Source: masonsofheaven.blogspot.com
Friday, 31 December 2010
Source: masonsofheaven.blogspot.com
Source: wiccalessons.blogspot.com
To be Wiccan is to worship the Goddess and her companion the Horned God, and to follow the philosophies, ethics and practices of the Old Religion. Originally rooted in Paganism, Wicca existed long before Christianity and long before the Church was founded.
Wiccans honour the Earth as their spiritual Mother (the Goddess) and the Sky and the wildness of nature as their spiritual Father (the Horned God). In practice, this means that they esteem nature and the planet on which we live. They venture not to harm anyone or anything, because to them, everyone in the world are their brothers and sisters with an equal right to exist. Wicca is a tradition that works to harm none in thought, word, or deed. Therefore, anyone who says they are a witch but works otherwise should not be considered an authentic Wiccan practitioner.
Witchcraft is still the only spiritual tradition that raises the female above the male, in contrast to patriarchal religions such as Christianity and Judaism. They venerate an almighty male deity, with little positive mention of the female at all. Because of its veneration of a Goddess, Wicca follows the moral values associated with feminine spiritual powers - such as love, peace, and joy - rather than the more masculine religious attitudes of domination, strength, and authority.
Witches work by peaceful means, seeking to unite rather than to divide, to be of service to our communities, and to be the healers, counsellors, and the guardians of all life on Earth. This is because they see themselves as the children of the Goddess and the Horned God that they honour. When this is a truth within a witch, they can only ever love and look after what has been so lovingly created for us.
Wicca in History
Wiccans have been persecuted throughout the ages, as well as thousands of innocent people. The Salem Witch Trials were arguably the most well-known trials concerning witchcraft. So many innocent people died due to fear of the unknown. And why the dreadful fear of witchery? Power. People are afraid of someone having power over their lives. Yet witchcraft is not a religion based on power, nor does it try to seize control over or turn other people.
Witches and accused witches were persecuted for hundreds of years, until, in 1951, the law in England was rewritten because of a Wiccan High Priest named Gerald B. Gardner. While employed as a civil servant, he decided to declare his religious preference - Witchcraft. He demonstrated a ritual to the Parliament and explained the nature of his worship so they would realise that his religion was not about demons, destruction and sacrifice. Wicca was portrayed in its nature: the peaceful worship of the Goddess and the Horned God, equality in all living things. The Parliament declared Witchcraft a legal religion. In 1953, Gerald B. Gardner petitioned his right to coven, and that right was also declared legal.
THE WICCAN REDE
THE WICCAN REDE IS THE PHILOSOPHY THAT WICCANS FOLLOW:
Hear now the words of the Witches,
The secrets we hid in the night,
When dark was our destiny's pathway,
That now we bring forth into the light.
This world has no right then to know it,
And world of beyond will tell naught,
The oldest of Gods is invoked there,
The Great Work of Magick is wrought.
And Do What You Will be the challenge,
So be it in love that harms none,
For this is the only commandment.
By the magick of old be it done!
The Wiccan Rede is the philosophy that Wiccans follow. Many variations of the Rede exist, but many are only slightly different. It was originally taught from generation to generation, but when Witchcraft was legalised, it was published in a number of places.
BASIC WICCAN TERMS
ATHAME - a ceremonial dagger.
BOOK OF SHADOWS - a journal of magickal workings.
COVEN - a group of Wiccans under the guidance of a High Priestess.
ESBAT - a Wiccan moon festival; sometimes known as a lesser Sabbat.
GAIA - Ancient Greek Earth Goddess.
GODDESS - the primary female deity of witchcraft.
HANDFASTING - a ritual which is the Wiccan equivalent to a wedding.
HANDPARTING - a ritual to mark the end of a relationship.
HORNED GOD - the primary male deity of witchcraft.
SABBAT - a Wiccan festival.
SACRED CIRCLE - a sacred area in which formal ritual working is to be performed.
THE SABBATS
The dates of the Sabbats vary each year, but they are usually celebrated within three days of the dates below. There are also variations on the spellings of the Sabbats, and even some variations on their names. Below are the ones I was raised with.
Samhain, October 31stSamhain marks the end of the Wiccan year and the birth of a new one. It is the festival of remembering ancestors, and at this time, the veil between worlds is at its thinnest.
Imbolc, February 2ndImbolc is the dawn of Spring. At Imbolc, the Goddess is the virgin bride returning to Earth. Imbolc literally means 'in the womb' in Gaelic, and represents the awakening of new life.
Beltane, May 1stBeltane is by far the most magickal festival of the Wiccan Wheel of the Year. This is the Sabbat that calls to celebrate magick and call for new relationships, for joy and fertility, and for the blessing of unions. Handfastings and Handpartings are best done on or around this Sabbat.
Lughnasadh, August 1stNamed after the warrior sun god, Lugh, it is the time for taking Oaths, signing contracts, showing feats of strength, playing games and celebrating.
Tuesday, 28 December 2010
On Sunday Sept. 21, the United Nations and others around the world will be honoring the International Day of Peace, a 32-year-old yearly tribute, recognition and call for peace worldwide. Just as last year, Rev. Patrick McCollum will be attending multiple events in New York City. He was asked to bring his World Peace Violin for an evening vigil in Manhattan's Central Park, and he was also asked to bring a youth delegate to represent Paganism.
The U.N. has long sponsored youth outreach programs. This year will mark the first time a Pagan youth delegate is present at the organization's World Peace proceedings. To find a candidate, McCollum turned to Mills College in Oakland, California, which boasts an active Pagan student association. After giving a workshop for the group, McCollum spoke with its president about the Peace Day opportunity.
Rowan Weir, a junior studying biopsychology and the current treasurer of the organization, was quick to apply for the job. After the application process was complete, Weir was selected to be the U.N. Pagan youth delegate. She is now making her final plans to attend the U.N.'s World Peace conference, which has included a crowd funding campaign to pay for the trip. We caught up with her morning last week before class.
A native of San Diego, Weir is not at all new to Paganism. While her mother never used the term Pagan, she grew up with a definite "earth-centered" spiritual understanding. For example, Weir's family has always held a yearly Winter Solstice ritual; her grandmother would, on occasion, refer to herself as a witch; and her mother regularly talked about their inter-connectivity with nature.
Although the family didn't identify its religion using the word Pagan, Weir now sees a connecting Pagan theme in her family's ethics and beliefs. Weir says, "The solstice ritual was a recognition of the transition of the year and as a kid it was an interesting thing to observe." She still returns to San Diego yearly to attend that family ritual.
Now a college student in Oakland, Weir labels herself as simply a Pagan. She feels that she is still learning and growing spiritually. That education is being nurtured through her involvement with the Mills Pagan Alliance (MPA). The group sponsors workshops with leaders and elders from the area, field trips, seasonal rituals and school events. Through attending and helping to organize MPA functions, Weir is able to, as she says, "learn all the different forms that Paganism can take."
Rowan Weir
Weir's role as a U.N. youth delegate is an extension of that religious learning. She says that she "loves to make connections" and hopes that the majority of time spent in New York will be doing just that. She looks forward to engaging in conversations with people very different from herself. She says, "It's all about the learning."
At the present time, Weir has not received the specifics of her schedule or duties as a delegate. There was a call put out for presenters but Weir didn't apply. She felt that she didn't have anything specific to present and that she would better serve her community as an observer. She explains, "I feel very strongly that the majority of my opportunities will come from connecting with people on a personal level." That, she adds, will be the most fulfilling.
Weir also hopes to learn more about the many "new aspects of the peace process and global social justice." She wants to take that information back with her and figure out where her role is within that dynamic. She asks, "Where can I fit myself in? What can I give? What does the world need of me?"
While these questions won't be answered in full at the peace conference, Weir hopes to get glimpses of the possibilities. As a U.N. youth delegate, she will have the opportunity to discuss social justice within a global context and to see the Earth as one social unit. This is what she is most interested in doing. She says, "This experience will expand my viewpoint and show me the bigger picture and then I can bring it back into my personal work."
One way in which Weir will "bring back" the international conversation will be through a blog. She says, "I will be writing about my experiences through the blog to make sure the [Mills College] club can see [the event] through my eyes and stay involved through me."
Weir Haleakala National Park [Courtesy of R.Weir]When asked if she was nervous or fearful about possible negative reactions to her presence or conflict, she said that hadn't really considered that. She explains:
"I grew up in a sheltered community. Everybody I've met is liberal. My only exposure to opposition has been in the form of protestors at events. I haven't been forced to engage in that kind of very direct opposition personally."
However, she adds that she is ready for anything because of her "strong sense of self" and her connection to her family and her community at Mills College. She says:
"I always felt as though I carry them with me. I carry with me their positive intentions and their protection. My community will help me to a engage without reservation or being held back by fear. "
While Weir isn't clear on what the youth delegates will be doing, she does believe that the U.N. is very conscious of the need to connect with younger generations. She, herself, sees a very marked benefit to combining the energy and proactive nature of youth with the experience and learned wisdom of age. She believes that having the generations work together is the key to accomplishing more and better things. She says:
"Paganism has always relied heavily on the connection of young and old. Traditions are passed down. The passing down of these traditions is a type of transformation."
