{"id":1389,"date":"2009-03-01T01:10:03","date_gmt":"2009-03-01T06:10:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/paganpages.org\/content\/?p=1386"},"modified":"2009-02-24T14:01:05","modified_gmt":"2009-02-24T19:01:05","slug":"pagan-theology-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/2009\/03\/01\/pagan-theology-7\/","title":{"rendered":"Pagan Theology"},"content":{"rendered":"

Politics <\/strong><\/p>\n

A really, really, long time ago the idea of Gods and Goddesses influencing how you ran your country was pretty popular.\u00a0 Particularly amongst the Roman emperors whom had themselves declared living Gods, or at least declared that they were descended from Gods.\u00a0 Then there is Aristotle\u2019s Republic, which is another Pagan attempt at thinking through political concepts from first principles.\u00a0 So why is there so little direct discussion of \u201cpolitical\u201d issues amongst the Pagan literature [1]?\u00a0 Is it because we all agree?\u00a0 If so, why, exactly, do we agree?\u00a0 Is there something we should agree on?<\/p>\n

Or is it that we simply don\u2019t want to exclude anyone who might feel differently?\u00a0 After all Paganism is a wide, big tent, one that includes everything from the more \u201cconservative [2]\u201d elements of some traditions to the relatively \u201cliberal\u201d gay, women\u2019s, and faery traditions.\u00a0\u00a0 It may be that in order to be Pagan we simply cannot identify a clear set of political principles and keep the tent as big as it should be.<\/p>\n

What an interesting thought.<\/p>\n

Or it could be we have little direct guidance on such things.\u00a0 After all we don\u2019t have a rulebook or encyclopedia of behaviors to choose from the way the book religions do.\u00a0\u00a0 Historically Pagan writings have been rather thin on the \u201csocial justice\u201d issues surrounding how we treat each other.\u00a0\u00a0 Other than issues of religious freedom, women\u2019s justice, and environmental stewardship only Starhawk and Reclaiming seem to have made a major push on the problem of social and political justice.\u00a0 On the other hand it could also be because we actually do agree on many of the \u201cmoral\u201d issues of our time, in the sense that we believe pretty much the opposite from what the \u201creligious right\u201d believes.<\/p>\n

Before we start to think about political philosophy in the context of Pagan theology, we need to make some important distinctions.\u00a0 Just like an onion or an ogre the question of the role of Paganism in politics has different layers.\u00a0 At the innermost layer, the one closest to the actual worship of the Gods and Goddesses lies the question of the role of polis, or the organization of people and power structures, in and on the Pagan religion.\u00a0 Can we even speak of \u201cpolitics\u201d in the context of our religious beliefs, given how disorganized and anarchistic we are?\u00a0\u00a0 At the next layer lies the question of how Pagan ethics and worldview inform practical actions in the world.\u00a0 What is the underlying linkage between our understanding of the world and the way we behave in the world?\u00a0 Finally, there is the question of whether any specific issues relate to those views.\u00a0 How do we relate to the various \u201cmoral\u201d issues that come up in things like elections?<\/p>\n

Obviously none of this will answer what we\u2019re supposed to believe, only what is consistent with some of the underlying principles.\u00a0\u00a0 We\u2019re not running any empires here (that was Bush\u2019s job), instead we\u2019re thinking about where our faith might take us when we live it in the world.<\/p>\n


\nThe Inner Work<\/strong><\/p>\n

Does it make sense to have a Pagan polis?\u00a0 In one sense it does, because it did at one time.\u00a0 For most of the pre-Christian era Paganism filled the role of the \u201ctraditional religion.\u201d\u00a0 After 2000 years of book religions it may seem like we never had much say in anything, living underground and in small covens, if that [3].\u00a0\u00a0 However in the past we were \u201cthe man.\u201d\u00a0 We were the organized religion of the time, and in most cases we were intimately entwined with politics, the state, and political power structures.\u00a0\u00a0 Think about it, at one time Paganism was the Catholic Church, Jerry Falwell, and George Bush all rolled into one religion.\u00a0\u00a0 If it sounds just as bad as what we have in some places today, it probably was.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s more, this tells us nothing about how our underlying beliefs entwine with the world of politics.\u00a0 Just as is the case with modern religions, when religion and politics mix the outcome is not usually a reflection of the underlying values and theology of the religion.\u00a0 Instead, what happens is that political and practical considerations often use religion as a cover-up for what they really want to do?\u00a0 Truthfully, if we looked into it, a lot of what went on during ancient times between religion and politics probably would not look very good in a modern context.<\/p>\n

