The Parliament: Seven

[yezida]

Tuesday’s Parliament was fantastic

Comments

Exoteric and Esoteric

[panshiva]

In a world where exoteric religiosity is largely pinioned to political and economic interests and organized by default cultural values, why do you find any of this interesting

Re: Exoteric and Esoteric

[alfrecht]

But, is there some value in these events at least from the viewpoint of having part of the group of attendees realizing, "Hey, pagans aren't evil at all!" and the like? Or finding that there are people in the major religions that don't subscribe to some of the more virulent streams of discourse about other religions?

Having organized some interfaith (and intrafaith) events in my time, actually getting one another to the point of respect and true understanding, rather than agreement and anyone else "converting" to someone else's viewpoint, has always been the goal, and has been achieved on occasion (sometimes better than others, and some people more poignantly than others).

Not that your critique isn't valid, but I just wonder, does everyone have to be one particular way in order for the world to be a better place?

Re: Exoteric and Esoteric

[panshiva]

Why play that game? Why not inflate there fear instead of deflate it by trying to normalize yourself. It's the same game as pagans saying to Christians "don't worry were not satanists" which is reactive and the logic of a slave instead of taking the proactive position....let me introduce you to the real lucifer...the one that us all love and all light."

[alfrecht]

Wow...So much wonderful stuff, and excellent dialogue...I truly envy you your experiences there.

Ainu and Zoroastrian religions are certainly lamentable lacunae in my overall religious knowledge, which I'd like to address (preferably sooner rather than later)--I at least know some basics, but I'd like to know more about both of them, most certainly.

One of the things that is interesting about the Shinto shrine up here is that it is VERY open to pagans, and in fact encourages them greatly to attend ceremonies, etc. As the guji of it is the first (and still one of the only) non-Japanese fully-recognized Shinto priests--from Southern California originally!--he has done a great deal to make Shinto accessible for non-Japanese folks, while still being 100% authentic and traditional, which is a tough line to balance. You might consider having him as an Elemental Castings guest at some stage as well...particularly for either Water or Spirit, I think

[alfrecht]

That was a fun occasion!

[psy]

On the Shinto vs. Ainu bit... Certainly that's likely. But there was a time when those cultures first came into contact and it was far from certain which one would decimate the other. Another question might be, did the Ainu borrow from the Shinto back then and that's why they're similar? Did modern pagans borrow from native american traditions? Certainly. Did native americans borrow their "Great Spirit" father god in the sky from the Christians? Maybe so. But then we blame that on the evil imperialist missionaries rather than calling it by the same terms we do when it's the other way around. We seem to prefer demonizing the victor and victimizing the loser, when much of that "cultural appropriation" predated there being a winner or a loser and went both ways. I love the questions of sociology and history. :)

It's been lovely reading your posts about this event. Sounds like a wonderful adventure for you, full of possibility.

[yezida]

i actually have some writing I want to do about the Great Spirit debate. But crappy internet and no time precludes this now.

Shinto

[brandywilliams]

http://www.tsubakishrine.org/... )