"The Divine, in whatever form..." (see here)
This invocation of an impersonal "Divine" comes close to my suggestion here that society could recognize a single reality, variously conceived. We have to acknowledge that every conception is a conception, therefore an abstraction, not the reality. One obvious demonstration of this is the vast difference between the actual course of events and any attempt to predict or anticipate. We do not know what will happen next, let alone what is happening everywhere - or beyond.
What is happening in SM Stirling's The Sunrise Lands? Either the Wiccan Powers literally exist or some actual power, communicating through dreams, generates the same impression. In Poul Anderson's Genesis, an inorganic planetary intelligence not only re-creates extinct humanity but also guides them in the guise of the kind of deity in whom they would in any case believe during their early development. A sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. I still do not know what Stirling's characters are dealing with but am content to read on and find out when they do.
2 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
That cover for THE GAME OF EMPIRE is a perfect example of why I find so many book covers unsatisfactory. Starkadian Tigieries might have a SUPERFICIAL resemblance to tigers, but of course they would not truly look like tigers. The jacket cover does not accurately reflect the descriptions we have of Targovi.
Sean
Kaor, Paul!
I should have commented that the rebel Olaf Magnusson's use of the "The Divine, in whatever form..." was a means of him appealing for popular support in terms that would not cause offence to any religious believers (Christians, pagan, Buddhists, etc.).
Sean
Post a Comment