However she did acknowledge that there are serious barriers to overcome in that work. Both generations often feel alienated from each other. Weir believes that it is the responsibility and burden of the older generation, the current leaders, to break that barrier. She says, "Extend [to youth] an invitation to the table; to the conversation Youth want to connect and want to see as many news things as possible. But it is difficult to know how to approach older generations."
She also has a message for other young Pagans. She says, "Keep asking why?" She explains:
"I know youth are already predisposed to asking questions, but it is perhaps not yet often enough, or it may be they do not see the resolution of their query through to it's ultimate resolution. I try to incorporate this idea into both my daily life and deeper philosophies, as an aspect of personal development as well as social investigation. Pagans are natural protectors and activists, what they consider to be absolute truths are often the very things we must pursue if we want to better our relationship to the earth, and to each other. But the first step in translating ideals into actions is the asking of why. Why do these issues exist? And asking it again: why do they not improve? You continually delve deeper into the very essence of human suffering, of international conflict, of ecological devastation, and you discover your personal relationship with. It is imperative also that you apply a similar system of analysis to deconstructing the self. Young pagans want to know where they fit and what part they can play in change, but they need to know themselves implicitly, to pursue introspection as a path to inner strength, so when they approach that change, it is from a foundation of solidity and security. In addition, I implore young pagans to connect, in whatever ways are available to them. Our greatest resource is each other, and it is together that we will attain our greatest triumphs. We are a circle, we are open, we are unbroken."
Weir sees the U.N.'s youth delegate program for World Peace Day as this type of invitation or barrier breaking. She sees the time that she will spend with Rev. Patrick McCollum as a valuable connection between two generations. With all of that sitting before her, she is both overwhelmed and excited to be included to the world table and to an international conversation about achieving global peace.Send to Kindle
The U.N. has long sponsored youth outreach programs. This year will mark the first time a Pagan youth delegate is present at the organization's World Peace proceedings. To find a candidate, McCollum turned to Mills College in Oakland, California, which boasts an active Pagan student association. After giving a workshop for the group, McCollum spoke with its president about the Peace Day opportunity.
Rowan Weir, a junior studying biopsychology and the current treasurer of the organization, was quick to apply for the job. After the application process was complete, Weir was selected to be the U.N. Pagan youth delegate. She is now making her final plans to attend the U.N.'s World Peace conference, which has included a crowd funding campaign to pay for the trip. We caught up with her morning last week before class.
A native of San Diego, Weir is not at all new to Paganism. While her mother never used the term Pagan, she grew up with a definite "earth-centered" spiritual understanding. For example, Weir's family has always held a yearly Winter Solstice ritual; her grandmother would, on occasion, refer to herself as a witch; and her mother regularly talked about their inter-connectivity with nature.
Although the family didn't identify its religion using the word Pagan, Weir now sees a connecting Pagan theme in her family's ethics and beliefs. Weir says, "The solstice ritual was a recognition of the transition of the year and as a kid it was an interesting thing to observe." She still returns to San Diego yearly to attend that family ritual.
Now a college student in Oakland, Weir labels herself as simply a Pagan. She feels that she is still learning and growing spiritually. That education is being nurtured through her involvement with the Mills Pagan Alliance (MPA). The group sponsors workshops with leaders and elders from the area, field trips, seasonal rituals and school events. Through attending and helping to organize MPA functions, Weir is able to, as she says, "learn all the different forms that Paganism can take."
Rowan Weir
Weir's role as a U.N. youth delegate is an extension of that religious learning. She says that she "loves to make connections" and hopes that the majority of time spent in New York will be doing just that. She looks forward to engaging in conversations with people very different from herself. She says, "It's all about the learning."
At the present time, Weir has not received the specifics of her schedule or duties as a delegate. There was a call put out for presenters but Weir didn't apply. She felt that she didn't have anything specific to present and that she would better serve her community as an observer. She explains, "I feel very strongly that the majority of my opportunities will come from connecting with people on a personal level." That, she adds, will be the most fulfilling.
Weir also hopes to learn more about the many "new aspects of the peace process and global social justice." She wants to take that information back with her and figure out where her role is within that dynamic. She asks, "Where can I fit myself in? What can I give? What does the world need of me?"
While these questions won't be answered in full at the peace conference, Weir hopes to get glimpses of the possibilities. As a U.N. youth delegate, she will have the opportunity to discuss social justice within a global context and to see the Earth as one social unit. This is what she is most interested in doing. She says, "This experience will expand my viewpoint and show me the bigger picture and then I can bring it back into my personal work."
One way in which Weir will "bring back" the international conversation will be through a blog. She says, "I will be writing about my experiences through the blog to make sure the [Mills College] club can see [the event] through my eyes and stay involved through me."
Weir Haleakala National Park [Courtesy of R.Weir]When asked if she was nervous or fearful about possible negative reactions to her presence or conflict, she said that hadn't really considered that. She explains:
"I grew up in a sheltered community. Everybody I've met is liberal. My only exposure to opposition has been in the form of protestors at events. I haven't been forced to engage in that kind of very direct opposition personally."
However, she adds that she is ready for anything because of her "strong sense of self" and her connection to her family and her community at Mills College. She says:
"I always felt as though I carry them with me. I carry with me their positive intentions and their protection. My community will help me to a engage without reservation or being held back by fear. "
While Weir isn't clear on what the youth delegates will be doing, she does believe that the U.N. is very conscious of the need to connect with younger generations. She, herself, sees a very marked benefit to combining the energy and proactive nature of youth with the experience and learned wisdom of age. She believes that having the generations work together is the key to accomplishing more and better things. She says:
"Paganism has always relied heavily on the connection of young and old. Traditions are passed down. The passing down of these traditions is a type of transformation."
However she did acknowledge that there are serious barriers to overcome in that work. Both generations often feel alienated from each other. Weir believes that it is the responsibility and burden of the older generation, the current leaders, to break that barrier. She says, "Extend [to youth] an invitation to the table; to the conversation Youth want to connect and want to see as many news things as possible. But it is difficult to know how to approach older generations."
She also has a message for other young Pagans. She says, "Keep asking why?" She explains:
"I know youth are already predisposed to asking questions, but it is perhaps not yet often enough, or it may be they do not see the resolution of their query through to it's ultimate resolution. I try to incorporate this idea into both my daily life and deeper philosophies, as an aspect of personal development as well as social investigation. Pagans are natural protectors and activists, what they consider to be absolute truths are often the very things we must pursue if we want to better our relationship to the earth, and to each other. But the first step in translating ideals into actions is the asking of why. Why do these issues exist? And asking it again: why do they not improve? You continually delve deeper into the very essence of human suffering, of international conflict, of ecological devastation, and you discover your personal relationship with. It is imperative also that you apply a similar system of analysis to deconstructing the self. Young pagans want to know where they fit and what part they can play in change, but they need to know themselves implicitly, to pursue introspection as a path to inner strength, so when they approach that change, it is from a foundation of solidity and security. In addition, I implore young pagans to connect, in whatever ways are available to them. Our greatest resource is each other, and it is together that we will attain our greatest triumphs. We are a circle, we are open, we are unbroken."
Weir sees the U.N.'s youth delegate program for World Peace Day as this type of invitation or barrier breaking. She sees the time that she will spend with Rev. Patrick McCollum as a valuable connection between two generations. With all of that sitting before her, she is both overwhelmed and excited to be included to the world table and to an international conversation about achieving global peace.Send to Kindle
Monday, 27 December 2010
Sunday, 26 December 2010
"Eight the upper crust were arrested and six officers were disrespected once upon a time a reveal swept regulate the Sydney CBD this afternoon. Legalize held that, about 1pm today, a group marched from Sydney Community Vestibule to Martin Place, anyplace a campaign occurred amid protesters and normalize come out a accommodation residence the US consulate."
"The protests were ["ostensibly"] triggered by a US point, Wholesomeness of Muslims, portraying the priest Muhammad as a womaniser and paedophile."
Muhammad IS a womanizer and a pedophile. He matrimonial Aisha at age 6 and consummated his marriage with her at her age 9. This fact is recorded in the traditional hadiths, and published according to traditional Muslim sources.
1. Watt, "AISHA", Book of Islam Online
2. D. A. Spellberg, Politics, Masculinity, and the Islamic Past: the Legacy of A'isha bint Abi Bakr, Columbia Researcher Crowd, 1994, p. 40
3. Karen Armstrong, Muhammad: A Biography of the Analyst, Harper San Francisco, 1992, p. 157.
4. WIKISLAM: KORAN, HADITH AND SCHOLARS: AISHA
Honest blogger Pamela Geller on Fox and Friends this be born explains how Barack Obama is sanctioning the right mind through the cruel Muslim riots by difficult to peaceful the Muhammad filmmakers. Geller held of the issue: "YOU CANNOT ASK ME TO PREY MY PERMISSION SO AS NOT TO DELICATE SAVAGES." (GROUP) Safety video offer
In Obama's counter, he held "...We jettison hard work to dirty the holy beliefs of others..."
