Reflections II

Although Manse Everard refers metaphorically to gods (see here), he really accepts another aspect of a pagan world-view. Everard inwardly reflects that the Tyrians are "...fundamentally right..." to think that:

"'...the world isn't entirely governed by laws of nature; it's capricious, changeable, magical.'"
-Poul Anderson, "Ivory, and Apes, and Peacocks" IN Anderson, Time Patrol (Riverdale, NY, 2006), pp. 229-331 AT p, 254.

The friend of Italian descent whom I have mentioned is a Pagan who reveres the Roman goddess Fortuna. Apparently, a priestess kept her temple clean and neat although no prayers or sacrifices were offered there. Fortuna must be respected but not entreated although fortuna audaces iuvat.

That Latin proverb would make a good motto for the Time Patrol. Everard guards time sometimes by daring action as when he attacks two Exaltationists and their military escort and grabs a communicator to summon instant help. The course of history depends on such Time Patrol actions.

Three Top Gods

See Reflections.

Prometheus
was a Titan;
thus, of the divine generation before the Olympians;
stole fire from heaven;
thus, perhaps, is a deification of the first man to control fire;
personifies human action on nature;
suffered for mankind.

Indra
is a Thor equivalent;
was the chief of the Vedic pantheon;
as such, would have been known to the young Gautama;
is mentioned in Buddhist texts;
released rain from heaven;
thus, personifies the life-sustaining aspect of nature;
and also complements Prometheus;
was the first god to know the Spirit Supreme, according to Kena Upanishad (see here).

Krishna
taught karma yoga;
inspired SM Stirling's character, Athelstane King.

Reflections

Manson Everard of the Time Patrol reflects on life. Maybe the reader reflects also? We can certainly reflect on the passage of time even without the hind-and-foresight of a time traveler. This blog expresses my reflections inspired by Andersonian characters. Everard, van Rijn, Falkayn and Flandry present different world-views. Of these four, van Rijn is the only religious believer, specifically Catholic.

Everard reflects:

"A man had to take whatever the gods offered him, and they were a miserly lot."
-Poul Anderson, "Brave To Be A King" IN Anderson, Time Patrol (Riverdale, NY, 2006), pp. 55-112 AT p. 74.

Two differences between Everard and van Rijn:

van Rijn refers to saints, not to gods;
Everard, of course, does not believe that any of these superior beings literally exist.

However, it is a natural way to think, especially when Everard has time traveled to ancient Persia where gods were part of life. But we still do it now, projecting concepts applicable to psychology and society onto nature and the cosmos:

I complain that life was not designed better, forgetting that I do not believe that it was designed;

I spontaneously address the One as "Lord," although my philosophy tells me that It, or (to use a Hindu term) THAT, cannot be a person;

looking at it from the other direction, I imagine that few people who travel with a St Christopher medal believe that the story of Christopher carrying Christ carrying the world is literally true - it is a good story about travel and that is all that matters.

Gods and some saints are good stories or, in Alan Moore's phrase, "higher fictions." Thor has made a good transition from altars and prayers to comic books and films. On this note, I will shortly post my personal list of the three top gods.

Conan And Spartacus

When Ian Arnstein sees a ten foot, two headed cobra above a temple, he asks himself:

"'...where's Conan when you need him?'"
-SM Stirling, On The Oceans Of Eternity (New York, 2000), Chapter Twenty-One, p. 435.

One place he is is in Conan The Rebel by Poul Anderson. Arnstein also refers to Howard Fast's Spartacus. Fast wrote that Spartacus' name would be remembered and sometimes shouted. I have heard it. Fast's Spartacus said from the cross, "I will return and I will be millions." See here.

Conan and Spartacus are an interesting contrast, a fantasy hero and a historical figure.

Telepathy II

See Telepathy and Telepathy In Fiction And Reality?

We mentioned Poul Anderson's, James Blish's, Robert Silverberg's and Mike Carey's treatments of telepathy but, of course, this is a standard sf concept so there must be many examples. In fact, Asimov has some telepathic robots and Alfred Bester has a society based on telepathy. I have not read Theodore Sturgeon's More Than Human, which I understand is a major telepathy novel.

I still wish that Poul Anderson had written a Superman novel. Superman began as sf but then launched a new composite genre. Telepathy is not a Kryptonian power but Clark Kent is able to meet people with other extraordinary abilities and in fact becomes friendly with one young telepath in two episodes of Smallville. Again I wonder what it would be like to have real telepaths around. Young Ryan is so intuitive or insightful that Lex Luthor begins to suspect that he can read minds. Would concern for Ryan metamorphose into attempts to exploit his ability? Ryan is able to warn Clark to beware of Lex...

