are regarded as merely one part of this “Swirl of the Root.”

And the Swirl of the Root in itself is the origin point from which phenomena and events arise, the precondition of phenomena and events. Whilst the Akashic Records are the precondition of motion, for phenomena and events, it is at once regarded as merely a derivative mode of the Swirl of the Root, apart from its fullness.

However, the term "Swirl of the Root" [根源の渦] is nothing more than a convenient label [便宜上のもの]. In truth, trying to encapsulate it in words is itself a mistake [本質的には言葉にする方が間違いで]. It’s said that calling it simply “　” [「 」]—leaving it unnamed—might actually come closer to its essence.

It is then this that is the nameless of the Root, so with this, the origin of phenomena and events—the source of existence itself, beyond it all. The term 'Swirl of the Root' comes to be only a convenient label; no words can exhaust it, not even perfection. It is「 」that can be said to come closer to its essence, to be nameless, but even that is not a guarantee, because it is only close to it, not what it is.

But you understand from suspecting it alone that trying to talk about it is meaningless altogether. Every statement is structurally asymptotic, and so it can approach, but it never ever coincides.

Akashic Records: High 1-A+ (Type 2)
Swirl of the Root - 「 」: Tier 0

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The Akashic Records as Logos: On Absolute Laws and Mysteries (coincidence of mystery and law) of Creation


When Magicians touch upon the Swirl of the Root, they don't 'physically' connect to it like it were a cosmic server with data about reality or an archive of existence. They touch upon 'ultimate knowledge' simpliciter:

Mash: Mages aim for the Swirl of the Root in order to touch ultimate knowledge and uncover truths! Those who reach the Swirl of the Root come to know everything in this world, acquiring Mystery that does not exist in our world -Magic- and gaining the title of Magician. Isn't the process of trying to understand its workings......and reaching that what's important!?

Mash goes even so far as to say they come to know everything in this world, and making that description co-extensive too on them acquiring Magic: being bestowed the title (True) Magician. Notice that after Mash says gaining the title Magician, she says the process of trying to 'understand' (attain knowledge) is working, and reaching that point.

Mash: However...only six people have reached the Swirl of the Root. And even for those six, they could do no more than touch it.

Suggesting that in the modern era, only six people have reached the Root and become Magicians (Aozaki's grandfather being one of them, alongside Aoko), and one doesn't need to dissolve but rather 'touch upon' it.

But of course, the controversial statement here is the fact that Magicians come to know everything about the created/contingent world, as it may imply they are omniscient, which I think this reading is not supported by the source material.

The Root in the World of Magecraft

Aoko: That's right. And it's also the ultimate goal.The Swirl of the Root is the place where all wisdom is recorded, the place where all things are determined.

The Swirl of the Root in the world of magecraft is the ultimate goal of all magi. Because precisely a place where all wisdom is recorded (without potentiality)(only in actuality)) and all things are determined (only in actuality).

If one could see it, touch it, and understand it, then even the very word 'impossible' could be rewritten. Its name varies depending on the tradition, but in the end, it's probably the place where God resides.

The 'ultimate knowledge' magicians attain through the Akashic Records is knowledge that rewrites the word 'impossible'—after all, it is from a reality where the distinction between impossible and possible is yet to be parsed.
The distinction between this knowledge that attains the impossible, and the knowledge of magecraft which attains the possible. Is not a symmetric difference, but impossible knowledge in this context refers to logos:

Where's my next wife? Where is the wife bearing my magic key?Who am I? Of course I know. I exist to understand everything. I exist to reach the ideal.**The logos of the world.

The idea that they come to know everything in this world is a derivative of attaining the Root as logos of the world, a step below its undivided actuality: the Akashic Records. To touch upon it is to understand everything, and all beings exist to reach it, even when they don't consciously choose to do so (free will is maintained).

The alpha and the omega. The absolute laws of creation.The Root. Thus I couldn't go on without knowing who I am.

What is revealed is not the 'undivided actuality' of knowledge or all things, but what is revealed to them is the absolute laws of creation—that operate eternally in reality from the beginning and end—so too the alpha and omega. It is the way the Akashic Records determines all things, through uncreated energies. Unmade operations and activities:

Someone once said, "Had it only ended at the Third..."Magecraft is the study of history;feats of our making, and life orbiting the planet.

Magecraft is a study of history, a mere common trace of the divine. Feats of mankind according to their limited mode of power, and the life orbiting the planet within the human universe.

But True Magic is the providence of a god beyond the heavens.
Why do those who stand on the earth extol the virtues of miracles beyond humankind and the planet?

True Magic, however, is greater than that; it is a revelation—providence directly from the God beyond the heavens. It is the reason why those who attain it can extol the virtues of miracles beyond humankind and the Planet. I say uncreated energies, because True Magic operations have been shown numerous times to be timeless and spaceless, at times even say to be before meaning, determining even meaning fundamentally.

And I'll go over this all at once

The Souls (original essence of soul) true senses: Attaining direct participation in the Akashic Records

“Aozaki. What do you mean, not a single survivor?”
“Exactly that. No one who has touched the Root has ever come back. On a worldwide scale, I mean. The moment you touch it, you're erased. For a soul on the level of a human being, the instant it comes into contact with the Root, it either returns to its original state or is absorbed into the Root.”

