Re: Eastern fate

From: Nils Weinander <nils_w_at_yahoo.com>
Date: Sun, 13 Feb 2000 20:35:13 +0100


Tadaaki Kakegawa:
>
> BTW, I feel gloranthan east lacks one important belief of RW east
> (mostly china, but I believe Korean and Japanese have such concept)--
> the Fate. No one (even emperors) resist the power of the Fate of Sky.
> Dynasties fell and rose because of that power (so believed).
>
> Or Were there such concept in the east of Glorantha?

There is a strong undercurrent of fatalism in Vithelan philosophy in two ways:

  1. There is a cosmic order (a concept much like RW indian dharma), which determines who you are and your position in life etc. It is everyone's duty to follow this, failing to do that is what antigods and their followers do. To take a real world example, when Krishna speaks to Arjuna in the Bhagavad-Gita, it's dharma that is the issue. As a noble/warrior, it's Arjuna's fate and duty to fight and kill the enemy.
  2. The Gloranthan easterners know that the mythic cycles turn. At the end of each cycle there is a huge cataclysm, where the antigods almost destroy the world. At the end though, Vith or his avatars or his minions manage to defeat the antigods and save the world. There is absolutely nothing to do stop this, but the easterners fatalistically expects the final rescue to come no matter what.
    Nils Weinander The world is a beautiful place and it's worth fighting for

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