Illumination

From: Nick Brooke <Nick_Brooke_at_compuserve.com>
Date: Tue, 28 Oct 1997 16:11:01 -0500



I quibble with Pasanen Panu:

PP> Illumination is also about accepting your shadow, and mostly that.

NB> Ironic that Arkat/Gbaji killed Gbaji/Nysalor, then. Probably the NB> greatest Illuminates before the Third Age...

PP> Says who? I believe that they became one. Accepted each other, etc. PP> Drastic: Chaos supports this point of view, too.

OTOH, you'll admit you are in an extreme minority, in Glorantha and the real world alike. While many of our confusing and contradictory sources *could* be read as saying that ultimately Arkat and Gbaji and Nysalor
"became one" (in a dull, end-of-Star-Trek-movie special effects scene
of remarkable duration and X-Files-worthy bright lighting), the far more common view -- in Gloranthan and the real world alike -- is that Arkat killed Nysalor. Not "accepted him", not "came to terms with him", not
"embraced him as his Other" -- *killed* him. OK, we can argue about who
killed who, where the dismembered body was buried, what philosophical state of mind the victor may have been in, and (of course) what all of this has to do with Ralzakark. But face the facts, matey. Standing up on a soap-box in Safelster and saying "Arkat became one with Gbaji" is a good way of having sharp projectiles lobbed your way -- and I'm sure plenty of Gloranthan wannabe-heresiarchs discover this every year. It's not about Ultimate Truth, it's about what people believe. Saying that Arkat and Nysalor exemplify the fact that Illuminates accept their opposites is an Illuminated (and thus worthless) proposition.

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Nick
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