There’s a similar concept in Victor Pelevin’s excellent The Clay Machine-gun—the finger of a previous incarnation of the Buddha, kept in clay, will instantly enlighten any person or object out of the cycle of existence. The difference, of course, being that here the enlightened beings don’t get to instantly transcend—they’re stuck here in maya, the veil of illusion, and look like those gone mad.
(Underrated element of cosmic horror’s development is Lovecraft’s hatred of Blatavasky—having one of her inheritors as a villain here works brilliantly. One day everyone will get to know what man was not meant to!)
There’s a similar concept in Victor Pelevin’s excellent The Clay Machine-gun—the finger of a previous incarnation of the Buddha, kept in clay, will instantly enlighten any person or object out of the cycle of existence. The difference, of course, being that here the enlightened beings don’t get to instantly transcend—they’re stuck here in maya, the veil of illusion, and look like those gone mad.
(Underrated element of cosmic horror’s development is Lovecraft’s hatred of Blatavasky—having one of her inheritors as a villain here works brilliantly. One day everyone will get to know what man was not meant to!)
Never heard of Pelevin! Thanks for the recommendation.