> Wow. The concept of "Illumination" is a big topic for Glorantha fans so you
> may hear lots of opinions. If you are familiar with Buddhism, its a lot
> like the concept of enlightenment. An Illuminated person has a deep mystic
> connection with Glorantha. They see the Oneness of the world and have
> certain powers because of this. What happens is that people can become
> Illuminated against their will.
>
Caveat: this is based on a series of conversations about a decade old now, and I have not kept up, so some of it may be wrong now:
There is a big difference between Mysticism, which is a way of approaching the spiritual aspects of Glorantha and Illumination, which was a specific Mystic path taught by Nysalor in the First Age.
All Gloranthan Mysticism, at its heart, teaches that the world is illusion. Nothing is "real," not the physical world, not the Other World, not gods, spirits, magic, politics, nothing. The goal of Mysticism is to get to a state beyond all these things, although each path couches the matter in different ways ("All Is One," "All Is Nothing," "This Moment Is All There Is," and so on). Rising out of these central philosophies are any number of techniques, philosophies, and approaches to achieving liberation from the illusion that is Glorantha.
Illumination, as a specific approach, seemed to teach that the massive differences between the people of Genertela where illusions. The hard differences between the various cultures and creeds of the First Age were just points of view, the "oppositions" inherent in the Runes could be synthesized into an Illuminated whole. Unfortunately, it seems like a lot of Bright Empire people just kind of got the idea that "good and evil don't exist; morality is irrelevant; I can do what I want." So Illumination, while a valid path, contains a lot of pitfalls that turn the undisciplined or weak-minded into sociopaths. With the death of Nysalor, the complete path was lost, and Illuminates may be now incapable of reaching the central truth of their discipline (although they can get some of the "benefits"), making them even more likely to be dangerous sociopaths.
Now, Lunar Mysticism, although it draws on some of the teachings of Nysalor (as well as Solar mystic practices), is a complete system that avoids many of the pitfalls of "standard" Illumination. Because of similarities of language, abstractness of the philosophies, and general unfamiliarity with Mysticism in central Genertela, the average person on the street can't tell the difference between a guy blowing hot air, a genuine Lunar Mystic, and a possibly-insane person who has gotten a hold of a few rags of Nysalor's teachings messing around with Chaos, and are likely to call them all "Illuminates."
Peter Larsen
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