2009 Parliament of the World’s Religions

I thought this article in the Pagan Newswire was brilliant so I just had to post it here. It's exactly what I've been trying to get through these pentacle waving trendies for years:

In the world of Interfaith relations, where religions, faiths and traditions seek to find cooperation and peaceful coexistence, the labels and definitions and how they are used are important. Descriptions of faith practices are the way interfaith speakers share information that leads to greater understanding, and the clearer the language used, the better chance all parties will be able to find common ground. In this case, for a very long time Paganism has been defined by the Christian definition of any non-Abrahamic religion. This has been considered a derogatory term by many faiths, and seen as insult to many including members of Hinduism, Buddhism, Native and Indigenous faiths. They each desired that they be seen as an equal religion with their own title and definitions to be used. In this, by agreement, Paganism is not used to directly describe any faith simply because it is not Christian, Muslim, or Jewish. This agreement has allowed each faith attending to put aside the use of this word as a central description of their faith.

So the term Pagan itself is being redefined from this old Christian based definition. Part of the Teaching of Traditions series, created with the help of Pagan Trustees, describes Paganism as follows: “Paganism” is a collective term that most aptly defines Indigenous cultures of pre-Christian Europe, the Celtic and Germanic Tribes, The Balts, The Scandinavians, The Basques, The Slavs and many others.

The first Pagan presentation of the Parliament helped begin this change of identity and was called “People Call Us Pagans-The European Indigenous Traditions”, by PWR Trustees Angie Buchanan, Andras Arthen, and Phyllis Curott. The opening of the description is as follows: As the World confronts environmental devastation, we are beginning to appreciate the wisdom of Indigenous peoples who have lived thousands of years in sustainable harmony and spiritual connection with the Earth. After hundreds of years of suppression, most Westerners have forgotten that their ancestors once shared this wisdom as the Indigenous traditions of Europe. *

This concept of Paganism as being based deeply in European Indigenous Traditions has fascinated and found ground among American, European and Australian members of the Parliament. It helps move Paganism from being a New Religious Movement to an Indigenous tradition, and offers many more opportunities to reach out at the parliament.

As described by Andras Corban-Arthen most forms of modern Paganism can be described as part of the New Religious Movements as they were formed in the 20th century, yet there are several Pagan ethnic traditions that have survived Christianization. One such example is Romuva of Lithuania. It is these ethnic traditions that fit better into the description of Indigenous traditions, instead of New Religious Movements. It allows Pagans to be part of both New Religious Movements and also recognized as part of the Indigenous traditions. By accepting that Pagan Traditions are indigenous to Europe, then individuals must take another look and it presents them with a different paradigm of what Pagan stands for.

Further, Andras Corban-Arthen points out that Wicca, for example, cannot be seen as an indigenous Pagan faith practice and is instead a modern syncretic movement. Under this description Wicca therefore would not fall under the definition of Pagan, and would be squarely a New Religious Movement, while British Traditional Witchcraft could be considered a Pagan and Indigenous faith tradition.

This concept of redefining Paganism as Indigenous Faith Practices of Europe has been seen as a way to change perceptions. River Higginbotham, Author and Pagan, who has heard this definition for the first time at the Parliament, describes this change as one that will benefit many Pagans, and he accepts that most Pagans he knows draw on European traditions to form their own practices. This allows them grounding in culture, and this description has given them a better understanding of where their faith is coming from.

Angie Buchanan offers that recognition of Paganism as an extension of the faith practice of Indigenous European Religions gives modern Pagans grounding in their own traditions. This will help them find their own customs and rituals. This will discourage modern Pagans from raiding other Indigenous faiths rituals and practices, which is also known as Cultural Appropriation, which many Native Americans and other culturally based ceremonialists describe as a form of spiritual theft. By having Pagans focus on their own European roots, they can avoid creating situations that would aggravate cultural appropriation that harms interfaith efforts.

