My take on Illumination is derived from two quotations used in that Interesting Book ILLUMINATUS! by Wilson and Shea. (I think they were stolen from Zen.) No guarentees that this is what those two gentlemen meant. (And anyway "no-one w ho *knows* is alike in the way they know.")
Quotation 1) "Who is the One who is wiser than all the Buddhas and Sages?" This riddle is asked several times in the course of Wilson and Shea's epic saga. Finally, the answer the pilgrim has to come to is: "I am."
Illumination is the process of seeing how each of us creates their own world, of seeing that reality is derived from the perceptions and beliefs of the beings that inhabit it and not the other way round. It is seeing that you, in yourself, as you are know have the ability to be as powerful as Yelm or Orlanth.
Illumination is the moment when you see the whole and know where you stand in it and what you really mean. There are a thousand ways to it and no way at all.
(Is that sufficiently mystical for you?)
Quotation 2) "He who acheives Supreme Illumination is like an Arrow flying straight to Hell."
That moment puts you beyond the reach of the gods and then dumps you back on Glorantha to make the best of the rest of your life. (Question: If reincarnation is a fact on Glorantha why are no babies born Illuminated?)
I read somewhere recently a philosophical quotation (it may have been from Aristotle or Aquinas) that people obey Laws and Morals for one of three reasons.
The first group obey the Laws because they have no thought not to. They are simply not tempted to do anything that will harm others or disrupt society. These we may call the Innocent.
Then there are the people who obey the Laws because they have thought things through and believe that this is the best thing to do. They may have desires to break the Laws but they choose not to out of reasoned, conscious choice. These we may call the Wise.
When the Innocent or the Wise acheive Illumination they will not abuse the power it gives them because it changes none of what they were before.
But the Innocent and the Wise are few and far between. The vast majority of people obey the laws because they are afraid. Afraid of the justice of the good gods and the malice of the evil, afraid of being punished or even afraid of so little a thing as their neighbours' contempt for them. We may call these the Fearful.
And when one of the Fearful acheives Illumination then let their neighbours beware. For the Fearful one has just lost one of the major reasons to stay fearful: the wrath of the Gods. Soon he might start to believe himself one of the Gods. And what might happen then is terrible to contemplate.
Actor and Genius.
AKA Theophilus, Prince-Archbishop of the Far Isles
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