Tag: belief systems

Pagan For the Holidays

 

“To be pagan and claim personal affront at the idea of Christmas more so than at Ramadan, Yom Kippur or any other Abrahamic or Eastern religion is not an indication of free thought. Indeed it indicates that one is still a slave to one’s upbringing.”
— Randall Wolfe

 

I’ve been thinking quite a bit about the idea of holiday celebrating this past few weeks. I tend to find much about this time of year questionable. Roads and stores are crowded. People seem a good deal crankier and less likely to smile as they look for the perfect way to express to their loved ones in a material way how they want to be perceived as caring about them. People try hard to maintain their roles in each year’s extended family drama. Kids seem more anxious and stressed about what they are getting and whether they have lived up to some perceived standard of behaviour and will be thus rewarded. The list can go on and on and that doesn’t even touch on some of my religious objections.
I freely admit that I do not subscribe to the Jewish, Christian or Islamic faiths. If I had to describe my beliefs at all it would be as wildly eclectic with strong pagan and thelemic leanings. As most who read this blog know, when it comes to faith and universal understandings I have many many questions and relatively few answers. This is not from lack of knowledge of the different options out there, indeed I have studied many of the world’s religions in farther depths than most of their adherents. Thus the questions arise.
Still I try to find meaning in every day I am alive and I applaud others who do the same. If they do this by connecting within a cultural framework and it means something to them that is awesome. Thus I have no problem exchanging “Merry Christmases” or “Happy Chanukahs” or “Joyful Kwanzas” with those who celebrate and I do not trod on their traditions. It is not my business what anyone else chooses to believe and any reason is a good one to celebrate. I graciously accept presents as tokens that someone thought me worthy of their time and I give such tokens as I have because for some a gift at a particular time of year means “I love you too” in a language that they can understand. If this is hypocrisy than it is a small one that I can live with.
The Northern Hemisphere is about at Solstice. The time of least light and greatest darkness. Many cultures celebrate the return of the light and the progress of the seasons no matter what mythology they attach to it. I wish all a pleasant Yule and solstice and a wonderful re-manifestation out of the dark in whatever form it takes.
Blessings, G

 

Click on images to see full-sized:

 

Lord of the GladeLord of the Glade by G A Rosenberg

 

Drifting through the Fractal SpacesDrifting Through the Fractal Spaces by G A Rosenberg

 

Nothing is Beyond Question

 

“It is a mistake to consider any belief more liberated than another. It is the possibility of change which is important. Every new form of liberation is destined to eventually become another form of enslavement for most of its adherents. There is no freedom from duality on this plane of existence, but one may at least aspire to choice of duality.”
― Peter J. Carroll

 

There is no system whether it is of government or belief that will not eventually break down. Something that seems new and refreshing like Democracy did in the 1700’s (and yes I know that it was used well before the USA adopted it yet arguably not on the scale and range that the early founders set up) will eventually become the bureaucratically moribund system that it has. To see it happen with Socialism, just read Animal Farm by George Orwell, a thinly veiled metaphor for the Russian Revolution and ensuing decades. I have heard it said (I believe by Spider Robinson tho others may have expressed similar thought) that it it takes 30 years to go from being a liberal to a conservative without changing one belief. Any system or school of thought that does not adopt to changes in culture and consciousness will eventually become its own shadow. Of course given time the pendulum swings in the opposite direction yet even then the system remains closed not open. It behooves us to constantly be willing to question even our most sacred and firmly held beliefs no matter what they are in order to free ourselves from the tyranny of this pendulum and our own inner calcification.
Blessings, G

 

Click on images to show full-sized:

 

Passing Through Gateways That Break The ChainsPassing Through Gateways That Break Chains by G A Rosenberg

 

GroveGrove by G A Rosenberg

 

The True and False of It

“In a universe that defies description, all systems of belief can only be false.”
— Austin Osman Spare

 

Buckminster Fuller said the universe was asynchronously apprehended which means that it cannot be fully comprehended all at once. At most when we contemplate the vastness that we live in we can only achieve a partial comprehension. I believe it is possible to have a peak or mystical experience where we can catch a glimpse of the totality but those tend to be notoriously difficult to put into words. Therefore any system of belief that is written or spoken is only a partial approximation and thus on some level flawed. With that understanding tho we can look at many belief systems (and lets not kid each other, there are probably at least as many systems of belief as there are people. Even people who believe in as structured a religion as fundamentalist christianity will differ in exactly how they interpret the ‘literal word of God’ and what that means in their lives.) any one of them will be false or at best partial. Of course since I believe we live in a universe of infinite possibility I also agree with Ken Wilber when he says that everyone is right (but partial).
Blessings, G

 

Click on images to see full-sized:

 

Dragon in ReposeDragon in Repose by G A Rosenberg

 

Idea StreamIdea Stream by G A Rosenberg

 

Quote of the Day – June 27 2012

“I believe in everything until it’s disproved. So I believe in fairies, the myths, dragons. It all exists, even if it’s in your mind. Who’s to say that dreams and nightmares aren’t as real as the here and now?”

― John Lennon

Anyone who has read this blog before knows how much I agree with the sentiment above. Yet this believing in all things and all faiths (or elements thereof) tends to be a difficult thing to explain to people who believe in one standard belief (including atheism which as far as I can tell is a very strong conviction that there is no guiding intelligence in the universe. I see this as being a slim possibility tho too much in life seems to me miraculous to hold on to that notion as anything more.

“Do you believe in Jesus?”

“Yes I believe many things about Jesus.”

“Hare Krishna, Hare Krisna

Hare Rama, Hare Rama

Krishna Krishna

Rama Rama”

“Jai Ganesh”

“Namaste”

“Ishah’Allah”

Om Namaha Shivaya”

Also entreaties to almost any deity from any pantheon including some of the darker ones. They to me are all part of the whole.

Tonight I received a stern talking to from my son who due to normal adolescent curiosity came across a conversation I was having about Satanism. I had to explain to him that no I am not a Satanist. His curiosity is usually sated by telling him I’m eclectic tho he still tries to find a box he can fit his father’s beliefs in. Still he’s concerned what his grandmother may say. I reassured him again and sent him to bed.

It’s funny tho when you consider how our belief systems tends to demonize that of others. The nature gods Pan and Cernunnos oft get mistaken for Satan and when you start talking about Wiccan beliefs, forget it. I have known Satanists in my life and many of them nice people tho a bit extreme but self-limiting as well. Most of them are just Christians at heart trying to show how rebellious they can be.

As always I try to understand the underlying centre of all beliefs and show respect towards them all.

Blessings, G

Click on image to see full-size

FIre Amulet by G A Rosenberg

Neon Star Mandala by G A Rosenberg