Peter Metcalfe :
> GG>> The purposes of Chaos and of Dragonewts are opposed, not similar
> >> IMO. Yes, there are affinities: both devour and both refuse the
> >> material balanced world in Time, but, a big BUT, for altogether
> >> different reasons.
>
> JL>YES. Chaos Void and Mystic Void are two different Voids.
>
> The chaotic void would be the mystic void turned inside out
> (c.f. Salonar Tamaskil's speculations in Cults of Terror,
> sidebar p19).
So you're saying that there *is* a transcendental correspondance between the Voids of various Gloranthan cultures ?
Well, I suppose that I can always reverse my initial position here, and affirm that there *isn't*, for dialectic purposes ;
but God knows who gets to play Devil's Advocate here ...
Yes, but Salonar was a madman ; and even if he wasn't, and his Drastic Resolutions are just the plain Truth about Glorantha, they still don't form a reasonable basis for the beliefs of various cultures concerning the void.
As Nils and Alex have pointed out to me
(although they've asked me not to reveal any of the nitty-gritty
specifics of actual Eastern Cults and Philosophies),
there isn't actually any notion of 'Chaos' as such in most
cultures that are based on Mysticism.
(I think that I can say this much at least, without stepping
on any expert toes ?) :-)
This, I think, is the main reason that the Chaos Void and the Mystic Void are incompatible in actual Gloranthan cultures ; with the important exception of the dragonewts, it now appears.
And : Is Saronil Tamaskil an inheritor of the EWF ?
> >the Orlanthi/GL explanation of the void is simply Non-Mystic,
> >and incompatible with dragonewtism.
>
> I wouldn't say this. Rather that Orlanthi only know of the
> Chaotic void and they are deeply suspicious about adopting
> mystical practices from foreigners given they have already
> been burned twice as a result of past practices (once by
> Nysalor and the other by the EWF).
Any Gloranthan Easterner who's worth his salt would agree with that statement certainly.
I think that the issue is with the precise difference between
Entropy (Chaos Void) and
Emptiness (Mystic Void).
The notion of Entropy (as an Evil force) is basically incompatible with Mysticism (as Transcendant Liberation from the World).
Julian Lord
from hideouts of pine
from lodges of fir
that is where I banish you-
to the forest demon's lair
the lodges of fir
the hideouts of pine
that you may stay there
End of The Glorantha Digest V7 #510
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