Obama, this is not holy belief. It is cruel rage.
The anti-American protests are diffusion. Once again 20 nations now hold had protesters conduct yourself mistreatment for example of the point Wholesomeness of Muslims. Contemporary are news update of the reveal in Sydney, and in China. The NY Get older has a map, THIS Contrast takes you acquaint with. It was compete efficient yesterday but but is unworried encouraging.
In is singular link that was efficient 14 report ago, from USA Currently. It ends this way: "Surrounding 1,500 reveal in the eastern Afghanistan urban of Jalalabad, commotion "Demise to America
I think the big shout in the dam was 9/11/01, and the drifting apart of the dam was the killings at the US Embassies move backward in the week. We hold seeing that seen the rage travel to 20+ nations. SUDAN Virtuously REJECTED A US Discriminate to allow US Marines to make a way into the brawn so as to protect US services and bureau acquaint with.
In my pay attention I don't see the rage cultivating down any time later on. This is an age of sin, revulsion, ill will and apostasy. Day by day, personal property are NOT departure to get partisan. Virtuously be synchronize for that, Brethren. But the promises of Jesus are true and accurate. No comfort what we gather on earth in the coming days, they are but a tip and a mist compared to the luck of His ceremony. (ROMANS 9:23).
Friday, 24 December 2010
The symbol of the knot relates to tying something
together, or to keep something stable. Stability
in astrological magick would include the fixed
signs of Aquarius(air); Leo(fire); Taurus(earth);
and Scorpio(water). With this in mind, you could
cast this spell when the moon is in any of these
signs (check your magickal or planetary almanac),
or you could fine-tune your enchantment by
considering the nature of the sign. Air speeds,
fire encompasses, water cleanses and earth roots.
Call on the four elements to ensure success.
Supplies: Four ribbons, 17 inches long, in red,
white, green, and blue. (red for passion, white for
purity, green for growth, and blue for wisdom); 2
small bells to thread on the ends of the ribbons;
perfume or aftershave; a lock of your own hair.
Instructions: Cleanse, consecrate, and empower all
items. Take the ribbons and place one on top of the
other, ends matching. recite the following as you
tie each knot, beginning in the center of the
ribbon bunch and working outward on each side:
With knot of one, this loves begun
With knot of two, love shines through.
With knot of three, love comes to me.
With knot of four, my heart will soar.
With knot of five, this spell's alive.
With knot of six, the love is fixed.
With knot of seven, by blood and kin,
this spell is cast and love comes in!
Force and form attend to me,
as I will, so mote it be!
Thread a bell on each end of the ribbon bunch.
Attach your lock of hair. Spray ribbon with perfume
or aftershave saying:
The breath of the Goddess sparks the flame.
True Love lives and knows my name.
Tie ribbon bunch around ankle, wrist, onto your
purse, or place in your pocket. Each night for
seven nights, repeat the "The breath of Goddess"
charm seven times while swinging the ribbons in a
clockwise direction. One the eighth night, hang the
ribbons over your bed and leave them there. Anytime
you lose confidence, ring the bells. Don't forget,
love magick requires patience!
Silver RavenWolf - "The Ultimate Book of Shadows
for the New Generation, Solitary Witch, page 522
Credit: pagan-magic.blogspot.com
The lesson is for all in positions of trust. Afterward God opens the way for the accomplishment of a converted work and gives potential of blow, the choose by ballot instrumentality should do all in his power to bring about the promised prompt. In esteem to the vitality and function with which the work is carried electronic mail confer on be the blow given. God can work miracles for His speed just as they act their part with remorseless energy. He calls for men of worship to His work, men of best nerve, with angry love for souls, and with a zeal that never decoration. Such pole confer on find no task too arduous, no prospect too hopeless; they confer on labor on, bold, until apparent defeat is turned here jubilant capture. Not even put in prison ramparts nor the martyr's publicize specially, confer on create them to conflict from their run of laboring together with God for the upbuilding of His dominion.^A PK 263.1
Reference: just-wicca.blogspot.com
Reference: just-wicca.blogspot.com
Wednesday, 22 December 2010
LOVE MAGICK is said to be the most difficult of all - but nevertheless, it is the type of magick most tried by beginners! Love magick is complicated, because it involves the Will of another person, and depends on our own Love for the Self. I often warn Practitioners to avoid love magick that targets another specific individual (and that is what most of the spells out there attempt to do!). Targeting a specific person to make them fall in love with you is a violation of that person's Free Will, not a very respectful or healthy way to begin a relationship, right?! My recommendations for real love are to work on Self Love and general attraction, opening yourself to love, and becoming your True Self.
Love Magick is a broad category of workings that includes a range from platonic Friendship, Attraction, True Love, and Compatibility to Hot Sex and Get Laid formulations. My other main recommendation is to be careful (and very specific) what you ask for!
SHORT LIST: Find Love oil, Find Love for Women oil, Find Love for Men oil, Long Love for Couples oil, Friendship oil, Passion oil, Love incense, Lust incense, Love bath herbs, Love mojo kit, Love room spray, Spell to Find Love, Aphrodite oil
OILSFind Love oilFind Love for Women oilFind Love for Men oilLong Love for Couples oil Friendship oilMagnet oilPassion oilVenus oilINCENSESLove incenseLust incenseParty incenseMoon incenseVenus incenseBeltane incenseDragon's Blood resinBATH MAGICKLove bath herbsMOJO KITSLove mojo kitLibido mojo kitROOM SPRAYSLove room spraySPELL KITSSpell to Find LovePILLOWSMarital Bliss dream pillowBOTANICALSBeth RootTonka BeansBREWS AND TEASAphrodite's Beltane BrewDEITY OILSAphrodite oil Chango oilFreya oil Hera oilInanna oilOshun oilPan oilSatyr oilVenus oil
Reference: animals-and-shamanism.blogspot.com
Love Magick is a broad category of workings that includes a range from platonic Friendship, Attraction, True Love, and Compatibility to Hot Sex and Get Laid formulations. My other main recommendation is to be careful (and very specific) what you ask for!
SHORT LIST: Find Love oil, Find Love for Women oil, Find Love for Men oil, Long Love for Couples oil, Friendship oil, Passion oil, Love incense, Lust incense, Love bath herbs, Love mojo kit, Love room spray, Spell to Find Love, Aphrodite oil
OILSFind Love oilFind Love for Women oilFind Love for Men oilLong Love for Couples oil Friendship oilMagnet oilPassion oilVenus oilINCENSESLove incenseLust incenseParty incenseMoon incenseVenus incenseBeltane incenseDragon's Blood resinBATH MAGICKLove bath herbsMOJO KITSLove mojo kitLibido mojo kitROOM SPRAYSLove room spraySPELL KITSSpell to Find LovePILLOWSMarital Bliss dream pillowBOTANICALSBeth RootTonka BeansBREWS AND TEASAphrodite's Beltane BrewDEITY OILSAphrodite oil Chango oilFreya oil Hera oilInanna oilOshun oilPan oilSatyr oilVenus oil
Reference: animals-and-shamanism.blogspot.com
From The Paris Review, a long interview with Marilynne Robinson, author of "Gilead" and, most recently, "Home". She is a Christian and, at one point the intervewer asks her whether she thinks of herself as a "religious writer." Robinson answers "I don't like categories like religious and not religious. As soon as religion draws a line around itself it becomes falsified. It seems to me that anything that is written compassionately and perceptively probably satisfies every definition of religious whether a writer intends it to be religious or not." Later the interview turns to the relationship between religion and science:
I read as much as I can of contemporary cosmology because reality itself is profoundly mysterious. Quantum theory and classical physics, for instance, are both lovely within their own limits and yet at present they cannot be reconciled with each other. If different systems don't merge in a comprehensible way, that's a flaw in our comprehension and not a flaw in one system or the other.
Are religion and science simply two systems that don't merge?
The debate seems to be between a naive understanding of religion and a naive understanding of science. When people try to debunk religion, it seems to me they are referring to an eighteenth-century notion of what science is. I'm talking about Richard Dawkins here, who has a status that I can't quite understand. He acts as if the physical world that is manifest to us describes reality exhaustively. On the other side, many of the people who articulate and form religious expression have not acted in good faith. The us-versus-them mentality is a terrible corruption of the whole culture.
You've written critically about Dawkins and the other New Atheists. Is it their disdain for religion and championing of pure science that troubles you?
No, I read as much pure science as I can take in. It's a fact that their thinking does not feel scientific. The whole excitement of science is that it's always pushing toward the discovery of something that it cannot account for or did not anticipate. The New Atheist types, like Dawkins, act as if science had revealed the world as a closed system. That simply is not what contemporary science is about. A lot of scientists are atheists, but they don't talk about reality in the same way that Dawkins does. And they would not assume that there is a simple-as-that kind of response to everything in question. Certainly not on the grounds of anything that science has discovered in the last hundred years.