Book religions, on the other hand, have it pretty easy when considering what to think about the world.\u00a0 They have explicit instructions, written down in manuals, about what they are supposed to do.\u00a0 These manuals describe a polis, a community of \u201cbrethren\u201d or like believers.\u00a0 It defines a hierarchy, and relationships between the communities.\u00a0 They also describe how to treat everyone, including outsiders.\u00a0 In particular the Christian gospels provide a compelling, and perhaps unique, tutorial on justice, caring, and how to behave in a radically good way toward other people.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Do we have such a compelling challenge?\u00a0 If so, what is it?<\/p>\n

Wait, what?\u00a0 The guy who holds forth that \u201cChristian Pagans\u201d is an oxymoron (\u201cChristian Witches\u201d is another thing entirely) is referring to Christianity as a standard for how to behave in the world.\u00a0 Well, yes, in terms of social justice, their underlying theology is pretty compelling.\u00a0 It just doesn\u2019t compel very many of them…<\/p>\n

At the same time I contend that, if you ignore all the trivial charges Christians can bring against Pagans, it is the lack of the clear and forceful articulation of a standard for justice, caring, and love found in the gospels that is the most effective criticism they can use against Paganism.\u00a0 They have the teachings of Jesus and we don\u2019t.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t matter for our thinking whether that they tend not to listen to them much.\u00a0 Social justice and our theology is a huge challenge from an ethical and \u201chow you live your life in the world\u201d standpoint.\u00a0\u00a0 Something we will need to address if we are going to have a thoughtful and mature theology.<\/p>\n

It is completely possible that there is no inherent tie between a Pagan belief system and the need to treat others with justice, fairness, and compassion [4].\u00a0 Instead it could either be that Paganism is neutral towards how we act in the world.\u00a0 This would leave us with only a humanistic approach toward the world, which in some ways is unsatisfying because it leaves such a central part of who we are divorced from or what we believe.\u00a0 Or Paganism could support a purely selfish, self-centered, worldview where everyone pursues their best interests, the strong survive and the weak perish.\u00a0 In this formulation there would be nothing compelling justice, caring, or selflessness.\u00a0 Rather it would be an entirely \u201cDarwinian\u201d system patterned after the competition and cooperation seen in nature.\u00a0\u00a0 While this tribal and harsh approach towards how the world works may be the most historically accurate in pre-Christian times, we have come a long way in our thoughts about behavior and justice since then.<\/p>\n

On the other hand we do have a starting place to start from.\u00a0 There are several different aspects of our theology that can provide a compelling set of guidelines for political belief.\u00a0\u00a0 I\u2019m only going to talk about two of them here, but I want to acknowledge that I am only choosing two of them.\u00a0 Other guides could include the genders of the Gods and Goddess, and the cycles of the world.<\/p>\n

First, if the Gods and Goddesses are real, and we experience them in the world, then we and the world are in themselves divine.\u00a0 Second, the divine world, and the way we experience it, act together to produce the magical intuitive experience of wonder.\u00a0 Our \u201cblessing\u201d is the wonder we feel as we experience and interact with the world, and the divine.\u00a0 So what do we have?\u00a0 We have the Gods and Goddesses as real entities that exist and we interact with.\u00a0 We have a divine world.\u00a0 We have the blessings of our wondrous experiences of magic and the divine.<\/p>\n

We should be able to make something from those two pieces of our belief:\u00a0 the divine world, and the role of magic.
\nThe Middle Lands<\/strong><\/p>\n

Who are we?\u00a0 This was one of the questions Jesus was asking when he started his movement.\u00a0 His answer was, \u201cwe are part of the kingdom of god.\u201d\u00a0 Discounting the historical context within which he preached, the \u201ckingdom of god\u201d is essentially a utopian vision of what life would look like were everyone to accept the radical proposition of a loving god that wanted us to treat each other with the inherent respect due his children [5].\u00a0\u00a0 Ok, this, for us, is relatively meaningless, but the idea is an inherently good one:\u00a0 how should we behave if the Gods and Goddesses exist?<\/p>\n

