SYSTEMATIC RECURSIVE PERMUTATION ITS SEMIOTICS

IAN SHANAHAN (2002)

Systematic recursive permutation undeniably exudes unity, since the permutations within a
cyclic group all spring from just one generative permutational act. One is powerfully reminded
of Messiaens maxim the charm of impossibilities, alluding to a cyclic groups autopoietic
self-containedness whereby a permutations proliferative potential nevertheless cannot admit
foreign elements from another cyclic group. And yet this compositional technique also
manifests diversity within unity: typically, when the number of musical objects to be permuted
is not small, the resulting cyclic groups circumscribe a veritable embarras de choix of
permutations.

As a fecund transformative procedure, systematic permutation is a natural metaphor for the

periodic motions exhibited by cosmic bodies such as the orbital cycles and rotations of
planets. Herein lies this compositional techniques meaning (at least in part: it also brings forth
metaphysical overtones). Indeed, in the mathematical jargon of the theory of permutation
groups, the set of positions occupied by an objects number throughout all the permutations of
a cyclic group is referred to as that numbers orbit; these orbits equate with the permutations
cycles.

But perhaps this serial techniques deepest (and most poetic) meaning of all is Kabbalistic:
within the Jewish mystical tradition, some believe that systematic permutation mirrors the very
act of Creation itself:

[LETTERS OF CREATION] Twenty-two elemental letters. God engraved them, carved them,
weighed them, permuted them, and transposed them, forming with them everything
formed and everything destined to be formed.

Twenty-two elemental letters. God set them in a wheel with 231 gates, turning forward
and backward. How did God permute them? Alef with them all, all of them with alef; bet
with them all, all of them with bet; and so with all the letters, turning round and round,
within 231 gates. Thus all that is formed, all that is spoken emerges from one name.

Out of chaos God formed substance, making what is not into what is. He hewed
enormous pillars out of ether that cannot be grasped.

When Abraham our father, peace unto him, gazed looking, seeing, probing,
understanding, engraving, carving, permuting, and forming he succeeded in creation.
Immediately God manifested to him, embracing him, kissing him on the head, calling him
Abraham, my beloved.1

Could one ask for more beautiful and noble imagery?

~1~
1. Translated by Daniel C. Matt from the Sefer Yetsirah [Book of Creation] 2:2, 2:46, and 6:4 (3rd to 6th
centuries AD).
According to Matt, The twenty-two letters [are those] of the Hebrew alphabet. Thus God created the world
through numbers and letters [NB: in the ancient Hebrew language itself (and by gematria), each Hebrew letter
is equivalent to a number], a cosmology combining the biblical view of creation by divine speech with the
Pythagorean theory that numbers constitute the essential nature of things.
Matt continues his commentary: God creates by combining and arranging the letters of the Hebrew alphabet
in all possible ways. Many kabbalists, including Abraham Abulafia, sought to imitate this activity of letter
permutation, based on the detailed instructions in Sefer Yetsirah. [Regarding the 231 gates, 231 is the]
number of two-letter combinations that can be formed from the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet,
provided the same letter is not repeated [i.e. 231 = 22C2 = 22! (20! 2!) = 22 21 2 = 11 21] ... [On the
formation of everything from just a single name, the] entire [Hebrew] alphabet [is here] seen as [this] one
name. Alternatively, the name is YHVH [the Tetragrammaton] ... [Concerning ungraspable ether, the] concept
of the ether (Hebrew, avir, air) corresponds to Greek conceptions. Aristotle identified ether as an
incorruptible, unchanging heavenly element found only in the region beyond the sphere of the moon.
Rotating around the earth, the ether fills all of space. All the heavenly bodies the sun, moon, planets, and
stars are composed of it, as are the rotating spheres in which these ethereal bodies are embedded. The Stoics
identified the ether with pneuma, a quasi-material spiritual substance, which pervades not only heaven but all
matter on earth, as well as transmitting light and gravity. Descartes subtle matter corresponds to the ether,
as does the active vacuum field in contemporary particle physics ... In classical Kabbalah the ether is identical
with the highest sefirah [i.e. the highest emanation from the infinite God, Ein Sof], also known as
nothingness [ayin] the creative nothingness out of which all being emerges. [The endearment of God
towards Abraham] Abraham, my beloved [comes from] Isaiah 41:8. In imitating the divine act of creating
with letters, Abraham becomes a model for later Jewish mystics. Traditionally, Sefer Yetsirah is attributed to
Abraham.
On Gods Creation being accomplished through the medium of the twenty-two Hebrew letters, see also Ben
Shahns delightful illustrated allegory The Alphabet of Creation: An Ancient Legend from the Zohar [or
Book of Splendour] (1954).

~2~