Aoko says nobody has ever come back from touching the Root on a worldwide scale, that when the soul at the level of a human touches it, it is erased. In that instant, "it returns to its original state" or otherwise "absorbed into the Root". Which seems strange at first, because she had just attained the Root and was aware she had—even that she awakened True Magic itself. So I think the least bit is clear, she doesn't mean you are erased or absorbed metaphysically or physically.
Rather, the Soul returns to what it always was, before inhabiting the body to assume individuality. There's no need for the Soul in its essence to return to the Root; it is already a mystery as it is. But the soul, when it assumes activity, engages with an openness that allows for an immediate experience of duality as primary.

"I became obsessed with puppet automation, all to attain/reach at 『 』through the perfect model of man." On the contrary, he was trying to reach 『 』through the soul rather than the physical vessel. In short, through something where existence is non-existence like the cat inside a box which couldn't be measured."He was trying to reach 『』 through that which is 'absent' (『無い』).The physical body cannot be seen through precisely because it possesses a definite form. But the soul, having no form, is transparent.

Pure soul in itself can participate directly in/be in alignment naturally with the Root because it is transparent in itself. The body, however, is not transparent, so when the pure soul is by itself, it can connect to the Root. Yet when it comes to operating in the body, it is already more than just pure soul. Gaining fixed form separate from the external world, in the material world, which is a material body. Attaining the Root is not something added onto the soul; the limited perception of the soul through the eyes of the retinas of the body is what is added. It obscures the individual from the essence of their own soul, and we know this because the only way Gray could see the Akashic Records, not even as an object but as herself, was because the soul was separated from the body:

Near the vortex, I saw something else.
Only my senses expanded.
Perhaps it was because I was on the verge of death.
Freed from the constraints of a physical vessel, my spirit and soul had begun to stretch beyond their limits, amplifying my true abilities.
Perhaps that was why—
At this moment, I could see it.
Inside the vortex.

What allowed her to see at this label was the fact that the soul was finally freed from the constraints and limits of the physical vessel. Spirit and soul then begin to stretch beyond their previous limits from the body, amplifying one's senses and their true abilities. The soul returns to the true scale of its perception and apprehension, which allows for its connection to the Root.

"A soul that exists in the corporeal world is a shadow cast from a higher dimension, and through the body cast from a higher dimension, and through the body used as a catalyst, it guides the mind."

The soul as it operates in the material world, is but a shadow of itself cast from a higher dimension—well, the higher dimension is 'nowhere' and unreachable to the degree that one cannot compare it to another dimension here:

In short, it was a place that was nowhere(どこでもない), a world that was nowhere. Freed from(解き放たれた) from the very concept(概念) of Time(時間), the world had neither morning nor night(なく), neither did it have the sun nor the moon. Only a faint Aurora lit the sky. There was no change(変化) in this World. The spreading Sea knew of no waves, and the Sky knew no drifting clouds. While dwelling in such a World, the Dragon felt a little bit lonely as he could see neither the Moon nor the Stars. So the Dragon chose to shut his eyelids. When he did, what filled him within were his countless, deeply nostalgic memories. It is a proud past, one he'd never be tired of, no matter how many thousands or tens of thousands of times he relives it.

But that's a thread for another time.

The process of attaining True Magic is similar, in that this time, this mode of apprehension is essentially brought forth to the immediate awareness of a human, even as they are within the body.

Suddenly. Here, with no answers in sight, confronted by the foolishness that came from beyond, I feel like fading away. “Right now, I must unify the consciousness that is regressing toward zero into a single whole. This sound.This kind of foolish nonsense—so vexing it almost brings me to tears—is no time for me to be held back by it.My greatest problem from the very start is that red ghost.”

One's consciousness regresses to zero, and I'm sure, just judging from all of the aforementioned, you can make out that the implication is that it is 'letting go of differentiation'. And so, as it regresses to zero, the soon-to-be Magician must unify that loss of differentiation into a whole. Thereafter, there's no longer a separation between your immediate awareness and zero. This is because even thought has a common end:

Hasara: thoughts returning from the end of the universe. Seems scholars from long ago had enough to theorize.

Hasara, for example, makes note that thoughts of the soul return from the end of the universe. Not that 'soul gains something new' but 'soul remembers what it had at the end'. Thought outside of time precedes potentiality; it is in actuality, but within time, potentiality and one attains thought as an actuality. The beginning of thought is in the end of thought, and the end of thought in the beginning of thought. Human/finite thought is in between the beginning and the end:

"They study solely for themselves, yet they don't use that power for themselves.What meaning is there in a way of life like that, Touko?If the purpose is learning, then is the process itself also merely learning?

At zero or the Akashic Records, learning as the goal/purpose is identical to the process itself. Or the process of learning comes to identity with its goal or its actuality.

If there is only a beginning and an end, then isn't that no different from zero?"...As always, Shiki spoke in a delicate, crystal-clear feminine voice, yet with the manner of speech of a man.

Which is why the Akashic Records, after all, is described as zero; it is where only the beginning and end exist. Duality is between the beginning and end, and so where there's only the beginning and end, it doesn't exist. It is contingent on this zero; it proceeds from zero and returns back into indivisible at its end.

Now remember, if we recall, Magecraft was also constrained by duality, in virtue of being in conflict with science. Something that is between zero, not where zero is at the beginning and end.

Even so, magecraft does have its benefits. Just as there are some things only science can accomplish, there remain heights only Mystics can reach. If science is racing into the future, then mages are racing into the past. I think the Tohsaka grandmaster said that. Whether you're heading into the past or the future, your destination is the same: zero, or something like that.

Because it still chases zero by running to the beginning (past), whilst science chases zero by racing to the end (future).

Well, properly speaking, thinking in terms of 'original' and 'unoriginal' at this level is misleading. Because by 'returning to its original' and nothing being 'added onto', I mean to emphasise the collapse of the distinction that makes “original vs acquired” meaningful in the first place.

