Lunar Schools of Thought

From: Nick Brooke (D&T CAS) <"Nick>
Date: 13 Mar 96 07:06:49 EST



Theodore the Newbie writes:

> Some shameless reprobate (sp?) says:

>> that "withering away of the Empire" which is a known aim of the >> Lunar Way (and already discussed here):

> Said discussion already missed by me, and I can't find it in Loren's
> archives. Anyone want to send me some excerpts from copies they may
> have laying around?

Yes, you spelled "reprobate" correctly. And the theory is simple enough to restate in outline. As we know, the Lunar Way embodies progress (being born within Time), and is directed towards individual liberation and cosmic transformation (cf. Talking to the Moon Woman). The Lunar Empire is more rigid and old-fashioned, and currently provides the eggshell within which the Way can come to fruition, by supporting and defending its grand educational and spiritual projects, and extending its temporal spread. The culmination of the Lunar plan is *not*, therefore, a world-wide Empire ruling over conquered subject nations everywhere: it is a transformed, healed, unified Cosmos, attained through mystical and not physical means. This much is Lunar Orthodoxy, IMHO. A White Moonie might go further: at the Birth of the White Moon, the Empire will be cast aside like an abandoned husk, and the New Spirit of the Lunar Way will spread its wings and take flight, redeeming the Universe. If they think the time for this transformation is now, this would explain the recent increase in dissent and unrest. Some see the prophecies of the Coming Age as prerequisites for rather than results of the Lunar Transformation: *WE* must create a world at peace, in order for the White Moon to emerge (rather than "when the White Moon comes, the world will be at peace", an interpretation preferable to the Powers That Be).

Always try to keep in mind the Arrolians and Redlanders, who follow the Lunar Way *outside* the Lunar Empire. They clearly don't think the Triumph of the Lunar Way depends on the Empire, or they'd have signed up as member-satrapies yesterday...



Peter said a lot of things I mostly agree with:

> The Lunar hierarchy have a set list of questions so that when the seeker
> becomes Illuminated, she does not become mentally deranged as well.

I'm not certain this is the whole story (a single "set list of questions" doesn't feel right). I imagine there are different teachers and different schools of thought within the College of Magic, with others among the Manic Street Preachers (and other groups you mentioned). Lunar Illuminates can go insane, can get "weird ideas", can disagree with Imperial policy: most don't, though. It's certain that the Lunar Way offers more support to Illuminates than any of the older religions: it already takes into account the answers to many of the "questions". Indeed, some Lunar doctrines and slogans would make *MORE* sense to Illuminates, rather than less.

> These canonical questions ... [lead] the Seeker into a state of awareness
> which predisposes them to accept the corrupt status quo as 'the best of all
> possible worlds'.

Or to recognise that it's the way to attain that best of all possible worlds: Yelm's Empire was founded on the institution of human slavery, after all. Unlike Peter, I'm often prepared to believe that the architects of the Lunar Empire were not motivated by corruption, decadence, self-serving greed, and cynical amorality, i.e. that when this corpus of "canonical questions" was established, the as-yet-uncorrupted status quo *WAS* "the best of all possible worlds". This, of course, says nothing about the folk who run it now...

> The Street Preachers, Freethinkers and Rebel Philosophers have their own
> standard questions which vary from school to school.

An Examiner Writes: "Those reprobates are teaching Gbaji Illumination, not the Nysalor Illumination of the Red Moon Goddess."

> Accept No Substitutes! Seek Illumination from Authorized Sources Only!

"Absolutely! These Free Philosophers, Manic Street Preachers, and others are base charlatans and sophists, serving only as a horrible warning: every citizen can see, through witnessing their deranged ravings, the dangers of attempting philosophical experimentation without the benevolent spiritual guidance of the Red Goddess. What we do to them is also intended as a Horrible Warning..."

A quick note: I don't believe that the Lunar Empire, or the Lunar Way, should be viewed as a single, monolithic entity, a "One True Cult Write-Up" approach (although some within the Empire would be happy to enforce this). There are schisms, factions and tensions even between the Empire's rulers, let alone those outside the imperial power-structure but still holding opinions on Lunar belief ("heretical" groups like the White Moonies, Free Philosophers, and Whirling Dervishes; "outsiders" like the Sables, Arrolians, and Redlanders). The emphasis of each cult or sect shifts around the relative importance of the gods, institutions and principles of the Lunar Sphere (i.e. the back page of Talking to Moon Woman is up for grabs when you're writing your own Lunar Heresy). OK, so the Lunar Way is only 400 years old, with its theology supported by an imperial theocratic state: but think of the unity that Christianity, Islam or Marxism attained in a similar (or shorter) period of time...



Nick

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