Dec 26, 2023·edited Dec 26, 2023Liked by Alythia of the Ash
Totally ridiculous and dangerous too. To me, what people call ‘pagan’ is often a relationship to the flow of life, but this author is going further than religion to try and tempt us to disconnect from the flow of nature further. By the way, I think you have presented this incredibly well.
Being in my 70s and fortunately from an earth based faith family, never church religion, this sort of thing pains me. I often have a hard time with the Pagan thing myself as often it seems to go quite churchy, full of doctrines and compliance, but that’s usually down to who is ‘running’ the group, circle, ‘order’, or what people congregate too. Despite what ‘control’ the leaders try to influence their following with, its always grounded in the love of the earth and life that flows through it through the realms of dark and light, and recognising being part of all this.
Sadly, this author does not seem to have a hope of really experiencing that.
Whoa. This is so nonsensical on so many levels. Seems to me that the problem is monotheism and dogmatism (especially when coupled with the narcissistic pursuit of vainglory, one-upmanship and the constant disparagement of "enemies")--and a severance between mind and heart. Everything below the Heart Chakra is in overdrive by these ones, with the motivating energies being gain and conquest.
I'm a Christian minister. In reading as much as I could of Wolpe's piece (stupid paywalls) I agree with you that it seems fairly screedy. In an unsurprising way, he takes a group of people whose ideas are on the cultural ascendency, yet whose worldview he also vehemently disagrees with and clumsily splatters their image as an explanation for all the world's ills. We've seen this over and over again and it gets more painful in the repeating..
I felt I needed to respond to what you've written here just to say that I know you are not my enemy. I know this because of the teachings of Jesus Christ who made it clear that every person is infinitely precious. People throughout history have bourne his name (or in the case of Mr. Wolpe, the name of YHWH) but have at crucial and specific points shunned his teachings. They wanted the authority without the humility of authentic discipleship. Hence, the copious outpourings of hate in the name of 'love'. What Wolpe pins on the janky concept of paganism that lives in his head, I would largely understand to be the natural result of humanity at its worst.
As just some guy who was on the internet this morning, it's not my inclination to go through the places of disagreement between you and I in this post. It's fairly understood that we have a different way of interpreting what we see in the world. But I did want to clarify that a follower of Christ does not see themselves as sinless because of grace. Rather, in need of grace because of our sinfulness. We make mistakes, we do and think things that are hurtful to others. It is the grace through forgiveness that is available to us in Jesus that keeps our hearts in connection with God, but this is only possible after we are honest with him and with ourselves about the wrongs we've done. 'Owning our shit,' as you eloquently put it. :)
I appreciate the authenticity with which you write, and I'm glad to have come across your substack. Cheers!
Hmm...who is trying to dominate our culture? Looks like monotheists. Why are there a myriad of human rights issues in the Levant today? Looks like because of a monotheist religion that claims each new version of itself is "the one true way" and that myths from the Bronze Age give one group the right to displace others. Donald trump is courting EVANGELICAL CHRISTIANS...I haven't seen an Odinist, Hellenist or Kemetic Practitioner among the people surrounding this bloated, wordly, greedy POS.
I sent a comment to The Atlantic about this: "Worship of wealth and power is not pagan -- it's just being an a**hole."
Totally ridiculous and dangerous too. To me, what people call ‘pagan’ is often a relationship to the flow of life, but this author is going further than religion to try and tempt us to disconnect from the flow of nature further. By the way, I think you have presented this incredibly well.
Being in my 70s and fortunately from an earth based faith family, never church religion, this sort of thing pains me. I often have a hard time with the Pagan thing myself as often it seems to go quite churchy, full of doctrines and compliance, but that’s usually down to who is ‘running’ the group, circle, ‘order’, or what people congregate too. Despite what ‘control’ the leaders try to influence their following with, its always grounded in the love of the earth and life that flows through it through the realms of dark and light, and recognising being part of all this.
Sadly, this author does not seem to have a hope of really experiencing that.
Whoa. This is so nonsensical on so many levels. Seems to me that the problem is monotheism and dogmatism (especially when coupled with the narcissistic pursuit of vainglory, one-upmanship and the constant disparagement of "enemies")--and a severance between mind and heart. Everything below the Heart Chakra is in overdrive by these ones, with the motivating energies being gain and conquest.
Hi,
I'm a Christian minister. In reading as much as I could of Wolpe's piece (stupid paywalls) I agree with you that it seems fairly screedy. In an unsurprising way, he takes a group of people whose ideas are on the cultural ascendency, yet whose worldview he also vehemently disagrees with and clumsily splatters their image as an explanation for all the world's ills. We've seen this over and over again and it gets more painful in the repeating..
I felt I needed to respond to what you've written here just to say that I know you are not my enemy. I know this because of the teachings of Jesus Christ who made it clear that every person is infinitely precious. People throughout history have bourne his name (or in the case of Mr. Wolpe, the name of YHWH) but have at crucial and specific points shunned his teachings. They wanted the authority without the humility of authentic discipleship. Hence, the copious outpourings of hate in the name of 'love'. What Wolpe pins on the janky concept of paganism that lives in his head, I would largely understand to be the natural result of humanity at its worst.
As just some guy who was on the internet this morning, it's not my inclination to go through the places of disagreement between you and I in this post. It's fairly understood that we have a different way of interpreting what we see in the world. But I did want to clarify that a follower of Christ does not see themselves as sinless because of grace. Rather, in need of grace because of our sinfulness. We make mistakes, we do and think things that are hurtful to others. It is the grace through forgiveness that is available to us in Jesus that keeps our hearts in connection with God, but this is only possible after we are honest with him and with ourselves about the wrongs we've done. 'Owning our shit,' as you eloquently put it. :)
I appreciate the authenticity with which you write, and I'm glad to have come across your substack. Cheers!
Hmm...who is trying to dominate our culture? Looks like monotheists. Why are there a myriad of human rights issues in the Levant today? Looks like because of a monotheist religion that claims each new version of itself is "the one true way" and that myths from the Bronze Age give one group the right to displace others. Donald trump is courting EVANGELICAL CHRISTIANS...I haven't seen an Odinist, Hellenist or Kemetic Practitioner among the people surrounding this bloated, wordly, greedy POS.