The Secret: protection, not conversion (actual

Dan'l Danehy-Oakes · 26 Apr 2001, 13:35 · from whorl-v0012.mbox · original

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From: "Dan'l Danehy-Oakes" <ddanehy at siebel.com>
Subject: RE: (whorl) The Secret: protection, not conversion (actual
Date: Thu, 26 Apr 2001 13:35:38
Message-ID: <whorl-v0012-0748 at digest.urth.net>
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Adam wrote:=20

> I have to abandon my nice new theory on the Secret.  I just
> noticed that on p. 350 of the hardback OBW, Horn says: "If
> only we protected one another, they would all be idiots or
> worse.  As it is, they always get enough to keep them going."=20
> So it has to be boring old keep-everybody-safe, not the idea
> that the inhumi will become good by drinking the blood of=20
> good people, attractive though this is. =20

Good catch, good call. I'm afraid I also have to abandon my own=20
theorizing about a grand communion of humans and human-inhumi, in=20
favor of what you say; in which case the "grand communion" becomes
a blasphemous parody of the Eucharist ... which makes sense.=20
Neither of the Eucharistic scenes we're shown involve the inhumi
in any way, and neither involve physical blood. (I am using the
word "physical" to avoid a whole set of metaphysical [in the sense
of Aristotle and Aquinas] issues about in what sense the Eucharistic=20
species "are" the flesh & blood of Christ, which I presume are not=20
of general interest.)

So we're back to "protect one another?" H'mm... Okay, if Silk is
a Moses-figure (which makes far more sense than a Christ-figure),
then we're talking about a people living under Law and Justice=20
rather than (explicit) Grace. "Protect one another," and especially
the idea of protecting the poor (and, somewhat by implication, the
idea of protecting the "stranger") fits.

--Dan'l

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