Pagan Essays and Opinion
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In this issue:
Does Paganism HAVE to Be Counterculture?
by Christa Landon |
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In the midst of the worst winter storm of the year in
St. Paul, MN, a week ago, 150 -175 Pagans gathered for a Pentagram
Rights Ritual as part of the Pagan Veterans' Tombstone Initiative.
Our first goal was to generate awareness of the VA stonewalling and
rouse folks to take action. Our second goal was to begin a proactive
effort to create a better public image for Paganism through an active
public relations campaign.
The press
committee did a great job. We had excellent and friendly press coverage,
but one of the organizers was distressed that a reporter included the
term "counterculture" to describe the crowd. He queried whether he
would be right to complain about this characterization to the reporter,
who hadn't mentioned that managers, lawyers, and other professionals had
been present. All imaginable replies were made on the list, and a
consensus appeared to develop that The discussion then moved on to WHY the reporter described us as counter culture. Our folks had been asked to bring no ritual tools and wear Minnesota cold weather street clothing rather than robes because we wanted to help the audience to identify with us as their neighbors as well as to show that our concerns were reasonable. A few folks had worn cloaks -- in THAT snowstorm they were practical as an extra layer over a parka and not necessarily worn only by Pagans and RenFaire folks. Burlington Coat factory was selling heavy wool cloaks last time I was there. One person wore well-made self-designed clothing that suggested Mongolian national dress. Again, every imaginable opinion about that was represented on the list. I'm told that this man wears this as his regular winter clothing. To my eye, it didn't appear sinister; undeniably his clothing stood out. To some Minnesotans, "interesting," is polite code for "undesirably different." (I'm a recent immigrant to Minnesota, so "interesting" is still a positive descriptor to me. ;^) Future events are likely to be in warm weather when the range of appearance MIGHT be as broad as any masquerade. And the issues are serious, divisive, and painful in the Pagan community as they were in the Gay community in the early days of the Gay Pride movement. Is it appropriate for UMPA to request participants to wearing Minnesota street clothes? This question isn't moot; the MayDay Parade on May 6 is attended by tens of thousands, and it's the obvious place for us to hold our next action. I don't know if the TwinCities community can come to some agreement as to how we want to represent Paganism to the public before then. I hope we can be kind to one another and try to understand each other along the way. But the really interesting issue was around to whether Paganism IS counterculture. ... I ask this question as someone who was a hippy when I first began the Pagan Path in 1969 (AND I DO remember ;^) I can identify with all the sentiments expressed. To be human is to be a contradiction.
The big question is how to be true to
the enduring values of Paganism, with all the love and wisdom we can
muster.
As Paganism has always been polytheistic, at least in
imagery, we shouldn't be surprised that there will be tension among the
multiple values of Paganism, and that these values will resist be ranked
into a hierarchy.
For example, there's the value the Romans called "concordia,"
the union of hearts, which I think we've all felt many times in UMPA.
Concordia creates a safe circle in which we can discuss ideas and
improve them because we can trust that we can love alike even when we
don't think alike.
There's the value of play, which creates freely and
joyfully, without fear or craving.
There's also the value of dignity, which attracts
respect through its virtues. (I know that sounds like Christian
language, but to ancient Pagan Romans, "virtue" means strength.)
And there's the value of diversity, which in itself
isn't problematic. It's the struggle to maintain the illusion of
uniformity which creates heresy trials, holy wars, and lynchmobs.
I'll leave the enumeration of Pagan values to another
thread.
My point is that Pagans have many values, some of
which are in tension with each other, but together that tension creates
a "big tent" with room for all of us. Monotheists have to put all their
values in rank order. Polytheists don't have to.
However, we all know that words can carry clouds of
connotations, meanings that don't necessarily show up in the dictionary,
but which are carried in our minds nonetheless.
You can even define a subculture by the connotations
they share.
Many people use the term "diversity" as code to mean
the opportunity to display and revel in everything in us that has ever
been rejected, neglected, or disvalued. And rejection, neglect, and
disvaluing are wounds.
It's the wounds that aren't yet healed that are at the
heart of our problem.
