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

[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.