> Given that illumination is supposed to be reached by NOT trying for it
> and that its results are supposed to be unpredictable, including insanity
> and loss of pre-existing beliefs (though not in all cases), how can a
> bureaucracy be built upon such an uncertain base?
and does his best to provoke an answer from me. There could be many answers, but here's the first seven that spring to mind.
(1) As I understand it, Illumination is not "supposed to be reached by NOT trying for it" -- it is *impossible* to reach if you try for it too hard (i.e. if you are a powergaming dweeb who wants to play a Humakti Vampire). There *is* a difference. At the Lunar College of Magic, Illuminated professors teach classes in Paradox, Philosophy and Comparative Morality (among other subjects), with the express aim of Illuminating their students, who know that this is what's happening. But the amount of work the students put into this end *doesn't* determine how well the teaching "takes". You can't gain a transcendental understanding by *wanting* to have one: it comes by surprise, or it doesn't come at all. You can't force it. (In this sense, the very existence of schools for Illuminates is a riddle/paradox, and realising this may be advantageous for the students!)
(2) One institutional reaction to weirdo drop-outs is already described in several books about the failure of the Roman Empire: after they went Christian, a whole bunch of well-educated, salt-of-the-earth potential administrators and organisers decided the best thing they could possibly do was to wander off into desert monasteries and starve to death while contemplating God. Thus the increasing incidence of Illumination might contribute to that "withering away of the Empire" which is a known aim of the Lunar Way (and already discussed here): the institutions of the Lunar State become gradually less workable as the Project which will replace them succeeds more and more.
(3) The hilarious English TV comedy series "Yes Minister" had one episode about arms trading (recently repeated with perfect comic timing), in which Bernard Woolley, Jim Hacker's private secretary, is told by his mentor Sir Humphrey that in order to be a perfect civil servant, one must become a "moral vacuum". This shocks poor, impressionable Bernard, but is ably defended by Sir Humphrey. People looking for good Nysalor paradoxes could do far worse than to read the "mandarinese" contained in the books of this series, which rivals Zen Koans for depth and complexity of tortuous argument. Or, read some real English civil servants' pronouncements: "economical with the truth", forsooth!
(4) The Lunar Bureaucracy is a grey, faceless machine which makes apparently insane demands on the citizens of the Empire. Some of these may in fact be intended to Illuminate their recipients: think of Kafka's Trial, or Gilliam's Brazil, or Orwell's Room 101, or Lem's Memoir Found In A Bathtub. That some of the people heading this edifice may be insane or amoral is hardly surprising. One imagines clerks whimsically dealing with petitions as the fancy takes them, or responding based on prejudice, or abandoning all pretence of doing their jobs. The kind of errors which we put down to "computer error" in the real world could result from Illuminated insanity and amorality within the bureaucracy.
(5) To depose one's enemies within the Lunar Bureaucracy, it is always useful for the aspiring mandarin to have them shunted off to a health farm. "Poor fellow. The stress of dealing with other people's problems every day has been too much of a burden for him to bear." Ignore denials: the evidence is easy to fake (two point rune spells, I believe!). Being cynically amoral yourself is a great help if you have to do this to people.
(6) Although Illumination can endanger one's sanity, this risk is less severe within the Empire: not only is insanity valued as a divinely-inspired state, but also the structures and beliefs of the Lunar Way are set up so as to embrace Illuminated insights and perceptions. You are not exposed to so many contradictions if you become Illuminated as a Lunar (though it can still be a tremendous, personality-affecting shock). I'd hazard a guess that more Storm Bulls than Moonies go insane upon Illumination, though of course my test subjects are rather suspect (since most Storm Bulls are certifiable already).
(7) "The Lunar Bureaucracy is an equal-opportunity employer, and all applications for positions are given equal consideration, regardless of age, sex, orientation, race, species, health, wealth, sanity, or chaotic feature."
I'd like to apologise to any and all bureaucrats reading this for any implication that their profession has ever been seen as cynically amoral and manipulative, riddled with paradoxes and contradictions, juggling paperwork in a Byzantinely introverted manner, and producing end results which serve only to baffle and confuse the public.
I am well aware that all bureaucrats (especially French bureaucrats) are models of sane and rational centralised administrative efficiency, whose every effort is directed to the good of the State. I present these crude stereotypes because my hobby is something I do for fun, and I think it's funnier to have these caricatures inside it than to purge all thought of them from my brain when I sit down to write about Glorantha. Sorry if anyone takes offence.
Yours sincerely,
No, honestly, there were *oodles* of sincerity in that.
Really, *truly* there were.
Oh, all right then. Sod you if you can't take a joke. :-)
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