I recently received a Pathfinder press publication. "The Other People." The title and cover looked as if it could have been any other tract, most recently seen being shared by folks on a mission. I'm not sure what your part of the world is like, but in my neighborhood there are between six and ten people each year who go door-to-door trying to convert people to their way of thinking about religion. My own personal gods and goddesses do not need anyone to "believe" in them and I would certainly never attempt to convert people to a specific way of thinking about them. Within the past few moons, I saw an excellent representation about the way religious beliefs are foisted upon native populations and I will try to do it justice. A missionary priest and a native American were the subject of the meme, but it could be any two people who represent religious authority and the unconverted. The native person asked, "Let me see if I have this straight, before I knew about your God, I was like the animals and was guaranteed a place with Creator, in heaven?"
The priest replied, "Yes."
Then the native person thought about it for a moment and asked, "Why did you tell me?"
This has to be the best way of understanding what religions, of all types do to us. A friend, who was a builder, once told me that he moved to Wisconsin because our building permits are prescriptive, not descriptive. It explains what is required as far as strength and functionality, but leaves specific methods and materials that must be used to get to that standard up to the builder. This is the way I feel about religion and I, for one, am extremely tired of being told that one flavor of religion is better than another.
In the pamphlet, available through Pathfinder Press Publications, the concept of pagan beliefs is actually explained in terms that Bible-thumpers would understand. The salient point in my understanding of the document is that in the biblical text, the term Elohim is used in Genesis, which refers to gods (the plural form). This post is bit out of character for me, as regular readers might notice, but allowing ourselves to go beyond our own limitations in thought, ideation and belief is essential to developing a more whole understanding of the landscape, the territory and in the redrawing of mental maps that help us to function day in and day out.
Those who feel the need to base their world-view on the plagiarized text of what we now call the Bible might broaden their ideas about their "God" if they understood that he was just one of many...the Bible says so itself. In Genesis, no matter what was said later, the other people, created by other gods and goddesses existed concurrently with the garden of Eden and these other people bred with those made by the God that gets virtually all of the attention of Christians in modern times.
I would like to spread the information in this pamphlet world-wide. It is essential to getting the missionaries to understand that what they are trying to foist upon the masses is tainted with an insidious kind of prejudice. If you would like samples and a bulk price list for the publication, send three dollars to Pathfinder Press Publications Box 57 Index, WA 98256 USA. Their telephone number is (360) 793-1945. Keep in mind that the whole act of missionaries is to spread their version of "the word" and to convert (thereby "saving" as many souls and I certainly would not encourage anyone acting in that way. To my own sensibilities, this is extremely distasteful. Although, when someone attempts to change your mind about your core beliefs, it can be very helpful liberating to tell them, in ways that they have a possibility of understanding that your beliefs are different, valid and based on the truth as you see it.
A recent pair of missionary women came to my door just a week or two before I heard of this particular pamphlet and one of the women actually laughed when I said that our home is pagan. I certainly do not begrudge her whatever she chooses to believe in, as long as it victimizes no one, hurts no one or causes no harm to either herself or the environment she lives within, but I do not condone or abide this blatant assault on what I believe either. Her God may be fiction, or at least part of a plagiarized pantheon and mine are also based on hearsay and stories that she may not have heard yet. I grant everyone the right top believe whatever fiction they choose, but we do not get to choose our truth. To gain the respect of one another, we must first learn to respect our own selves, my gods and goddesses have helped me to do that. My beliefs are not contingent on sharing them with others and I do not seek to convert a single person to my way of thinking. I, and many of the other people have a long intact relationship with our many and varied deities. Perhaps just reading this tract will help some to start a process of learning about our truths, our understandings and our beliefs. It is time to let those who would "convert" us know that we have an intact pantheon that serves us well.
Whether your "thing" is along the lines of Earth, Air, Fire, Water and Spirit, or if it includes place, the planet and the creatures who share their wisdom with us abundantly, I have no question that it will allow you access to the infinite. If you choose to liberate your mind through contemplation, reading the Koans of Zen, or the proverbs, I have no preference. What I cannot abide is people telling me that my own belief system relegates me to an eternity in "hell". My life is extremely full, infinitely happier than if I feared life without a "Lord and Master" or concerned myself with saving the souls of others, especially if a;ll I had ever been told about them had been lies. I have been told by those who "believe" in the "word of god", as it appears in the Bible all kinds of horrible things about my life and character. None of which, by the way, were true. The lechery and larceny, fear and hate that supposedly lie within my heart are simple not there. Who would know better than I? Presumably, at least from my perspective, what I have seen in my own experience have been a lot of fearful people walking around believing that they are inherently evil or under the influence of a malevolent force that they call "the devil" and that the only way to drive "his" spirit out is with the light of a "lord". In the world view of the other people, there is no devil. Although darkness is an actual fact of nature, it is not as much a person as a state of being.
