This is getting into the realms of the duck Test, for me: they don't call it Illumination, they consider themselves _opposed_ to Illumination, their 'Illumination' is functionally _different_ from (Nysalorean) Illumination. Is it really Illumination at this point? Greg, at least, seems to think not, and I'm inclined to believe him.
Their understanding is likely of the form: this knowledge we have from Arkat and his successors, it's dangerous in the wrong hands, but enables us to combat Gbajism, in all its manifold forms. How they understand the relationship between their 'Arkatism' and Nysalorean Illumination is urely one of the things that characterises and distinguishes Arkati sects, the one from the other.
> Personally, I see the ideals of Illumination only affecting the
> transcendent aspects of the Illuminate [...]
> Certainly what you describe might exist in
> Glorantha as a magical form (or a form of mysticism, there might be a
> mystic sect that teahes these powers) but IMO it is not Illumination.
That argument is a little backwards: as 'mysticism' goes, Illumination is _less_ exclusively about the transcendent than the 'norm', as it explictly (at least when seen in the context of the Lunar Way) acknowledges the other Worlds.
> i.e. now you are
> Illuminated, and understand (reside in?) the world of the
> transcendent, you are no longer part of the Divine World in the same
> way and thus cannot be affected by it.
Though moreso, one is 'elevating' oneself from the _Material_ World. Less successfully/completely than eastern mystics, I think, but as Nick says, see those Levitating Bald Chicks... (talk about yer over-literalism).
>From what I've been able to Glean, this seems to be a quasi-generic
effect of the mystical mode: by transcending the material and
the divine (and the 'natural', come to that), one becomes able to
ignore, negate, or otherwise overcome the apparent deleterious
effects thereof, as one discerns that they are (depending on the
precise mystic worldview) illusory, transitory, or otherwise 'less
real' than the true, transcendant realm that one now has access to.
Slan libh,
Alex.
Powered by hypermail