Re: Glorantha Digest V2 #336

From: Carl Fink <carlf_at_panix.com>
Date: Sun, 21 Jan 1996 13:53:51 -0500


Ian Gorlick asks:

>I agree with your position that the IG (interesting coincidence those initials)
>never intervenes demonstrably in Glorantha except perhaps to "inspire" a
>prophet.
>
>Now given that, how do you respond to the proposition that he allows Saints to
>intervene on his behalf? Isn't this a bit of a cheat? Shouldn't those saints, if
>they really are holy, be in Solace and beyond contact with the mundane plane?
>
>I would propose that some Malkioni accept the actions of saints, some reject
>them utterly, and some probably allow the saint to "inspire" a devoted follower.

Well, my position (and that of, for instance, many mystics in the real world) is that the Saints, by contemplation of the IG, have attained a high spiritual status, but as beings less perfect (and thus less detached) than the Creator still intervene in the physical world. They're using *their own* power, not something derived from God.

This makes them comparable to, for instance, Boddhisatvas as seen by Buddhists. Buddha didn't derive his authority or his (accreted) supernatural power and importance from any other source, he gained them by study and meditation, under his own power. - --
Assistant Sysop, GEnie's First and Fourth Science Fiction RoundTables The SFRT page has moved AGAIN, to http://www.sfrt.com/sfrt1


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