Jung called this stuff the Shadow. Some of the stuff
in the Shadow is there because we adapted to sexism, homophobia, etc.,
by identifying with the "enemy" and repressing parts of ourselves. If we
haven't done our own healing work, the stuff in our Shadow is likely to
be erupt in cruel, abusive, and destructive forms. One of the ways the
Shadow takes control is called projection -- seeing our own faults only
in OTHER people. Matthew Shepherd was the best known victim of that.
But of course we all know better than to let ourselves
act out in violence. Unfortunately, when something is in the Shadow, we
aren't even aware of it. And the acting out can be very subtle.
And I think that a strong desire to shock might be the
SUBTLEST form of violence. Think of it as a social wound that tries to
heal by wounding, as if emotional pain were a zero sum game.
Before I offend anyone, please understand that to
share my thoughts with you, I'm going to illustrate with more extreme
forms than I've seen in this Pagan community. As I said, with sane,
responsible people, acting out is subtle because we have some
self-knowledge and are committed to avoiding harming others.
To describe what I think is really going on, I'm
going to borrow a concept from homeopathic medicine: Titration,
which means dilution. If I remember correctly, 1 part in 10 is 1X, 1
part in 100 is 2X, 1 part in 1000 is 3X, etc. Please don't take me
literally here -- I'm just using this as a model.
Obviously, we wouldn't deliberately hit or shoot
or cut someone else, except when it was the only available
self-defense. There's not only a moral boundary, but also a legal
one.
So if physical violence is 100% of a poison, shock
is maybe a 5X dilution.
Shunning is social exclusion which was used as
punishment by some of the "Plain People," and in other groups which
condemn PHYSICAL violence. When someone breaks the boundaries in such
communities, they are not killed or jailed, but no one recognizes
their existence. A great description of shunning can be found in the
end of Jean Auel's CLAN OF THE CAVE BEAR. In extreme cases, a person
shunned by all simply gives up living, because humans evolved as
social beings. It's not physically violent, but now we can measure
physical effects of such intense social violence.
Titrate the dose again. We aren't living in isolated
hamlets, so absolute shunning isn't possible. And large communities
aren't likely to have the conformity required.
Is there any BNW (Big Name Witch) who hasn't been
slandered? Though false accusations are actually illegal, it's
expensive to prosecute. And if no one in our community ever passed on
second hand accusations without evidence, there would never be any
witch wars.
Dilute the dose again. Assaulting someone with word
or gesture to generate fear or disgust is a low level type of social
violence. Think of how violated you feel when what is holy to you is
attacked by someone whom you have respected. (And think how hard it
is to respect someone who has done so!) Think of how you feel when the
person doing that has power or potential power over you. Social
assaults, like verbal bullying in the schoolyard, can be very
wounding, even if they don't cause DIRECT AND VISIBLE tissue damage or
result in legal action. And verbal intimidation is often the prelude
to physical assaults. Since Columbine, social scientists have been
studying the complexities of verbal bullying.
Now let's titrate the dose yet again. Vague or
implied threats can be intimidating without breaking the legal
boundary.
Titrate the dose one last time, from verbal assault
or threat to something much milder. One drop of malice in a gallon of
sweet water. That's the mildest form of social assault: shock.
What's is really going on when we want to shock?
This is a very complex dynamic; many things are
going on simultaneously.
First of all, Shock requires an audience -- one
which is or can be alienated. It's not the same experience to do the
"shocking thing" alone or with supportive people. Play is another
thing; it doesn't need an alien audience.
At one level, we aren't we DARING the audience to be
disgusted or frightened or angry?
Why do we want that reaction?
I think part of what motivates us to shock is to
prove to ourselves that we are immune to the threat their disdain
would represent. And when we have social support from our buddies who
join us in "freaking out the mundanes," that might be one way to bring
the rejected out of the Shadow to be healed and transformed. Of
course, once the healing is done, the desire to shock evaporates.
We might even engage in a kind of implicit contract
to sport with an audience, say at a Ren Faire, in which we can safely
enact the fantasies of the Christian Right all in the spirit of fun.
But that happens AFTER the healing is done and we've
become conscious of that part of our Shadow, healed and integrated it.
