thread: 2005-08-09 : The New Open House 2: Religion
On 2005-08-26, Gordon wrote:
(Finally, I have the time to give this the attention it deserves.)
I was raised in a small episcopalian church that was an odd mix of tradition and modernity - significant parts of the mass were still said in Latin until the mid-80's, but women were . . . well, it may have been the late 80's before we had an actual female priest, but I had seen so many women in robes and such, reading from the bible, carrying wine and all that that I just assumed some portion of churches out there were presided over by women. And tolerence of other religions seemed to be an unquestioned, bedrock principle (with the fact that there was a conflict between that and things like the Nicene creed simply ignored).
I consider going to sunday school and etc. as a child to have been a good thing, though I can EASILY imagine it being pure (pardon the pun) hell in a more, uh, authoritarian environment. Still, as I grew up there was so much about church doctrine that didn't make sense (Ghandi is burning in hell? WTF?), I was left with a vague affection for that Jesus guy having said some cool stuff, but little or no "faith" in most senses of the word. Maybe there's a God out there, but a scientific mindset is just a more useful thing than worrying about the Creator/Creatrix from day to day.
Around '86 or so, I met a neat old guy who was into Celtic spiritualism. Or, well, he was into Celtic music, and I and some buddies were into Guinness and redheads, so our paths kept crossing at various bars and clubs. He was in his 60's, and could tell you all about the various myths and stories the bands were singing about or naming their songs for (which - gasp! - weren't always the same as what Deities and Demigods said). He'd also been a stage magician back in the UK.
He'd somehow managed to blend a complete and total understanding of the way us humans fool ourselves with the weirdest crystals-and-tarot New Age nonsense I had yet encountered. Before I moved out to CA (where I of course encounterd much less interesting crystals-and-tarot weirdness, but that's a different story), he invited me to join him in a little ceremony he put together, using meditation, a chunk of South American amber, and a neat looking quartz crystal of some sort ("what's Celtic about crystals and South American amber, Duncan?" "Nothing, kid - you think anyone knows what Celtic shaman did? I'm making this up. Now start meditatin' on that crystal.") At the conclusion, he gave me a box containing the amber and said I should wait a few years and open it.
When I did, years later, the box contained both the amber and the quartz crystal. Now, I'm under no illusions - the magician put one over on me. His skill kept me from noticing what he was up to - nothing "magical" about it.
But is also true that what prompted me to finally open the box was the news that Duncan had died, and somehow he gave me a gift from beyond the grave. There was a short note in the box, providing a bit of advise I found quite useful in that moment (also not a hard trick to pull), and . . . I felt him there with me. I don't mean literally - but that's the point. For him, that there was "literally" not a (for example) conection between what he did and "real" Celtic shamanism was an uninteresting side issue. That it helped him and his friends in their lives was all that mattered.
I can't get to that place, quite. My girlfriend has occasionally brought me to various Native American sweat lodges, fire walks - weird California shit, which mostly doesn't do anything for me. But every once and a while I can get into what I (unsurprisingly) consider the Duncan-mindset, and can experience a connection to - something. Myself, as I'd be at my best. Maybe.
Sometimes, I can think that that's what the Jesus-guy (and his various accomplices down the years) is doing - reaching out from beyond the grave to trick us into being better than we normally are. Prompting us to trick ourselves, for our own good.
The problem is, there's also the tricking yourself and others for absolutely no good - for power, or control, or self-righteousness, and many, many more reasons, few of them actually "good".
And I guess that'll have to do as a summary of my views. Glad to have finally gotten them into the thread,
Gordon
This makes CRN go "That was awesome."
I really enjoyed that. And I'm not joking when I say this was beautiful: " Or, well, he was into Celtic music, and I and some buddies were into Guinness and redheads, so our paths kept crossing at various bars and clubs."
This makes GcL go "Wow.Thanks."
I'm glad this is for short comments, cause past "wow thanks", I got nothin'.
This makes NinJ go "Excellent story, Gordon."
Spontaneous creation of ritual is a great Human thing to do. It's where you discover how much of the Universe is really Your Brain.
