confession time for metatron...
i was reading Reverend Dale's journal, adayinthelife, and i came across this journal entry concerning a speech titled, _Ritual, Magick & How Pagans will Save the World,_ by Sam Webster, M.Div ©2004, which had originally been posted by cadmus.
sam webster, the author of this speech (given at Oberlin College in Ohio, on Sunday, Apr. 25, 2004, 7:30 pm - 9:00 pm), uses the term "Pagan" with an extremely utilitarian manner of which i am quite fond; but don't take my word for it... check out his essay, _Why I call Myself Pagan (for Macha, because she asked)_ ...i can only presume he's referring to M. Macha NightMare
perhaps the methods and effects which Sam Webster suggests are not unlike the original zeitgeist for fostering a pagan revival? whatever it was that Gerald Brosseau Gardner & Edward Alexander ('Aleister') Crowley were intending to do... they certainly weren't the only one's involved; but, i am going to go out on a limb here, and suggest that whatever the original intentions... the end result contributed to further the liberation of the mysteries, and their subsequent transformation as popular ritual (as an esoteric form must undergo some kind of metamorphosis when it is converted into an exoteric form, q.v. The Perennial Philosophy and An Integral Theory of Consciousness). i believe that sam webster briefly refers to this process as, "(Gerald Brosseau) Gardner moving ritual to the living room." (and somehow, i am reminded of a previous post, called, _Fay çe que Voudras,_ in which we discussed Rabelais, the Hell-Fire Club, Thelema, and the roots of Wicca)
i try not to get a knee-jerk reaction out of anything, for myself; but i recently noted that i had begun to develop an almost loathing for those fluffy, yet still fanatic sort of "Pagans." and i wondered if perhaps my disappoitment in them was not even worse than that which i reserved for Evangelical Fundamentalist Xtians... Pagans were supposed to know better, damnit!
i would like to believe that, when compared to the Vulgar Xtians for instance, that there is a significantly higher percentage of "Pagans" out there who have done some critical study concerning the roots of the rituals they are practicing...
but i don't know if that is really the case, anymore. not only have many "Pagans" i have met been overly influenced by watered-down New-Age versions of ancient traditions... many of the Xtians i have met recently are really doing their homework, whether from a progressive historical perspective, or by tapping into some kind of Mystical current... whether or not i agree with them, we can still be respectful of one another.
but i have always so wanted to educate those who remain (blissfully?) in ignorance... i must show patience, and just remember to forgive them, for they know not what they do, right? otherwise, why would they want to listen to me? i certainly don't want to be perceived as a pagan bully (i find it only mildly amusing that i discovered this site through a post made by tim_maroney ;~})>
and somehow, i am also reminded of a Z-Cluster diatribe called, _Why Chaos Magicians Are Such Assholes,_ by Max K, the Little Sister of the Order.
i admit that i have had a tendency towards a somewhat snobby academic view on the study of ancient traditions (more archaeological & anthropological in nature, than religious, per se). however, from a modern sociological perspective, i tend to believe that if people are following a particular path, then it must be doing something for them (sigh). so, i realize that i was playing the blame game, and i will endeavor to find ways to rise above such petty behaviour and be enlightened by my interactions with all beings.
and although i can certainly relate to many of the sentiments expressed in the speech by Sam Webster, i cannot entirely agree that western culture is without ritual. (05/05/04 addendum: although Sam has now clarified this item to me by explaing, "I see many things in our culture that have been called 'liminoid' or pseudo-ritual, like plays or movies or professional sports. But I don't consider them ritual as they are not intended to transform.") i don't want to be reduced to arguing semiotics, but i think that we have a melting pot of rituals, and what we have lost are the guidelines on how to celebrate their sacred nature. i would tend to agree with the stated concept of worship in its implementation as a worth-shaping tool. if i may paraphrase a conversation i had with my friend Shimi, the real problems in our modern culture have more to do with overstimulation and desensitization. many people aren't consciously aware of what their values are (beyond the base material ones), much less do they understand how values are created. these people haven't learned how to contexualize the information overload, so they are not able to behave ethically... nor do they care... they have no sense of compassion... no capacity to love. most of the masses are asleep and not even really dreaming their own dreams anymore... their souls are filled with the programs that advertising and marketing executives of the Capitalist Commodity Culture have designed... thus are created the hungry ghosts whose appetites will never be satiated, because they only crave illusions!
THEY are stealing our SLACK! (and who's fault is that?)
