Are you sure you're not conflating Aroka and Arangorf, here? Orlanth doesn't seem to obtain much of a Draconic Understanding from Aroka, to me, unless you count how to kill and disembowel 'em as such.
> In the portion of the Lightbringers Quest where each Lightbringer faces
> defeat, they perhaps look Chaos squarely in the eye, become one with it
> (as Greg describes all Gods being Illuminated), and made their choice.
Greg will more usually say, at least if one prods him to mind his terminology, that all gods have a Transcendant knowledge/understanding, of various possible sorts, of which Illumination is one instance. Specifically, Illumination is a Mystical experience of the Transcendent, which is, in a sense, understanding the transcendent "all at once", seeing everything in a single moment of perfect comprehension. (I realise "everything" sounds like exaggeration, but it's probably actually understatement.) (Downside is you may have to wait a lifetime or 5 (million) or so to get this moment.) Most gods have, and therefore can offer, a more limited, but also a more accessible form of the transcendent.
If, say, you're an Orlanth initiate, you can experience the part of the Transcendent known to Orlanth for the low, low price of your quarterly tithe. Or at least a sub-portion of this, depending on the depth and sincerity of your relationship with God. Now, if you catch him in a candid moment (Moment?), Big O. may admit to you that there _is_ more than he can let you experience (because it's all that _He_ can). A conservative Orlanthi philosopher might say that all that stuff is Chaos, pure and simple. Some of it might _seem_ OK, but trust us, it's Chaos. A "liberal" one might say, well, some of it's Chaos, for sure, and _maybe_ some of it's not, but Orlanth can't protect or advise you outside his own sphere, so you really, really had better not risk it. (Storm Bull philosophers have of course long since said "Huh? I'll get me coat. Anyone fancy a pint?")
A Dara Happan sage would of course simply say that the Transcendent you're not able to experience is your Other. Experience the Unexperiencable, and you've become Illuminated.
Incidentally, when people say aldryami are "mystics", what I think they're getting at is that they have an experience of the Transcendent which is somewhat akin to what a human mystic might have -- just by getting up in the morning[*], without having to sit as a stylite for a century, hack off all their limbs, or even say a prayer to "Aldrya". Lucky bastards. Indeed, it's probably more "transcendence" than the average theist manages in his entire life, though it may be, in some rather imponderable sense, limited compared to what very, very rare Eastern or Pelorian mystics are capable of experiencing. I don't think aldryami use anything that would normally be remotely recognisable as a mystical technique, though. They also don't, so far as I'm aware, have the same potential for Mysticism Abuse(TM) as human "failed mystics" have (like Sheng Seleris). To the casual observer, aldryami religious practices likely look like a combination of divine worship, shamanism, and a five-day Test Match, with just a dash of New Age tree-hugging thrown in. (That description confused me, apologies for what it may have done to anyone else.)
The Naturalist, and indeed the Materialist, take on transcedence will have to wait for another post, or more likely, another poster.
Slainte,
Alex.
[*] No, not all aldryami get up in the morning, but equally, neither do I, most weekends. Work with me, here!
Powered by hypermail