> The Loskalmi believe
> that the Godhead is Irensavel who is "totally separate" from the
> world, and thus hidden. The Rokari believe that God's ultimate
> identity is Makan who is immanent within the Creation, and thus
> invisible.
Hi, just trying to sort out Peter's posts and mine into some sort of order. Dunno if any of the following will make sense.
> > > > Gloranthan Atheists believe that God is _impersonal_ rather than
> > > > inaccessible.
> >
> > >Well, one kind of Gloranthan Atheist believes in a god or gods, even
> > >though they cannot worship him/them for whatever reason, therefore
> > >having no relation with him/them : impersonality and inaccessibility
> > >both fine reasons IMO.
More precisely then, Westerners who believe in Irensavel can be Atheists because thet believe God to be outside the cosmos and (according to their Atheist beliefs) inaccessible.
But it seems to me that those who believe in Makan can't really be Atheists in any normal sense, if only because they see themselves as part of God. Believing anything else would be blasphemous. Fertile ground for materialistic forms of mysticism quite unlike Eastern varieties, though. A Rokari alchemist would be a rather interesting character.
A Seshnelan Atheist would be either one who adopted foreign blasphemies or one who denied God entirely (far worse, but evil sorcery must come from someone).
> > Just because they consider God to be impersonal does not mean they
> > are incapable of having any relationship to God.
It seems that both Irensavel and Makan have personal attributes.
This doesn't of course preclude other Westerners believing in different kinds of godhead.
Julian Lord
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