A Revolutionary Concept --- Minding Your Own Path
Here's a rare (for me) contribution to the "General Discussions" category.
In my ten months on PS --- given all of its benefits and good points, which are many --- I've seen more inter-Pagan squabbling about the inherent validity of an(y given) individual's chosen path than I have in over fifteen years of formal practice.
Some of the debate concerning the finer points of closely related paths (for example, "Is it possible to self-initiate as a Wiccan?" or "Has Wicca become too commercialized?") are understandable, and can even be healthy in some regards.
However: Wiccans belittling Heathenism, Heathens belittling Ceremonial Magic, Ceremonial Magicians belittling Satanism, Satanists belittling Wicca --- wholesale and with no direct and intimate personal experience or knowledge of that path* --- this makes no sense to me whatsoever . . . Unless the critical party is somehow threatened by the existence of that path, or feels compelled to dismiss it outright to bolster their own self-concept, sense of authority, or feeling of authenticity.
This is not a call to feel-goodism, the abandonment of reason or healthy judgment, or some artificial or hypocritical form of inclusion or false egalitarianism. And, needless to say, if someone from Pagan Path "X" comes proselytizing to you --- all bets are off.
This is a question for anyone who cares to answer: What does anyone, as a Pagan (by whatever stretch of definition you choose to assign that term), stand to gain from the denigration or objective invalidation of another Pagan path in one's self-definition?
Would it not be essentially better to "mind one's own path" (using the self as a primary referent, rather than someone else)?
*Sorry --- books, FAQs, websites, and "a Circle you attended at a festival" do not constitute direct and intimate personal experience or knowledge.
In my ten months on PS --- given all of its benefits and good points, which are many --- I've seen more inter-Pagan squabbling about the inherent validity of an(y given) individual's chosen path than I have in over fifteen years of formal practice.
Some of the debate concerning the finer points of closely related paths (for example, "Is it possible to self-initiate as a Wiccan?" or "Has Wicca become too commercialized?") are understandable, and can even be healthy in some regards.
However: Wiccans belittling Heathenism, Heathens belittling Ceremonial Magic, Ceremonial Magicians belittling Satanism, Satanists belittling Wicca --- wholesale and with no direct and intimate personal experience or knowledge of that path* --- this makes no sense to me whatsoever . . . Unless the critical party is somehow threatened by the existence of that path, or feels compelled to dismiss it outright to bolster their own self-concept, sense of authority, or feeling of authenticity.
This is not a call to feel-goodism, the abandonment of reason or healthy judgment, or some artificial or hypocritical form of inclusion or false egalitarianism. And, needless to say, if someone from Pagan Path "X" comes proselytizing to you --- all bets are off.
This is a question for anyone who cares to answer: What does anyone, as a Pagan (by whatever stretch of definition you choose to assign that term), stand to gain from the denigration or objective invalidation of another Pagan path in one's self-definition?
Would it not be essentially better to "mind one's own path" (using the self as a primary referent, rather than someone else)?
*Sorry --- books, FAQs, websites, and "a Circle you attended at a festival" do not constitute direct and intimate personal experience or knowledge.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Archangel_Baw on -
I'm a live and let live person! BUT that crap gets on my nerves also. There is no such thing as "BETTER THAN" in my universe.
I believe EVERYONE is blessed with their own gifts & abilities, ones that FIT their unique life purpose, and because of that, EACH person is Equally Awesome at using those gifts & abilities.
I agree with you 100%
If people can't be open minded enough to accept the personal importance of the paths of others, they need to mind their own paths!
Great topic thank you for posting it:)
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Permalink Reply by AlanHeartsong on -
Agreed, I totally love the viewpoint that each of us are walking a spiritual path that is personally important to us. Attacking someone else's path is disrespecting them, and well as making yourself look bad.
Only a complete and utter doodyhead would do something like that.
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Permalink Reply by Gavyn in the green on -
And, of course, there are absolutely *no* complete and utter doodyheads on here, ;)
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Permalink Reply by Robert Chapman on -
The more I develop my own path the less I care about other paths. Just a few short weeks ago I found myself getting upset over some stupid debate about wicca or some such thing and now I think "what was I thinking??" I realized that my own path is awesome and so who cares what everyone else is doing? NOT ME! It's very liberating when you mind your own path. ;p
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Permalink Reply by Arachneh on -
EGO MASTERBATION....
Yep . . . and anything can become excessive, even an otherwise healthy ego.
Just read this the other day (and I think it's a good take on the subject):
"The ego is like a house. It is where we live. It contains us, gives us a place to grow and change, and creates boundaries [like those between the conscious and unconscious] which are necessary for forming ourselves as an entity. It balances energy in the system keeping us in homeostasis [in other words, sane and functional]. Many spiritual disciplines advise us to transcend the ego, and consider it something bad, limiting, or false. The problem of ego is not that it is limiting [since that's its inherent function in the psyche] --- but that we let ourselves be confined by it at all times . . . it is not wrong to have a home, but it should be an anchor for experience, not a limitation. Keeping this in perspective enables us to both have a strong ego and transcend it as well."
- Anodea Judith on Jung's map of the psyche (Eastern Body, Western Mind)
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