The science that I prefer tends toward cosmology, theories of quantum reality, things that are finer-textured than classical physics in terms of their powers of description. Science is amazing. On a mote of celestial dust, we have figured out how to look to the edge of our universe. I feel instructed by everything I have read. Science has a lot of the satisfactions for me that good theology has.
But doesn't science address an objective notion of reality while religion addresses how we conceive of ourselves?
As an achievement, science is itself a spectacular argument for the singularity of human beings among all things that exist. It has a prestige that comes with unambiguous changes in people's experience-space travel, immunizations. It has an authority that's based on its demonstrable power. But in discussions of human beings it tends to compare downwards: we're intelligent because hyenas are intelligent and we just took a few more leaps.
The first obligation of religion is to maintain the sense of the value of human beings. If you had to summarize the Old Testament, the summary would be: stop doing this to yourselves. But it is not in our nature to stop harming ourselves. We don't behave consistently with our own dignity or with the dignity of other people. The Bible reiterates this endlessly.
Thanks to GetReligion for the reference.
ROBINSON
I read as much as I can of contemporary cosmology because reality itself is profoundly mysterious. Quantum theory and classical physics, for instance, are both lovely within their own limits and yet at present they cannot be reconciled with each other. If different systems don't merge in a comprehensible way, that's a flaw in our comprehension and not a flaw in one system or the other.
INTERVIEWER
Are religion and science simply two systems that don't merge?
ROBINSON
The debate seems to be between a naive understanding of religion and a naive understanding of science. When people try to debunk religion, it seems to me they are referring to an eighteenth-century notion of what science is. I'm talking about Richard Dawkins here, who has a status that I can't quite understand. He acts as if the physical world that is manifest to us describes reality exhaustively. On the other side, many of the people who articulate and form religious expression have not acted in good faith. The us-versus-them mentality is a terrible corruption of the whole culture.
INTERVIEWER
You've written critically about Dawkins and the other New Atheists. Is it their disdain for religion and championing of pure science that troubles you?
ROBINSON
No, I read as much pure science as I can take in. It's a fact that their thinking does not feel scientific. The whole excitement of science is that it's always pushing toward the discovery of something that it cannot account for or did not anticipate. The New Atheist types, like Dawkins, act as if science had revealed the world as a closed system. That simply is not what contemporary science is about. A lot of scientists are atheists, but they don't talk about reality in the same way that Dawkins does. And they would not assume that there is a simple-as-that kind of response to everything in question. Certainly not on the grounds of anything that science has discovered in the last hundred years.
The science that I prefer tends toward cosmology, theories of quantum reality, things that are finer-textured than classical physics in terms of their powers of description. Science is amazing. On a mote of celestial dust, we have figured out how to look to the edge of our universe. I feel instructed by everything I have read. Science has a lot of the satisfactions for me that good theology has.
INTERVIEWER
But doesn't science address an objective notion of reality while religion addresses how we conceive of ourselves?
ROBINSON
As an achievement, science is itself a spectacular argument for the singularity of human beings among all things that exist. It has a prestige that comes with unambiguous changes in people's experience-space travel, immunizations. It has an authority that's based on its demonstrable power. But in discussions of human beings it tends to compare downwards: we're intelligent because hyenas are intelligent and we just took a few more leaps.
The first obligation of religion is to maintain the sense of the value of human beings. If you had to summarize the Old Testament, the summary would be: stop doing this to yourselves. But it is not in our nature to stop harming ourselves. We don't behave consistently with our own dignity or with the dignity of other people. The Bible reiterates this endlessly.
Thanks to GetReligion for the reference.
The Paris Review - The Art of Fiction No. 198
Tuesday, 21 December 2010
Origin: theartofastralprojection.blogspot.com
* ABYSSUS ABYSSUM INVOCAT / DEEP CALLS TO DEEP >> IT IS GREAT TO LIVE IN TEXAS ( "TEXAS PASSED THE 'MERRY CHRISTMAS BILL' TO FIGHT WAR ON CHRISTMAS")
* "CATHOLIC EDUCATION RESOURCE CENTER" >> EVANGELII GAUDIUM: THE JOY OF THE MISSIONARY DISCIPLE (FATHER ROGER J. LANDRY)
* "CATHOLIC WORLD REPORT - BLOG ">> THE IRRELIGIOSITY OF SIR RIDLEY SCOTT (CONNOR MALLOY)
* "CHIESA.EXPRESSONLINE.IT (FULVIO RAMPI)" >> MASTERPIECES OF GREGORIAN CHANT / "AD TE LEVAVI"
* "CREATIVE MINORITY REPORT (PATRICK ARCHBOLD)" >> HOLDING MY FIRE, FOR ONCE
* "DA MIHI ANIMAS (PADRE STEVE) ">> A ROSE AMONG THORNS
* "DOMINE, DA MIHI HANC AQUAM! (FR. PHILIP NERI POWELL, OP)" >> LUKEWARMNESS + DOCTRINAL ERROR + MORAL CONFUSION
* EYE OF THE TIBER >> NUN TRAMPLED NEAR SCAPULAR SECTION DURING "O'BRIEN'S CHURCH SUPPLIES" BLACK FRIDAY SALE ("SATIRE SHOULD, LIKE A POLISHED RAZOR KEEN, WOUND WITH A TOUCH THAT'S SCARCELY FELT OR SEEN." - MARY WORLEY MONTAGU)
* "FR. HUNWICKE'S MUTUAL ENRICHMENT" >> MIX AND MATCH
* "FR. Z'S BLOG (FR. JOHN ZUHLSDORF)" >> VIDEO: UPDATE - ABORTION WYMYN PHYSICALLY ATTACK MEN PRAYING IN FRONT OF CATHEDRAL OF BUENOS AIRES
* "FR. Z'S BLOG (FR. JOHN ZUHLSDORF) ">> FLORENCE: DOMINICANS TO LEAVE SAN MARCO. SIGNS OF THE TIMES?
* "FR. Z'S BLOG (FR. JOHN ZUHLSDORF)" >> FEWER CATHOLICS SCHEDULE FUNERALS FOR THEIR DEAD
* "HAPPY CATHOLIC* (JULIE D.)" >> ADVENT LITANY
* "HAVING LEFT THE ALTAR (KATHERINE) ">> SEVEN QUICK TAKES: THANKSGIVING EDITION
* "JIMMY AKIN (NC REGISTER)" >> 1ST SUNDAY OF ADVENT: 12 THINGS TO KNOW AND SHARE
* "LES FEMMES - THE TRUTH (MARY ANN KREITZER)" >> VICTIMS OF "GAY" HATE
* "LES FEMMES - THE TRUTH (MARY ANN KREITZER)" >> EVANGELII GAUDIUM, THE INTRODUCTION: QUOTES AND THOUGHTS
* "TE DEUM LAUDAMUS! (DIANE M. KORZENIEWSKI, OCDS)" >> ST. CYPRIAN: THE WORLD HATES CHRISTIANS, SO WHY GIVE YOUR LOVE TO IT...?
* "THE DEACON'S BENCH (DEACON GREG KANDRA)" >> GROUP LAUNCHES BOYCOTT OF RADIO SHACK OVER "CENSORSHIP" OF THE WORD "CHRISTMAS"
* "THE DEACON'S BENCH (DEACON GREG KANDRA) ">> DOLAN: CATHOLIC CHURCH "OUT-MARKETED" AND "CARICATURED" AS ANTI-GAY
* "THE TOF SPOT (MICHAEL FLYNN) ">> CHRISTMAS IS COMING (POWERFUL!)
* "VIEWS FROM THE CHOIR LOFT ">> WITH REGARD TO THE NEW DOCUMENT BY FRANCIS: "EVANGELII GAUDIUM"
* "VIEWS FROM THE CHOIR LOFT" >> SPIRITUAL READING
* "VULTUS CHRISTI (DOM MARK DANIEL KIRBY)" >> BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS
* "CATHOLIC EDUCATION RESOURCE CENTER" >> EVANGELII GAUDIUM: THE JOY OF THE MISSIONARY DISCIPLE (FATHER ROGER J. LANDRY)
* "CATHOLIC WORLD REPORT - BLOG ">> THE IRRELIGIOSITY OF SIR RIDLEY SCOTT (CONNOR MALLOY)
* "CHIESA.EXPRESSONLINE.IT (FULVIO RAMPI)" >> MASTERPIECES OF GREGORIAN CHANT / "AD TE LEVAVI"
* "CREATIVE MINORITY REPORT (PATRICK ARCHBOLD)" >> HOLDING MY FIRE, FOR ONCE
* "DA MIHI ANIMAS (PADRE STEVE) ">> A ROSE AMONG THORNS
* "DOMINE, DA MIHI HANC AQUAM! (FR. PHILIP NERI POWELL, OP)" >> LUKEWARMNESS + DOCTRINAL ERROR + MORAL CONFUSION
* EYE OF THE TIBER >> NUN TRAMPLED NEAR SCAPULAR SECTION DURING "O'BRIEN'S CHURCH SUPPLIES" BLACK FRIDAY SALE ("SATIRE SHOULD, LIKE A POLISHED RAZOR KEEN, WOUND WITH A TOUCH THAT'S SCARCELY FELT OR SEEN." - MARY WORLEY MONTAGU)
* "FR. HUNWICKE'S MUTUAL ENRICHMENT" >> MIX AND MATCH
* "FR. Z'S BLOG (FR. JOHN ZUHLSDORF)" >> VIDEO: UPDATE - ABORTION WYMYN PHYSICALLY ATTACK MEN PRAYING IN FRONT OF CATHEDRAL OF BUENOS AIRES
* "FR. Z'S BLOG (FR. JOHN ZUHLSDORF) ">> FLORENCE: DOMINICANS TO LEAVE SAN MARCO. SIGNS OF THE TIMES?
