![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Welcome to my pagan filter. I don't expect I'll use it much, but here it is.
Had a conversation tonight that got the wheels turning. I wanted to talk to the person involved about this subject, but it seemed like more than ICQ could handle. Hense it has a presence here.
I don't believe in black versus white, or good versus evil. I believe that all things are relative. I believe in balance.
I'm sure that's not a unique perspective, but sometimes it feels like it. I know lots of people would love to do away with one "side" or the other. You've always got the "white lighters" who always talk about things like cleansing taint, or what have you. Likewise you've got the proponents of entropy or darkness or whatever label they like, and they like to be all about letting the world fall into shadow.
Me? I am perfectly content to let BOTH co-exist in the world. Without darkness, light blinds, and burns - nothing grows. Without light, darkness is likewise blind, and cold - sterile. It takes a balance of both to nuture existence.
It's an unpopular viewpoint with the "sides". The fanatics of light vs. dark generally believe their self-constructed conflict to be two sided - the "if you're not with us, you're against us" mentality. I propose that it's all a matter of perspective. There are those whose perspective allows for us third-party candidates - and usually feel the need to tell proponents of balance to Fuck Right Off, whether it be politely phrased or not.
Hooray for perspective. What one person percieves to be a demon is someone else's spirit guide is someone else's random inoffensive spirit. One person's leyline nexus is another person's vortex is another person's hellgate. All depends on the tint of your glasses, I guess.
And, quite frankly, it ticks me off when people go around doing things they have decided "must" be done. Like closing/opening gates. Or moving or messing with leylines (whether it be to "cleanse" them of "taint", or to "taint" them). People who think they should be acting as self-appointed Guardians of said things where they may have no right or need to. People who decide someplace needs to be cleansed, or otherwise change. People who banish spirits from wherever, with the justification they were "good", or "evil", or they didn't feel the spirits "belonged" there.
My mother taught me some things I have found relatively useful in the realm of things magical. Like If you don't know what something is, just leave it alone until you do. Don't touch it, don't move it - you can watch it, if you're careful, but ONLY if you're careful. The ever popular Use common sense - I know you have some. I heard If there's an easier way of doing something, do it that way - it might not be as cool, but it will still achieve the same end result occasionally. And my Dad always tossed in Never assume ANYTHING. for good measure.
Did other people not learn these things? I sometimes wonder if they consider whether these things might be there for a reason. I sometimes wonder if they're simply creating things for themselves to do, in an attempt to make themselves feel needed, or important ; inventing crises, crying "Doom!" all the time. I think this irritates me as deeply as anything else related to this concept of Balance - that it's somehow a game, a diversion from a perhaps lackluster reality.
That sense of irritation also extends through other things - balance is a belief of mine that extends through magic, through my faith, and through my mundane life. When people turn things I hold sacred into something more like a RPG, I tend to get a little snarly. And I KNOW I'm off-balance far too much in many ways. I certainly don't claim to be perfect.
It's tough to be a pagan, and be skeptical. I also find it's personally difficult to make myself clearly understood online - I seem to come off more abrasive and harsh than I really am. The lack of physical and empathic cues online are a hindrance to communication. I like to consider myself fairly aware and sensitive to the worlds around me, and I do sometimes feel places, people, or objects that seem very heavy or negative. I don't disbelieve that these places, people, and objects exist, which is always what I think people assume when I talk to them about not making snap judgements about these things.
I hope noone confuses me for a fence-sitter, though. I can and do make choices, take actions, and affect change where and when I see an need for it. Balance isn't always passive. It's never a sudden, random decision to act, either. I don't rush into anything. I don't do things "just because" - I think rushing in to anything is a good way to get a concussion. After taking a careful look at the situation, and thinking about the ripple effects my actions will have, I will either do something, or not. Either way, through my action or inaction, my choice will have an effect. I am also not afraid to assert my own need for a personal space.
Ok. I feel like I'm starting to get offtrack. Time to wrap up.
While there are zealots in the world for whatever cause they might espouse, there are just as many who take a less fundamental stance. Everyone's somewhere - it's a sliding scale. You're always going to have extremes, but they're not the whole picture.
Maybe I'm a zealot in my own right. Heh.
I accept that not everyone will share my opinions on the matter, and that people have the freedom to make their own choices regarding their actions. It doesn't mean, tho, that I can't hope that in some way their actions return to them, and thus impress upon them the need for responsibility. If you put something out of balance, in whatever realm, you'll get get knocked for a loop in return.
Ugh. Thinking hurts. Been too long, I guess. Time for bed.
