Peter:
>
> >But, looking at Glorantha there are exceptions from the
> >model suggested here: Malkion and Hrestol are saints who
> >give belssings and they are _in_ Solace.
>
> Which merely begs the question of the need for the
> boddhisvatta parallel in the first place.
Well, if you don't need it, don't use it of course. I see
the following reasons for standing by it for now:
- Whether you look at grammmar or religion or anything else
which has evolved over a long time, large area and/or
from multiple sources, it is rarely that nice and simple
and free from exceptions and aberrations.
- Malkion and Hrestol could be argued to be special cases
as God's holy prophets (not my preferred solution).
- The blessings of the saints in Solace are not quite what
they have been described as. Malkion's blessing is rather
the possibility to reach Solace, Hrestol's is access to
Joy of the Heart.
- Exceptions and ambiguities make for interesting conflicts
of doctrine. If everything is streamlined you miss out on
the heated discussions of the nature and position of the
saints between Malkioni from different sects and schools.
- Using an analogy based in a non-western real world
tradition is a good reminder that Malkionism is _not_
medieval christianity. It is easy to loose sight of this
fact, given the western terminology of knights and bishops
and saints.
> IMO I would simply
> junk hairsplitting technicalities about whether a Saint is in
> Solace or not. Instead I would posit the existance of spiritual
> realms beneath Solace (a la the Muslim Seven Heavens) and (to
> borrow from Dante) people these with Saints who exist at the same
> time in Solace. The lower realms are populated by the more
> worldly Saints and whom are more easily accessible whereas the
> higher realms have more aloof saints who are more powerful yet
> more difficult to reach.
This is a longer step from the published information
about Solace, and more hairsplitting since it posits
simultaneous existence in and out of Solace, but I am
sure there is potential for cool stuff here. Do a full
writeup of this and convince us!
Nils Weinander | Everything is dust in the wind
nilsw_at_ibm.net |
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/8689/