This distinction, after all, exists only when the soul comes into contact with the body. And so we have a new determination we call 'body', which is a new mode of being; it takes, alongside the determination that remains as this aforementioned activity within body, proceeds directly from its original state. So the original state always remains, and it is before this separation, because this separation exists only on the side of the material world, not the soul itself.

And so, with this being said, True Magic too is neither in the past nor present. As that duality is only privileged to magecraft, which runs to the past, and science, which runs to the future. But it also is at zero, though this isn't to say it is the Akashic Records; this part will be clarified then.

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Zero-in-the-finite

All Magicians can be demonstrated to 'perceive' all things as actuality, not to the degree of the Akashic Records. If by 'perceive' we don't mean actuality as an object, as I've covered, but a state whereby 'perceived' and 'perceiver' are not separate, basically the reintegration of the finite into the infinite. The result is not pure unity like the Akashic Records in itself, but the Magician:

Even the whispered voice—“This is death”—is probably a dream. All I do is perceive something like time. There is nothing. No—there isn’t even time here, and yet I can observe it.Naturally, as if it were flowing in disarray, miserably as though rotting, I count nothing but the passage of time.No matter how long I stare into the distance, I see nothing. No matter how long I wait for something, I still see nothing.

This is why a trace of multiplicity can be seen, even when it is ultimately acknowledged as an illusion. But a trace is there nonetheless, which it wouldn't be in the Akashic Records in-themselves. Shiki Ryougi sees a trace of time within the Akashic Records, acknowledging that time doesn't exist in the Akashic Records themselves, but she can see a trace of it nonetheless. This is an important differentiating characteristic between the Soul and the Origins/Akashic Records; the former achieves unity-after-difference. And so even in unity, a trace of difference can be perceived. Whilst the latter—the Akashic Records, is unity-itself, at least as undivided actuality and existence.

True Magic does something extremely similar as well:

"Or rather, it is like crossing the wall of dimensions. If you try running all the way to the end, there is a world made by completely different rules, and you end up learning those rules..... I suppose that is what it comes down to."

Aoko gives us a figurative description of what it is to attain True Magic, for us to work with to derive this conclusion. She says it is like going to a different world with different rules and learning. So we immediately know this is neither the Akashic Records nor " " but something ontologically a step or two after, which brings me back to this:

Where's my next wife? Where is the wife bearing my magic key?Who am I? Of course I know. I exist to understand everything. I exist to reach the ideal. The logos of the world. The alpha and the omega. The absolute laws of creation.The Root. Thus I couldn't go on without knowing who I am.

The logos, the beginning and end of everything in the created world. These are the absolute laws of the created world rooted in immediate participation with the Akashic Records. They are already actual operations as absolute as they are, within the created world—governing the created world from long since the immemorial of time to the end of creation. Magicians come to know everything about this world:

"The origination of all things—a record of the beginning and end of everything. To be connected to it would be to 'discern' the end of everything there is.

It is because when they attain these uncreated laws from which miracles are produced, they can see the beginning and end of everything altogether as an actuality. But unlike the Akashic Records, which are purely just actual—they see the actuality of all things to the degree that the uncreated law determines an aspect of the created world from its beginning and end. Which is why above, they say to be connected to the Akashic Records—of which these uncreated laws (viz mysteries) do—allows one to 'discern' the end or actuality of a particular actual determination of difference (as it progresses from potentiality to actuality).

---

Zero-in-the-finite

All Magicians can be demonstrated to 'perceive' all things as actuality, not to the degree of the Akashic Records. If by 'perceive' we don't mean actuality as an object, as I've covered, but a state whereby 'perceived' and 'perceiver' are not separate—basically the reintegration of the finite into the infinite. As covered earlier, whereby I basically discussed the process of reaching True Magic as unifying your consciousness and zero into an unbroken whole.

To make it easier to understand, let me give you an example with the Mystic Eyes of Death. It is thought that this ability is greater than them all, to some greater than True Magic—but both of them operate on the same principle:

“Magecraft, Soujuurou, is basically a set of common rules.Systems of magecraft like Runes or Kabbalah are simply different subjects within that framework... Think of them as standard textbooks that explain how the world works. As long as you possess the proper textbook, anyone can become a magus depending on their lineage.

If we define mediated knowledge as knowledge that is co-dependent on another type of knowledge as mediated knowledge, then magecraft as representional knowledgewhile magecraft is a set of common rules that one can find in standard texts representing how the world is as mediated by humanity from the Root.

But using Magic is a different matter. Magic isn't a copied text derived from the Swirl of the Root the way magecraft is. Rather, it is something directly connected to the Swirl of the Root itself.

Then, True Magic is called 'ultimate knowledge', because it is unmediated/immediate knowledge. Magecraft is but a copy that explains the world from within the world, and its rules—True Magic bypasses all of those intermediary steps to participate directly in the Swirl of the Root (as the Akashic Records). We know True Magic is not just arbitrary blessings, but uncreated and actual ways the Swirl of the Root (as the Akashic Records) determines all of reality. That magecraft is mediated knowledge of reality, as experienced by the finite through contingency on the Swirl of the Root. Whilst True Magic is a necessary way, reality is already determined at a deeper level of causality and knowledge that is already complete in itself.

That will be shown right after I emphasise the contingency of magecraft first:

Magecraft is nothing more than making use of the blessings bestowed by this sun.

Magecraft is making use of the blessings already derived from a root cause—and for now, let's call it 'the Sun'.

In the human world, for example, what's prevalent is magecraft.