A novel about Superman by a major sf writer like Poul Anderson would probably concentrate on making the Kryptonian powers seem real and (slightly) less implausible and therefore would probably not introduce characters with yet other powers. However, Anderson presents a credible account of telepathy in "Journeys End."

Immortals Meet

How often do the few immortals meet down the millennia in Poul Anderson's The Boat Of A Million Years? The meetings should all be listed here.

Neil Gaiman describes one such meeting. Anderson's immortals are science fictional, mutants, whereas Gaiman's are magical or supernatural: personified Death has agreed not to collect Hob Gadling and the Indian has eaten the fruit of life. When Mr Gadling boards the Sea Witch as a passenger, we have already met him so we know that he is immortal. When the Indian gentleman is apprehended as a stowaway, Gadling pays his passage to Liverpool. Later, the former stowaway, now a second passenger, tells a story about a king who ate the fruit of life and walked out into the rukh. Later again, we hear Gadling saying:

"...time, you don't owe me anything. There's few enough of us around. Least we can do is watch out for each other."
-Neil Gaiman, The Sandman: Worlds' End (New York, 1994), p. 88.

Gaiman said in an interview that this story was him doing Kipling - doing it very well.

Marque And Reprisal In 10 AE

"The old custom of Marque and Reprisal had been revived with a vengeance for this war, and wherever Islander merchantmen met Tartessian, they fought."
-SM Stirling, On The Oceans Of Eternity (New York, 2000), Chapter Twenty-One, p. 429.

A letter of marque and reprisal authorizes a private military expedition. Stirling's time travelers apply the custom to combat at sea as Poul Anderson's space travelers apply it to combat in space. See here.

It is all one universe - or at least one multiverse.

Three Divine Ranks

The previous post proposed two ranks of divinities:

Aryan gods in the Eddas and Vedas;

Vedic gods acknowledging the Spirit Supreme in Kena Upanishad.

Thor's response to the advent of a universal deity was not to welcome a higher truth but, reportedly, to challenge Christ to single combat. See here.

But there is also a pre-Aryan rank of gods, represented by Poul And Karen Anderson's Ysan sea god, Lir, and by SM Stirling's Arucuttag, mere personifications of hostile elements, indistinguishable in practice from angry demons. Indra releases life-bringing rain. The Aesir protect society. The earlier gods merely threaten to destroy society and life.

The Gods See The Spirit Supreme

"Gods" differ. I refer, of course, to superhuman beings who either are believed in and prayed to or are imagined in works of art/literature/fiction but do not necessarily exist. In fact, if any such beings do exist, then they are almost certainly completely unlike anything that has been believed or imagined.

Poul Anderson's heroic fantasies highlight the Eddaic pantheon, particularly Odin. Thor wields his hammer in Chapter I of War Of The Gods. Although these guys are inspiring to the extent that they protect mankind from hostile elements personified as Giants and Ice Trolls, their personalities, Odin's trickiness and Thor's oafishness, remain unedifying and it seems inappropriate to call them "divine."

The Vedas, like the Eddas, celebrate Aryan gods of fire, wind and thunder:

"I will declare the manly deeds of Indra, the first that he achieved, the Thunder-wielder."
(see here)

However, later scriptures, the Upanishads, promote the Vedic gods to a higher spiritual status when they see "...Brahman, the Spirit Supreme..."

They ask:

"'Who is that being that fills us with wonder?'"
-Kena Upanishad IN The Upanishads, trans. Juan Mascaro (Penguin Books, Harmondsworth, Middlesex, 1984), pp. 51-54 AT p. 52.

"'...Indra, the god of thunder, excelled all other gods for he came nearest to Brahman and he first knew he was the Spirit Supreme." (p. 53)

Thus, Indra transcends Thor.

Moral Change

The moral of much series fiction is that the villains are irredeemable - because they have to return as villains in later episodes. I am interested in the processes by which people, including you and me, not just fictional characters, can or might change for the better:

Fr Brown converts Flambeau;

in Smallville, not only does the friendly Lex Luthor become ruthless but also his amoral and manipulative father, Lionel, becomes concerned and self-sacrificing;

Poul Anderson's Aycharaych loses the motivation that had made him an artist of deception and manipulation;

SM Stirling's William Walker does not see other people as real but suppose something did happen to make him "realize" one of his victims and start to care about what he was doing?