Lois’s answer to “Are there atheists in the World of the Five Gods? From your characters POV, the gods seem so obviou…” > Likes and Comments
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Reading the stories, we get much more exposure to gods, demons, and shamans than the average person in that world ever does. I think many people go through their whole lives without seeing any evidence of these phenomena.
Yep. I, for example, am knee-deep in other writers in my little world, but out and about, I'm often the first working writer someone has ever met. Same goes for most people in professions. Pen is in the god business, so to speak, so these things come his way far more often than average.
Ta, L.
I'm a professional technical writer (grin), but I'm not sure that I've ever met a professional fiction writer face-to-face. Different little worlds.
Anybody who has gone to a funeral in the 5GU will have encountered the gods, but it's easy enough to dismiss that as "oh, the temple has those animals well-trained" or "oh, it's just random, any interpretation you put on it is your own".
I've wondered about this too. A quiet town or village that doesn't see much god activity. If a Saint or Sorcerer passed through, would the people be skeptical of their temple positions? Would some outright chase them out of town? I'm thinking especially in relation to the Bastard. But then again, if people claimed not to believe in any god, they'd end up with the Bastard? Or would they refuse a god if one tried to take them? It just seems so much harder to completely ignore the gods in Caz and Pen's world. Unlike earth where the gods are more like a mythical creation to placate the masses.
I haven't seen examples so far of sorcerers being chased out of town (a dangerous thing to do to a powerful and bad-tempered sorcerer), but I've seen that sailors are commonly reluctant to accept them as passengers. Saints would be more vulnerable (a saint is unpleasantly murdered in "Paladin of souls"), as their powers are very much more specialized, and rarely demonstrated.
I think it would be quite feasible for most ordinary people to ignore the gods, as there are only a few people who have any contact with them until after death.
Just to say I have wondered this too. Thanks for the question, and thanks for the answer. This year has shown me that people can believe anything, even in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary
@ Chris --
Ayup. In my observation, it seems people don't form their beliefs from evidence and reason, but from an interplay of osmosis from the beliefs of people around them, and their own psychological needs. So if you want to change people's beliefs, you'd need to change their psychological needs.
Interesting effects when the matrix of belief in which people find themselves embedded is a strong mismatch to their needs; people who break away from cults being only one example.
Ta, L.
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Jonathan
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Nov 18, 2020 11:55PM
Reading the stories, we get much more exposure to gods, demons, and shamans than the average person in that world ever does. I think many people go through their whole lives without seeing any evidence of these phenomena.
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Yep. I, for example, am knee-deep in other writers in my little world, but out and about, I'm often the first working writer someone has ever met. Same goes for most people in professions. Pen is in the god business, so to speak, so these things come his way far more often than average.Ta, L.
I'm a professional technical writer (grin), but I'm not sure that I've ever met a professional fiction writer face-to-face. Different little worlds.
Anybody who has gone to a funeral in the 5GU will have encountered the gods, but it's easy enough to dismiss that as "oh, the temple has those animals well-trained" or "oh, it's just random, any interpretation you put on it is your own".
I've wondered about this too. A quiet town or village that doesn't see much god activity. If a Saint or Sorcerer passed through, would the people be skeptical of their temple positions? Would some outright chase them out of town? I'm thinking especially in relation to the Bastard. But then again, if people claimed not to believe in any god, they'd end up with the Bastard? Or would they refuse a god if one tried to take them? It just seems so much harder to completely ignore the gods in Caz and Pen's world. Unlike earth where the gods are more like a mythical creation to placate the masses.
I haven't seen examples so far of sorcerers being chased out of town (a dangerous thing to do to a powerful and bad-tempered sorcerer), but I've seen that sailors are commonly reluctant to accept them as passengers. Saints would be more vulnerable (a saint is unpleasantly murdered in "Paladin of souls"), as their powers are very much more specialized, and rarely demonstrated.I think it would be quite feasible for most ordinary people to ignore the gods, as there are only a few people who have any contact with them until after death.
Just to say I have wondered this too. Thanks for the question, and thanks for the answer. This year has shown me that people can believe anything, even in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary
@ Chris --Ayup. In my observation, it seems people don't form their beliefs from evidence and reason, but from an interplay of osmosis from the beliefs of people around them, and their own psychological needs. So if you want to change people's beliefs, you'd need to change their psychological needs.
Interesting effects when the matrix of belief in which people find themselves embedded is a strong mismatch to their needs; people who break away from cults being only one example.
Ta, L.