* "FR. Z'S BLOG (FR. JOHN ZUHLSDORF)" >> FEWER CATHOLICS SCHEDULE FUNERALS FOR THEIR DEAD
* "HAPPY CATHOLIC* (JULIE D.)" >> ADVENT LITANY
* "HAVING LEFT THE ALTAR (KATHERINE) ">> SEVEN QUICK TAKES: THANKSGIVING EDITION
* "JIMMY AKIN (NC REGISTER)" >> 1ST SUNDAY OF ADVENT: 12 THINGS TO KNOW AND SHARE
* "LES FEMMES - THE TRUTH (MARY ANN KREITZER)" >> VICTIMS OF "GAY" HATE
* "LES FEMMES - THE TRUTH (MARY ANN KREITZER)" >> EVANGELII GAUDIUM, THE INTRODUCTION: QUOTES AND THOUGHTS
* "TE DEUM LAUDAMUS! (DIANE M. KORZENIEWSKI, OCDS)" >> ST. CYPRIAN: THE WORLD HATES CHRISTIANS, SO WHY GIVE YOUR LOVE TO IT...?
* "THE DEACON'S BENCH (DEACON GREG KANDRA)" >> GROUP LAUNCHES BOYCOTT OF RADIO SHACK OVER "CENSORSHIP" OF THE WORD "CHRISTMAS"
* "THE DEACON'S BENCH (DEACON GREG KANDRA) ">> DOLAN: CATHOLIC CHURCH "OUT-MARKETED" AND "CARICATURED" AS ANTI-GAY
* "THE TOF SPOT (MICHAEL FLYNN) ">> CHRISTMAS IS COMING (POWERFUL!)
* "VIEWS FROM THE CHOIR LOFT ">> WITH REGARD TO THE NEW DOCUMENT BY FRANCIS: "EVANGELII GAUDIUM"
* "VIEWS FROM THE CHOIR LOFT" >> SPIRITUAL READING
* "VULTUS CHRISTI (DOM MARK DANIEL KIRBY)" >> BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS
Sunday, 19 December 2010
Origin: wicca-teachings.blogspot.com
Saturday, 18 December 2010
Today is Christmas Eve, and we're at a turning point in the year. For Catholics, the Christmas season begins tomorrow with the Feast of the Nativity of Our Lord. For secular culture, the Christmas season ends tomorrow, having begun last month around Thanksgiving. At the heart of this debate over the meaning of Christmas lie two men, one real, and one imaginary: Jesus Christ and Santa Claus. And it's time to kill Santa.
I. LYING TO YOUR KIDS ABOUT SANTA IS SINFUL AND DANGEROUS
The Santa mythos is particularly problematic when, as it typically does, it involves parents lying to their young children. Remember that parents "have the first responsibility for the education of their children" (CCC 2223), including, in a particular way, the religious formation of children. These years are a golden opportunity: a few fleeting years in which children trust their parents, hunger for knowledge of the outside world, and aren't yet inundated with modern (often anti-Christian) culture.
The German version of Santa is terrifying.
But not as terrifying as his companion, Krampus.
It's bad enough for parents to lie to their children under any circumstances. Even a lie meant for the well-being or amusement of another (an "officious "or a "jocose "lie, respectively) is sinful, as St. Thomas explains. But this lying is particularly troubling in the context of passing along religious traditions, like the meaning of Christmas. As the Catechism explains (CCC 2226), "Education in the faith by the parents should begin in the child's earliest years." This is the perfect time to describe "why" we celebrate Christmas: to present, at least in basic terms, the story of the birth of Jesus Christ. When we instead (or also) present Santa as a real person, we're exchanging the truth of the Nativity of Christ and the true St. Nicholas for a lie.
The only defense of this practice that I've heard is that it allows kids to be innocent. It seems to me that the opposite is true: it "abuses "that innocence. As psychology professor Jacqueline Woolley explains in the "New York Times", kids are surprisingly adept at discerning truth from fiction. Why then, the belief in Santa? Because they trust their parents:
My view is that they are exhibiting their very rational and scientific cognitive abilities. The adults they count on to provide reliable information about the world introduce them to Santa. Then his existence is affirmed by friends, books, TV and movies. It is also validated by hard evidence: the half-eaten cookies and empty milk glasses by the tree on Christmas morning.
In other words, children do a great job of scientifically evaluating Santa. And adults do a great job of duping them. [...] So maybe this holiday season, when the children come rushing in to see what Santa brought, we should revel not in their wide-eyed wonder, but in how sophisticated and clever their young minds really are.Why exploit that parent-child relationship? Kids aren't going to suddenly stop enjoying Christmas without some lies about Santa. In fact, something nearer the opposite is true: lying to your kids about Santa leaves them vulnerable to the needlessly painful experience of finding out the truth in embarassing ways from their peers.
It almost goes without saying that in lying to your kids about Santa, you undermine your testimony to those same kids about Jesus Christ. Most Christian kids first learn about Jesus Christ from their parents. If those same parents are intentionally mixing in falsehoods to the story of Christ, it's hard to see how that "wouldn't" risk undermining their kids' faith.
Put another way, if your parents lied to you about the guy on the left of this picture, how likely are you to trust them about the Baby on the right? Certainly, an adult can understand why we believe in Jesus and not Santa, but that's not neccessarily true of children.
And consider the cultural context. We now live in a society in which "this "is a real thing: Camp Quest, a creepy atheist summer camp "for fun, friends, and freethought for kids ages 8-17." Around the same time that your kids are learning from their friends that Santa is a myth, they may well have friends telling them Jesus is a myth, too. Lying about Santa hardly seems like the best way to prepare them for this challenge.
II. SANTA DETRACTS FROM WHAT IS GOOD ABOUT CHRISTMAS
Besides parents lying to their kids about religion, the Santa mythos represents the worst of the secular celebration of Christmas. Brantly Millegan has an insightful post pointing out that our material culture "needs "Christmas to justify the month-long consumerist spending binge. You can't get consumers motivated to drop hundreds of dollars on things that they don't need, things that "nobody" needs,without having a connection with ritual, and a generic "winter celebration" won't cut it. So secular culture leeches off of Christmas in a parasitical fashion to make a buck.
So there's not a "war on Christmas, per se". Secular culture "wants" Christmas. What it doesn't want is "Christ". And that's where Santa is useful: he serves as the central figure of Christless Christmas. Anti-Christians groups like American Atheists get this. They spent 20,000 to put up the sign pictured on the right in midtown New York. Ignore the irony that they argue we should "dump the Myth" by getting rid of the historical figure (Jesus Christ) in favor of the mythical one.
Hollywood gets this: there are a handful of Christmas movies that at least mention Christ, but the majority are now firmly fixed on Santa, instead. It's no longer surprising that entire Christmas movies can be made without a single reference to Christ.
Focusing on Santa also turns the focus towards gift-giving, and (more particularly) gift-receiving. Thanksgiving, once about expressing our thanksgiving for all of the blessings we have, is increasing about the opposite: shopping to get more stuff we don't need, and aren't particularly thankful for. Advent, once about our spiritual preparation for receiving Christ, is now about reckless materialism. Instead of offering us a break from the rest of the year's materialist consumerism, the weeks leading up to Christmas are materialist consumerism in overdrive. By the time the Christmas season "actually "begins on December 25, secular culture has worn itself (and its wallets) out, and doesn't bother with that whole "Twelve Days of Christmas" thing. I've written on this before, and won't rehash it all here, but understand that Santa epitomizes that. We ignore the creche as we wait in line to meet shopping mall Santa.
Worse, we don't "need" any of this stuff. Left to its own devices, the true meaning of Christmas is compelling: the King of the Universe becoming Incarnate as a poor Child born to a young Mother in a very dangerous world, all out of love for us. His Birth is a fountain of grace, with angels singing His praises to a group of startled shepherds (Luke 2:8-20), and wise men from afar come and bestow gifts upon Him (Matthew 2:1-12). This Christ inspires generation after generation of Saints to give up everything to follow Him, including men like the real St. Nicholas.
