Aeon418
Of course you're allowed to hate it.I get the 2001 reference, although I really hate that movie, all the more so because one isn't "allowed" to.
The following quote is ripped straight from Wikipedia. I think Kubrick's 'vision' for 2001 has a lot in common with how we've all tried to approach this multiple year spanning Book of the Law study.
Stanley Kubrick encouraged people to explore their own interpretations of the film, and refused to offer an explanation of "what really happened" in the movie, preferring instead to let audiences embrace their own ideas and theories. In a 1968 interview with Playboy magazine, Kubrick stated:
You're free to speculate as you wish about the philosophical and allegorical meaning of the film—and such speculation is one indication that it has succeeded in gripping the audience at a deep level—but I don't want to spell out a verbal road map for 2001 that every viewer will feel obligated to pursue or else fear he's missed the point.
In a subsequent discussion of the film with Joseph Gelmis, Kubrick said his main aim was to avoid "intellectual verbalization" and reach "the viewer's subconscious." However, he said he did not deliberately strive for ambiguity- it was simply an inevitable outcome of making the film nonverbal, though he acknowledged this ambiguity was an invaluable asset to the film. He was willing then to give a fairly straightforward explanation of the plot on what he called the "simplest level," but unwilling to discuss the metaphysical interpretation of the film which he felt should be left up to the individual viewer.
The only reason I would choke up watching 2001 is if it all too keenly reminded me of the monotony of existence (which it does!). All I could think of while staring at that thing is "My God, what the hell am I doing with my life?" And I've tried liking it, several times, trying to convince myself I didn't understand it... I do... I really do...
Are you sure you're not confusing 2001 with Harry Potter?
Looking at 2001 from the angle of Qabalistic psychology I can't help seeing the transition from Nephesh to Ruach in the initial non-verbal ape man section. (The Monolith is the Supernal Triad. 1, 2, 3, sqaured is the dimensions of the monolith. 1 x 4 x 9.)
The Ruach-intellect and the transition beyond it is represented by the verbal middle section of the movie, which features the mental breakdown of the logical-ego, HAL. (Instructed to lie, and can't do it. It's beyond his function. Hence he goes nuts.)
The third and final section sees Dave Bowman travel beyond the Ruach (back to non-verbal again) and make the transition to Neshamah - Superconsciousness. (Is that the birth of the cosmos or the conception of a child? Or are they one and the same?) Until right at the end you see the next step in the evolution of consciousness beyond the limited individual self, the Star Child.
Then again maybe none of that is there and I'm merely projecting.
Open the pod bay doors HAL.....