At its core, magecraft is the imitation of natural phenomena

And magecraft uses mystery contingently, which is why mysteries can decrease and increase in the human world. Because mysteries, such as magecraft, are an imitation of the natural world:

—or the compensation paid in exchange for them. We can study mysteries, put them into practice, and reproduce them, but we cannot create mystery itself.

Or rather, imitating is the compensation to be paid in the created world, because magecraft can only operate contingently. People study mysteries that are already received from somewhere else, because they cannot create mysteries themselves.

Well, perhaps after enough research one might eventually reach that point. But there is a great barrier standing there—a kind of limiter that human knowledge simply cannot surpass.

But because all of magecraft and even human knowledge is derivative and an imitation of the Sun itself, only a copy derived from the Root. No matter how in-depth your research becomes, there's a limit to human knowledge that it simply can't surpass, no matter what. A limit that prevents mankind from creating mysteries, and keeps them perpetually beneath, according to their power, they cannot reach beyond this limit with their uncreated finite or rather contingent, power alone.

And True Magic is the act of wielding the sun itself.

True Magic is mystery itself, to which all other mysteries under magecraft are but secondary and derivative imitations of its reality.

If one could see it, touch it, and understand it, then even the very word 'impossible' could be rewritten. Its name varies depending on the tradition, but in the end, it's probably the place where God resides.

As a result, it is only in touching the Root and grasping it as magician (logos), that the word 'impossible' becomes rewritten. Because this limit of knowledge is bypassed by grounding in a deeper continuity and causal power.

The actual reason why True Magic is associated with miracles, is not because in itself it is just 'a miracle'.

Magecraft has a miraculous process, but the result is always what is naturally possible in the created and differentiated world. True Magic is miraculous in process and in result. Remember, magecraft represents the world to the degree that created beings mediate it (abstract it, separate it into differentiated components and broken down into different parts), rather than directly coming into contact with what the world is as determined by the Swirl of the Root directly, without distortion of duality and separation.

One of the few commandments my grandfather gave me:the source of Magic itself. Never divulge anything about the Root—not its nature, not what I learned of it, not even my own impressions. And yet, if it is my sister's last wish, then perhaps I owe her at least that much: my thoughts on it.

A commandment for a Magician, that having come into contact with the Swirl of the Root, one should represent it as anything but itself. They should not divulge anything about it, not its nature, not what one learned, not even their impressions. Even a step between the Root and the subject in contact with it, like 'representation' would be a distortion that deviates already into indirect participation with the ultimate ground.

"I have a confession to make."Aoko's voice carried through the blue hallway."To be honest, I don't remember anything."Aoko gave a blunt reply, and brought her arm down like a bolt of lightning.

And even if you tried as Aoko tried for her system, they ultimately come to find that the operations of True Magic have come into contact with the Root. Are not things that remain as "represented" or "mediated" altogether in their memory, so even in coming into contact with the Root and 'understanding it', 'gaining ultimate knowledge' and 'mystery of mysteries'—these things remain incorruptible by the subject in contact.

This is actually linked to what Touko says in Kara no Kyoukai, that the further one learns, in order to mediate the world. The further you stray away from the Root:

The more we learn, the farther we stray. The Root is no different—a vortex that can only be approached in ignorance, in a pure state of unknowing. Yet in ignorance, you cannot perceive it—so the pursuit is meaningless.

That approaching the Root is like approaching "a swirl" (pay attention to the "a swirl" instead of the Swirl part, it's gonna be important) that can only be approached in ignorance: a pure state of unknowing. Stripping yourself of any presuppositions, impressions, and meanings about reality, because the true nature of reality can only be accessed when such intermediary steps are stripped.

All magical systems originally disseminated throughout the world flow from this Swirl. Those systems are nothing more than narrow streams. Because they stem from the same root—the Swirl of the Root itself—they are ultimately fragments that have split off into things like astrology, alchemy, Kabbalah, and so on. In the end, they all carry the same origin in their hearts: Taoist immortality practices, runes, and countless others—there's no end to listing them.Researchers who have touched upon this... It is because they were able to imagine what lies at the peak. The ultimate purpose of a magician is to make the self transparent. To reach the truth—there is no goal other than this.Those who have preserved only their sense of self... They are the collective that is forever unfulfilled.

Different traditions have a different name for this goal, all of them from kabbalah, Daoism and countless more. The goal of 'purifying' the self, to make it naked and transparent to the walls of mediation and dualising all created beings, to touch upon what lies at the summit of all things.

Anatta-vijñāna — The Sublime Emptiness of MindAccording to the Dharma, pure emptiness is a state of absolute freedom. In this realm, all dualities simply vanish. The mind, in its intrinsic clarity, grasps the universal Dharma and penetrates the pure essence of existence, exactly as it is. The sky reveals itself as vast, colors blend into delicate shades. Standing at the misty boundary, your noble figure gazes upon the eternal wandering of the Stars.

In Buddhism, for example, attaining this is regarded as attaining to 'pure emptiness', reaching a state of absolute freedom altogether. Dualities and separation vanish, and the dharma are grasped alongside the pure essence of existence, without distortions mediated and representational and just about any category of human thought that hinges on dualizing of the subject and object basically.