Linda Hart, Interfaith Liaison for Pagan Awareness Network of Australia, feels this is a good description for Paganism, and finds it useful for non-Pagans to understand. It is a useful tool in dealing with other indigenous faiths, which do not see themselves as Pagan. Instead this allows Pagans to share as fellow Earth-Based Spiritualists.

So we see that Paganism is beginning to be used to describe Indigenous European faiths, and that other practices by Indigenous people are being seen as part of a larger family of Earth-Based Spiritualists; That some forms of what we call Paganism are really independent of that term and are better described their own name under New Religious Movements.

In all cases, the definition that Pagans are those who practice a faith not covered by Christianity, Judaism, or Islam, should be discarded as politically and socially unacceptable. That we must look beyond a definition forced onto the world by missionaries as a way to divide us, and instead accept that each faith practice can and should be called by the name of their choice.

For many self-described Pagans, this is a different lens to view themselves with, and offers a chance to reexamine their faith as Pagans, Earth Spiritualists, New Religious Movements, or something else yet to come. It may be time to examine the entire Pagan movement under this new definition and allow it to evolve into more than simply one community; that understanding these differences and the labels they generate can allow us to interact more fully in a multi-religious and pluralistic Interfaith World, as shown at the Parliament of World’s Religions.

*PWR Program Handbook, 2009, pg.142-143

Örlog and the Joys of Bureaucracy

My mother took a stroke back in the heat of August, refusing to drink enough fluid. She always had that ugly habit of resisting my advice, tooth and nail. Of course, to further complicate things, my pleas to the village doctor's office for a paramedic, were not given all due urgency- and that despite my thorough description of the symptoms. At least the red cross came in due course and we rushed her off to the stroke unit. Thus doctors were able to dissolve the blood clot within ample time for a full recovery. However, given the old brain damage from the impact of a 20 meter fall in 1953 they decided against putting her into an artificial coma (as is procedure for the body to process the neurological effects of recovery)- rather, put her under heavy sedation and restraint for 24 hours with my brother's permission. He also confirmed the information I gave on her disabilities. The rest was pretty self-evident in the scans and her response to the treatment. Needless to say, the doctors had never seen anything like it. She made such a speedy recovery though, that they had trouble keeping her in bed, thus continued to sedate her. I had a job interview that day when they resolved to transfer her to the psychiatric hospital in Emmendingen some 40 kilometers away for the standard three to four weeks rehab. "We need you to go with her and talk to the staff there" they said. "Oh joy", I thought, as it was the hottest day of the year, and would undoubtly have to wing it to the train station on foot afterwards to make it back in time for my appointment. Indeed, what an arduous trip that was, and I had to keep watch over her as the ambulance driver had to wait 3/4 at the reception there for them to process her transfer forms. Fortunately the staff in the ward she was admitted to were friendly and most accomodating so I was able to get back to Lahr in time. Well, as if I didn't have enough trouble, that job interview turned out to be a come on. It was clear they had already picked their lot, but under quite different conditions than the agreement they made with the local "Kommunale Arbeitsförderung". Now I am familiar with the trick questions that time-share agencies use to profile their applicants, but this verged on the totally ridiculous. This girl couldn't have been older than 20, and went through her questions like an automaton fresh out of business school. She looked through my CV and said "Oh you're a Canadian" even though it clearly read "German" then comes out with- "where in Canada do you come from?" "Sorry", I replied politely, "but there is no one place in Canada that I come from, and I've been living in Germany now for 40 years". As I suspected, this was not the answer she wanted, rather, like most of these deluded Lahrers, take Canada for some promise land they can't imagine why anyone would leave. Just how do you explain to such twits that thanks to your mother coming from the east zone you've been treated like some stateless persona ungrata for years- not to mention all the secret government agencies that try to fuck you over for what you'll never know why. Then came the stupid question: "What would be your dream job?" I damn near fell out of my chair. This is a question you ask a young apprentice and not someone 55 with decades of professional trade experience. Others I talked to who the Komunale had also submitted, were in no way received like this and assured me they would have been just as gobsmacked by such impertinent questions. Through them I found out these buggers were lying about providing us a steady workplace without need of a car- rather, as I suspected, looking for temps they could send anywhere on the spur of the moment. "Springers" as is usually the case with such time-sharing outfits, and given the inadequate public transport where I lived, naturally ruled me out. So, in essence the interview was only insofar as to convince the Komunale that they "reviewed" all applicants. Nonetheless, my sympathy goes out to my classmate who did get hired by this lot. Everyone's suspicions were confirmed when Acromed phoned her up just two days before the end of the course, asking when she could come as they needed a springer. She is not a happy camper, to say the least, but better her than me.