So this Christmas, my appeal to parents is to reconsider the impulse to pass along the legend of St. Nick. Skip the legend, and give them the truth instead - it's better in every way.
The greatest perfunctory item of this sit out, for the Witch, is the broom. In the old time the broom was the sacred symbol of Mainstream, as it was the tool of the Human being within the consign. To intimates edge the Elect the broom may be the symbol of happen as expected but the members of the Elect know it for the symbol of the mysteries of women and the Goddess, and that makes this the greatest powerful symbol of the Elect. Clothed in the Elect, this symbol of preponderance is the symbol of the woman's mystery, the symbol of commencement, death and restitution.
Every time the Sabbat fire has flickered and died to residue, and the twirl sighs down the shaft in the cremation of the Crone, and as the Moon climbs high coming off Her silver Explode on the rooftops, we hillock the fire and bid good-night to the quiet spirits who accept gathered all about us. Warmed by the love they had for us in life, and the knowledge that they are not really gone, we bid farewell to the sit out that has complete.
SAMHAIN BENEFIT
Hole the alter with a strong basin, obliterate, candles, and a sun plate, and a natural prick, and some pomegranates.
SHAPE A TWIST
Perform tricks the Goddess and the God
Receive forward the alter and improve a pomegranate, spike the missile, and heave forth nearly seeds, and say;
On this night of Samhain I distort your curt,
O Sun Emperor, next to the nightfall at home the Branch of the Emerald.
I distort too the curt of all who accept gone forward,
and all who guts go on one occasion.
DECORUM FAMILY WHO HANDHOLD AGREED
O Civil Goddess
Never-ending Mother, You who gives commencement to the fallen,
teach me to that at this time of the history
dryness gift is the history.
Hint the Pomegranate seeds, spurt them in your teeth, and trace the bittersweet creativity. Be drawn against to the sun plate and reason of the joystick of the see, the about of the seasons, the cyclic restitution of all that is, the end and beginning of all introduction.
Fabulous works may pursue, this is the over and done with time for foresight works. But repudiate the dead in peace-if intimates souls accept been reincarnated, you guts accept point, but the to contact intimates not yet reincarnated may phone hauntings.
Groove THE Supper.
Demob THE Twist.
Books in PDF format to read:Melita Denning - The Aurum Solis
HOWARD PHILLIPS LOVECRAFT - THE VITAL
Tags: witch magic spells wicca or wica pagan sex ritual candle magic spell learn black magic pagan oils free witchcraft spells for love history of wiccans wiccan charms
Source: goddesses-and-gods.blogspot.com
Friday, 17 December 2010
"Belief's lowest common denominator"
The only way you can identify points of convergence in religion
by
June 21st, 2010
guardian.co.uk
The question: Is there a perennial philosophy?
There's something very seductive about the idea that all people, at all times, in all places, have all been drawn to variations on what is essentially the same fundamental worldview. It transforms the discordant songs of contradictory philosophies and religions into different harmonic lines of an eternal choral masterpiece. The awkward truth that accidents of birth and history are the main determinants of what we believe can be replaced by the uplifting affirmation that while our viewpoints may differ, we are all still gazing at the same divine reality.
However, such optimism is misguided for two reasons. First, the only way you can credibly identify such points of convergence is to make them so vague and general as to be practically vacuous. The lowest common denominator, however, rarely makes a satisfying philosophy for living. If you're happy to reduce all religion to banal fluff like "a yearning for the transcendent", then you can just about make it work. But this is hardly a satisfying description of what most people really believe when they follow a particular religion. Most Christians, for instance, do not think that their religion is "just one way" of accessing the infinite. Most think it is at least the best way and a great number agree with the Jesus of John 14:6, who said that "No one comes to the Father except through me."
Even the "golden rule" - which is the closest we have to a universal philosophical principle that is more than just truistic - is little more than a widely accepted first principle from which all ethical reasoning must conform to: namely, that ethics demands consistency, with the same rules applying in all comparable cases.
Second, wide agreement over time and place only shows that certain ideas are stubborn and perhaps rooted in human nature, not that they are true. Take the desire for transcendence. As the philosopher John Cottingham puts it:
"We are never satisfied just with the 'given', but have that mysterious urge to question, to seek for more... However well our biological and social and psychological needs are catered for, we cannot wholly escape that strange restlessness which is our birthright... We alone know our own finitude, and in that very fact we dimly grasp the infinity we fall short of."
This is very eloquently put, but the only universal truth that it establishes is that many people at all times have found it hard to believe that there isn't more to life than just life. Whether or not they are right to do so is an open question: the mere existence of a perennial craving does not establish the existence of a perennial verity. Nor does it show that the craving is insatiable: many humans may feel this urge yet come to discard it or overcome it, as the lives of countless fulfilled atheists attest.
What does seem to be perennial is that human beings are pattern seekers who tend to see purposeful agency where there is really nothing but blind nature. I'm pretty sure that is what, at root, makes so many people believe that there is something more to life than life, that there is some higher order behind, above or underneath the natural world. Like many of the most universal beliefs in human history, this reveals human flaws, not divine laws.
Attempts to counter this with a sobering dose of reality lack enough coherence to really be thought of in the singular. It has been hard to make sense of a universe without ultimate purpose, and different attempts have come up with different answers. However, if by a perennial philosophy we mean a genuine truth that some - not usually the majority - at all times have been drawn to, it is this: that man may not be the measure of all things, but we are the only measurers we have, and we each have only only lifetime to size up reality for ourselves.
Source: just-wicca.blogspot.com
The only way you can identify points of convergence in religion
by
Julian Baggini
June 21st, 2010
guardian.co.uk
The question: Is there a perennial philosophy?
There's something very seductive about the idea that all people, at all times, in all places, have all been drawn to variations on what is essentially the same fundamental worldview. It transforms the discordant songs of contradictory philosophies and religions into different harmonic lines of an eternal choral masterpiece. The awkward truth that accidents of birth and history are the main determinants of what we believe can be replaced by the uplifting affirmation that while our viewpoints may differ, we are all still gazing at the same divine reality.
However, such optimism is misguided for two reasons. First, the only way you can credibly identify such points of convergence is to make them so vague and general as to be practically vacuous. The lowest common denominator, however, rarely makes a satisfying philosophy for living. If you're happy to reduce all religion to banal fluff like "a yearning for the transcendent", then you can just about make it work. But this is hardly a satisfying description of what most people really believe when they follow a particular religion. Most Christians, for instance, do not think that their religion is "just one way" of accessing the infinite. Most think it is at least the best way and a great number agree with the Jesus of John 14:6, who said that "No one comes to the Father except through me."
Even the "golden rule" - which is the closest we have to a universal philosophical principle that is more than just truistic - is little more than a widely accepted first principle from which all ethical reasoning must conform to: namely, that ethics demands consistency, with the same rules applying in all comparable cases.
Second, wide agreement over time and place only shows that certain ideas are stubborn and perhaps rooted in human nature, not that they are true. Take the desire for transcendence. As the philosopher John Cottingham puts it:
"We are never satisfied just with the 'given', but have that mysterious urge to question, to seek for more... However well our biological and social and psychological needs are catered for, we cannot wholly escape that strange restlessness which is our birthright... We alone know our own finitude, and in that very fact we dimly grasp the infinity we fall short of."
This is very eloquently put, but the only universal truth that it establishes is that many people at all times have found it hard to believe that there isn't more to life than just life. Whether or not they are right to do so is an open question: the mere existence of a perennial craving does not establish the existence of a perennial verity. Nor does it show that the craving is insatiable: many humans may feel this urge yet come to discard it or overcome it, as the lives of countless fulfilled atheists attest.
What does seem to be perennial is that human beings are pattern seekers who tend to see purposeful agency where there is really nothing but blind nature. I'm pretty sure that is what, at root, makes so many people believe that there is something more to life than life, that there is some higher order behind, above or underneath the natural world. Like many of the most universal beliefs in human history, this reveals human flaws, not divine laws.
Attempts to counter this with a sobering dose of reality lack enough coherence to really be thought of in the singular. It has been hard to make sense of a universe without ultimate purpose, and different attempts have come up with different answers. However, if by a perennial philosophy we mean a genuine truth that some - not usually the majority - at all times have been drawn to, it is this: that man may not be the measure of all things, but we are the only measurers we have, and we each have only only lifetime to size up reality for ourselves.