Connecting to the Root: Illumination by the Root's light and the ineffable mysteries

Both the Root, as the Akashic Records and the Root as Logos are called the same thing, the Swirl of the Root. And the reason for this connects a bit to the fact that there's nothing that stands between the Root and the subject of contact, not even mediation or representation. That is, there's no 'barrier' that introduces an intermediary step and boundary between the subject in contact and itself, and there are other pointers for this:

First, there was the sheer scale of the damage inflicted on ordinary society during the Holy Grail War. Next, the assassination of a Master dispatched by the Mage's Association.And finally, the appearance of what the Association's instruments had detected as a "Swirl of the Root."...Well, the first two could at least be blamed on Kirei as well. Since Kirei was the supervisor appointed by the Mage's Association, there was room for excuses.But there was no getting around the third.The appearance of a gate opened by the Grail. A ritual to reach the Root was something that should have been carried out under the Mage's Association's direct supervision.So from the Association's point of view, it was hard to overstate how much of a war criminal he looked like.One day, without warning, in a remote corner of the Far East, they observed the manifestation of something that appeared to be a "Swirl of the Root"...

When a gate to the Root is presumed to be opened by the Mages Association, and they refer to this gate as the 'manifestation' of a Swirl of the Root.

Which seems strange at first, because the Swirl of the Root is singular, "the Swirl" part is a singular that is used to describe the Root as a place where "all causes swirl". So in the Root, even if we say figuratively causes swirl, it is the singular unified reality where that single 'swirl' preeminently contains all causes. But here, instead of the swirl, what we get is a swirl. Almost as if to deliberately suggest a relationship between the Swirl of the Root and the path to it (of which True Magic is too), as if that of a single unified reality as a light that illuminates everything, comparatively to the path, which is like variations in its wavelengths. All of these are unified and undivided in the Akashic Records, but in the logos within the created world express [absolute] different and individual ways of the same undivided actuality. You can separate them individually within the created world as:

Even then, you wouldn't have imagined that you, a True Ancestor, would be defeated by a human. You were too late in recognizing magic, the rule outside the rules. That's why you were surpassed by the old man of jewels.

A rule that is outside the rules, a principle outside of principles.

"Before, I told you that magecraft has no limits, right? What that meant was that, so long as it remains within the range human knowledge can reach, it has no limits. Magic, by contrast, is full of limits, or rather, it can only accomplish one single mechanism, but that is only natural. Because it is a single point of light, excluded from the concepts of this universe. "

I used light to represent it, because the True Magic is likened to a single focal point of light that is excluded from the concepts of the created universe. It is limited in range by much, relative to magecraft, because magecraft has no limits within human knowledge. But True Magic only achieves one mechanism, even when that mechanism is far deeper than principle than the common ones. A single point of light that bypasses the need for representation, mediation and conceptualisation, but direct participation in how reality is ordered to thereafter be mediated.

Light is an even better choice of demonstration, because Type Moon uses this symbolically to demonstrate the relation between the Root and itself. Because when Aoko used True Magic, the light of the Root, which illuminates within that 'nothingness', illuminated within Aoko, in the movie, that same light within the Root. Is symbolically shown to 'light' up like lightning throughout and returning to being at the centre, and when it lights up, it gives a glimpse of many dead bodies within that Shiki sees. And then it is nothingness once again, almost to say the light reveals what is implicit undivided actuality but has yet to differentiate in unfolding.

Since True Magic is likened to both handling of the Sun and light itself, it expresses an individual unmediated principle. Then it appears to hold true, to Type Moon, that the Akashic Records are compared to True Magic. Is just the unity of all of these mechanisms at a far deeper level, the level of undivided actualities. And from the side of True Magic, the light is the actualities that determine the differentiated world—already within the differentiated world.

Among the imperfect languages allowed to man, one had to admit there was nothing that could contain what they saw. It was said there was once a Sealing Designated magus who used the Unified Language (Master of Babel), words which allowed no mistake, to which the entire world - living or not - could not but obey. Her _ was much the same, a purity that reached into the depths of the Root itself.It wasn't a simple loss for words. To those magi who had been moments earlier pushing themselves to their absolute limit, engaging in a contest of souls that overshadowed any other kind of conflict, it was all they could do to just remain standing.

And so, these miracles, even as they express themselves in the world, cannot be exhausted by any imperfect allowed to man. It is『』 that reaches into the depths of the Root, as much as one can within the created world. So as to overcome the barriers of mediation, representation and just about anything that leads them to the presupposition that there's anything between them and the Root. That is why when miracles like that manifest, man can do nothing but remain still in awe, witnessing something that they cannot put words into. Not because they are at a loss for them, but because to be silent is all they can do.

Magics causal power - timeless and (already) actual/complete determinations
It turns out things of this nature, like True Magic and the unified language, are causal regimes that cannot be exhausted by finite language:

The mage claimed that even I couldn't kill words. Yet, even words will someday perish. All things fade, vanish, and succumb to death.

Is because words of such languages have a beginning and end too, and mysteries like the unified language and True Magic—associated with logos as what determines how the world unfolds from its beginning and end as grounded in the Root. Are ultimately outside of, and so cannot be measured or exhausted by meaning and language; they are the ones determining such things that are derived from such.

This is supported by Aoko using the unified language, was capable of cancelling the magecraft attacks through the language's transcendence over it. Which isn't even through power nullification, because to nullify an attack requires the attack to be realised first, then nullified, and thereafter unrealised, or at least doesn't take effect. Herein, the attacks don't just 'not register', the meaning of them isn't even registered before the attack:

With a single word, Aoko nullified the runes, dissolving them before they could be given meaning. The power of Aoko's words had surpassed the magical energy of Touko's rune magecraft. - Mahoyo - Chapter 12

It has the same purity that reaches into the Root like True Magic, a language that directly connects to the Root with no intermediary steps. There's no 'potentiality' being 'actualised' of the attack at its level, before the attack can be defended. No, it is actual first in reality that the attack became nullified, because it is nullified before it even has meaning in reality. Because we're already at zero, there's no separation between the Root and the subject. So there's no distinction between the beginning and end, as those categories are measured by created beings closed under the Root's ontology.