In keeping with my generally existentialist view of the divine, I would say the fact we know that the Gods and Goddesses exist is a radical proposition for us Pagans.\u00a0 If the Gods and Goddesses exist what exactly should we do?\u00a0 If the Gods and Goddesses bring magic, wonder, and mystery into the world, then what should we do?<\/p>\n

So, if we believe this, then what should we do?\u00a0 I\u2019d break the \u201cwhat to do\u201d problem into the following general principles [6]:<\/p>\n

All things that act in the world are reflections of the divine, we should honor them, respect them, and value them for what they are, not what we wish to impose on them.\u00a0 If the world is divine then other people have that same reflection, that same complexity of good and evil that the Gods and Goddesses have.\u00a0 It is not up to us to judge them, or to try and force them to do or believe the way we do.\u00a0 Instead our goal should be to work with them in a way that honors both the divine within us as well as the Gods and Goddesses.\u00a0 This requires a considerable maturity in order to see that the multiplicity in behaviors and attitudes and personalities that we see in the Gods and Goddesses are also present in other people.<\/p>\n

In some ways this requires what I would call \u201cradical acceptance.\u201d\u00a0 It requires us to accept the diversity and multiplicity of people, interests, goals, and attitudes in the world.\u00a0 While it does not require us to agree with everyone and get along with everyone, remember the Gods and Goddesses don\u2019t either, it does require us to understand that the other person\u2019s perspective is \u201cright\u201d just as much as our own, that their personality is \u201cright\u201d just as much as our own, and that their actions have as much worthiness as our own.<\/p>\n

Ok, but what if people do bad things?\u00a0 Shouldn\u2019t we punish them?\u00a0 In the Christian theology acts of \u201csin\u201d require forgiveness.\u00a0 Jesus spoke of a radical type of forgiveness, something that seems to be forgotten by some of his more ardent followers.\u00a0 However I\u2019d say that \u201cforgiveness\u201d is not an inherently Pagan concept, in the sense that there is a historical and theological association in Christianity between what the \u201cfather\u201d (i.e. god) does and what his followers should do.\u00a0 He forgives us therefore we should forgive also.\u00a0 Since we don\u2019t have that legacy from our Gods and Goddesses (some do forgive, some, not so much) I would argue that acceptance takes the place of forgiveness in how we deal with bad behavior.<\/p>\n

Instead of turning the other cheek, and forgiving, as in the Christian sense, our relationships with the Gods and Goddesses produce an intuition within us that all types of behavior go into making us, and other people, into who we are.\u00a0 We acknowledge the misbehavior, but we also realize that it is only an out manifestation of an inner problem, an alienation from the Gods and Goddesses and magical wonder of the world.\u00a0 We don\u2019t have to condone it, but we don\u2019t condemn the behavior either.\u00a0 Instead we ask what elements of their (or our) inner selves that compel the behavior we find wrong.\u00a0 And then we apply the magical world to help heal that element which has gone awry.<\/p>\n

The other avenue of approach toward a Pagan polis is through the magical nature of the world.\u00a0 Here I am talking about the underlying wonder we feel and see as Pagans in the natural world.\u00a0 It is a magical place that fills us with an inner light and excitement.\u00a0 Our relationships with the world and the Gods and Goddesses provides a center of wonder that makes hard times less difficult, and allows us to have a richer way of being in the world.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not specifically talking about magical practices here, but instead of the underlying magical \u201cenergy [7],\u201d if you will, that we perceive running through the world, through each other, and contained within the Gods and Goddesses.\u00a0 That divine energy, or source, is a very different way of approaching problems in the world than almost any other religion.\u00a0 Instead of seeing the world as condemned, as evil, and as fallen, we see it, and life in general, as wonder-filled, peaceful, and uplifting.\u00a0 It is when we lose touch with and are prevented from seeing that light-filled aspect of the world, that we become alienated from the Gods, Goddesses and the world.\u00a0 That alienation is what we understand produces behavior that works against the world, other people, the Gods and Goddesses.\u00a0 Without a sense of the magical it becomes harder to sense the magical in others, and in the world.\u00a0 For Pagans alienation is not only distance from the Gods and Goddesses, but deadness to the magic in the world.<\/p>\n

