YGWV
> From: Stephen Tempest <gd_at_stempest.demon.co.uk>
seeks enlightenment on
> Subject: [Glorantha] Thoughts on souls and the afterlife
> Forgive me if this has been discussed before, but... what exactly
> happens when you die?
Your questions indicate you are focussing on Heortling/Orlanthi information, and so will my answers. But whereas the details will be more or less the same for most theist people, they are possibly different for other peoples.
> Going by Storm Tribe p87, an Orlanthi soul first goes to the Court of
> Silence - this journey takes a week. But where is the Court of
> Silence - the Underworld?
Officially, in the Underworld is correct, but really it is "between worlds," a nexus. The most common way to reach it is by dying and losing the connection between your body and your immortal soul. However, it also has connections--links, or doors--to anyplace that a human-rune-shaped being might go after death. These are accessible only by the psychopomps of the Otherworlds, who enter to the Court of Silence and exit with the souls of their charges.
> As part of this process, most people lose their individuality and
> become an undifferentiated Ancestor.
More correctly, "group of undifferentiated ancestors."
> (Per RQ, they lost 1/7 of their
> individual personality for each day in the underworld, as I recall.)
More correctly, 1/7 of their connection to the mundane world. Their personality may be retained in the Afterlife for a while, but will eventually dissolve as they integrate with their Afterlife and the emotional connections with their living descendants.
> After judgement, the soul then goes to Storm Home to dwell alongside
> the Gods (until eventual reincarnation, in most cases). I assume that
> this is on the Godplane - the Theistic Otherworld. Does this mean that
> any non-theistic parts of the worshipper's personality are lost or
> stripped away in order to allow them to enter the Godplane?
Yes.
> This, of
> course, raises the awkward question of Kolatings who have spirits, not
> souls - presumably they do *not* go to the same Storm Home, but to an
> animist version of it on the Spirit Plane? Or do they have to endure
> an afterlife with the Alien World Penalty affecting them?
The Kolati go to Kolat's realm in the Spirit World.
> Why is the Underworld normally thought of as 'the place of the dead'
> if most souls go to the Godplane instead?
First, remember that part of the Godplane is in the Underworld.
> Is it just because they
> pass through there temporarily on their journey to the Otherworlds?
Yes, but there are a couple of other reasons as well. For one, the Underworld is a mixed world, and if people are not purified of their non-theist parts they go to the Underworld. It might be the Orlanthi part of the Underworld (overseen by Humakt), but Underworld nonetheless.
Second, many people fear the loss of their identity, and they cling to this fear aftr death. This causes them to remain in the Underworld until they are purified.
> Finally, some speculation. In the mortal world everything is mixed -
> so a theist has a soul, but presumably also a small amount of spirit
> and essence. Concentrating on a religion purifies the soul, by
> ridding it of these extra elements.
For convenience, by common usage "the soul" is used for disucssions. But I've explained elsewhere that there are really five souls for an Orlanthi, one of which, the "earthly body," is the most mixed, the "most everything."
The inner world is the Everythign World, and so most of the "everything" is in the body. But sometimes spirit and essence accumulate to other souls as the body descends to birth, and those are shed in the Underworld.
> But what happens to them then?
> Do they simply disappear, or get absorbed/transformed into Soul?
They are shed, and join the undifferentiated "stuff" of the Underworld (which eventually returns to an elemental source.)
Note that Orlanthi have an "inner soul" or perhaps a "core soul" which is breath, and is pure theist air.
> Are
> they still present, but suppressed by a continuing act of will? Do
> they return to their Otherworld?
No to the former, and yes to the latter, though only after a long time.
> Or do they become very minor
> independent essences and spirits, which can plague the homestead and
> cause minor poltergeist activity and bad luck?
Sometimes. Sometimes they remain behind as exactly what you describe.
> Also, if a person concentrates on Theism, are they actually losing
> part of their personality? (The spiritual and essential parts.)
You seem to be equating personality and soul, which is not so.
> In
> extreme cases, would they act as if Tapped or, to use a modern
> analogy, lobotomised or tranquillised, because they have sacrificed a
> vital part of their essence and spirit?
Though this is an amusing consequence, it's not the way it works.
> Plus, if when someone dies their pure Soul goes to the Godplane, the
> same question arises. Do the spiritual and essential parts of them go
> to the Spirit World and Solace? Or do they just fade to nothing?
Yes.
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Received on Sat 04 Mar 2006 - 14:40:37 EET
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