> IMG (and RW, according to the Faith I have received)
> what really matters are relationships.
> Relationships between men and women, realtionship
> between a man and his soul, and above all,
> relationship between man and God.
This is interesting.
My point of view is that what you suggest above is, indeed, how most ordinary churchgoers will experience their religion ; and it's a good thing, and is therefore encouraged.
However, there are deeper and/or higher levels of religious experience, such as the charismatic experience, where the differences between all those things (men and women, a man and his soul, man and God) cease to be, and therefore stop being relationships _per se_.
In a catholic charismatic experience, one is literally filled with the Holy Spirit (to some degree), so that ultimately, in my understanding, one oneself becomes an emanation of the Spirit.
This is even present in the Church and the focus
on relationships that you mentioned,
in the consubstantiation of the bread and the Flesh,
the wine and the Blood ; and thereby of
the husband and wife, the man and his soul,
man and God (Christ).
I don't know if the mainstream Malkioni Churches has the same, similar, or different views on the importance of the nature of relationships, although it seems that Gloranthan publications seem to support your suggestions, in some areas anyway.
In relation to my own suggestions, though,
it's worth noting that one medieval ideal
was that it was our differences to each
other which were the source of evil ;
our own personalities and souls needed
then to be shrived of this sin and evil,
so that one regained as much of
Asdam's pre-lapsarian purity as possible,
through Christ, that is to say the Imitation
of Christ. The Brithini and the Mostali both
have something like this, and the Rokari at least
strive for it, sometimes vigourously ...
On balance then, I'd say that in mainstream Malkionism, while relationships are highly important, as you suggest (they are a foundation stone for most magic, for starters), I'd guess that at least some Malkioni theologians would be of the opinion that relationships are mundane things, to be cast off like so many dead leaves ...
Of course, this being Glorantha, many other Malkioni theologians would violently repress this ... one of a host of possibilities ...
> IMGlorantha the ultimate core of all things is not
> chaos,
nor in official Glorantha AFAIK.
That's just one creation myth.
> it is another reality which *can* reach the
> Inner world, simply by willing it. We players and
> narrators.
I disagree with that ; we players and narrators do not live in the ultimate core of Gloranthan reality ; in fact we are completely cut off from it, and it's only by a suspension of disbelief that can we conjure the magnificent shared fantasy of Glorantha.
BUT, although Glorantha is similar to religion in the ways you suggest, religion occurs at a much higher level of existence, where relations can be transcended and higher levels of Being can be perceived. The ultimate Gloranthan reality can be similarly perceived by Gloranthans with high levels of spiritual awareness, although they cannot comprehend it rationally, whereas we cannot perceive it at all, for instead we would or we wouldn't become aware of the the RW ultimate ...
But I think we can safely assume that ultimate Gloranthan reality is quite unlike ultimate RW reality, simply because Glorantha is itself so unlike the RW.
Julian Lord
-- __________________________________ "Hmmm, I've heard of other powers. Can you tell me about ... ... Real Life ?" --__--__--
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