Yes, this begins to articulate a theory of magic, with the underlying sense of wonder in the world being the basis for how magical belief affects us, and others.\u00a0\u00a0 It is a thread that I would like to explore further in future columns as it represents an alternative to either the naturalistic \u201cenergy\u201d based approaches toward magic, or the inner-based approaches of Crowley and others.<\/p>\n

The Outer Work <\/strong><\/p>\n

Then there are the specific issues of living every day Pagan life?\u00a0 After all,\u00a0 we are all well aware of the fact that it\u2019s not all fairies and butterflies as we skip hand in hand with the Gods and Goddesses through life.\u00a0 It mostly sucks, particularly when we\u2019re at work.\u00a0 Just watch the Office, or Mama\u2019s Boys, or any number of other reality shows.\u00a0 Or just watch your own life.\u00a0 While the world can make things difficult for us, there are other people out there that\u00a0 go a long way towards making it even a much harder, crueler, worse world than it needs to be.\u00a0 How do you translate belief into specific action?<\/p>\n

I believe that the two aspects of the divine world we have discussed above give us some guidance.\u00a0 Acceptance easily translates into a requirement to treat people as aspects of the divine no matter where or how we encounter them.\u00a0 It\u2019s easy to see that from acceptance we can arrive at a political theory requiring us to the GBLT community no differently from anyone else.\u00a0 It may become harder when you have to practice acceptance of your fundamentalist relatives.<\/p>\n

But the acceptance I\u2019m talking about goes further; in many ways it is the same as the Christian imperative to \u201clove your neighbor as yourself.\u201d\u00a0 Instead our acceptance of the multiplicity of the world means that we love everyone and everything regardless of ourselves, and regardless of their behavior.\u00a0 The Gods and Goddesses call on us to see within the other what they show to us themselves:\u00a0 the being that calls us to love that exists behind the imperfections.<\/p>\n

By extension all of this loving and seeing and divinity means that we must act in the world in a way that is consistent with the values we place on others, and on the world.\u00a0 Practically this means helping both the least among us, through service, charity, and love, as well as the greatest among us.\u00a0 Because everyone has various traits that mask their inner divinity, the less fortunate may not have time or ability to see deeply into the universe, while the most fortunate may have wrapped their inner divinity in self-indulgence, lies, and poorly considered actions.\u00a0 They all need us to see them through the lens of the Gods and Goddesses, and to act toward them in a way consistent with the divine elements we know are in them.<\/p>\n

What saves us, and allows us to have great impact in the world, is modeling our magical approach toward life.\u00a0 If we truly see the magical aspects of the world, then we are satisfied in a deep way with those experiences.\u00a0 Our ambition is to see more of the magical, not ego, self, or control.\u00a0 This smallness of vision, a vision that looks into the world not out of it and out of ourselves, can ground us and provide peace.\u00a0 We are \u201csmall\u201d in that we look into the world, into nature, and into ourselves for the force we need to love and accept others.\u00a0 Our vision is not eschatological, it does not force us to look to the future or somewhere else for that love, rather it places it in the \u201chere\u201d and \u201cnow.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those who see us as calm, balanced, and deeply happy will associate that with the Pagan path.\u00a0 They will realize the depth of perception we have within the world.\u00a0 It is not necessary to introduce the Pagan religion directly into the polis, rather it is through our behavior and modeling that the greatest effects will come about.<\/p>\n

Fundamentally the Gods and Goddesses and magical world call us toward a quiet, colorful, and wonder-filled life, one that is radically distinct from the aggressive, needy, and stuffy way in which the book religions have organized things.\u00a0 This, more than anything else, represents a radical challenge to the status quo, to the existing \u201cpolis.\u201d\u00a0 It also holds the greatest promise, a promise of a world driven not by progress toward an uncertain and potentially catastrophic future, but one that looks toward the wonder of what we have and respects the eternal cycles.\u00a0 One that looks to what we\u2019ve got, where we are, instead of what we don\u2019t have, and where we\u2019re going.<\/p>\n

