From: David Cake (dave@difference.com.au)
Date: Fri 13 Oct 2000 - 06:49:58 EEST
At 11:45 AM -0700 12/10/00, The Glorantha Digest wrote:
>Let's look at the Vithelan Otherworld then (as I know more
>about that than about the Kralorelan one). IMO it is the
>Otherworld of the Vithelan theists, which are the vast
>majority. The mystics say that the mundane world and the
>Otherworld differ not in kind but in degree, and this
>whole spectrum is an illusion.
There is no sharp dividing line between Vithelan theists and
Vithelan mystics (eg Mairnali etc) - and certainly, I think that the
Vithelan theists have more in common with the Vithelan mystics than
they do with, say, Umathelan theists. The Four Worlds hypothesis
argues otherwise, which is one of the things I think is rather silly
about it.
>To the Vithelan theists the Vithelan Otherworld is natural
>and familiar, to the Vithelan mystic it is another part
>of the illusion to refute and a tempting one which makes
>it the more dangerous.
I think the 'otherworld is always alien' is a mistake along
My root dislike of the Four Worlds idea is mostly due to the
the lines of assuming that all mystics are ascetics. While I think
all mystics agree that the otherworld is essentially illusory and
worthless, they say that about the material world too, and differ in
their attitude and response. I think its probably the same with the
otherworld. Sure, there are hardcore orthodox mystics who think that
there is no response to the otherworld except refutation, and they
are going to treat the whole of it as alien. On the other hand, it
seems very odd that, for example, a Mairnali mystic who treats
worship of an enlightened deity as a pathway to enlightenment would
find that deities otherworldly home as intrinsically hostile (not
just to mystic insight, but to all actions). Or similarly, that a
Pelorian mystic who is trying to follow the goddesses path to
illumination would find themselves suffering alien world modifiers
when directly trying to follow the goddess. The religions that
combine mystic and theist elements surely contain things like
otherworld areas designed to encourage mystic insight - why should
these be hostile to mystics?
way it exalts 'objective' categorisation over culture.
Cheers
David
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