Okay, but then you're simply saying that evil actions can produce good results. That is a truism which doesn't help determine the morality of the Hierogrammates' actions, which is what we're after.<br>I'm certainly willing to concede that some good came of what they did, but that does nothing to excuse the Hierogrammates.<br>
<br>Paul<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Mon, Jul 14, 2008 at 1:58 PM, John Watkins <<a href="mailto:john.watkins04@gmail.com">john.watkins04@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<div><span class="gmail_quote">I don't think it means anything like the idea that everything is part of God's plan and thus morality is meaningless. I think it means something much more mundane--that, as Severian himself notes "time turns our lies into truths." In an even less poetic phrasing, habituation works--we become the thing we discipline ourself to feign being because that's how character is shaped. </span></div>
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<div><span class="gmail_quote">When the lie in question is that we speak for the divine, habituation and the Increate together act to annex our actions. For Patera Quetzal, a bloodsucking alien pretending to be a kindly old priest, this meant that he called off the human sacrifices and generally operated as a strong and faithful leader for his flock. For Kypris, and arguably even for Pas, it means that the sham religion of the Whorl is still operating to some degree to further the Outsider's ends. </span></div>
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<div><span class="gmail_quote">I</span><span class="gmail_quote">'m suggesting that a similar explanation could be at work behind the plans of the Hierogrammates, although in a more opaque manner. I am not suggesting that there is no basis for judging the actions of the Hierogrammates--their part in a divine plan could be necessary but completely unwitting. </span></div>
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