[1]\u00a0 Starhawk is an obvious contra-example to what I\u2019m talking about here, but in many ways she stands out because she is the exception.\u00a0 She is a strong advocate for social and ecological justice.\u00a0 But it seems like most political advocacy within the Pagan movement centers around either environmental issues, or religious freedom.\u00a0 While both of those are important, it leaves open the question of social justice and other issues that only tangentially touch our overall faith, i.e. issues of governance, rights, and responsibilities.\u00a0 Those are what I\u2019m trying to talk about here.\u00a0 So by \u201cpolitics\u201d I mean the commonly understood idea of governance by vote, and the issues that come up as part of it.\u00a0 By \u201cpolis\u201d I mean something more abstract, or the underlying relationship between our religion and action in the world.\u00a0 By \u201csocial justice\u201d I mean the common sense usage of the term, how we treat the least in society, regardless of their location or affiliation.<\/p>\n

[2]\u00a0 I was going to say \u201cNorse and tribal\u201d traditions, but then I realized that even the word \u201cconservative\u201d has many different meanings within the Pagan traditions.\u00a0 It can mean \u201ctraditional\u201d in the reconstructionist sense, or it could mean rural\/fam-trad and from the land, or it could mean tribal and clannish, or it could mean politically conservative.\u00a0 Since I don\u2019t really know what I mean, I\u2019ll just have to leave it open!\u00a0 In saying some are liberal and some are conservative, I\u2019m opening myself up to the criticism that others are not.\u00a0 This is the challenge of talking about political views in such a diverse path.<\/p>\n

[3]\u00a0 Lets just assume something survived if nothing more than the Troubadours, Arthurian legends, and a romantic ideal of pre-Christian aesthetics.<\/p>\n

[4]\u00a0 And I would contend that would be a bad thing for Paganism.<\/p>\n

[5]\u00a0 I use this piece of Christianity as a foil because I believe it is inherently worthwhile, much of the other, guilt inducing, nonsense was larded on in subsequent explanations of what Jesus really meant by the apostles and the church.<\/p>\n

[6]\u00a0 These are not the only two possible divisions, and there are significant other elements toward an understanding of how we interact with the world.\u00a0 The next two I\u2019d add to the list would be the cyclic nature of the seasons as a metaphor for the cyclic nature of everything, as well as the binary dichotomy implicit in the male\/female.\u00a0 I don\u2019t include these, or many others, here simply for space reasons, and because I believe that this \u201cdivine world\u201d and \u201cmagical\u201d argument is relatively unique, while the cyclic and dichotomous concepts are relatively common and have been included elsewhere [ref Starhawk].<\/p>\n