Don’t let THEM immanentize the eschaton!
i have also found a similar argument to Sam Webster's speech in this essay, _Chaos vs Thelema?,_ , by Alistair Livingstone, which argues for the use of magick as a r-evolutionary force! but Livingstone does acknowledge that the terms, "chaos" and "thelema" are probably too controversial for them to be able to transform the exoteric masses, and he suggests, "directing our Wills at and with the growing Green movement, so that rather than disappearing into a fog of 'good intentions,' it becomes a real and willed critique of consumer culture."
--
but this quote exemplifies something that i really like about Sam Webster's perspective:
` ` Ritualizing Pagans may embody an evolutionary leap, mostly at the level of consciousness, where we are sufficiently conscious of our ritualizing capacity to be able to continually create rituals 'de novio'.
...
` And due to the vast information resources we now have, and which no culture before us had, we take our lessons from every culture around us and use them, for better or worse, to compose our rites. No one else does this and I don’t think anyone else wants to. But we do. And the world needs us to. ' '
i have always enjoyed creative mythology, whether enacted through academia (Joyce, Jung, Campbell, Wilber, etc.), within popular culture (role-playing games, comics, tv/movies, et alia) or by more traditional ceremonial magick and the like.
and i really personally appreciate and reflect the focus on responsibility, compassion, and ephemeralization that are weaved through sam webster's work... through methods such as these, let us all Keep up The Great Work!
--
but again, we must be wary ("stay alert! trust no one! keep your laser handy!"):
...the revolution may be co-opted at any time in Temporary Autonomous Zones...
...maybe we can recapture our nomadic natures in Periodic Autonomous Zones...
...or perhaps we will eventually create Permanent Autonomous Zones...
--
PS
on a parallel note...
during rehearsals for my role as Nietzsche's Ghost for the play, Schopenhauer in Hell, i read an essay called, _Two Happenings: Reflections in a Nietzschean Mode,_ and i have been pondering this idea ever since:
` ` Don the mask of the outstanding individual, and you, too, could experience Burning Man as a transformative moment. A break with any possible meaning or value you have ever known, and thus a positive manifestation of your will to power, the first step toward a new creation. A desert creation. Perhaps an upside down desert creation. That figure painted blue, smeared with mud -- who knows? Übermensch? The living myth? The line of cavorting celebrants stretching off into the desert may well be the "rope stretched between animal and Übermensch" and over the abyss; an act of bizarre defiance. ' '
(addended 05/04/04 @ 16:44:56 & 05/05/04 @ 17:49:35)
sam webster, the author of this speech (given at Oberlin College in Ohio, on Sunday, Apr. 25, 2004, 7:30 pm - 9:00 pm), uses the term "Pagan" with an extremely utilitarian manner of which i am quite fond; but don't take my word for it... check out his essay, _Why I call Myself Pagan (for Macha, because she asked)_ ...i can only presume he's referring to M. Macha NightMare
perhaps the methods and effects which Sam Webster suggests are not unlike the original zeitgeist for fostering a pagan revival? whatever it was that Gerald Brosseau Gardner & Edward Alexander ('Aleister') Crowley were intending to do... they certainly weren't the only one's involved; but, i am going to go out on a limb here, and suggest that whatever the original intentions... the end result contributed to further the liberation of the mysteries, and their subsequent transformation as popular ritual (as an esoteric form must undergo some kind of metamorphosis when it is converted into an exoteric form, q.v. The Perennial Philosophy and An Integral Theory of Consciousness). i believe that sam webster briefly refers to this process as, "(Gerald Brosseau) Gardner moving ritual to the living room." (and somehow, i am reminded of a previous post, called, _Fay çe que Voudras,_ in which we discussed Rabelais, the Hell-Fire Club, Thelema, and the roots of Wicca)
i try not to get a knee-jerk reaction out of anything, for myself; but i recently noted that i had begun to develop an almost loathing for those fluffy, yet still fanatic sort of "Pagans." and i wondered if perhaps my disappoitment in them was not even worse than that which i reserved for Evangelical Fundamentalist Xtians... Pagans were supposed to know better, damnit!
i would like to believe that, when compared to the Vulgar Xtians for instance, that there is a significantly higher percentage of "Pagans" out there who have done some critical study concerning the roots of the rituals they are practicing...
but i don't know if that is really the case, anymore. not only have many "Pagans" i have met been overly influenced by watered-down New-Age versions of ancient traditions... many of the Xtians i have met recently are really doing their homework, whether from a progressive historical perspective, or by tapping into some kind of Mystical current... whether or not i agree with them, we can still be respectful of one another.
