''The [forthcoming] 'Ea Cycle' is a grail quest. It's set in a secondary world which is also a secondary universe, something I haven't seen too much in fantasy, though it's like Moorcock's 'Multiverse,' tying his work together. My fantasy is probably more like a traditional science fictional structure, in that there's a secondary world, and there are other magical secondary worlds around other stars, in much the same way a science fiction universe would be set up. And the kinds of world-building I'm doing are more along SF lines. All those hard SF things I did to build the universe and world of 'Neverness,' and even some of the research there, have really helped me out.
''There's an angelic race, then an archangelic race, and a race that's higher than they are. And there's this great galactic civilization. It's not a technological one; it's a magical civilization, but the magic is not 'wizard and elves'; it's more like 'deep structure of the universe.' Built into that structure is the idea that there's an evolutionary progression from lower beings to star people, to immortal beings that would be like angels (though I don't call them angels), to archangels, to kind of an increate race that imbues its life force, its consciousness, into creating universes – of which my universe is one. So there are some very deep structures and a sense of hugeness. And that is something you find throughout Tolkien.''
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''To change people's lives – that is why I write. And one of the reasons I write is to change my own life. So the mythological structure of the Grail Quest is for me my own quest. It's a quest to be a better human being, a quest for my own transcendence. That has a lot to do with why I'm writing fantasy, because it's very hard to do that within the structure of modern literature.
''One of the things that has made life very difficult for people has been the dissociation between science and religion, where science supposedly does not make moral pronouncements – it's not about good or evil, it's just about a better description of external reality. And religion has reached a place where it's not making any statements about the nature of reality; it's more about 'this is right and this is wrong,' and reason doesn't enter into the discussion. There needs to be a reintegration of the two things. Science needs to be value-oriented, and in religion or spiritual practice we need to take a scientific approach: to evaluate experiences in a scientific way, to say, 'If you had that experience, is it a repeatable experience?', just like a scientific experiment.
''So the next century needs to see this integration happen. That doesn't mean things get jumbled back together, it just means there's not this complete disassociation. It's like the fingers of your hand – they are differentiated, but not completely apart. And that gets back into the question of what would be the literature of the 21st century. If I'm doing my job as a writer, I can move people – and I can move myself – into that place of transcendence. If fantasy is more the literature of the 21st century, it's going to have to be myth.''--part of a Locus Magazine interview
The power of ahimsa is not just the readiness to die. It is the willingness to live. To live utterly without fear - this is a fearsome thing. <i>Edited by: danlo60 at: 7/20/02 4:53:00 pm </i>
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