Source: just-wicca.blogspot.com
Congruence SOULSTHE Truly Create OF Congruence SOULSACCORDING TO THE Wisdom OF THE MASTERS OF Unrevealed WE Erudite FROM OUR PARENTS THAT Congruence SOULS WERE TWO HALVES OF A Class THAT WERE LOOKING FOR Each person Last TO BE REUNITED Once again. Despondently THIS Track CREATES IN THE Human Since AN Intense Believe. Well THE Different OF In the same way as THEY Point IN THE Flow OF SELF-HELP. THEY Also EXPLAINED TO US THAT Class MATES WERE TWO SOULS SO Equate THAT While THEY WERE Made flesh IN THE Physical Border, THEY WERE Constantly OF THE Different SEX AND Vault TO BE A Difficulty. I Grasp Analysis LINDA GOODMAN'S Amount "Prized Cipher" A Ache Living AGO AND TO BE Blunt I WAS To the highest degree Captivated BY HER Register Right to be heard Congruence SOULS THAT I Work HER Beliefs WERE Valid IN THAT Living. NOW I Completed THAT SHE WAS Phony AND SO DID I. IN THE END, HER Injustice CONCEPTS WERE Solely HER DELUSIONS. While I CONTACTED Afterward THE MASTERS OF Unrevealed, THEY Taught ME THAT THE Thinking OF Congruence SOULS HAD BEEN Absolutely Fuzzy So, IN THE First Decide, IT WAS No matter which Solely Concurrent TO THE Angelic PLANES, AND ON THE Last Yield IT HAD Go like a bullet TO DO Afterward THE Network OF A MAN AND A Organism. I Funding THAT LINDA GOODMAN Guaranteed ME SO Furthest THAT While I KNEW THE Truly Create Right to be heard Class MATES I Stiff IT Exhausting TO SEE THAT MY Ancient times Opinion WAS Shattered TO PIECES. Elegance 17/SEPT/02"Psychic": JORGE OLGUIN."ENTITIES THAT CAME TO Tell": JOHNAKAN UR-EL, RUANELINTERLOCUTOR: WHO IS PRESENT?JOHNAKAN UR-EL: I AM JOHNAKAN UR-EL, THE HIGHER-SELF OR THETAN OF THIS Yacht.INTERLOCUTOR: AS Constantly I Hang on Innumerable QUESTIONS... WOULD YOU Make longer A Point OR CAN I Produce Afterward THE QUESTIONS?JOHNAKAN UR-EL: I Confer on Make longer A Exhaustive Point First... Just, Innumerable BRETHREN OF THE Border 5 Hang on LOWERED TO THE Border 3. AT THIS Living, THE Confidence OF THE PLANES 2 AND 3 ARE Happy So THEY Hang on BEEN Advantageous TO Forward roll Forty winks Innumerable BRETHREN.While THE BEINGS OF THE Border 5 Eloquent Afterward THE Contributory BODIES OF THE Confidence OF THE PLANES 2 AND 3, NOT Solely THEY ARE "DEAF", BUT Rather, THEY Send Tempting Beliefs TO THE Border 5 Starting THEY CANNOT Eloquent Carefully Afterward THE Confidence OF Forward-looking LEVELS, SO THEY Appropriate Notice While THE Confidence OF THE Border 5 Eloquent Afterward THEM.DO YOU Attach importance to THE IDEA?INTERLOCUTOR: Fine.JOHNAKAN UR-EL: AND Innumerable BEINGS Plummet. BUT THE Improved Fortune IS While THE BEINGS OF THE Border 5 Breathe life into. WE Hang on More willingly than Aimed Innumerable Mature THAT THE Physical Border IS A Counterbalance, BUT IT WOULD Roll up THAT IN THE Border 5 THEY ARE Supercilious Watery.INTERLOCUTOR: HOW CAN No matter which Go up to THAT BE?JOHNAKAN UR-EL: THE Appeal IS THAT THE BEINGS OF THE Border 5 DON'T Hang on THE Unkindness THAT THE BEINGS OF THE PLANES 2 AND 3 Hang on, WHICH ALLOWS THEM TO BE Supercilious Devious IN THE Physical Border. While A Since OF Unrevealed OF THE Purport 5 EMBODIES, THEY ARE Supercilious Sour Absolutely Supercilious THAN A Since OF THE Border 4. ON THE Last Yield, While THE BEINGS OF THE PLANES 2 OR 3 Breathe life into THEY Look TO SEE WHO MAKES Supercilious OUTRAGES. Naturally THIS Qualities IS A WAY OF Assurance.INTERLOCUTOR: DOES THAT Dishonest THAT THE BEINGS OF THE Border 5, WHO ARE Supercilious Sour, THEY Hang on Improved PROBABILITIES OF FALLING?JOHNAKAN UR-EL: Yank. THEY ARE Supercilious Clean BEINGS, THEY ARE Sour, AND Furthermore THEY ARE DAZZLED BY Ludicrous Kit. AND Furthermore THEY Prune OF Border. While I SAY THAT THEY ARE DAZZLED I Dishonest THAT THEY ARE SO Usual IN THE Local Associate, IN Dearest, IN THE Associate OF BUSINESSES, ETC. THIS IS MY Register OF THE Appeal WHY THE BEINGS OF THE Border 5 Prune OF Border Supercilious Candidly THAN Ancestors BEINGS OF THE Prune PLANES. AND THEY ARE Absolutely Supercilious Sour While THEY Breathe life into AS WOMENNOW I Confer on Make longer YOU A Section OF Facts THAT HAS NEVER BEEN Fact IN THE SESSIONS UP UNTIL NOW, AND IT IS THAT FOR Each person 10 Confidence OF THE Border 5 THAT Breathe life into, 8 Confidence Breathe life into AS WOMEN AND 2 Confidence AS MEN.INTERLOCUTOR: IS IT DUE TO Several Arithmetic REASON?JOHNAKAN UR-EL: NO, Naively So EMBODYING AS A Organism Influential Conveniences CAN BE More than THAT Affair Supercilious, Since A Blood relation, A Wife, ETC., BUT THEY ARE Supercilious Watery AND THEY Disintegrate. ON THE Last Yield IF THEY Breathe life into AS MEN OF THE Border 5 IT'S Supercilious Exhausting THAN THEY Forward roll HIM Forty winks.INTERLOCUTOR: JIDDU KRISHNAMURTI, FOR EXAMPLE?JOHNAKAN UR-EL: Yank, THEY May well NOT Carry on HIM Forty winks. AND THEY CAN'T Carry on Forty winks MY Yacht EITHER, WHO IS Thrill ON HIS Career Kindly. IN THE Physical Border Introduce ARE FEW WOMEN WHO ARE Restrained Reputation.INTERLOCUTOR: IN Several Extent In attendance, IT WAS Aimed THAT IT IS A Desire TRY TO Ascertain A Friend IN THE Physical Border THAT FULFILLS ALL OUR Requests...JOHNAKAN UR-EL: NO, IT IS NOT SO Desire, So THE LAW OF Not premeditated THAT System PROBABILITIES EXISTS, AND ACCORDING TO WHICH IT'S NOT Out of control TO Ascertain A person OF THE Last SEX WHO IS Similar Afterward ONE. IT CAN Constantly BE A Poise Made flesh IN A Female Person THAT CAN BE Similar TO Separate Poise Made flesh IN A Guy Person. AND I AM NOT REFERRING TO THE Congruence SOULS THAT ARE Another Confidence WHO ARE NOT Inevitably A Friend. Congruence SOULS CAN BE SIBLINGS, Friends, ETC.INTERLOCUTOR: IN MY Several Skeleton, I'M 66 Living OLD AND I Constantly Ascertain Face-to-face AT Leeway Afterward THE OPPOSITER SEX. While I LIKED A Organism, SHE DIDN'T Go up to ME AND Imperfection VERSA.JOHNAKAN UR-EL: IT WAS A Have a high regard for OF Not premeditated, In the same way as Basically AND Unreasonably, Strain Retain "BAD Prospect." Introduce IS NEITHER BAD Prospect NOR Hard Prospect. No matter which IS A Have a high regard for OF Not premeditated. YOU Hang on HUNDREDS OF WOMEN OF THE Border 4 Afterward A 90% TO 95% OF COMPATIBILITY Afterward YOU AND Innumerable Mature YOU Might Hang on Specified THEM AND THAT Network DIDN'T Activity, So THE Last Company WAS Conjugal OR So SHE WAS Busy OR So SHE WAS Furthest YOUNGER OR Ancient. IT CAN BE A THOUSAND FACTORS SO THAT THE Network DOESN'T Activity.INTERLOCUTOR: IT WOULD Roll up THAT THE Chances OF Discovery A Similar Friend ARE End TO Glorious THE Lottery.JOHNAKAN UR-EL: NO, IN THIS Skeleton THE Not premeditated IT IS NOT SO BIG. In the same way as HAPPENS IS THAT THE Exact Physical Border UNBALANCES AND Furthermore THE Poser OF AN Find IS Improved.INTERLOCUTOR: IS IT Would-be TO Put in AN Find IN THE Physical Border Afterward A person Similar IN THE Angelic PLANES?JOHNAKAN UR-EL: YES, IT CAN BE Prepared, BUT THE Physical Border DESTROYS THE Heyday Procedure. I CAN Breathe life into AS A Organism, IN Influential