OK, the most important comment first:
Robin says:
>
> Hero Wars is a work of progress. I don't think there's
> much point in using it as a text to argue from until
> publication.
That is of course correct. I'm sorry to take that reference out of context. I have full confidence that Robin will come up with cool gaming constructs for mystic magic.
and Peter:
>
> Methinks you are being unduely pessimistic. The aim of the Hero
> Wars was to describe Glorantha and not to rewrite it totally.
The reason I even mentioned it is that the description of mysticism from a world perspective fits very well with what I have learned recently. Hero Wars isn't the primary reason that I'm struggling to adjust my view of the east.
As I said, I prefer another view of mysticism, but I have been told that it is wrong. Mystics can do magic with tangible effects, but that is incidental, a side effect. What's worse, when they use magic, they get entangled with the world they try to leave behind. Thus, mystics try their very best not to use magic.
A sorcerer or shaman actively strives to get magic. A mystic gains the _potential_ for magic as a side effect.
Peter:
>
> The dominant kralori philosophy *is* concerned with non-being
> but I do not believe that we can say that it has 'no practical
> use'.
I agree with you, but we may both be somewhat wrong, when it comes to the spread of actual use of mysticism.
> Methinks you're assuming that prayer = theism here. Mystic
> deities are known in Peloria (such as Dayzatar, the Red Goddess
> and Primoltus) so worshipping the gods does not entail theistic
> worship. I think the Kralori peasants in worshipping the gods
> would follow a variation of Devotion (cf enclosure #1 p58)
> in their life.
That's still worship, not mysticism. But to temper things a bit, the dominant philosophy can certainly be mystical, without the majority of people living by it.
Just as only a minority of the people of real world buddhist countries are monks while the culture is still considered buddhist, because buddhist values permeate the society.
David Weihe:
>
> > balance and integration. I have recently learned that this is wrong.
> > Mysticism is about non-being and has no practical use.
>
> This last sentence is too absolutist to be accurate.
Yes, that's an exaggeration, to make a point.
Finally, I'm just happy if I'm wrong here, and my old model for mysticism proves to be viable still.
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