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Posted: Tue Dec 18, 2007 12:57 pm
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Posted: Wed Dec 19, 2007 1:17 am
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Posted: Wed Dec 19, 2007 12:22 pm
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Posted: Wed Dec 19, 2007 1:06 pm
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Posted: Wed Dec 19, 2007 5:21 pm
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Posted: Wed Dec 19, 2007 10:52 pm
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Calypsophia monsterpigeon azrael the reaper um... I am not so sure this si supposed to be in this subforum. you are not really discussing anything or giving a philosophy....... dear azrael, i was just wondering if there were any and, if anybody replies that they are, i merely want to discuss the different views/branches of paganism. where else in the forums would such be appropriate? I mean questions about god and religion abound on this sub-forum. seems to make the most sense to me.
I suppose this is the right place......... srry..... i was a bit tired when I posted that.........
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Khalida Nyoka Vice Captain
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Posted: Wed Jan 02, 2008 11:15 am
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Posted: Sun Jan 20, 2008 7:43 am
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Mmmmmwell, myself, I suppose the closest thing I am is an amalgamation of Shinto and Zen Buddhist, with a little soupcon of Irish/Scotts Wiccan tossed on top.
What all that means is:
1) I believe that everything, not simply man, is ensouled/enspirited, and that under the right circumstances the spirit can be awakened. I've simply known too many machines that did things they ought not to have been able to do. For example, in high school I had an old Dodge Dart. One day it refused to start. I sat there trying to crank it till I was nearly frantic because I was late getting home and everyone had already left for the day. Abruptly the car started perfectly well and drove home without a hitch. Told my dad about it and he went out to see what was wrong.
Turned out there was a hole in the carburator big enough for him to put his little finger through without effort, and my dad wasn't a small man-- he was a little over six feet tall and reasonably muscular, having been a career Army man and then working as a carpenter after mustering out. Point is, the car should not have started at all. But it did, as if it felt my distress and wanted to help.
2) I believe in the Buddhist kharmic ideals: First, action really is happening -- it's not an illusion. Second, you really are responsible for your actions. There's no outside force like the stars or some good or evil being acting through you. When you're conscious, you're the one who decides what to do. Third, your actions have results -- you're not just writing on the water -- and those results can be good or bad depending on the quality of the intention behind the act.
3) I believe that there is a governing force/forces in the universe-- a Universal Source, if you will-- but it/they/he/she is a Teacher, not a Ruler. We are set on the path of enlightenment and whether or not we advance is up to us, though if the going gets too hard there are hands there waiting to help us through the rough points. Perhaps 'Parents' might be a good term as well.
But just as everyone of us is different, each path is a little different. My exact belief system (and the italics are intentional here) will not work for anyone else. If someone generally thinks what I'm saying makes sense, that's fine. But we must all find our own individual ways forward, really a lot like walking a path... you follow the general direction, but you're not going to be matching the exact steps the person in front of you made. I have no right to compel anyone to believe exactly what I believe. The very nature of our differences makes us all special and equally worthy of polite consideration. However, if we abuse that consideration, I reserve the right to stop listening.
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Posted: Wed Jan 23, 2008 3:06 pm
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Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2008 7:30 am
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Paganism (from Latin paganus, meaning "country dweller, rustic") is a term which, from a Western perspective, has come to connote a broad set of spiritual or cultic practices or beliefs of any folk religion, and of historical and contemporary polytheistic religions in particular.
The term can be defined broadly, to encompass the faith traditions outside the Abrahamic monotheistic group of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The group so defined includes many of the Eastern religions, Native American religions and mythologies and as well as non-Abrahamic ethnic religions in general. More narrow definitions will not include any of the world religions and restrict the term to local or rural currents not organized as civil religions. Characteristic of pagan traditions is the absence of proselytism and the presence of a living mythology which explains religious practice.[1]
The term "pagan" is a Christian adaptation of the "gentile" of Judaism, and as such has an inherent Christian or Abrahamic bias, and pejorative connotations among Westerners,[2] comparable to heathen, and infidel, mushrik and kafir (كافر) in Islam. For this reason, ethnologists avoid the term "paganism," with its uncertain and varied meanings, in referring to traditional or historic faiths, preferring more precise categories such as polytheism, shamanism, pantheism, or animism.
Since the later 20th century, "Pagan" or "Paganism" has become widely used as a self-designation by adherents of Neopaganism
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Posted: Fri May 30, 2008 2:41 pm
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Posted: Fri May 30, 2008 4:01 pm
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Posted: Tue Jun 17, 2008 12:50 pm
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