Human beings experience something or someone, e.g., a night wind or a man;
their attitude to whatever or whoever they are experiencing becomes one of awe;
the experienced thing or person becomes numinous;
awe generates sacrifice, worship and theology;
"sacrifice" might be called something else;
when worship ceases, the god can retire but continues to exist.
Hermes:
"'...began as a night wind and worked my way up.'" (p. 219)
This approximately parallels Neil Gaiman's account:
gods begin in the Dreaming;
they come out into the land where they are worshiped;
when worship ceases, they return to the Dreaming;
from there, they enter the realm of Dream's sister, Death;
after that comes complete nonexistence.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
And I THINK Poul Anderson wrote another story touching on similar points. A story about some kind of "supernaturalized" computer becoming a "god." But if he did, I simply can't remember the name of the story. It's one of those maddening little things niggling in the back of one's mind!
If so, I hope somebody remembers the name of that story.
Ad astra! Sean
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