Teens engage in shocking adults to assert their
independence, to reinforce their solidarity with others of their
subculture, to express their anger, and to brave their own shame at
their shortcomings, real, imagined, or (usually) exaggerated. Of
course, modern teens AREN'T independent -- and in our culture
adolescence can end and real independence begin at 18 in boot camp
or at 28 defending a doctoral dissertation.
Teens, ESPECIALLY as they insist on their
independence, AREN'T independent, they are COUNTERDEPENDENT.
Independence needn't insist; it isn't concerned with
defining itself against some Other, it's focussed on individuation and
creative work. Independence is the stage in which we learn who we are
alone, what we can do and what we want.
INTERdependence comes only after one has achieved
independence and moves on to a committed partnership. The
counterdependent adolescent and the independent adult keep their
options open, which is why we have so many cases of serial monogamy.
So back to my observations of the current Pagan
scene:
WARNING: GROSS OVERSIMPLIFICATION AHEAD, NOT TO BE
TAKEN LITERALLY:
If typical Fundamentalists are stuck -- so far as
their faith goes -- in 9 year old literalism and simplistic judgment,
I think that much of Pagan culture, and part of Unitarian Universalist
culture too, is stuck in a kind of adolescence. Note that I speak of
the CULTURES, rather than the individuals. This adolescence manifests
in a lot of projection of parental roles on leaders, along with
rebellion against an imagined authority that was never given in the
first place. In both subcultures, there's appropriate vigilance
about anything regimentation or imposition of a creed; but the fear of
organization itself can sabotage the group's goals and values. As
cultures, both Pagans are UUs are prone to idolize individualism to
the point that community is rather mysterious, and sometimes more
fantasy than lived experience.
Paganism is still more of a scene or movement than
UUism is, because it has less experience, and has only begun to create
its own institutions, much less trust in them.
The UUs have developed policies which set boundaries
on the professional staff, which is paid, and certainly has influence
based on education and character. All of this depends on the fact that
professional staff are systematically limited in power and authority.
UU clergy are staff elected by congregations and generally they don't
have a vote on congregational matters, though they are consulted by
the lay leadership. Each UU congregation is autonomous, and members
own the congregation. The Unitarian Universalist Association of
Congregations provides services which individual congregations can't
generate alone, but is directed through votes by the congregations and
has next to no power over congregations. Some congregations are
fiercely aloof from the UUA and from other local UU congregations;
others choose to be active participants and collaborators.
Pagan priests and priestesses have widely varying
amounts of training, little systemic accountability, usually no pay,
and sometimes unlimited authority and control within their groups. And
many Pagan priests and priestesses assume a parental role in their
covens, and then get hurt feelings when their "kids" mature enough to
rebel, declare themselves HPs and create a new "tradition."
While UUs have made immense progress in this regard
in the past generation, both UUs and Pagans have a tendency to define
themselves negatively, that is, in how their ideas are different from
Christianity or sometimes Judaism. This is especially true of UUs who
are over 50 or who have been UU for under 5 years. Defining oneself
against the Other and anxiety about potential parental authority are
defining characteristics of a cultural adolescence. I note that some
Pagans are now interested in disproving the Bible, just as the
Humanist UUs were doing 40-100 years ago. The generation now being
raised Fundamentalist will love that stuff 10-20 years from now.
But -- as the UUs have learned -- rebelling against
orthodox Christianity isn't enough. For one thing, what's the next
generation going to do? Leave their religious home like their folks?
Paganism isn't merely a reaction AGAINST
Christianity's excesses and imbalances and lacks. Yes, there was
a long campaign to destroy and distort Paganism. But its classical
literary and artistic remains and traditional survivals around the
world have reawakened a post-Christian world. You and I are part of
this new Renaissance which offers hope for healing the alienation
between Nature and God, Woman and Man, Mind and Body and maybe even
Technology and the Ecosystem.
After adolescent counterdependence, comes young
adult independence, and finally adult interdependence.
When our long term goals are sacrificed to the
desire to shock, we're functioning like adolescents, and there's a bit
of that in all of us. Beltane comes EVERY year.
And it is Beautiful.
And Holy.
And essential to Wholeness.
