I think the difference is less theist / atheist and more personal / impersonal. For an Orlanthi, the world's cosmological infrastructure is composed of divine relationships, the connections between gods and between gods and men. Father/son, older brother/younger brother, tyrant/rebel, etc... forces have an irreducible personal quality.
What makes the West so strange is it inverts this: all personalities and personal relationships are inescapably governed by impersonal forces, embodied in law. This would be horrible for a true theists, as it would suggest (in their view) that the world is, in the end analysis, meaningless.
/// Dead on. An impersonal universe is terrifying to all of us theists, and people who believe in that, with efficient Magics, are truly frightening (especially if they can drain your soul with a glance). Come to think of it, there's another way to realize the universe is impersonal : it's called Illumination, or Occlusion if you're not lucky. The lunars try to reach this, behind their parade of ridiculous red flying ladies.
All Malkioni would see the impersonal as the last thing we can understand. Those who believe in the Invisible God believe in exactly that: something that is invisible, and beyond their ability to perceive and understand. The closest we can get to Him is His Law.
/// Again, dead on. You don't need to understand. Sometimes you can percieve - through Joy. You must always follow the Law.
Powered by hypermail