Me>>It was an order of the Zolathi mystics that attempted to attain
>>enlightenment from severe ascetism (ie instant torture).
> I think that while that explanation may have been its mythical
>justification, you would be misunderstanding it if you understood it only
>on that level.
I am not misunderstanding anything, thank you very much.
>The instant torture camps where also very much a mechanism
>of the state for punishment of criminals and disidents, as you might
>expect.
It is too cruel for such purposes. Furthermore Kralorela would just simply execute such criminals for the Underworld to purify them.
>Sheng was not thrown in there because they wished to help his
>spiritual progress, but because they wanted to hurt him.
Which contradicts the published information that he volunteered for these camps, having served as an ordinary slave for a few years after his submission.
> I think traditionally, you leave the camp when you are considered
>to be sufficiently enlightened - which often may mean having renounced your
>criminal past/ revolutionary ways/ heresy to the satisfaction of the camp
>commanders. Most of its inhabitants are not sufficiently skilled mystics to
>ever escape by mystic practice - and once offered a chance to leave by any
>means, take it.
I don't think the camp commanders, even if they exist, _bother_ to check if an inmate is sufficiently enlightened to be released. The camp is supposed to be an all-or-nothing affair - no one is supposed to get out until they are enlightened.
> Normally true
>mystics leave the place as quickly as they can, much as they do the mystic
>hell.
Mystics do not 'leave' the camp (or hell for that matter) 'as quickly as they can' because they have comprehended the illusory nature of the torments and can ignore them. There is no need for the enlightened ones to leave the camp as there is no unpleasantness there. OTOH there are plenty of students in dire need of their wisdom and so they remain.
> Sheng is unusual not in that he chose to leave, but in that he
>chose not to.
I'm sorry, but I do know that people _were_ astounded at Sheng's quick progression through the camp regime which implies that most inmates are there a lot longer.
> NB - enlightenment through torture would appear to be a 'short
>path' type power, a bit like FrenzyPeace, rather than the normal eastern
>path of gradual detachment.
Sheng Seleris took 100 years to get where he was through the instant torture camps. This isn't a 'short path' in anyone's book and harsh asceticism _is_ a valid mystical path, whereas Frenzypeace isn't.
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