[7]\u00a0 Being an engineer I totally hate the idea of calling this \u201cenergy\u201d but it will do until I come up with something better.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Politics A really, really, long time ago the idea of Gods and Goddesses influencing how you ran your country was pretty popular.\u00a0 Particularly amongst the Roman emperors whom had themselves declared living Gods, or at least declared that they were descended from Gods.\u00a0 Then there is Aristotle\u2019s Republic, which is another Pagan attempt at thinking through political concepts from first principles.\u00a0 So why is there so little direct discussion of \u201cpolitical\u201d issues amongst the Pagan literature [1]?\u00a0 Is it because we all agree?\u00a0 If so, why, exactly, do we agree?\u00a0 Is there something we should agree on? Or is it that we simply don\u2019t want to exclude anyone who might feel differently?\u00a0 After all Paganism is a wide, big tent, one that includes everything from the more \u201cconservative [2]\u201d elements of some traditions to the relatively \u201cliberal\u201d gay, women\u2019s, and faery traditions.\u00a0\u00a0 It may be that in order to be Pagan we simply cannot identify a clear set of political principles and keep the tent as big as it should be. What an interesting thought. Or it could be we have little direct guidance on such things.\u00a0 After all we don\u2019t have a rulebook or encyclopedia of behaviors to choose from the way the book religions do.\u00a0\u00a0 Historically Pagan writings have been rather thin on the \u201csocial justice\u201d issues surrounding how we treat each other.\u00a0\u00a0 Other than issues of religious freedom, women\u2019s justice, and environmental stewardship only Starhawk and Reclaiming seem to have made a major push on the problem of social and political justice.\u00a0 On the other hand it could also be because we actually do agree on many of the \u201cmoral\u201d issues of our time, in the sense that we believe pretty much the opposite from what the \u201creligious right\u201d believes. Before we start to think about political philosophy in the context of Pagan theology, we need to make some important distinctions.\u00a0 Just like an onion or an ogre the question of the role of Paganism in politics has different layers.\u00a0 At the innermost layer, the one closest to the actual worship of the Gods and Goddesses lies the question of the role of polis, or the organization of people and power structures, in and on the Pagan religion.\u00a0 Can we even speak of \u201cpolitics\u201d in the context of our religious beliefs, given how disorganized and anarchistic we are?\u00a0\u00a0 At the next layer lies the question of how Pagan ethics and worldview inform practical actions in the world.\u00a0 What is the underlying linkage between our understanding of the world and the way we behave in the world?\u00a0 Finally, there is the question of whether any specific issues relate to those views.\u00a0 How do we relate to the various \u201cmoral\u201d issues that come up in things like elections? Obviously none of this will answer what we\u2019re supposed to believe, only what is consistent with some of the underlying principles.\u00a0\u00a0 We\u2019re not running any empires here (that was Bush\u2019s job), instead we\u2019re thinking about where our faith might take us when we live it in the world. The Inner Work Does it make sense to have a Pagan polis?\u00a0 In one sense it does, because it did at one time.\u00a0 For most of the pre-Christian era Paganism filled the role of the \u201ctraditional religion.\u201d\u00a0 After 2000 years of book religions it may seem like we never had much say in anything, living underground and in small covens, if that [3].\u00a0\u00a0 However in the past we were \u201cthe man.\u201d\u00a0 We were the organized religion of the time, and in most cases we were intimately entwined with politics, the state, and political power structures.\u00a0\u00a0 Think about it, at one time Paganism was the Catholic Church, Jerry Falwell, and George Bush all rolled into one religion.\u00a0\u00a0 If it sounds just as bad as what we have in some places today, it probably was. What\u2019s more, this tells us nothing about how our underlying beliefs entwine with the world of politics.\u00a0 Just as is the case with modern religions, when religion and politics mix the outcome is not usually a reflection of the underlying values and theology of the religion.\u00a0 Instead, what happens is that political and practical considerations often use religion as a cover-up for what they really want to do?\u00a0 Truthfully, if we looked into it, a lot of what went on during ancient times between religion and politics probably would not look very good in a modern context. Book religions, on the other hand, have it pretty easy when considering what to think about the world.\u00a0 They have explicit instructions, written down in manuals, about what they are supposed to do.\u00a0 These manuals describe a polis, a community of \u201cbrethren\u201d or like believers.\u00a0 It defines a hierarchy, and relationships between the communities.\u00a0 They also describe how to treat everyone, including outsiders.\u00a0 In particular the Christian gospels provide a compelling, and perhaps unique, tutorial on justice, caring, and how to behave in a radically good way toward other people.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Do we have such a compelling challenge?\u00a0 If so, what is it? Wait, what?\u00a0 The guy who holds forth that \u201cChristian Pagans\u201d is an oxymoron (\u201cChristian Witches\u201d is another thing entirely) is referring to Christianity as a standard for how to behave in the world.\u00a0 Well, yes, in terms of social justice, their underlying theology is pretty compelling.\u00a0 It just doesn\u2019t compel very many of them… At the same time I contend that, if you ignore all the trivial charges Christians can bring against Pagans, it is the lack of the clear and forceful articulation of a standard for justice, caring, and love found in the gospels that is the most effective criticism they can use against Paganism.\u00a0 They have the teachings of Jesus and we don\u2019t.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t matter for our thinking whether that they tend not to listen to them much.