(I might have been a bit slow answering feedback over the weekend - I was trying to get the basis of my ideas down first. I don't think you can accuse me of that now)
> Some things are. Religion deals with explanations. And some things
> can be.
I am aware that Metaphysics in Glorantha maybe _shouldn't_ be discussed. I'm sure some people would rather the whole thing was kept mysterious and unexplained. I certainly respect that POV.
However some of us like to try to find explanations, because it makes it a lot easier to understand Glorantha. It's a bit like learning physics by understanding theorems, rather than memorising a collection of facts.
You can certainly say of modern day physics that it's 99.9% likely that every theory is wrong. History has taught us that. I expect my theories about Glorantha are wrong too. That's not the point (at least, it isn't for me). If they explain everything within the subject area I'm concerned with (which is post Compromise) then the theory will make it a lot easier to understand Glorantha, and a lot easier for me to make predictions about what's happening in undocumented areas of Glorantha.
Why oh why some people have to get _so_ steamed up about this I just don't know. It seems to me the most harmless of pursuits.
Nick and Trotsky point me in the direction of the Brithini:
I made a comment about Arolanit in my previous post. One other thing that struck me about this culture is this.
Could it be that:
The whole church system is maintained as a way to control farmers / lower class / working class / what have you. The more educated upper eschelons of the church think it's ultimately a load of nonsense, however all these working classes actually _do_ worship.
Now the upper classes keep to their scientific explanations of the world, thinking that all the worship is a waste of time. However, the theist explanation works perfectly well _because_ of all this worship. Were the more educated eschelons to change to a theistic model they would discover this too.
Trotsky also brought up Dwarves and Mostal:
Tricky one this. Do the dwarves worship or don't they? The dwarves reckon not, but they're not theists. Theists look at them and say "there's worship going on there". The dwarven POV obviously works well for them (as a means of explaining the world), but I reckon a theist dropped into the middle of it would see what to all intents and purposes _was_ worship (by another name) and his POV would work too. There is something a little unsatisfactory about this argument I have to admit - but I think it's the only case where theists perceive worship where argueably there isn't any.
God Forgot I suppose is too small and ingrained with theists to challenge this theory. Vadeli - I need more info about.
David Dunham:
The point I was trying to make with my teleported Storm God worshipper example, or teleported Disease Goddess worshipper example, is that when they arrive no representative of that god is there. Ok, this might be getting a little hypothetical, because the worshipper would need to be able to contact _all_ versions of the Storm/Disease God.
If he could, and there was no answer, then I think that would question his belief.
Rather more importantly, side by side with this example are the simple questions:
Why would there be a storm so far from any Storm God worship? Why would there be a plague so far from any Disease Goddess worship?
What's causing these things?
Do we know of cases where this happens?
> And Protestants can't disprove Catholics. It certainly doesn't mean
> there must be a sharing of idea-space of a compromise. You're dealing
> with two closed belief systems here -- scientists have faith that the
> scientific method can explain everything.
This isn't a contest of proofs so much as a contest of theorems. Religious theorems are less useful, in our world, IMO, because they fail to make useful predictions, at least about the physical world. In Glorantha I believe religious theorems are _as_ useful as scientific ones.
I think on Earth religious systems have stepped out of the way of scientific ones when they deal about physical world predictions. I think in Glorantha they stand on equal footing - that's what I meant by a sharing of idea-space / theorem-space.
Richard
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Richard Develyn Tel: (UK)-1732-743591 Principal Architect / Development Manager Fax: (UK)-1732-743597 Network People International http://www.nwpeople.com ------------------------------
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