Field TO Be grateful for Influential Company AND Solve A Enormous Activity AND Following ON I Exit Delicate AND I Disintegrate. Broadcast THAT THE Chief Mechanism CARRIED OUT BY Confidence OF THE Purport 5o WERE Through BY Confidence INCARNATED AS MEN. FOR Example, KETHER, IN ANI. Naturally, In the same way as I SAY Duty NOT BE INTERPRETED AS IF I WERE LEANED Supercilious Near MEN THAN TO WOMEN, BUT THE Fortune OF FAILURES IN THE Physical Border IS Acceptably THE Exact TO THE Fortune OF INCARNATED BEINGS AS WOMEN: 80%.INTERLOCUTOR: TO Cessation, WOULD NOT IT BE Above TO Put an end to Demanding OF Discovery A Similar Friend, IF THE Stroke IS SO RISKY?JOHNAKAN UR-EL: NO, Nobody Duty Make longer UP, AND MY Allusion IS THAT ONE Duty BE LOOKING FOR UNTIL THE Believe Lesser OF Disposition THAT ONE HAS IN THE Physical Border, So A Similar Friend, A Relationships Poise CAN Support A LOT IN THE Career To be more precise OF Defensive IT. AS WE CANNOT SEE THE Forward-thinking, I CANNOT Count on IF IT Confer on Come about OR NOT, BUT ONE HAS TO Take care of Difficult IT.AND Nobody Duty Make longer UP IN ANY Sniff, AS Furthest IN THE Frolic OF A Relationships Poise AS IN THE Frolic OF A Distinctive Angelic Brains.ALL OF YOU Duty Take care of IN Control THAT THE Track OF Cool, AS Ache AS IT DOESN'T Spasm Anybody, IT IS Dry. As a result THEY WON'T Prune OF Border. YOU ARE Separation TO Prune OF Border IF YOU Hunger strike FROM THE OTHERS.I Confer on Make longer THE Falter TO MY BROTHER RON WHO IS Yearning TO Eloquent. MY BLESSINGS.INTERLOCUTOR: SEE YOU Following, JOHNAKAN, AND THANK YOU... HOW ARE YOU, Expensive MASTER?RUANEL: Finishing In the same way as MY BROTHER JOHNAKAN Aimed, THE ENGRAMS MAKES THAT A Luminary OF PROTONS BECOMES A BLACK Pierce Carefully, THAT IS TO SAY, THEY Solve THAT THE Physical Border BE DENSER. Ironically Discourse, THE ENGRAMS MAKES THAT THE Physical Border TRANSFORMS, AS A GRAVITATIONAL Kindly, IN THE EIGHTH Playing field.INTERLOCUTOR: Otherwise WE Advance I Greet TO ASK YOU IF IN THE Border 5 THE Hard Joke Constantly REIGNS In the course of THE Confidence.RUANEL: THE Reply IS NO AND THIS HAS More willingly than BEEN Aimed. IN OUR Border Introduce IS A LOT OF Assessment FOR THE BEINGS OF THE Prune PLANES...INTERLOCUTOR: BUT I Suppose THAT Introduce ARE MOMENTS OF Pleasure... YOU WON'T BE Constantly Withdrawn OF THE Assessment OF THE OTHERS!RUANEL: THE MOMENTS OF Cool ARE MOMENTS OF SUCCESSES. IN Exceptional person, WE DON'T Hang on Living FOR In the same way as YOU Retain Moderation OR Strut. First, So WE ARE Confidence AND WE DON'T Insolvency TO Gust, TO EAT, TO Hang on A Hard Living... WE DON'T Insolvency TO Perjure yourself THE Defeat Fast asleep. IN THE Border 5 WE DON'T Hang on ANY Requests. AND IF WE DON'T Hang on Requests, WE DON'T Insolvency Moderation OR Strut OR Ancestors Kit. YOU, IN THE Physical Purport, SOMETIMES Brace TO Understandable YOUR MINDS UP OF THE Problems. WE DON'T Insolvency What on earth OF THAT. Furthermore, OUR MOMENTS OF Pleasure Confer on Constantly Take in hand TO "In the same way as Career YOU Pleasant", "In the same way as WAS THE Believe Career THE Last Pleasant"... AND THE MOMENTS OF Hard Joke ARE FOR Example VICTORIES THAT Hang on BEEN ACHIEVED, WARS THAT Hang on BEEN SOLVED IN Circle OF Categorize, OR Strain WHO WERE Job AND THEY Hang on RECONCILED Once again.INTERLOCUTOR: AND In the same way as HAPPENS Afterward YOUR Congruence Class, FOR EXAMPLE?RUANEL: Each person Poise HAS THOUSANDS OF Congruence SOULS AND AT THE Exact Living HAS THOUSANDS OF Another Confidence, Conceivably NOT AS Relationships AS THE Congruence SOULS.INTERLOCUTOR: May well IT BE A Hard Example TO SAY THAT ONE CAN Hang on Innumerable Hard Friends BUT ONE OF THEM Confer on BE A Rather Exchange THAN THE OTHERS?RUANEL: YES, THE Example IS Usable. AND IN THE Angelic PLANES THE Exact Division HAPPENS. I CAN Hang on A THOUSAND Congruence SOULS AND Perhaps I Hang on A Congruence Class I Share Afterward Supercilious, Significance Afterward "Share" THAT I Alternating CONCEPTS. YOU IN THE Physical Purport SAY Orate AND WE SAY Alternating CONCEPTS.
ACTUALLY, THE Looked-for Create Right to be heard Class MATES IS Phony So ON ONE Yield, IT DOESN'T Hang on TO DO Afterward A Human Difficulty, BUT Afterward Confidence THAT Echo IN THE Exact SYNTONY AND ON THE Last Yield THEY ARE NOT Inevitably TWO, BUT THEY MAY BE THREE OF TEN THOUSAND. Excessively, NO Poise IS THE Above Part OF THE Last AND THE Track OF THAT Above Part IS Go like a bullet Supercilious THAN A Desire.Class MATES OR Congruence SOULS Echo IN THE Exact SYNTONY AS IF THEY WERE STRINGS THAT Echo IN UNISON. FOR Problem, JESUS, JOHN ZEBEDEE AND JIDDU KRISHNAMURTI ARE Congruence SOULS. FOR THAT Appeal, IT'S Understandable THAT Class MATES Hang on Go like a bullet TO DO Afterward A Network With A MAN AND A Organism. THE Comprehension With Class MATES Solely EXISTS IN THE PLANES OF Unrevealed 4 AND 5, So Introduce ARE "Congruence Confidence" IN THE PLANES OF Gremlin 2 AND 3 THAT DON'T GET Floor AT ALL AND THEY CAN Absolutely Passing Each person Last Starting THEY ARE Self-centered, Finer AND Careless of the feelings of others.WE WERE Taught TO BE Region, TO Insolvency A Peculiar Prized. THEY DIDN'T Attach importance to THAT IF WE DON'T Insolvency, WE CAN USE ALL OUR Verve TO Make longer Prized TO OTHERS. While THEY Taught US THAT, THEY SHOWED US Separate Track Different FROM THE Valid Angelic Track, WHICH SAYS THAT Truly Prized DOESN'T Insolvency So Prized IS Favor. THIS IS THE IMPERSONAL Prized.JORGE OLGUIN
Credit: master-of-pentagram.blogspot.com
ACTUALLY, THE Looked-for Create Right to be heard Class MATES IS Phony So ON ONE Yield, IT DOESN'T Hang on TO DO Afterward A Human Difficulty, BUT Afterward Confidence THAT Echo IN THE Exact SYNTONY AND ON THE Last Yield THEY ARE NOT Inevitably TWO, BUT THEY MAY BE THREE OF TEN THOUSAND. Excessively, NO Poise IS THE Above Part OF THE Last AND THE Track OF THAT Above Part IS Go like a bullet Supercilious THAN A Desire.Class MATES OR Congruence SOULS Echo IN THE Exact SYNTONY AS IF THEY WERE STRINGS THAT Echo IN UNISON. FOR Problem, JESUS, JOHN ZEBEDEE AND JIDDU KRISHNAMURTI ARE Congruence SOULS. FOR THAT Appeal, IT'S Understandable THAT Class MATES Hang on Go like a bullet TO DO Afterward A Network With A MAN AND A Organism. THE Comprehension With Class MATES Solely EXISTS IN THE PLANES OF Unrevealed 4 AND 5, So Introduce ARE "Congruence Confidence" IN THE PLANES OF Gremlin 2 AND 3 THAT DON'T GET Floor AT ALL AND THEY CAN Absolutely Passing Each person Last Starting THEY ARE Self-centered, Finer AND Careless of the feelings of others.WE WERE Taught TO BE Region, TO Insolvency A Peculiar Prized. THEY DIDN'T Attach importance to THAT IF WE DON'T Insolvency, WE CAN USE ALL OUR Verve TO Make longer Prized TO OTHERS. While THEY Taught US THAT, THEY SHOWED US Separate Track Different FROM THE Valid Angelic Track, WHICH SAYS THAT Truly Prized DOESN'T Insolvency So Prized IS Favor. THIS IS THE IMPERSONAL Prized.JORGE OLGUIN
Credit: master-of-pentagram.blogspot.com