\u00a0 Social justice and our theology is a huge challenge from an ethical and \u201chow you live your life in the world\u201d standpoint.\u00a0\u00a0 Something we will need to address if we are going to have a thoughtful and mature theology. It is completely possible that there is no inherent tie between a Pagan belief system and the need to treat others with justice, fairness, and compassion [4].\u00a0 Instead it could either be that Paganism is neutral towards how we act in the world.\u00a0 This would leave us with only a humanistic approach toward the world, which in some ways is unsatisfying because it leaves such a central part of who we are divorced from or what we believe.\u00a0 Or Paganism could support a purely selfish, self-centered, worldview where everyone pursues their best interests, the strong survive and the weak perish.\u00a0 In this formulation there would be nothing compelling justice, caring, or selflessness.\u00a0 Rather it would be an entirely \u201cDarwinian\u201d system patterned after the competition and cooperation seen in nature.\u00a0\u00a0 While this tribal and harsh approach towards how the world works may be the most historically accurate in pre-Christian times, we have come a long way in our thoughts about behavior and justice since then. On the other hand we do have a starting place to start from.\u00a0 There are several different aspects of our theology that can provide a compelling set of guidelines for political belief.\u00a0\u00a0 I\u2019m only going to talk about two of them here, but I want to acknowledge that I am only choosing two of them.\u00a0 Other guides could include the genders of the Gods and Goddess, and the cycles of the world. First, if the Gods and Goddesses are real, and we experience them in the world, then we and the world are in themselves divine.\u00a0 Second, the divine world, and the way we experience it, act together to produce the magical intuitive experience of wonder.\u00a0 Our \u201cblessing\u201d is the wonder we feel as we experience and interact with the world, and the divine.\u00a0 So what do we have?\u00a0 We have the Gods and Goddesses as real entities that exist and we interact with.\u00a0 We have a divine world.\u00a0 We have the blessings of our wondrous experiences of magic and the divine. We should be able to make something from those two pieces of our belief:\u00a0 the divine world, and the role of magic. The Middle Lands Who are we?\u00a0 This was one of the questions Jesus was asking when he started his movement.\u00a0 His answer was, \u201cwe are part of the kingdom of god.\u201d\u00a0 Discounting the historical context within which he preached, the \u201ckingdom of god\u201d is essentially a utopian vision of what life would look like were everyone to accept the radical proposition of a loving god that wanted us to treat each other with the inherent respect due his children [5].\u00a0\u00a0 Ok, this, for us, is relatively meaningless, but the idea is an inherently good one:\u00a0 how should we behave if the Gods and Goddesses exist? In keeping with my generally existentialist view of the divine, I would say the fact we know that the Gods and Goddesses exist is a radical proposition for us Pagans.\u00a0 If the Gods and Goddesses exist what exactly should we do?\u00a0 If the Gods and Goddesses bring magic, wonder, and mystery into the world, then what should we do? So, if we believe this, then what should we do?\u00a0 I\u2019d break the \u201cwhat to do\u201d problem into the following general principles [6]: All things that act in the world are reflections of the divine, we should honor them, respect them, and value them for what they are, not what we wish to impose on them.\u00a0 If the world is divine then other people have that same reflection, that same complexity of good and evil that the Gods and Goddesses have.\u00a0 It is not up to us to judge them, or to try and force them to do or believe the way we do.\u00a0 Instead our goal should be to work with them in a way that honors both the divine within us as well as the Gods and Goddesses.\u00a0 This requires a considerable maturity in order to see that the multiplicity in behaviors and attitudes and personalities that we see in the Gods and Goddesses are also present in other people. In some ways this requires what I would call \u201cradical acceptance.\u201d\u00a0 It requires us to accept the diversity and multiplicity of people, interests, goals, and attitudes in the world.\u00a0 While it does not require us to agree with everyone and get along with everyone, remember the Gods and Goddesses don\u2019t either, it does require us to understand that the other person\u2019s perspective is \u201cright\u201d just as much as our own, that their personality is \u201cright\u201d just as much as our own, and that their actions have as much worthiness as our own. Ok, but what if people do bad things?\u00a0 Shouldn\u2019t we punish them?\u00a0 In the Christian theology acts of \u201csin\u201d require forgiveness.\u00a0 Jesus spoke of a radical type of forgiveness, something that seems to be forgotten by some of his more ardent followers.\u00a0 However I\u2019d say that \u201cforgiveness\u201d is not an inherently Pagan concept, in the sense that there is a historical and theological association in Christianity between what the \u201cfather\u201d (i.e. god) does and what his followers should do.\u00a0 He forgives us therefore we should forgive also.\u00a0 Since we don\u2019t have that legacy from our Gods and Goddesses (some do forgive, some, not so much) I would argue that acceptance takes the place of forgiveness in how we deal with bad behavior. Instead of turning the other cheek, and forgiving, as in the Christian sense, our relationships with the Gods and Goddesses produce an intuition within us that all types of behavior go into making us, and other people, into who we are.\u00a0 We acknowledge the misbehavior, but we also realize that it is only an out manifestation of an inner problem, an alienation from the Gods and Goddesses and magical wonder of the world.\u00a0 We don\u2019t have to condone it, but we don\u2019t condemn the behavior either.\u00a0 Instead we ask what elements of their…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1389"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1389\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1394,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1389\/revisions\/1394"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}