Thank the Gods for the adolescent zest that survives
in all of us, the fire in the blood that helps us to get past the
inherited habits of thought which dominate childhood.
But let us not as a movement be captured by that
stage.
We can't all be teens and young adults all our lives.
And our movement won't be fertile if it is so enamored of Beltane that
the other seasons -- and concerns -- aren't also honored.
But if it were Beltane all year, there would be no
harvest.
The other seasons each have their own beauty -- even
if commercial culture doesn't value them so much.
Doesn't Paganism include paying our respects to ALL
of the seasons?
Isn't THAT a way to be counterculture?
I invite reasoned replies to this essay, which will be published here.
Question for Readers: While our movement is undeniably fast-growing, we aren't accomplishing our goals as much as our numbers, education, and economic status would otherwise suggest. Unless our Magick is actually counterproductive, there must be a reason. Could it be as simple as a lack of organizational skills? Comments and additional resources are invited; please send them to the Editor, and indicate permission to publish. ed.cl. |
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EASTER TWIST:
Resurrection of the Hunter! |
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MOTHER EARTH:
A Pagan's Reflections on Mother's Day On this Mother's Day I'd like to talk about the Big Mama-Mother Earth. Gender-wise its always been Mother Earth down here.with the male deity up there or out there e.g. "Our Father who art in heaven." Are these merely out-dated myths? Look, please, for kernels of truth in old traditions. Maybe this is true and correct symbolism for the way things happened and for the way things truly are. We can call THE BIG BANG the cosmic male function of 15 billion years ago. In those first 3 minutes physicists tell us a super high energy physics took place which yielded all the sub-atomic particles in the Universe. All the protons, neutrons and electrons. That was one hell of an ejaculation! And we can make that a fatherly thing and say "yay" for the male sky god! But we're talking about Mama here today. And it's with Mama where the creating takes place. Let's go to Mother Earth. Have any here heard of The Gaia Theory of our planet? Named after the Greek Earth Goddess, Gaia, this is a theory first purposed in 1961 by James Lovelock at the suggestion of his friend and neighbor, William Golding (author of Lord of the Flies). Gaia has been steadily gaining credence in varying forms, in scientific circles ever since. In 1988 there was an international symposium of geophysicists to discuss the Gaia hypothesis. Gaia theory essentially views the earth as a living organism-a kind of giant single cell with its interior biochemical processes affecting the whole. Lovelock was working on a NASA project of investigating life on Mars and it was the earth views from outer space that gave him his inspiration. The earth's atmosphere-ever moving but compositely constant-the cumulative effect of countless organisms within the earth-this viewed next to the deadness of other planets, gave birth to Gaia theory. Life on Earth - rather than merely reacting to earth conditions - actually affects and regulates the planetary process. A big pulsating and alive Mother Earth. This concept resonates well with my current cosmos mentors. These are my "High Priests" for helping me understand what it's all about. They are actually "High Priestesses" being 2 women, both evolutionary biologists, and both great writers. Allow me to introduce. One, the holistic visionary Greek-American Dr. Elisabet Sahtouris, gave me a new spark of hope for mankind's continued existence. She did this by going to Earth's first inhabitants, the tiny arch bacteria who demonstrated that it hasn't always been-nor need it be-a "dog-eat-dog" world. These Proto-bacteria, like us, had long phases of warfare, colonization, and competitive technological development. About 2 billion years ago they overcame this by cooperating to form huge collaborative communities that evolved into all presently existing biological cells-including those of our own bodies. They literally created multi-creatured cells that went on to evolve multi-celled creatures. They did this by shifting out of a juvenile competitive phase into a mature cooperative phase. This evolutionary pattern has been repeated by countless species as well as entire eco systems---and is now on the agenda for the human species. We will learn to cooperate as a global community or we will live in increasing misery and perhaps go extinct in the not