Eyjan, a mermaid, tells Niels Jonsen, a young man:
"'They tell me our kind was friendly with the old gods, and with older gods before them. Yet never have we made offering or worship. I've tried and failed to understand such things. Does a god need flesh or gold? Does it matter to him how you live? Does it swerve him if you grovel and whimper? Does he care whether you care about him?'" (p. 46)
So, in this timeline, successive pantheons have existed as they were believed in? This sounds complicated although it is what happened in The King Of Ys by Poul and Karen Anderson. Neil Gaiman's The Sandman explains in more detail how gods and their pantheons begin in the Dreaming and come out into the land where they are worshiped and what happens to them after that.
Eyjan expresses a Buddhist attitude to gods. Even if they exist, what do we need from them or vice versa? They too are born and die. Mythologically, the Buddha is a teacher of gods and men.
3 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
No, the problem with Eyjan can be more simply stated. The mer-folk lacked the capacity for awe and wonder before the supernaturally transcendent.
Ad astra! Sean
Note that Buddhism in its popular forms acquired Gods and spirits and heavens and hells. Human beings are thataway inclined.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
That was probably why Buddhism did not soon die out and was forgotten. Those gods, spirits/demons, heavens, etc., kept it from becoming too boring.
Ad astra! Sean
Post a Comment