>The ones who do not use the methods of intermediation to try to
obtain their objective.
>And OF COURSE IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO UNDERSTAND!!
>That is the entire point.
>IT CANNOT BE UNDERSTOOD.
>And that's why it's not in the rules.
Ok, I think mysticism is unlike other religious practices in a fundamental way.
Animist, Theist and Materialist religioous practices and beliefs can largely be expressed in rational terms. They have their myths, scriptures, catechisms and formulaic spells/feats/talents. They are basicaly comprehensible to mortals. It is true that each has some deep secrets and odd paradoxes at their heart, but you don't need to consider these too much to be able to practice the religion.
Mysticism is different becasue it is _all_ about these deep secrets and odd paradoxes. None of it is explicable in purely rational terms.
The other religious practices are attempts to interact with the otherworlds in rational ways, and reach their limits because the otherworlds are not fully comprehensible on purely rational terms. Mysticism cuts away the rational, comprehensible systems of conventional religion, and deals directly with the difficult, the contradictory and the paradoxical.
All religions have their mysteries, but mysticism is just about mysteries.
However, to get back to roleplaying. Clearly some 'cults' deal more directly with the mysterious than others. There may not be any purely mystical sects in the Lunar empire, by Greg's definition, but some of them are at least trying. Even if we never have rigorous rules for pure mysticism, and even if these are actualy impossible, we will eventualy need some rules for various kinds of failed, flawed or 'almost' mysticism.
Illumination is one example. It had some pretty streightforward rules in RQ. They may have been imperfect, but they were thought provoking, and fun. Something like them for HW would be nice to have.
Simon Hibbs
--__--__--
Powered by hypermail