so far distant future. But I see this as hope! If those primitive bacteria can do it.so can we! I hope! My other high priestess is the biologist Ursula Goodenough, author of the inspiring Sacred Depths of Nature. Goodenough wonderfully describes the story of Life as: physics creating chemistry--which created biology-which created us. This is done with a reductionism wholly scientific but still understandable for the non-scientist (me included!). Scientific Reductionism can be very dry and analytic in its downward spiral of "this is made of that and that is made of this" and on and on. Our bodies are, it's now known, a composition of 10 trillion cells. Period. Our thoughts are a lot of electricity moving along a lot of membrane. And our emotions are the result of certain neurotransmitters squirting on certain brain cells. Does this knowledge make us wish we never learned it? A little ignorance would make easier the beliefs that we have a soul and that we're going to heaven and that's a sure thing. In answer, Goodenough quotes another favorite author of mine, William James. James: "At bottom, the whole concern with religion is with the manner of our acceptance of the universe." The manner of our acceptance. When awe gives way to disappointment or anger or self-pity.How do we still accept? The religious naturalist can do this, Goodenough claims, with simple assent. The same assent used by the theist in "Lord thy will be done" can be used even by the non-theist in the phrase, "Blessed be to what is." Assent is a dignified word. Once it is freely given, one can move fluidly within it. Beauty and mystery and awe can be returned by occasionally stopping the reductionism spiral and viewing the wholes and their relation to each other. We have the same genes as all other life forms. We share 99% with the chimpanzee, but still 50% with the lowly banana. And all life came from that first chemical grouping 3 and ½ billion years ago that attempted - and succeeded in - self-replication. Here on Mother Earth. Goodenough has developed a wonderful credo. I think I'll be drawing heavily from it in our Unitairan Universalist Building Your Own Theology class, where we will finish by writing personal credos. I'll finish here by reading Goodenough's.
Amen, and may it continue, and thank you, Mother Earth. |
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Explaining
the Difference Between New Age & Paganism: An *Essaie* By Khrysso Heart LeFey, MTS Director of Liturgical Music Studies, The Pagan Institute (c)2004 KHLeFey In the French language, the verb "essaier" means "to try." The related English word "essay," likewise, suggests not that the writer has the topic down pat but rather that the writer is taking a stab at something... though, one would hope, the writer's guess would be well educated. I will "essaie", here, to compare and contrast two phrases that I'm accustomed to both hearing and using in everyday discourse, namely, "New Age" and "Paganism." I got interested in this task because a Christian woman I work for keeps asking me about the New Age. For example, I'm doing some organizing for her, and the topic of "feng shui" keeps coming up. "'Feng shui' isn't New Age, is it?" she asks me, a worried frown creasing her brow. (Christian biblicists believe that New Age thought, not being biblically orthodox, is inherently Satanic.) I haven't told her yet that I'm a Pagan--she's still getting used to the fact that I'm gay, though after only a couple days on the job she's already treating me like a girlfriend--so I'm not about to enter into this exercise with her, but my interest is piqued all the same, and I'd like to be clear in my own mind how my Paganism differs from other people's New-Ageness. I know that I'm not a New Ager myself; but why? How do I know that? There's a beloved joke that the difference between Paganism and the New Age is a decimal place--suggesting both that New Age Practitioners are far more bourgeois than Pagans, being able to afford the extravagances of New Age trappings, and that New Age merchants and teachers charge ten times as much for their goods and services as Pagan merchants and teachers do. Actually, I would guess that there's quite a bit of truth to those suggestions, though Paganism is, in general, probably not yet a significant enough market force to have generated much market research, so it'll probably remain a moot question for quite a while. About.Com's guide to Atheism and Agnosticism [ http://atheism.about.com/ ], Austin Cline, says of the New Age:
By that token, Paganism can certainly be regarded as being within the
spectrum of New Age thought. That's no help.
