Sometimes, you just gotta.
I think I made some good points and not so good points in yesterday's post. However, I knew I was bringing silverware into the cage.
It wasn't pretty. It may not have even be nice. However, when someone blasts one's dear friend and one of the kindest, gentlest humans I've ever met, I will take umbrage. So, I poked a badger with a spoon. Call me an ass if you like but that one was for Derek. I do give a fuck if his feelings get hurt.
9 comments:
To those who don't know any of the backstory, and read your blog for its content and not the high school drama behind it, that post looked a lot like ranting bigotry and not a calculated attempt to do -- something. But now that I know it was a passive-aggressive stab at someone for doing something you didn't like to someone else . . . I'm even more disappointed.
yup. I can see that point of view. On the other hand, I'm tired of watching RO go after good people with his tirades. Especially, when I recommended ROs blog to that person as an example to be learned from. So, I set him up and let him see the other side. I've worked very hard in my life to be the nice guy, with varying levels of success. However, very rarely do I play nice when good people get hammered by hot heads. When someone tells someone I care about, "I don't care if I hurt your feelings" I do not feel it necessary to consent to that with silence.
With that same perspective, you didn't consent to my post by being silent. You didn't like it and made that clear in an adult manner. I appreciate that.
RO has admitted to making several posts strictly to get my goat. I simply choose to play his same game. Apparently, he finds that to be unfair and you find it childish. In this case, I don't.
I can understand how readers of this space could be disappointed. I will have to live with that.
Though, I do feel I need to address the charge of ranting bigotry. I encountered Pan. Many folks call him the All-God. That certainly wasn't my perception and if someone or something told me he was, it would be perfectly acceptable to say the All God of what? Now, given that Pan can scare the crap out of me, I likely wouldn't ask him that!
To say that Jesus has aspects that rules over various sects of Christianity is a perfectly acceptable pagan viewpoint of any god. Brigid rules over certain aspects of neo-pagans. Oooh, big insult.
To say that Jesus is the most commercial viable god in the west is simply a statement of fact.
Being offended by the bombardment of Christians I see shelling me with their message, its our way or you get tortured forever, may be bigotry or justifiable outrage depending upon your point of view
You're exaggerating my wickedness to justify your cowardice.
Cowardice is saying or doing nothing when something must be said or done. I'm willing to take my lumps.
Hey, the next time the two of you decide to have a little disagreement, could you please leave my God out of it? If you don't like something RO said, why not complain about RO rather than Jesus?
Anonymous,
I have issues with Christianity. I've admitted it. However, as a magician, I'd ask the same question of any spirit that claimed another spirit was all that.
Let us say that some spirit told me Pan was the All God. I'd begin to ask questions. it may be very helpful to know why that spirit would say that thing. It may tell me a lot about the sphere where that spirit 'lives', for instance.
It is also helpful to know, as a magician, the societal influences that would led one to take such a statement at face value. Would someone from China do so? The more important question, is would someone that isn't indoctrinated by society at large into the Christian mindset get the same mileage from the challenge RO teaches?
A Christian would say yes. A magician would wonder about that. Faith and magick are intertwined but not synonymous.
However, saying that Christ has aspects that respond to varying sects of Christianity, isn't an insult from a pagan perspective. We have that view of our own gods. In fact, that is true of people too. I have a work aspect, a family aspect, a magician aspect. They all rule in different spheres. That isn't an insult either.
Saying that Christ is the most commercially successful god in the west, is simply factual. It doesn't say a thing about his teachings, only that more money is spent on him than any other god.
So, if you want me to speak the party line on Christ, you're going to be disappointed. If you expect me to stand by when someone crosses a line, you'll be disappointed. Though, I'd likely not use this forum in the same manner again.
I have a genuine question, here. I just realized that one of your primary approaches to magic is the GD approach. How can you have issue with Christianity and doing GD style magic, which is *full* of Christian images and ideas? I mean, the founder was called Christian Rosecross, fer cryin' out loud. How do you reconcile that with your issues, or do you see those issues as something the GD work is helping you work out? (BTW, at one point I had some issues with Christianity too -- probably not as strong as yours, or some people's, but still there. I got over them by forcing myself to interact with Christians and not push away the cognitive dissonance)
Patrick, excellent question! I will answer that in the blog proper sometime soon.
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