"High is heaven and holy."
-Poul Anderson, The People of the Wind IN Anderson, Rise of the Terran Empire (Riverdale, NY, March 2011), pp. 437-662 AT XIX, p. 662.
Here is an echo of Biblical language although not a direct quotation but there are also many of those. This language reminds us or at least me that Poul Anderson's The Earth Book of Stormgate is like an Eriau scripture recounting an exodus, a new world and a period of resistance to Imperial rule. The Bible is a past history of God and man whereas Anderson's Technic History is a future history of man under the shadow of God the Hunter where contradictory concepts contend. Tachwyr affirms that the God steels the Race whereas Axor seeks the Universal Incarnation and is funded by Flandry who does not know what the score of the game of empire or life will be.
We can look beyond with the help of another Terrestrial scripture:
"There is a Light that shines beyond all things on earth, beyond us all, beyond the heavens, beyond the highest, the very highest heavens. This is the Light that shines in our heart."
-Chandogya Upanishad, 3. 13. 7.
5 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
Yes, but what does a Ythrian MEAN by saying "High is heaven and holy"? Why is "heaven" holy? Is this a way of saying God is holy? Or is "heaven" merely the atmospheres of those planets where Ythrians can fly?
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
He is expressing an appreciation of experience.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
Maybe, but I never thought of understanding this expression in that way.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
Well, I don't know what else he's doing. He is using words to express how he feels, not necessarily to put forward a particular theological concept.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
But I would not expect humans to think the same way Ythrians do. Humans might be more analytical, in some ways, than Ythrians.
Ad astra! Sean
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