Revelations indeed

[branchandroot]

You know how some authors, especially fantasy authors doing the whole spiritual-magic gig, will bring forward the "all gods are really one god, because uber-god is Goodness/Light/Love/Insert-virtue-here" trope? (Eg. Katherine Kurtz and Mercedes Lackey.) You know what that really reminds me of? That deeply horrifying short story Barbara Hambly wrote for Gaiman's Sandman anthology, "Each Damp Thing". There's just something intensely cannibalistic about the sentiment, especially in the mouth of a member of a culturally imperialist group. It's like syncretism turned inside out--not preserving individual practices, but taking away their weight until they can be waved off as surface trappings.

I've seen the principle argued persuasively in actual theology, notably some branches of Judaism. But the Western literary expression of it generally seems to be all about appropriation and how reincarnation can magically erase ethnic, cultural, and religious boundaries, totally ignoring the implications of actual lived experience and memory in each life.

Comments

[adalger]

You give me plot bunnies. Worser and more plentiful than the dust bunnies under my bed, you give me plot bunnies under the dark disused furniture and lurking in the unfrequented, abandoned corners of my mind.

Stand by, signal is garble.d {squawk} -stop-

[branchandroot]

*hearts* I'll cheer for the bunnies from the sidelines.

[opusculus]

Yes, this. I've always kind of hated the way it just waves over the fact that there's often many, very real differences and it's not just a magic cure-all for disagreements over religion. And the way this uber-god always feels a lot more vaguely Christian than any other religion to me never stops bugging me.

[branchandroot]

Yeah, that. I mean, seriously, it's not all just surface! And bland-blob-goodness isn't going to tempt anyone away from their personal approach. Maybe the authors think it isn't bland, but that's sure how it comes across, and that gives me very little respect for the characters involved.

[chronolith]

Bypassing the serious discussion of theology because I can't talk about it long and still stay gruntled: i really do want to read a story about cannablistic gods and the only reason the West has one god is because he ran around eating all the others.

[branchandroot]

...That would actually make a fantastic remix of "Each Damp Thing" and also be /extremely/ Gaiman.

[chronolith]

I have never read this short story, but if I get some breathing room I might be tempted to do so.

Honestly, the only reason that Christianity is so all over the place is because 'His' follows ran around 'eating' other cultures. No reason the god shouldn't follow the followers, yes/no?

[adalger]

That would be ... Small Gods, by Terry Pratchett, more or less.

[chronolith]

Yes, but that isn't the West, that's Discworld. And I do know about Terry Pratchett.

What I want is the Judeao-Christian god being the One God only because he ate everyone else. A wee bit darker than Mr. Pratchett generally goes. (Though lord knows he got pretty dark in someways with Night Watch

[adalger]

Ah, you want to see it more literal. American Gods ventures into that territory, darkness and all, but doesn't quite go all the way where you're looking.

Now I have a plot fox. It's skulking along the baseboard, behind the bits and pieces of furniture disassembled for storage, stalking the bunnies and waiting its moment. Soon, like a cannibalistic Judeo-Christian-Muslim God, it will be the One True Plot giving orders to my Muse as its prophet.

[branchandroot]

I love you just for that metaphor.

[love]

Not quite exactly the same thing, but The God Engines by John Scalzi ventures very closely into this territory. He doesn't go so far as to actually say the One God is Judeao-Christian, but there are hints.

[staranise]

Yes, thank you.

It's always two poles, tugging in opposite directions--on one hand, it would be nice if we could all get along; on the other, we are all different and differences matter, and you cannot erase human diversity no matter how you try.

[branchandroot]

Exactly. "Wouldn't it be nice of everyone was like us" may be a very natural sentiment, but as many wise people have observed, civilization is generally built on not doing what's 'natural'.

[staranise]

Also: "Wouldn't it be nice of everyone was like us" can turn into, "So we'll erase all the important parts of their identities, so they will be!"

[branchandroot]

And "Wow, won't they be grateful!" Oh yeah.

[dragonscrawl]

The other thing that bothers me a bit about the "all gods really one god" thing is that I feel like there would always end up being some underlying discord. For example, someone who believed in Religion X could seem outwardly tolerant but inwardly believe that Religion Y was the worst thing ever, all gods really one god or not. I think I've come across shades of it a time or two, but not really anything outright.

[branchandroot]

That too. Unless you really, really dig down into the issues of it, this winds up being such a band-aid approach.

[qem_chibati]

I really don't think your wrong on that.


In high school, I remember learning as part of my religion class, that Hinduism is a fairly tolerant religion because ultimately everything is part of the Brahman, the world soul, and that all the different gods in the world, including the monotheistic religions are just aspects of that world soul.

Except to Buddhism, because Buddhism was derived directly from Hinduism and that made it complete and utter blasphemy.

[branchandroot]

*wry* Yeah. Like that.