(no subject)
7 March 2019 13:02![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
haptalaonIt's also making me think about what I want Pagan practice to look like. My relations are Very Into Their Hobby, so there's ambient religiosity happening constantly around me.
They have a magazine, and a weekly study group for it. They also have educational videos explaining certain Biblical principles, and time spent both in study and proselytising.
Do I want such things? Kinda yeah. But would it still be Paganism with them? Probably not.
I overhear Bible study, which has prompting questions like "so how can we be God's friend?" Or "how can we get through times of crisis?". As a teacher, I hate those questions. Never asked a closed question of a class. The answer to each is "something something faith something God something trust": it's a performative question. Not a true question. It's not one which admits space for doubt.
At the same time, lack of doubt is part of what I envy other religions for. I'd love to do a Pagan bible study and leave the afternoon with a vague sense of correctness and peace. I'd love to revive a monthly video with directions for study and depictions of how to solve life's difficult questions.
What keeps Paganism alive is its rebel heart. We're not good at doctrine. We are a proudly multi-faceted bunch, and our complexity and ambiguity is a source of strength. It wouldn't be the thing I love if it had the things I crave.
I do think often abour prosyltisation. Paganism has always had a strong stance against -likely because we come from societies which have tried to do this to us. I think there's an ambient Christianity in society which makes it easier for them to recruit than us. There's also very real legal and cultural difficulties about converting people to witchcraft: it's seen as sinister in the way a Christian Sunday school is not. But again, we make a virtue of the fact that we are separate, and special, and have been "called" in some way. I think it would be interesting to try standing outside train stations with leaflets, and seeing what happened.
Hey I can hear the videos again, about how the end of the world is come. When I was designing Fencraft, I tried including a "future hope" narrative a bit like the hope for Jesus' Kingdom. I felt like a sort of dream was important. It didn't work well, and I think that's bevause Paganism is so radically now. I've always undrstood the witch selling her soul as an admission there is no heaven; thst all we have is now, and must drink deep and take joy in it. A paganism with its eye on the horizon is not what it ought to be.
Similarly, I listened to the video about Christian non-involvement in politics. I have a similar concept in Fencraft about disconnecting from the news; but hearing the video concerned me. We are of and in the world. I do not think we should be apart from.it. The Christian idea stems from a belief in God's heavenly future: we do not need to worry about human kingdoms or what happens to the world, because God will come and fix it. I don't want my principle of Disconnection to be used like that; I want it to be a way to be more radically present in our lives, and that includes voting and fighting for a more beautiful now. How do I re-express this idea in a way that talks about the personal benefits of disconnecting from the 24hr horror cycle of news and noise, but not encouraging an apolitical or neutral stance? It's unclear.
More than anything, really, I want a beautiful house in the countryside, with big windows where I can sit in the sun and drink my tea in peace.
They have a magazine, and a weekly study group for it. They also have educational videos explaining certain Biblical principles, and time spent both in study and proselytising.
Do I want such things? Kinda yeah. But would it still be Paganism with them? Probably not.
I overhear Bible study, which has prompting questions like "so how can we be God's friend?" Or "how can we get through times of crisis?". As a teacher, I hate those questions. Never asked a closed question of a class. The answer to each is "something something faith something God something trust": it's a performative question. Not a true question. It's not one which admits space for doubt.
At the same time, lack of doubt is part of what I envy other religions for. I'd love to do a Pagan bible study and leave the afternoon with a vague sense of correctness and peace. I'd love to revive a monthly video with directions for study and depictions of how to solve life's difficult questions.
What keeps Paganism alive is its rebel heart. We're not good at doctrine. We are a proudly multi-faceted bunch, and our complexity and ambiguity is a source of strength. It wouldn't be the thing I love if it had the things I crave.
I do think often abour prosyltisation. Paganism has always had a strong stance against -likely because we come from societies which have tried to do this to us. I think there's an ambient Christianity in society which makes it easier for them to recruit than us. There's also very real legal and cultural difficulties about converting people to witchcraft: it's seen as sinister in the way a Christian Sunday school is not. But again, we make a virtue of the fact that we are separate, and special, and have been "called" in some way. I think it would be interesting to try standing outside train stations with leaflets, and seeing what happened.
Hey I can hear the videos again, about how the end of the world is come. When I was designing Fencraft, I tried including a "future hope" narrative a bit like the hope for Jesus' Kingdom. I felt like a sort of dream was important. It didn't work well, and I think that's bevause Paganism is so radically now. I've always undrstood the witch selling her soul as an admission there is no heaven; thst all we have is now, and must drink deep and take joy in it. A paganism with its eye on the horizon is not what it ought to be.
Similarly, I listened to the video about Christian non-involvement in politics. I have a similar concept in Fencraft about disconnecting from the news; but hearing the video concerned me. We are of and in the world. I do not think we should be apart from.it. The Christian idea stems from a belief in God's heavenly future: we do not need to worry about human kingdoms or what happens to the world, because God will come and fix it. I don't want my principle of Disconnection to be used like that; I want it to be a way to be more radically present in our lives, and that includes voting and fighting for a more beautiful now. How do I re-express this idea in a way that talks about the personal benefits of disconnecting from the 24hr horror cycle of news and noise, but not encouraging an apolitical or neutral stance? It's unclear.
More than anything, really, I want a beautiful house in the countryside, with big windows where I can sit in the sun and drink my tea in peace.
no subject
Date: 7 March 2019 13:59 (UTC)[i think, in terms of rexpressing the principle, it's okay to be a bit heavy handed. it might be ultimately desirable to have a lot less stricture in terms of self-expression, forms of love, art and pleasure, but it's okay to get serious about this spinning rock we're being shipped on. if being human is worth preserving (and as we're in triage it may have to settle on recording what we can't save), we have to care about this rock ]
[just getting my immediate thoughts out ]