Well, after getting all that behind me, I get this letter from the medical insurance asking about the alleged "accident" from which my mother sustained the head injuries and subsequent dementia. With it they included a standard form, for which the most part would have required a crystal ball to fill out. Heh, that all happened in Hameln back in 1953, a year before I was born. She scarcely has any recollection herself, rather, most of it I had to piece together from what her father and my father had told me over the years. She was working as a German state employee for the British stationed there. A job she got from her father, who was the town's employment director at the time. He was given the position as a rehabilitation for his 5 years incarceration in a nazi labour camp. At the time there were plenty of old nazis still malingering about, forever scheming to do away with the allied occupation in whatever devious little underhanded ways they could. Needless to say, they took it out on his daughter, with every intent of revenge. A mysterious phone call, luring her out to the gangway overlooking where the vehicles were being serviced. All she vaguely remembers was a forceful hand pushing her from behind as she looked down to see who was there. The town police had their suspicions and investigated the matter but could find no witnesses. It happened after hours and the building was empty.

After I filled out the form to the best of my knowledge and got my mother to sign it, I phoned the woman who sent the form and explained that if they want documentation they will either have to contact the civil archives in Hameln or Berlin. By all accounts records kept by the British forces stationed in Germany are also available in the Berlin archives and were meticulously kept. I just can't foot the cost of so much research. I guess that was enough, as I haven't heard from them since and all my requests have gone through without recourse. I have yet to locate the documents of my mother's involuntary service in the Luftwaffe. By all accounts, the Americans buggered off with all those records when the Soviets put up the Berlin wall and haven't returned them since. Frankly, it wouldn't surprise me if that was also party to my run-in with MK-Ultra. Just don't talk to me about örlog, I assure you I've had enough of it, thanks but no thanks.

Let the Leaves Fall

Well, I'm finally catching up with all that fell in arrears during that crash course in nursing aids. Not surprisingly the question remains, just what do I do with this qualification for what. Indeed, that's what my employment counsellor called me in to ask. The funny thing is, he was the one who sent me on that course. Ahh, gone are the days where administrations kept their people informed, but what the hell, what I learned that month is certainly practical in my circumstances at home. I'm also back on facebook, for what it's worth. Even in my absence the buggers swamped me with a total of 90 requests. After I blocked all the silly game apps, idiotic personality quizzes and worn out gift ideas I finally had it down to a manageable number. Of course, no sooner I accomplished that, the smaller forum of a friend went and crashed. Scheisse. Still, things on ning have settled down for a while and the gardening's almost done, so I've had time to reflect. What springs to mind was that last drama of Jan's and the burning of her own bridges. She was always crying wolf, trying to lobby us into the firing line of her jealous contentions. That same old game of playing both sides against the middle, as if we should feel some dire need to compete..but what's the point of explaining that to the god-fearingly pretentious? Either way, they're going to deny it. So Jan, save posting your flakey comments on Mojie's wall. We're just not buying it. That should have been obvious since we left. Although, I do occasionally enjoy refuelling their fears, it's rather like shooting fish in barrel whenever I don't feel up to much else. A real no-brainer.