-M.
Had a conversation tonight that got the wheels turning. I wanted to talk to the person involved about this subject, but it seemed like more than ICQ could handle. Hense it has a presence here.
I don't believe in black versus white, or good versus evil. I believe that all things are relative. I believe in balance.
I'm sure that's not a unique perspective, but sometimes it feels like it. I know lots of people would love to do away with one "side" or the other. You've always got the "white lighters" who always talk about things like cleansing taint, or what have you. Likewise you've got the proponents of entropy or darkness or whatever label they like, and they like to be all about letting the world fall into shadow.
Me? I am perfectly content to let BOTH co-exist in the world. Without darkness, light blinds, and burns - nothing grows. Without light, darkness is likewise blind, and cold - sterile. It takes a balance of both to nuture existence.
It's an unpopular viewpoint with the "sides". The fanatics of light vs. dark generally believe their self-constructed conflict to be two sided - the "if you're not with us, you're against us" mentality. I propose that it's all a matter of perspective. There are those whose perspective allows for us third-party candidates - and usually feel the need to tell proponents of balance to Fuck Right Off, whether it be politely phrased or not.
Hooray for perspective. What one person percieves to be a demon is someone else's spirit guide is someone else's random inoffensive spirit. One person's leyline nexus is another person's vortex is another person's hellgate. All depends on the tint of your glasses, I guess.
And, quite frankly, it ticks me off when people go around doing things they have decided "must" be done. Like closing/opening gates. Or moving or messing with leylines (whether it be to "cleanse" them of "taint", or to "taint" them). People who think they should be acting as self-appointed Guardians of said things where they may have no right or need to. People who decide someplace needs to be cleansed, or otherwise change. People who banish spirits from wherever, with the justification they were "good", or "evil", or they didn't feel the spirits "belonged" there.
My mother taught me some things I have found relatively useful in the realm of things magical. Like If you don't know what something is, just leave it alone until you do. Don't touch it, don't move it - you can watch it, if you're careful, but ONLY if you're careful. The ever popular Use common sense - I know you have some. I heard If there's an easier way of doing something, do it that way - it might not be as cool, but it will still achieve the same end result occasionally. And my Dad always tossed in Never assume ANYTHING. for good measure.
Did other people not learn these things? I sometimes wonder if they consider whether these things might be there for a reason. I sometimes wonder if they're simply creating things for themselves to do, in an attempt to make themselves feel needed, or important ; inventing crises, crying "Doom!" all the time. I think this irritates me as deeply as anything else related to this concept of Balance - that it's somehow a game, a diversion from a perhaps lackluster reality.
That sense of irritation also extends through other things - balance is a belief of mine that extends through magic, through my faith, and through my mundane life. When people turn things I hold sacred into something more like a RPG, I tend to get a little snarly. And I KNOW I'm off-balance far too much in many ways. I certainly don't claim to be perfect.
It's tough to be a pagan, and be skeptical. I also find it's personally difficult to make myself clearly understood online - I seem to come off more abrasive and harsh than I really am. The lack of physical and empathic cues online are a hindrance to communication. I like to consider myself fairly aware and sensitive to the worlds around me, and I do sometimes feel places, people, or objects that seem very heavy or negative. I don't disbelieve that these places, people, and objects exist, which is always what I think people assume when I talk to them about not making snap judgements about these things.
I hope noone confuses me for a fence-sitter, though. I can and do make choices, take actions, and affect change where and when I see an need for it. Balance isn't always passive. It's never a sudden, random decision to act, either. I don't rush into anything. I don't do things "just because" - I think rushing in to anything is a good way to get a concussion. After taking a careful look at the situation, and thinking about the ripple effects my actions will have, I will either do something, or not. Either way, through my action or inaction, my choice will have an effect. I am also not afraid to assert my own need for a personal space.
Ok. I feel like I'm starting to get offtrack. Time to wrap up.
While there are zealots in the world for whatever cause they might espouse, there are just as many who take a less fundamental stance. Everyone's somewhere - it's a sliding scale. You're always going to have extremes, but they're not the whole picture.
Maybe I'm a zealot in my own right. Heh.
I accept that not everyone will share my opinions on the matter, and that people have the freedom to make their own choices regarding their actions. It doesn't mean, tho, that I can't hope that in some way their actions return to them, and thus impress upon them the need for responsibility. If you put something out of balance, in whatever realm, you'll get get knocked for a loop in return.
Ugh. Thinking hurts. Been too long, I guess. Time for bed.
-M.
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif){kind=small}