but i have always so wanted to educate those who remain (blissfully?) in ignorance... i must show patience, and just remember to forgive them, for they know not what they do, right? otherwise, why would they want to listen to me? i certainly don't want to be perceived as a pagan bully (i find it only mildly amusing that i discovered this site through a post made by tim_maroney ;~})>
and somehow, i am also reminded of a Z-Cluster diatribe called, _Why Chaos Magicians Are Such Assholes,_ by Max K, the Little Sister of the Order.
i admit that i have had a tendency towards a somewhat snobby academic view on the study of ancient traditions (more archaeological & anthropological in nature, than religious, per se). however, from a modern sociological perspective, i tend to believe that if people are following a particular path, then it must be doing something for them (sigh). so, i realize that i was playing the blame game, and i will endeavor to find ways to rise above such petty behaviour and be enlightened by my interactions with all beings.
and although i can certainly relate to many of the sentiments expressed in the speech by Sam Webster, i cannot entirely agree that western culture is without ritual. (05/05/04 addendum: although Sam has now clarified this item to me by explaing, "I see many things in our culture that have been called 'liminoid' or pseudo-ritual, like plays or movies or professional sports. But I don't consider them ritual as they are not intended to transform.") i don't want to be reduced to arguing semiotics, but i think that we have a melting pot of rituals, and what we have lost are the guidelines on how to celebrate their sacred nature. i would tend to agree with the stated concept of worship in its implementation as a worth-shaping tool. if i may paraphrase a conversation i had with my friend Shimi, the real problems in our modern culture have more to do with overstimulation and desensitization. many people aren't consciously aware of what their values are (beyond the base material ones), much less do they understand how values are created. these people haven't learned how to contexualize the information overload, so they are not able to behave ethically... nor do they care... they have no sense of compassion... no capacity to love. most of the masses are asleep and not even really dreaming their own dreams anymore... their souls are filled with the programs that advertising and marketing executives of the Capitalist Commodity Culture have designed... thus are created the hungry ghosts whose appetites will never be satiated, because they only crave illusions!
THEY are stealing our SLACK! (and who's fault is that?)
Don’t let THEM immanentize the eschaton!
i have also found a similar argument to Sam Webster's speech in this essay, _Chaos vs Thelema?,_ , by Alistair Livingstone, which argues for the use of magick as a r-evolutionary force! but Livingstone does acknowledge that the terms, "chaos" and "thelema" are probably too controversial for them to be able to transform the exoteric masses, and he suggests, "directing our Wills at and with the growing Green movement, so that rather than disappearing into a fog of 'good intentions,' it becomes a real and willed critique of consumer culture."
--
but this quote exemplifies something that i really like about Sam Webster's perspective:
` ` Ritualizing Pagans may embody an evolutionary leap, mostly at the level of consciousness, where we are sufficiently conscious of our ritualizing capacity to be able to continually create rituals 'de novio'.
...
` And due to the vast information resources we now have, and which no culture before us had, we take our lessons from every culture around us and use them, for better or worse, to compose our rites. No one else does this and I don’t think anyone else wants to. But we do. And the world needs us to. ' '
i have always enjoyed creative mythology, whether enacted through academia (Joyce, Jung, Campbell, Wilber, etc.), within popular culture (role-playing games, comics, tv/movies, et alia) or by more traditional ceremonial magick and the like.
and i really personally appreciate and reflect the focus on responsibility, compassion, and ephemeralization that are weaved through sam webster's work... through methods such as these, let us all Keep up The Great Work!
--
but again, we must be wary ("stay alert! trust no one! keep your laser handy!"):
...the revolution may be co-opted at any time in Temporary Autonomous Zones...
...maybe we can recapture our nomadic natures in Periodic Autonomous Zones...
...or perhaps we will eventually create Permanent Autonomous Zones...
--
PS
on a parallel note...
during rehearsals for my role as Nietzsche's Ghost for the play, Schopenhauer in Hell, i read an essay called, _Two Happenings: Reflections in a Nietzschean Mode,_ and i have been pondering this idea ever since:
` ` Don the mask of the outstanding individual, and you, too, could experience Burning Man as a transformative moment. A break with any possible meaning or value you have ever known, and thus a positive manifestation of your will to power, the first step toward a new creation. A desert creation. Perhaps an upside down desert creation. That figure painted blue, smeared with mud -- who knows? Übermensch? The living myth? The line of cavorting celebrants stretching off into the desert may well be the "rope stretched between animal and Übermensch" and over the abyss; an act of bizarre defiance. ' '
(addended 05/04/04 @ 16:44:56 & 05/05/04 @ 17:49:35)