From: alex (alex@dcs.gla.ac.uk)
Date: Thu 23 Jun 1994 - 23:31:14 EEST
I wonder:
> > If I were a skeptical Gloranthan, or one from a non-Daka Fal
> >tradition, would I be convinced by a gibbering travesty of a ghost
> >that the spirit survives death without any change?
Sandy explicates:
> "See, my child, the awful fate that awaits those who die
> without assurance of Orlanth's mercy."
Indeed, just what I meant.
> The fact that a change awaits those who dies doesn't meant
> the part of the spirit is necessarily missing. I'd rather have the
> subdivided soul beliefs be restricted to a minority of sects.
I wasn't thinking of what most cults believe (I agree with you there), but rather musing about a possible meta-mechanism for what "really" happens. <insert afterlife> Help Me, I know. Granted, the simplest such would be an "according to what they believe, mostly" scheme. Since most traditions don't, apparently, flatly contradict the truth of the others (just hurl abuse, really), this is probably feasible.
> I think it is mythically important that Humakt be the First
> Killer. Greg once told me that the first words Humakt spoke after
> slaying Grandfather Mortal were: "What the hell? It wasn't supposed
> to do THAT!" The implications re: Eurmal are quite fine indeed.
Well, while I, and others, are "quoting Greg to stymie Sandy", note that in The Sword Story (KoS), it _is_ Eurmal and Grandfather Mortal who manage this trick entirely by themselves, with liberal helpings of collective stupidity. A somewhat earlier answer to my question, if I'd bothered looking it up.
Probably Greg was on a different phase of his "Hate Humakt (Cyclical)" passion when asserting the above version...
As to what the Humakti themselves say, I'd guess that (and I can see Devin Cutler lathering up at the mouth already) it depends on whom one asks. How the local cult balances the (in this case, somewhat conflicting) virtues of Dealing Death, Acting Honourably, and Not Looking Stupid.
Alex.
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