Further supporting evidence is prevalent in fact, True Magic incantations use this language:

"By the name Blue, I speak for order. Hear me."A censuring voice told her to stop.At the edges of oblivion, her hand touched the true form of Magic.

Since the true form of True Magic can only be realised by incantations through this language, a direct articulation and declaration to reality:

"Five timeless words: Order has fallen to ruinWhat was declared had come to be. In this time and place alone, the Fifth Magic made itself known.

Expressing the timeless words that declare and reveal True Magic to the created world. The incantations don't travel in time, because to say they do already places yet another intermediary step between the subject and the Root, but the contrary holds, so its incantations are timeless.

When it came to True Magic, however...If the Aozaki Magic was anything like Alice Kuonji's fairy-tale monsters, then mage strength was not a part of the equation. At this point, it was Touko against Magic itself. And there was no winning against Truth. The transcendence and idiosyncrasy of True Magic rendered things like magecraft irrelevant. - Mahoyo - Chapter 12

This is why it is said that there is absolutely no winning against True Magic, the lack of an intermediary step between the subject and the Swirl of the Root. Makes it so that a battle against a Magician is no different from a battle against the truth itself. It does not discriminate between the truth and the being expressing the truth; its idiosyncratic nature to mediated and dual categories renders the magecraft completely irrelevant.

Nevermind the lightning Atram had attempted to unleash, even the storm clouds that had choked out the night sky had been driven away. The Weather Manipulation Magecraft brought about by dozens of magi working in concert was stripped away like it was no more than a thin sheet of paper.That which belongs, to where it belongs.When that ultimate 『』 had appeared, all unnatural, imperfect magecraft returned to nothing.

Which is why when it declares itself, magecraft itself becomes stripped away like it is nothing but a sheet of paper. It returns it all, as if it were unnatural, alongside the mediated categories consisting within, it returns this all to nothing.

The causal power of True Magic: and its limits for better or for worse
Neither higher nor lower power, Neither more nor less power: Simply Grounding Conditions

To begin with, True Magic is not 'more power', and so a battle against it doesn't delineate into a contest of 'infinitely more powerful' against 'infinitely less powerful'. Because the Magics are not graded or stratified, there's no 'higher' than it or 'lower' than it between them:

Nevermind the magi gathered, even the animals and insects of the forest - no, even the earth and rain felt the impact of that essence. If evolution meant the optimal adaptation of one to their environment, then it was a conclusion of form and measure that threatened the end of the world itself.

We're just outright told that it isn't just 'more measure'. But the conclusion of measure itself, the power of the supernatural, is graded as already a representation or mediative description, already of which True Magic resists altogether.

Since I explained that in the created world, derivative mysteries fluctuate in power. There's no section better to re-elucidate that once more, because, on the contrary, True Magic transcends the measure of mystery.

Many old things lost their power, a few new things began to bud. As human knowledge grew, the mysteries which had grown ripe declined, and bit by bit the universal law on this planet transitioned into the laws of physics we have today.

Concealment as corruptibility to mystery or degradation of mystery; at least for mankind, predominantly began after the Age of Gods. Wherein mystery stopped being a universal law within the universe at a material law level, and what became the new law was the laws of physics.

"No. I don't." Touko said this as she crushed out her cigarette in the ashtray with a hiss."If it becomes a battle between magi, then it can't be helped. But outside of that, I wouldn't use it even when I'm alone." "So then, in places where nobody can see you, you do whatever you want, Touko-san?" I still couldn't grasp the full picture of what Touko was trying to say, but I could vaguely understand her point. If concealment and isolation are fundamental to magecraft itself, then it made sense that magi would never openly demonstrate magecraft in front of ordinary people. "Magecraft, too, was originally magic. It's still a predetermined power drawn from the Root that serves as its source. Suppose there exists something called a floating Mystery (shinpi). Let's say it possesses ten units of power. If only one person knows of it, that person can utilize all ten units of that power. But if two people know of it, then it is divided into five and five between them. See? The power has weakened. The wording may differ, but I'd say this is one of the fundamental principles governing everything in this world." "Mystery, you see, derives its significance from remaining a Mystery. Concealing it is the very essence of magecraft. Once the true nature of a magecraft has been revealed, then no matter how many supernatural techniques it employs, it can no longer be called a Mystery. Kara no Kyoukai - Chapter 5: Paradox Spiral (Part 1)/ 195

So normal mysteries are graded then, we can talk about them as having 'more power' than the other, because in the current context of the material universe. Even mystery is mediated, if one or two people know of its power us divided between equivalent amongst those people.
The measurement of potency supernatural abilities is measured by one thing: Mystery

Once the true nature of a magecraft has been revealed, then no matter how many supernatural techniques it employs, it can no longer be called a Mystery.It degenerates into nothing more than a method.And the moment that happens, that magecraft immediately becomes weaker.""...Well, yes.

The law of mystery has it that, once the true nature of a magecraft is revealed, then no matter how many supernatural techniques it employs, it can no longer be called a mystery. It ceases to be the manifestation of an unmediated actuality and degenerates into nothing more than a method, something that can be represented and spoken of by human knowledge.

The word comes from Greek and means 'to close off.'It refers to closure, concealment, and self-completion."

