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

[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.