Dragons, and not really Giants.

From: Alex Ferguson <abf_at_cs.ucc.ie>
Date: Thu, 13 Jul 2000 03:01:22 +0100 (BST)


Herve.Ancelin:
> GL fault is not in knowing the world but in using that knowledge to
> modify it.

Right. Their especial vice though, was having a 'neat theory', and 'tidying up' reality to suit it 'better'. (Sort of a cosmic version of academic fraud.)

> BTW what poetic name can we give to the 6 & 1 system that appears in the LB,
> the 7M, the 7 DH Soul parts, the 7 winds, the draconic world creation ?
> How about "Rashoranic" ?

Definitely -- if you wanna be a Lunar-loving scum. ;-) Seriously, that seems a touch narrow a term for such a broad concept.

> >For good reason, perhaps... My understanding is that the term Dragon
> >Magic describes at least primarily the practice of becoming/being a
> >dragon. YDMV...

> IMHO I think you states the Darudan POV of Dragon magic while Chris,
> Dave, Trotsky and myself have POVs that try to take in account all
> Dragon related magic like Dragonewt, Immanent Mastery or EWF.

The 'newts are _clearly_ all about attempting to become dragons; the EWF to some extent to perhaps, but in the first instance in understanding them. Whether they practiced 'dragon magic' per se or not is a fairly obscure point, at this remove. The PoIM want to become dragons too -- they're just doing it wrong. So I don't see why any of the above pose a problem to my statement.

> The core questions are :
> "do you think all the above share a common viewpoint of the world ?"
> "do you think this viewpoint is not one of the 4 GL traditions ?"

To both, "Yes and no".

> If answer is yes to both, then
> "How can we define/differenciate the above ?"

Tricky. One of them is outright alien: all attempts to 'define' the 'newt viewpoint ought to be regarded as human 'projection', IMO. Another is historically lost. The Kralori duo it ought to be possible to articulate. Possible, if tricky... Broadly speaking, Darudans are about about oneness with the cosmic dragon; the PoIM is about becoming a dragon in a material, manifest sense, and (at least allegedly) only that. (I suspect what the 'correct' sort of manifestation is is something Darudans argue about endlessly, but the PoIM are clearly Going Too Far(TM)).

> Although I'm no expert of Dragons, my guess is on wether they think
> "being a dragon" is an aim vs a means and Individual vs Collective.

For which of them is it a means?

Cheers,
Alex.


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