Re: Sorcerors vs Wizards

From: Alex Ferguson <abf_at_yeats.ucc.ie>
Date: Wed, 26 Jan 2000 03:48:05 GMT


TTrotsky:
> I did raise this point
> briefly with Greg once, and he seemed not to be very clear about what the
> term 'atheist' actually meant, and hinted that most sorcerers might not
> actually be atheists in the sense of 'people who don't believe in God'.

Well, to return briefly to the Brithini: They believe in a 'Creator', in some sense, but don't believe it's possible/meaningful/morally correct to attempt to 'worship' this entity as such. One could be trite and say this would be like a theoretical cosmologist worshipping the Big Bang... One can see some 'Malkioni sorcerors' believing much the same, or some intermediate point between that and 'orthodox' Malkionism.

> Their magic doesn't come from God but (aside, perhaps, from the Brithini
> or other such 'outsider' groups) that doesn't necessarily mean they deny
> His existence.

But 'mainstream' Malkioni magic doesn't come from God either, other than in an indirect and rather philosophical sense. (Assorted forms of saint worship I may have to grant you...) Wizardry/sorcery comes from an understanding of His creation, not by a special Act of God.

> it would be fairly surprising - at least to me - if there aren't
> any deists in it anywhere. As a philosophy, it goes back to ancient Greece,
> after all...

Pretty much the attitude of God Forgot, no?

> Certainly it appears unnecessary for groups such as the Orlanthi,
> Praxians, etc. Who needs faith when you're transported to the God Plane every
> holy day?

One might be tempted to think that 'faith' was either the precondition to such experiences, and/or the result of having them, rather than being exclusive with it. I believe that even in Glorantha, it's possible to fail to have a religious experience when one is 'supposed' to, or to have one, and fail to interpret in the 'correct' manner.

Cheers,
Alex.


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