> > Asceticism by itself does not make a mystic. Meditation and focus do not
> > make a mystic. Attempting to see the "reality" behind this false world and
> > transcend, usually through a dedicated path that has been demonstrated by a
> > Master, is what makes mysticism different.
hmf ...
I've had it from a few informed sources including Greg that this is either an oversimplified view of mysticism or descriptive of only *some* but not *all* mysticism. Greg has pointed out that the oriental word usually translated as "illusion" here could in many cases be translated as "reality".
AFAIK *not* all Gloranthan mystical practises would view reality as "false".
> ... the first day
> apprentice is, in this sense, infinitely more free than, say, Humakt, who
> has not yet realized that he is trapped in the world.
In fact all of the major deities and spirits and essence-thingies provide among other things a passageway between the transcendent and the Inner World. The gods, such as Humakt to follow your example, are not mystical entities per se, due to their nature as Beings in the strong sense of that word (gods are defined by what they *are*) ; but they must almost necessarily possess some basically mystical insights into their own natures and their relationship with the transcendent that no mere starting level mystic apprentice can hope to understand.
The mortal DOES have far more freedom as such than Humakt, because of the Great Compromise -- but this freedom is also in itself both the freedom to study mysticism and the basic reason not to do so.
Humakt is well aware of the limits and taboos that are enshrined in the Compromise, but IMO looking at Humakt who is a living god of Death having direct contact with the transcendent world from a mystical point of view sounds suspiciously like a humungous can of worms :D
julian Lord
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