Re. Theism in Glorantha

From: Simon Hibbs <simonh_at_msi-uk.com>
Date: Tue, 28 Jul 1998 17:26:07 +0100


Sergio Mascarenhas :

>Your problem raises an even bigger problem concerning Glorantha: what
>exactly is a god? It seems that the word 'god' is applied to two
completely
>different realities:

Shock-horror. People from different parts of glorantha, who follow completely different religions and philosophies have incompatible conceptions of god.

Well, blow me down with a feather.

>It seems are evolving in a sense where gods in the first
>sense are seen as purely cultural representations of unpersonnal,
natural
>powers (Glorantha is getting more and more like alternate earth; IMO
>that's a pitty).

You may view them as unpersonal and natural, but many Gloranthans do not.

I love this aspect of Glorantha - it's what gives it its life. At's not just another two dimensional fantasy world in which the author has decreed that one - and ONLY one - philosophy is allowed to be true.

>Were they? Which was their god?

They were Malkioni.

>IMO shamanism and mysticism are opposed, at least at a certain level of

>analysis. One is about discrete entities, the other is about a continum
of
>manifestations of a single reality (this is what I understand by
mysticism;
>you may not agree with my definition).

To me, they both seem amazingly similar. The main difference being that, as you say, Mystics have a wider perception of the onness of everything.

>

- -.......They lead to very different
>practices on how to interact with one's environment, and to very
different
>self-images.

You come across a wizzened old man sitting in a clearing in a forest. His religious practices consist of chanting strange mantras, abstaining from the pleasures of the flesh. he jabbers on about the beauties and dangers of the otherworld and the awesome powers available to him.

Tell me, is he a Shaman or a Mystic?

Of the four magical philosophies, shamanism and mysticism seem to me to be the closest by far.

>Maybe. But remember that we still don't have a clear picture of what is
a
>mystic in Glorantha. (At least, I don't.)

What's a mystic in the real world?

Why do you think they should be different?

>Most of the people would recognise the existance of the different
>belief systems, but would consider that his belief system is
definitively
>the one.

Actualy most people in Glorantha wouldn't have clue one about the religious beliefs of anyone else, and would care even less. They would recognise that foreigners are weird and practice incomprehensible rites that can't be good for anyone's health though. I don't see any reason why most Orlanthi would know anything more about mysticism than your average Viking.

Simon Hibbs


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