This analysis places many Pagans outside the realm of New Ageism. It
certainly places the principles and purposes of the Unitarian
Universalist Association outside the realm of New Ageism. |
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Having the Time of Your Life
Conny Jasper, MA Think of time as a journey. Consider that life is a continuous voyage through time. How long do you think that you will live? Are you living your life to the fullest? What are you doing with your time? How can you have the time of your life? How can you make the most of this journey? Perception of Time Time is just one dimension of human existence. Sometimes it seems to move slowly. Sometimes it seems to move quickly. How we perceive the movement of time, depends on what we are experiencing in the moment. Do you feel like you are "doing time," like a prisoner? Or do you feel like you have the freedom to realize the fullness of your existence? Wanting Time Time is a valuable resource. How often do you find yourself wishing you had more time, or that your time would have more quality? In what ways have you created situations in your life that rob you of your time? Sometimes we over-extend or over-commit ourselves. How can you make your life more simple and less complicated? Making Time Most of us are familiar with the concept of being in the moment. But how much do we really practice it? Sometimes being in the moment means being aware of one's discomfort. So we avoid being in the moment in order to avoid feeling uncomfortable. We keep ourselves busy or distracted, moving from one task to the next. However, once a person slows down and acknowledges their distress, they can then begin to take the necessary steps to alleviate it in a creative way. Saving Time We cannot collect units of time to be used at a later date, but there are ways to live that do not waste the time that we have. How can you use your time wisely? Are you too rigid in your expectations? It is important to be flexible with your plans and goals. The sooner that you recognize when it is time to make a change, the more time you will save. Spending Time You have a limited amount of time to live this life. How much time do you spend doing things that you think you are supposed to be doing, rather than doing what you really want to be doing? Where and how do you want to spend the time that you have? What are the distractions that keep you from doing what is really important to you? What do you need to get rid of or let go of? Awareness of Time Time is a continuous flow of cause and effect. Our bodies and minds carry the past into the present and into the future. So we are always impacted by the past at any given moment. How do you let past experiences interfere with your enjoyment of the moment? Over time, everything goes through cycles and transformations. Are you aware of the transitions you have gone through during the passage of time? Do you let yourself flow with the changes that you experience? Allow yourself to see past the prevalent social beliefs concerning time. Think beyond the confines of consensus, and gradually expand your awareness of time. What happens when you let go and receive this consciousness? Having Time How much of your time really belongs to you? How much of it do you give away to others or to ineffective situations? Having time means having boundaries. It means knowing what your limits are and setting them in a way that is empowering. Having time also means being able to create a balance in your life. Ideally and realistically, how do you envision a balance in your life? Conny Jasper, MA http://home.earthlink.net/~connyjasper Conny is a regular contributor to PAGAN INSTITUTE REPORT |
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The
Tarzan Syndrome By Rev. Chuck Waibel What do autism and war have in common? Why is Humankind capable of producing both sublime beauty and incomprehensible depravity? Why are our best artists frequently afflicted with depression and schizophrenia? What of those people throughout history who showed us what humans are capable of? Albert Einstein, Buckminster Fuller, Leonardo DaVinci, Hildegard von Bingen, and Mother Theresa come to mind, not to mention Jesus, the Buddha, or Kung-fu-tze. How did they come to be among us, and why are there so few of them? Why do most people strive to reach a sort of minimally functional mediocrity -- and often fail at even that? And what is autism? Of course, many of the syndromes gathered under that name are clearly matters of brain damage, but why are there "Rain Man" types, those brilliant but deeply flawed individuals? Why are their numbers increasing? I find a clue in the question: What do all of us have in common with Tarzan and Mowgli? There have been many recorded instances of human infants raised by other species. But, unlike their fictional kin, they are uniformly tragic figures. A human raised by wolves, for instance, never learns to use its hands, walk upright or speak. Human children need certain kinds of stimulus, at the right ages, or they will never be whole. Without it they are neither good humans, nor good animals, but pitiful misfits. Humanity, of one species or another, has been around for a million years or so. Consider that the first humans were raised by parents that weren't. Those poor children had to learn as best they could, on their own, how to live with their differences from their not-quite-people relatives. Some were more fortunate or brighter than others. Those fortunate few then raised their children as best they knew, on and on for untold generations. Human society eventually emerged; human society, that wonderful, frustrating mix of great beauty and ludicrous failure. This leads to