The Jesus Cult

The Byworlder, I. 

Theontology incorporates the Jesus and other cults. Writers sometimes change our perception of the familiar by referring to it in terms that are unfamiliar. Thus, not Christianity but "Jesus cult." 

Other examples:

the adjective, "Christic";

"the brotherhood of the book and the bread";

"A man is sipping wine by candlelight in the presence of kneeling women."

Does the Jesus cult include Christians in any of the traditional senses? Probably not. They would not want to be classed as one "cult" among others. If I were in the Theontology commune or whatever it is, I would practice zazen in the Amida cult but might also make a contribution to the Jesus cult. I would suggest that we focus on the early Jesus who proclaimed the kingdom (a new consciousness and a new society) but not on the later Jesus who let Peter persuade him that he was the Messiah, then interpreted the Messiah as the Suffering Servant. Thus, our symbol would be the fish, not the cross.

Introducing The Byworlder

Poul Anderson, The Byworlder (New York, 1971). 

Theontology (scroll down) sounds familiar but is not on google. The name combines theology or Theosophy with Scientology.

Starting to reread The Byworlder again, we find both that we have posted about it in some detail previously and also that we have forgotten most of the details. This is another implied future history since some sequence of events must link the author's time to this particular fictional future. From the opening page, we enter into yet another imagined future society with background references whose meanings will become clearer as the narrative proceeds and I am typing this over a hasty breakfast so we will have to return to this theme later. Let us try to spread some light in a darkening world.

Knowledge Of Knowledge Of

"Science" means (Latin) knowledge.
"Theology" means (Greek) knowledge of (Greek) God.
"Scientology" means (Latin) knowledge of (Greek) knowledge!
"Theontology," coined by Poul Anderson in The Byworlder (London, 1974, p. 5), would mean what? (Greek) knowledge of (Latin) knowledge of (Greek) God?

Theontologists seek the divine through diverse sub-cults of Spirits, Jesus, Brahma, Amida Butsu, Snake or Oracle. If I were being brought up in a Theontologist community, then I would want to practice in a Zen cult but otherwise let's just stick with Zen as taught by a Buddhist lineage.

The Byworlder introduces a genuinely non-humanoid extra-solar alien, the Sigman (plural: Sigmans), who has entered Earth orbit after approaching the Solar System in a Bussard ramjet from the direction of Sigma Draconis. An entire page is necessary to describe this creature. The way he moves is fairly sickening and that comes through in the description. The problem of devising a mutually comprehensible pidgin language is also recounted in the necessary detail.

The Chinese rulers who have to cooperate with the Americans and others in communicating with the Sigman are absurdly sure, first, that they represent "the people" and, secondly, that, if they get the chance to tell the alien the facts about American imperialism, then he will support the cause of the people. (Hopefully, he will indeed support the people, not their rulers.)

Terrestrial society has divided into sub-cultures. Our first viewpoint character belongs to a sub-culture that does not settle down and live in a house with a steady job but travels around, for example, by staying as a guest of Theontologists. However, far from being parasitical, he is a migrant worker with an amazing range of practical skills to offer. There is a, to Anderson readers, now familiar moment when, speculating about the Sigman's motives, he realizes something, breaks off with open mouth and yells but does not immediately divulge what he has realized. We have to read on.

Flandry, Macnab And Sandalphon

"Flandry could retire whenever he chose: to a modest income from pension and investments, and an early death from boredom."
-Poul Anderson, A Stone In Heaven IN Anderson, Flandry's Legacy (Riverdale, NY, 2012), pp. 1-188 AT p. 32.

Retirement is not boring. It is an opportunity to blog.

In John Buchan's John Macnab, three men, each at the top of his respective profession, get so bored with life that they resort to poaching and the risk of exposure in order to experience a new kind of excitement. What is wrong with these guys?

Meanwhile, we learn that "Sandalphon" is:

the name of angel in Jewish literature (see here);
mentioned as such in Neil Gaiman's The Sandman;
the name of a member of the Jesus cult of Theontology in Poul Anderson's The Byworlder.

With all that going on, how can life be boring?

Theontology

Poul Anderson, The Byworlder, I.

No one creates new New Age movements like Poul Anderson. Let me try to summarize, rather than quote, a writing of the founder (?), Joswick:

we mentally construct our apprehension of reality;

therefore, every imagining contains partial, distorted truth and is one of many signs pointing toward the cosmic oneness called God;

by meditating on everything, we open ourselves to divine apprehension.

Theontologists choose to seek God through "cults" of:

Spirits
Jesus
Brahma
Amida
Snake
Oracle

They process in "...seven columns, the last for postulants...to the Nason's Peak trail."(?) where they have erected an altar "To the Unknown God.".. (p. 8) They have come to believe that the extrasolar visitor is "...a direct manifestation of God." (p. 9)

More direct than anything else? Would human astronauts become direct manifestations merely by crossing an interstellar distance?

Truth And Falsehood

The Byworlder, I. 

Theontology:

our minds largely construct our apprehensions of reality;

everything imagined contains partial, distorted truth and points to cosmic oneness;

meditation on every aspect opens us to "'...direct apprehension of the divine.'" (p. 7)

A Catholic dogmatist once said to me, "Truth is one. Error is manifold." I replied, "Truth is one. Its expressions are manifold." Those are a classic Hegelian thesis and antithesis. What is the synthesis? That there is some truth in every error and some error in every expression of truth? I could live in the Theontological village, practicing Zen. I can participate in rituals provided that they do not demand an affirmation of faith in the literal existence of deities. I can accept food in a temple but not communion in a church.