I don't speak for all the other people, but in my own world view, we have a choice each and every moment to life either in the abundance of the gods, reveling in their gifts, or to focus on fear, hate and isolation brought on by denying native values that are based on a living pantheon, family, friends, the environment and all the creatures and forces which we interact with on a moment by moment basis. I have felt the energy fields surrounding folks of many different beliefs. I just say that on the whole, I prefer the other people.
The priest replied, "Yes."
Then the native person thought about it for a moment and asked, "Why did you tell me?"
This has to be the best way of understanding what religions, of all types do to us. A friend, who was a builder, once told me that he moved to Wisconsin because our building permits are prescriptive, not descriptive. It explains what is required as far as strength and functionality, but leaves specific methods and materials that must be used to get to that standard up to the builder. This is the way I feel about religion and I, for one, am extremely tired of being told that one flavor of religion is better than another.
In the pamphlet, available through Pathfinder Press Publications, the concept of pagan beliefs is actually explained in terms that Bible-thumpers would understand. The salient point in my understanding of the document is that in the biblical text, the term Elohim is used in Genesis, which refers to gods (the plural form). This post is bit out of character for me, as regular readers might notice, but allowing ourselves to go beyond our own limitations in thought, ideation and belief is essential to developing a more whole understanding of the landscape, the territory and in the redrawing of mental maps that help us to function day in and day out.
Those who feel the need to base their world-view on the plagiarized text of what we now call the Bible might broaden their ideas about their "God" if they understood that he was just one of many...the Bible says so itself. In Genesis, no matter what was said later, the other people, created by other gods and goddesses existed concurrently with the garden of Eden and these other people bred with those made by the God that gets virtually all of the attention of Christians in modern times.
I would like to spread the information in this pamphlet world-wide. It is essential to getting the missionaries to understand that what they are trying to foist upon the masses is tainted with an insidious kind of prejudice. If you would like samples and a bulk price list for the publication, send three dollars to Pathfinder Press Publications Box 57 Index, WA 98256 USA. Their telephone number is (360) 793-1945. Keep in mind that the whole act of missionaries is to spread their version of "the word" and to convert (thereby "saving" as many souls and I certainly would not encourage anyone acting in that way. To my own sensibilities, this is extremely distasteful. Although, when someone attempts to change your mind about your core beliefs, it can be very helpful liberating to tell them, in ways that they have a possibility of understanding that your beliefs are different, valid and based on the truth as you see it.
A recent pair of missionary women came to my door just a week or two before I heard of this particular pamphlet and one of the women actually laughed when I said that our home is pagan. I certainly do not begrudge her whatever she chooses to believe in, as long as it victimizes no one, hurts no one or causes no harm to either herself or the environment she lives within, but I do not condone or abide this blatant assault on what I believe either. Her God may be fiction, or at least part of a plagiarized pantheon and mine are also based on hearsay and stories that she may not have heard yet. I grant everyone the right top believe whatever fiction they choose, but we do not get to choose our truth. To gain the respect of one another, we must first learn to respect our own selves, my gods and goddesses have helped me to do that. My beliefs are not contingent on sharing them with others and I do not seek to convert a single person to my way of thinking. I, and many of the other people have a long intact relationship with our many and varied deities. Perhaps just reading this tract will help some to start a process of learning about our truths, our understandings and our beliefs. It is time to let those who would "convert" us know that we have an intact pantheon that serves us well.
Whether your "thing" is along the lines of Earth, Air, Fire, Water and Spirit, or if it includes place, the planet and the creatures who share their wisdom with us abundantly, I have no question that it will allow you access to the infinite. If you choose to liberate your mind through contemplation, reading the Koans of Zen, or the proverbs, I have no preference. What I cannot abide is people telling me that my own belief system relegates me to an eternity in "hell". My life is extremely full, infinitely happier than if I feared life without a "Lord and Master" or concerned myself with saving the souls of others, especially if a;ll I had ever been told about them had been lies. I have been told by those who "believe" in the "word of god", as it appears in the Bible all kinds of horrible things about my life and character. None of which, by the way, were true. The lechery and larceny, fear and hate that supposedly lie within my heart are simple not there. Who would know better than I? Presumably, at least from my perspective, what I have seen in my own experience have been a lot of fearful people walking around believing that they are inherently evil or under the influence of a malevolent force that they call "the devil" and that the only way to drive "his" spirit out is with the light of a "lord". In the world view of the other people, there is no devil. Although darkness is an actual fact of nature, it is not as much a person as a state of being.
I don't speak for all the other people, but in my own world view, we have a choice each and every moment to life either in the abundance of the gods, reveling in their gifts, or to focus on fear, hate and isolation brought on by denying native values that are based on a living pantheon, family, friends, the environment and all the creatures and forces which we interact with on a moment by moment basis. I have felt the energy fields surrounding folks of many different beliefs. I just say that on the whole, I prefer the other people.
No comments:
Post a Comment