a disturbing implication: Have any of us, ever, been raised by actual, fully developed human beings? Probably not. Think of History's exceptional individuals. Could it be that they aren't really strange, but are actually closer to normal? Were they just lucky enough to have the right experiences at the right times? Are we all supposed to be like them, but can't quite manage? We often despise them when they are among us, but later build religions and philosophies on their insights; yet, those religions can be as frustrating as they are inspiring. Those marvelous visions of what we can be harden into doctrines and strictures, preventing the very growth they were meant to encourage. Something within us knows that we are meant for a higher kind of life, but we can't understand how to manage it. We keep "putting the new wine back in the old wineskins." Recent studies have shown that autistics tend to be highly intelligent, to have very large, fast-growing brains, and to perceive more of the world than more "normal" people. However, they lack the "filters" on their senses which allow them to control that torrent of information. They compensate by constructing rituals, by retreating into catatonia, or by panicking at the unfamiliar. Some manage to build a structured life which allows them to be functional, even exceptional individuals. This leads us again into the territory of religion. Traditional cultures had a Shamanic or priestly class, those with deep insights into the World. Those cultures depended upon their holy people to guide them -- not for some sort of superstitious reason, but because it worked. The holy people saw the patterns and insights that others missed. Without them, their nations and tribes would have died. How these people were usually trained is revealing. They were identified as young children. They were separated from their families to live among their own kind; this was not cruel, but kind, for those oddballs couldn't function as ordinary people. They often were raised in dim, quiet, highly structured environments. They were given extensive training, memorization and rituals. By strictly controlling these childrens' exposure to sensory input and information, they became assets to their communities, not helpless burdens. The parallels to autism are striking. Historically, times of stress and tumult tend to produce the greatest prophets and seers. Jesus, the Buddha, Socrates, Solon, Kung fu Tze, Mohammed and their like emerged in highly stressful times to give answers exactly when answers were most needed. Could it be that something in our genes reacts to societal stress, producing the kind of individuals with the capacity to see farther and deeper? But how many of those individuals are born but never hit that combination of factors which helps them grow into what they were meant to be? So, in our current time of stress and change, who are all these autistics? If we saw them as answers, not problems, what might they become? And with that, what could we all become? How much are we all like autistics, like untrained shamans? It's clear that Humankind is still evolving and growing, but where are we going and how do we best act to get there? Some clues, but not the answers, lie in our past. We've barely even learned enough to start asking the right questions. The answers still lie in the future. The Rev. Chuck Waible teaches and organizes Pagans in Western Minnesota; he is a regular contributor to PAGAN INSTITUTE REPORT. |
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More
Pagan Essays We Recommend Essays of special interest to activists
Pagan Miscellany
Pagan Institute Essays Joe "Sam Hain" Betthancourt Dispells Illusions about Halloween http://www.illusions.com/halloween/hallows.htm Women's Issues Barbara Ardinger has an interesting and humorous essay on "midlife crisis." If you've read her books, you know that she has revealed "Found Goddesses," and this essay features the "antic cronish goddess" Auntie Gravity. You'll find it in the November issue of SOULFUL LIVING magazine at http://www.soulfulliving.com/auntie_gravity.htm
For more of
Barbara Ardinger's chronish wit and wisdom, visit www.barbaraardinger.com.
A
Springtime Potpourri of Articles collected
by Donna Henes, Urban Shaman Treading
Turbulent Waters Empress
Energy: Extending Our Power Out
into the
World Tending
to the Tree of Life |
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To Contribute an Essay... If you have an essay (250-1000 words) on any subject of interest to the Pagan community, we would like to consider it for inclusion here. (Longer essays and monographs are welcome but run on the Explorations page.) Submit it to the Editor with "Guest Essay" in the subject line. By sending your response, you are indicating that the words are your own and that we have your permission to print them in this e-zine and archive them at PaganInstitute.org. Submission warrants that you own the rights to publish and are giving us non-exclusive permission to publish it in this e-zine in all its formats. Unfortunately, we are unable to pay for your articles, except in Glory! The contents of this e-zine are copyrighted to their authors. If you like, we will run your email addy, website, and/or name. That information will be withheld on your request. Regular contributors and fellows of the Pagan Institute can receive e-mail mailboxes at Pagan Institute on request. |
| You have been reading the "Reflections" section
of The Pagan Institute Report. We hope it has stimulated your thinking
and that you will send our URL to your friends. The contents of
this ezine are copyrighted to their authors. Email Christa Landon
for reprint and syndication permissions. |
Updated April 9, 2007