Home Sweet Home

Coming back from Emmendingen today, we took the alternate route through my favourite part of the Rhine Valley. Pity I didn't have my camera with me, it was utterly beautiful. The blue Vosges against the golden hues of the slowly setting sun on the one side, and the lush green hills of the old volcano on the other. The vast expanse of field and forest as far as the eye could see. There's something about this place so deeply imbedded in ancestral memory. Indeed this was homeland of my predecessors so many generations ago. Always such a deep reaching experience everytime I pass through these parts. This was also Goethe's favourite haunt. Sigh...I think I will come through here again in the fall, with my camera of course. Somewhere I have some pictures I took from the Haut-Koenigsburg overlooking these parts. I must find them and post them once I have a little more time to spare...

Catchwords and Trick Questions

"Are Pagans racist?" Heh, now just what are we getting at here? First of all, anyone with a brain knows that there is no such a thing as "race"...in fact homo sapiens sapiens is a species. There are no actual subspecies within that group, rather some 66,000 years ago we nearly faced extinction, though its not quite clear yet as to the cause. I suspect this person probably means "bigot" but I have yet to see where in the animal kingdom there isn't some form of bigotry or another. It's just one of those aspects of natural selection in this thing we call evolution. We each discriminate according to personal preference. It is what makes us individual, thus, increases the survivability of the species through differentiation. All things must change in order to continue. It's the first fundamental law of existence. While over the last 10,000 years or so, we've tried to master this through various hierarchial social structures, for all it's vanity of success it starts to take too much for granted- easily losing sight of that fundamental first law. It becomes stratified, tokenized, values buried under ever more layers of burocracy, until not even the head hauncho is really sure what it all amounts to...and all the while financial reports are issued, that doesn't necessarily say what the commodity was really valued at by the one who did the actual trading. Indeed, survival knows no limit to the means of achieving an end. That is the second fundamental law of existence.

A system easily undermined by corruption is one that cannot survive- so the humans make laws and institutions with more burocracy. Why? because chopping off people's hands only makes them useless as labourers. Of course the wardens gladly accept bribes, thus distributing the wealth to the black-mailers and hired assassins wherever silence cannot be bought. Institutions become empires of ever more secret authority over the masses. The demands on the labour force increase as any concern for their welfare decreases. Expendibles, lackies, primitives scarcely in any position to truly appreciate the superior wisdom of their peers? Yep, that's usually the kind of arrogance that results. Divisions between haves and have nots. Inevitably farmers, craftsmen and proprietors can no longer get the sustenance to meet the impossible demands. The powers that be decide its time to go forth and conquer. As the lackies "have nothing better to do" they send them to do their battle. If their side wins, slaves will make up for the workforce losses.

Suddenly the climate changes, bringing flood, famine and disease. There is dissent, rebellion, looting and civil war. It is a sign of the gods to overthrow the oppressors and return to a humble life of virtue...so they think. Witches and heretics are hunted down and executed for the noble cause...and so the empire arises again. I could go on but I'm sure most of you get the picture by now. As for the others, you can take your piety, fold it five ways and shove it where no light shines. No matter what you profess to call it, it's still a sham. Just another lame excuse wanton of everything for nothing, or should that be nithing? A process of eliminating everything down to that sublime singular of one-size-fits-all. Take away the forces of resistance and what do you have? A black hole.

Yes, the Plot Sickens

Oooer, what's this I've been hearing from the ugly rumour gallery? That same old preaching of virtue to whitewash the obvious pathological lies. Did you really think your peons are so naive that they wouldn't notice all that overwhelming hypocracy? Ah but like any aspiring civil burocrat, you naturally assume the status quo actually grants you special authority beyond all public reproach let alone accountability. Heh, I've dealt with quite enough of your kind on all levels to know the difference all too well. No surprise just how decadent that whole system has become...oh but of course that's always the fault of the "non-players" who refuse to conform to such obvious double standards. Just the same you'd believe any old lie your cronies feed you, than ever consider that they're just playing along for their own want of secret authority...and all the while they tried to play me, I threw in a few alternate gestalts- that given the way they tried to exploit these, certainly revealed your ulterior motives beyond any reasonable doubt. Needless to say, it proved quite a classic case study in mob psychology- or as I put it to your nemesis:

I often wonder why some will say they despise something yet seem trapped in that strange paradox where they just can't seem to live without it. Were it not for WW, I would have pulled the pin right after seeing what a pigs ear that Hero charade tried to make of everything. It was plain to see who was all behind it, who they were trying to cover up for, and who they were trying to set up for what deluded premise of their own morbid fears. That in itself was grounds enough for me to realize that I was not dealing with a pagan interest group, rather, a bunch of playground psychotics from the armpit of industrial society trying to make a fashion statement out of their otherwise droll and utterly conventional domestic lives. People so indoctrinated with their supremist christian dogma, they've actually done little more than call it by another name. At that rate it wouldn't matter what we did or didn't do, they were clearly out to compromise us by virtue of anything that might justify their complicity. However, until MH got into the thick of it they didn't have the guts to say it, just sent us some vague email suggesting there was some kind of interforum conspiracy about...but I'm sure it was really all just a set up. The curious thing is Jan, everytime you went on one of your rampages, they pointed that finger at us. Now, why is that?...and why these rants only to go running back for more? Oh, I'm sure they only wish we'd conspire to get back on there, but the problem with that theory is they're so BORINGLY TEDIOUS we just don't have the time for it.

As for religious tolerance, it does not grant you some special right to demand piety towards your ideological convictions, no matter what your status quo. As long as you insist on crusading the "holier than thou", the angry undertones of rebellion should be of no surprise. Indeed we've seen that spectre all too often come in the guise of seeming political correctness. The question is, correct for whom and to what end?

Now having said that, I can think of better things to do elsewhere.

What Can Go Wrong With Your Path

1. You believe the Necronomicon is real and the evil Cthulhu is hiding under your kitchen sink.
2. You believe you've been hexed when the bus leaves without you.
3. You search your passport for secret signs of the Illuminati, the Rosicrucians, and the Brotherhood of the Great Pumpkin.
4. You wrap aluminum foil around your head so the aliens can't control your mind via satellite.
5. Whenever you are under stress, you fall into a trance and start raving in a lost language.
6. You keep greeting the postman with "Merry meet and blessed be".
7. You can't sleep at night because the ghost of the tenant before you keeps you awake with his parties and poker games.
8. Instead of getting an antivirus program, you perform a banishing ritual to drive out the negative energies.
9. Your cat is the reincarnation of Jean Paul Sartre and drives you crazy with the most depressing discussions on existentialism. To make matters worse, your canary is Albert Camus, and the two won't stop getting into an argument.
10. You are at a séance, and the medium says "this call will cost you $1.89 a minute".
11. You ask the driving instructor if you can do a class B flying license for a large besom.
12. The only ancestors who will have anything to do with you are Atilla the Hun and Elizabeth Bathory.
13. Ever since you've read the Book of Revelations, bad news only makes you ecstatic.
14. You are gripped by an ominous feeling upon discovering terrifying prophecies encrypted in the numbers of the local telephone directory.
15. After an NDE you carry a sword under your cloak and keep a watch out for other immortals.
16. Your telephone provider offers you a flatrate to Hell.
17. You think Eliphas Levi is the guy who invented your denims.
18. Your family has to chain you up and leave you a bowl of dogfood on a full moon.
19. You believe the spirit of Sleipnir is in your Fiat Panda.
20. You can read Alleister Crowley's handwriting because it's just like yours.
21. You're short with a massive beard, an affinity for red pointy hats, and can only sing "Hi-Ho".
22. At the video counter of a sex shop, you ask for the "Whore of Babylon".
23. On your first journey to the underworld you are stopped by a customs officer who asks for your visa, customs declaration, and how long you plan to stay.
24. You channel a Roman general named Cunillingus.
25. Your succubus is pregnant and suing you for child support.
26. You call on Dionysis and instead Frank Sinatra pitches up singing "New York, New York".
27. You buy a book on anatomy to look for your inner child.
28. You take out the central heating system and light a bonfire in the middle of the livingroom.