Wednesday 4 June 2008

Gods in the Darkness

Every so often I hear about or read an idea that just sets of a paint-bomb of imagination in my brain.

An example: Jean-Claude Carrière, in the book Conversations About the End of Time, talking of the supreme Hindu God, Vishnu, and his all encompassing nature. Unlike the Judaeo-Christian God, who is symbolised by light, Vishnu can exist just as much in darkness as he can in the sun; it is said that if one person lights a candle, Vishnu is the darkness surrounding that tiny circle of radiance. If a million people light candles and put them together in one place, Vishnu is the darkness surrounding the blaze of that bright fire. If there are gathered a thousand suns, so bright that their collective light shines for billions upon billions of miles across the universe, Vishnu will be the vast darkness which begins at the point where their light fails. That is how big he is.

I love that image. Suddenly, an idea rises up from the ether; high-level Planescape, and the players are going to find the point where all light fades and the Great God's darkness begins...

1 comment:

  1. All they have to do is blow out the candle.

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