This is because when 'knowledge' is at its most immediate, and without mediation and representation distorting, it reflects self-completion through concealment: it becomes self-standing or self-sufficient. It is the same in effect or, at the very least, extremely co-extensive with, for example, what dictum of magi is:

Hmph, saying it out loud like this really proves how inadequate words are [こうして口にしてみると言葉は本当によくないな]. Even terms like 'zero' or 'origin' come with unnecessary colors [ゼロも根源にも余分な色がついていて] that obscure the true meaning they’re meant to convey [せっかくの意味を閉ざしてしまう]." Choosing my words carefully, I narrow my eyes in thought.

That adding words and description to the Swirl of the Root, as experienced like Origin and 'Zero', comes with unnecessary colours that obscure the true meaning they initially intend to confer.

If we were to assign it a provisional reading, it would be ‘kara’ (emptiness/origin). How it’s interpreted is up to each individual, but to put it simply and clearly, it’s the ‘Swirl of the Root.’ However, since the ‘Swirl of the Root’ already exists as a named concept, it is, after all, something distinct from 『 』.

In Kara no Kyoukai special pamphlet, this is expressed as an oxymoron. Proposing that how the Swirl of the Root is interpreted is entirely up to each individual, the variations in differences crystallise into different traditions, representing different interpretations of the same ultimate ground. The oxymoron being that, in spite of these interpretations, in spite of being universally called 'the Swirl of the Root' by the Mages Association.

The very fact that it is a named concept that already exists, it is ultimately different from the ultimate ground. Again, they acknowledge that it can be interpreted as, but what is denied is not that these interpretations point towards the same ultimate truth. Rather, what is being denied is the necessity of words, because the ultimate ground cannot be mediated or represented without institutionalising it into duality and differentiation.

Remember this is not just describing the Root but even participation in the Root, and as we've already seen, even the True Magic is credited with being『 』or ineffable. This isn't to say True Magic is the Swirl of the Root per se, it is the opposite, actually. It is to say because the Root-in-itself (including the Akashic Records) is incomprehensible, it can only be directly connected to—if and only if—the mode of apprehension of the subject doesn't exhaust it or distort it. And how can it or must it be connected to without distorting and exhausting its undivided actuality? The answer is immediate awareness, call this awareness access to laws, knowledge or mysteries, it makes no difference, for these are after-images seeking to explain these things in the simplest humanly way possible.

Put simply, you could call it ‘ultimate knowledge.’ Though calling it “ultimate” imposes a standard and reduces it to something finite, so the term isn’t quite correct. It’s just the easiest way to understand it.

I mean, Touko herself is very careful enough to keep note of the fact that the "ultimate knowledge"—that we know by now is what is another way of referring to the mysteries of True Magic. Is something that, in itself, is not entirely true of the words it wishes to convey. It imposes a standard on it, it already seeks to "represent" it, ultimately only to describe what is already finite and not true to it.

So if mystery in magecraft is a measure of how concealed and self-complete something is, then True Magic does not possess such characteristics in a manner that magecraft does. As it is magecraft that does so, by its derivative relation to true mysteries like those of True Magic.

True Magic is neither measurable nor immeasurable; it is simply irreducible in virtue of its incommensurability from division. It cannot be applied to 'measure' or 'extension' of mystery, because magecraft and created/derivative mysteries are where 'measure' and 'extension' of supernatural arises from:

What Aoko inherited was Magic, the greatest Mystery of all.

Because these are already the pinnacle of mystery altogether, the furthest mystery can go. I mean, it does make sense logically after all, if they had anything beyond, even amongst each other, then all of the incomprehensible and so forth radical statements would've been poetic fluff, but that's not the case.

The powdery snow fluttered. The atmosphere crackled around the girl.---This Magic transcended the Mysteries.The gateway to miracles that eluded human knowledge was preparing to make its appearance on the snowfield.

It is simply a matter of consistency that True Magic transcended the mysteries of measure. Hence why Type Moon writers oscillate between 'it is a mystery beyond all mysteries' and 'it transcends mysteries'.

Limits of True Magic: No, it cannot do 'anything' nor override anything.

The things above do raise interesting questions. How does a battle between two Magicians pan out? Do they cancel each other out? Does one, by its 'superiority', cancel out the other? But how can it be if these are already the pinnacle of mysteries? How can one be greater than the other? The short is: they aren't greater than one another.
The long answer is, setting the fact that it True Magic transcends causal power as "measure", for to say it is higher already places it in a mediated duality with what is 'lower' properly speaking. It doesn't mean any battle against a Magician is an instant loss or so, or even that Magics would cancel each other out, not even that one would overpower the other by its 'superiority'. The limits of Magic make clear one thing: the difference between it as a particular expression of an actuality without potency and the Akashic Records as universal ground, and purely undivided actuality.
If I had to differentiate between the two in the simplest way possible, I would say the Akashic Records are unchanging and perfect. And as Pure Actuality, it doesn't 'act' within the universe in any conventional sense—because its existence is its causal power.

Every phenomenon has a fundamental originating cause—an absolute One.It is both the beginning of this universe and its endpoint.There exists there something that has ‘recorded everything.’Though ‘recorded’ isn’t quite right—because it simply exists, it can’t really be called information. It merely is.It has no will of its own, nor could it possess any sense of direction. It only pours forth causes endlessly—something like a primordial vortex at the root of all things.

This is why Type Moon can suggest that the Akashic Records cannot be 'called' anything: not will, not direction, not information. But pure existence, it simply is and no more. Yet this 'thing' that has 'nothing' and cannot even be called anything is the same thing that outpours causes?

The reason is that the fact that it simply is or exists in the purest sense, stripped of division, that it can outpour and ground all things.

It is the cause of everything [すべての原因であり], the zero [ゼロ] that set all phenomena and events [現象・事象] into motion.

