ILLUMINATION

From: D M McNamara <D.M.McNamara_at_durham.ac.uk>
Date: Sun, 19 May 1996 12:29:00 +0100 (BST)


  I am new to this digest, and aren't sure how to phrase my opinion, but here goes anyway....(blame it on the praxian llama kvass) I have had some interesting discussions about the nature of illumination, and have noted some curious contradictions within the philosophy as i see it. I feel this is an important issue, as i have noted that some people are ambivalent towards it, whereas others embrace it...some even despise it with all their being. I suppose this is what makes glorantha so vibrant, in that we can actively take part in the more 'ephemeral' aspects of everyday 'being in the world.'
yet, i am troubled, because there has been so little discussion of what it may exactly mean. For example, a few years ago i remember talking with Andrew Rilstone about illumination (he will have forgotten now i think), and he seemed quite welcoming with respects to the illumination approach, but as a player as well as a 'player character.' I may be wrong, but he seemed, at the time at least, to see illumination as promoting a liberating philosophy which would potentially unite glorantha. Obviously, illumination is a great game concept, but in the long term it may be potentially detrimental to the world (and as Braudel says 'the long term always wins out in the end').
Let me explain - illumination, as i am sure many will agree, promotes some form of relativism with respect to an existential consciousness; therefore one may immediately conjure up images of riddlers wandering around the landscape, acting chaotically and 'spreading the word.' However, here lies the inconsistency - 'true,' 'absolute' relativism is by its very nature a tautalogical concept, because the very thing defies categorisation. Furthermore, it presupposes that there also exists a phenomenon of 'true,' 'absolute' order at the other end of the scale, which is also a logical impossibility. Therefore, the way to approach illumination as i see it is as a contradictory dialectic between order and chaos, which resists compartmentalisation by formal logic (which we often use in everyday life). This approach is of course derived originally from Aristotle (isn't that the origin of solipsism also?), and eventually Hegel and Marx.
Therefore, i finally come to my point (after much blustering, i admit). To speak of illumination (existential relativism) in absolutist terms is false; by its very nature there cannot be one 'solid' philosophy of illumination, because it is a philosophy which demands indeterminacy and fluidity of meaning. Of course, illumination exists in glorantha, that cannot be denied, but 'whose' illumination, and for what purpose?
I feel therefore illumination ought to be perceived as not being a neutral, 'scientific' phenomenon, but as a politicised cognitive space which can be used for different ends. I therefore come back to Andrew Rilstone and his 'good' interpretation for illumination (of course, he jokingly brought up the old gbaji/nysalor duality, but i felt he also
'personally' advocated its nature in some way - please forgive my
presumption!).
 I used to play a storm bull bison rider. He hated chaos and illumination with a passion. However, he also travelled the beyond the edges of the world, beyond Prax, and saw the different ways of life there. The wars between orlanth and the red goddess seemed to just demonstrate a 'change of personnel' with respect to rune control, and great carnage was wrought, over both sides making claims for ontological truth. Fighting was fun for awhile....but it the situation also seemed to reveal that knowledge had no absolute value, that there were no
'meanings' to existence, and that life was just what you made of it.

   Therefore, if everyone was truly relativist, there would be no more world conflict, we would be like the 'gods' in the sky. He was not illuminated, but could see illumination as a potential source for 'good' if it was used for different ends. Riddlers often seem to use their deconstructive riddles for narcissistic ends..ie. submit to the peace of nysalor, revel in chaos, etc. Therefore ultimately it could promote the end of the world. However, if illumination was used for a different end - to empower living beings, to make them strive against 'truth' (which is oppressive, even chaos uses the concept), then glorantha could be a happier world.
 The problem as i see it is that chaos' use of illumination will ultimately destroy cultural variability, even though it initially seems to be offering this; in the long run of history glorantha will be swallowed back into the primordial chaos slime. However, a more enterprising and liberating form of illumination could be used to ultimately promote critical thinking, and create even greater variablity than before. However, i feel a RealWorld parallel is useful here.   Inevitably a single monolithic 'world system' will be created. The lunar empire tried and failed, just like the romans, because technology (lack of) and internal contradictions tore it apart. This process is inevitable because of the power of a philosophy like illumination. Glorantha is not an ahistorical world, it is always changing. The beings on it, however, have a choice, to plunge their world into a new darkness, or create a greater world than ever before, and it all depends on how illumination is used. Illumination now cannot be stopped, it has been created, and you can't turn back the clock, therefore it must be maturely dealt with ie. even 10 million storm kahns cannot destroy a philosophy. Instead it must be sublimated back into the consciousness, and USED.   I therefore would like to solidify the message of this - that illumination, used by chaosites, is not true pluralism, it has a deep authoritarian streak. I would call this contradiction 'evil.' 'True' pluralism, if possible at all, would make concepts like 'good' and 'evil' redundant, but through transcendence, not senseless ignorant barbarism.

  Dominic McNamara (postgrad History and philosophy of archaeology, durham uni, UK)

P.S. hence, when my llankhor mhy priest is asked about illumination, he says, 'it doesn't exist, my son.'

P.P.S. Can any of you out there think of some fun illumination riddles?


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