Re: Atheists and Humakti

From: Nick Brooke <Nick_Brooke_at_compuserve.com>
Date: Tue, 28 Apr 1998 18:03:57 +0100



Richard asks:

> Could someone please point me in the direction of any large groups of
> true atheists (i.e. not even Invisible God). I'm especially interested
> in any group which is a long way from any theists.

Nearest you're likely to get is the Brithini, and nowadays their spin-off societies in Arolanit and God Forgot. They may acknowledge the existence of an impersonal, remote, non-intervening Creator, but feel that it is idiocy to devote any "worship" to this or any other otherworldly entity, preferring to rely on their own mastery of logical science and sorcery, disdaining the snares of the so-called "deities", "spirits", "saints" and "prophets".

> Do Humakti differentiate between spirits which are disembodied dead
> people and spirits which arent?

Of course! Don't you??

> How would a Humakti feel about his spirit coming back as somebody's
> allied spirit?

A great honour to be chosen. *If* you believe that (some or all) allied spirits are the returned spirits of dead worshippers -- which ain't necessarily so.

> What about sticking the spirit in a crystal, or a sword?

Who did it to him, and why?

I think the point of view *might* be that if your Temple or your God thought it was worth hanging onto you (or even "bringing you back") as an exemplar, a guardian, a hero cult, or whatever, that's a great honour. But you wouldn't expect it, or twist arms, or set it up for yourself, any more than a saintly Christian would take steps to ensure his own canonisation. Humakti expect the "Forever Death" -- good ones don't squeal like stuck pigs and peek through the small print hunting for loopholes.

> Finally, what about sticking the spirit into some sort of golem?

Sounds like making undead, to me: I think that'd be a no-no. (Only attributed Gloranthan Golems I can think of are Peter Metcalfe's shit golems of the Vadeli ghettoes, and I think *anyone* would recognise that it's a bad idea to be involved with those).

Nick
:::: web: <http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Nick_Brooke>


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