Which is why when they say, they don't even say it 'acts to create'. But it is a precondition that sets all phenomena and events into motion; it moves all things without being moved. So it cannot be that the Akashic Records are actually active, nor operates whatsoever, within the universe directly.

True Magic is a finite instantiation of non-mediated participation in a singular grounding actuality that exists as irreducible operations of reality. Reality before it comes to be mediated, divided and separated.

A coordinate regarded as the origin of all events. That is the “Swirl of the Root”……………the long-cherished aspiration of all magi; the beginning and the end of all things, a divine seat that records everything in this world and can also create everything within it.

This is why, unlike True Magic as we will see, it acts as a universal 'cause' viz its actuality. It brings forth all things, and True Magic is what operates as principles that govern the universe, grounded in or still in direct participation with the Akashic Records.

"Before, I told you that magecraft has no limits, right? What that meant was that, so long as it remains within the range human knowledge can reach, it has no limits. Magic, by contrast, is full of limits, or rather, it can only accomplish one single mechanism, but that is only natural. Because it is a single point of light, excluded from the concepts of this universe. "Mahoyo

So its limits are pretty implicit, despite being excluded from the concepts of the universe. True Magics can only govern one operation of the created world, only one. Now that operation may have several effects, but its 'radical' idiosyncrasies and transcendence only apply to the domain of operation it governs.

Take, for example, the alleged proof of Avalon being a greater miracle beyond all else; the supporting evidence taken for this is purely detached from the context of the explanation:

Avalon (The Everdistant Utopia)The "scabbard" that forms a pair with the Holy Sword Excalibur. Its possessor does not age, and any injuries they sustain are rapidly healed.By invoking its True Name to release it, it disassembles into countless fine components and deploys in midair, shielding its owner from all forms of interference. Once it enters a state of absolute protection, harming the owner becomes virtually impossible. It wards off even interference from parallel worlds brought about by the Second Magic.

Because it is in fact said that Avalon can block interferences from parallel worlds brought forth by Second Magic. So the question is not whether or not it is stated, but what it means for this to be stated:

It wards off even interference from parallel worlds brought about by the Second Magic. This "absolute defense," capable of repelling even attacks utilizing True Magic, is in itself a type of True Magic. It is impossible for anyone to harm the King who rests in the land of Avalon.When the "Everdistant Utopia" unleashes its power, not even the King of Heroes can bring harm to Saber.

The context of the 'can block attacks using True Magic' is in regard to Avalon in itself being a type of True Magic, first things first, so both attacks are of roughly the same rank. And secondarily and most importantly, it refers to what I'd like to call the 'limits of True Magic'. In which case, Second Magic cannot interfere with Avalon because, to begin with, Avalon is not part of its domain of operations.

Yes, that is simply so; there's a huge discrepancy between Second Magic and Avalon here. Avalon retains its capacity to block it, because the operations of parallel worlds are already what Avalon is intended to block. As a realm removed from the laws and mediated categories of the Planet, so it is not that the realm of the fairies itself is True Magic. But the bounded field that manifests, to block attacks—the Absolute Defence aspect—is the True Magic, just to set that aside as well.

Another huge discrepancy, especially of the True Magics in the modern era, the five Magicians. Is that the operations of True Magic or what True Magic supervenes over, are relative to the domain in which the subject who attained it resides? I mean, the five magics, for example, are the greatest mysteries of human history or the human order domain.

They exist in this sense, especially in a way like singularity events that govern primitive operations of reality and even bring significant change to it once attained by the subject.

The order goes as follows: In the beginning, the first magic changed everything, the Second Magic as proof and operations of Parallel Worlds recognised 'many' from solidarity. The Third Magic presented a glimpse of the Future, of which we are shown to be something like the servantverse, where everyone is immortal through the Third Magic and are servants (pure souls).

It is unclear so far what the Fourth and Fifth are about.

---

The conclusion is, a separate key for the Akashic Records from the Root and the tier will go:

• The Root remains at Tier 0
• The Akashic Records will be High 1-A+ (Type 2)
• True Magic High 1-A+ (Type 1)

Note: The next thread by no means will scale the Inner Sea because I deny that the realm in itself is True Magic, but the sheath or the closure or concealment conditions of Avalon are True Magic-like. Not the realm in itself. The next proposal will roughly remain the same, the Reverse Side and Inner Sea proposed for 1-A, but I devised handling it separately to prevent this thread from being clogged with too much information and writing, making it even harder to evaluate.

 

[Mugen-Kokutosho-Jigoku]

Lovely thread, i agree

 

[BoastJr]

I just know that someone will upscale Gil to this somehow

Anyways I agree ! Anything for H1A+ Smurfs (sorry Ale)

 

[ShinMaximillion]

I just know that someone will upscale Gil to this somehow

Anyways I agree ! Anything for H1A+ Smurfs (sorry Ale)

Only True Magic in-itself scales in relation to the thread, not its fragmented effects to various Mystic Codes and such lol. Gilgamesh won't.

 

[Hecky2222]

It would be better if individuals restrict shitposting(without reading thread lmao) cuz it is staff thread and makes thing harder for evaluate

 

[Mr._East_Statement]

As I have read through the whole of it in the time (yes, I did), the argumentation is all fine it seems? True Magic is immediate/non discruive (yet limited to its operational domain, in contrast with magicraft that can be expressed many derivatively/limitlessly) that exerts activity simpliciter of "zero" as zero-in-finite, carries no potency whatsoever (correct me if I am wrong at any part in this summarization), so I agree with the thread.