(Positive) Pagan/Nature Religion/Spirituality discussion

[Darcs]

Santeria and Caribbean spiritualism is cool I guess, being syncretic and theosophic by nature means you don't really need to be initiated to practice, and you can just kind of passively practice what works for you, which is, yeah, p cool. The Cemi is dope I guess lol

Also 420 420 praise Eris where the discordians at

[Rogue Colm]

@Darcs I'm not, but what is Discordian? I'm guessing it has to do with following Eris, but past that?

[Darcs]

@Rogue Colm Basically a philosophy centering around the subjectivity of reality, and how one should live a life in which they think entirely for themselves, while remembering that everything is random, and having fun is your own responsibility. Eris is the personification of the random nature of the universe, and all the forces we can't won't shouldn't don't want to would rather not want to or are maybe just 'eh' about and don't really think it would behoove us to understand.

I think you could sum the philosophy as "Everything is random, the self, truth and existence are subjective and poorly defined, so try to have fun and live with imagination. Or don't. Do whatever-- praise Eris."

What is REALITY?

1. What you think of as REALITY is a collection of ideas and beliefs about
REALITY. Many of the ideas you have about REALITY come from the
culture in which you were raised and have accumulated haphazardly over
time.
2. This, in itself, is not a problem. The problem is in forgetting point number
1. When you forget point 1, you mistake your ideas about reality for being
REALITY itself. Of this, it has been said ‘the menu is not the meal’. Please
refrain from eating the menu.
3. People who ‘eat the menu’ frequently become confused and annoyed when
other people insist on seeing REALITY in a different way. All that truly dif-
fers are their ideas and beliefs about REALITY.
4. Beliefs are just thoughts you keep having.
5. No living being is capable of perceiving all of REALITY, as all senses of
perception are limited. Humans can only see, hear, smell, taste and feel within
certain parameters. Information entering our senses undergoes compression,
filtration, and distortion, before interpretation. Interpretation is what happens
when information meets your ‘beliefs’.
6. For no good reason, we call this composite of Belief & Biological Limits THE
BLACK IRON PRISON and is a metaphor about existence. It means that
there is very little you can do about biology; however, you can choose what
becomes part of your beliefs. (Always keeping point 1 in mind).
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7. Each person exists within their own, unique BIP ‘cell’. The cell is composed of
the following:
a) Biological limits – these are largely unchangeable. b) Belief systems –
these are highly changeable. Because of (a) the BIP cell cannot be escaped.
Because of (b) your life experience, your ‘cell’, can be altered drastically.
This is what we try to call ‘reconstruction’.
8. A life long commitment to continual reconstruction is known, ironically, as
‘The Jail Break’. Reconstruction is HARD WORK.
9. The collection of beliefs, thoughts, notions etc that form your cell are all
equally VALID, though none are TRUE in the sense that they “are” REAL-
ITY. However, some beliefs and ideas are more useful than others in specific
situations. It is up to the individual to decide which beliefs and ideas they
should employ in a given situation.
10. Some people believe that the term BLACK IRON PRISON is dark, bleak,
depressing and even frightening. If you prefer, use the term GOLDEN
SPHERE of POSSIBILITY (GSP) instead. It means exactly the same thing
as BIP and all points still apply.
11. BIP (or GSP) can be philosophical antidote to dogmatism.

[Dion]

Wanted to share this with those of you who are/were interested in Norse paganism. These are some excerpts from random stuff.

The riddle of Gestumblindi

"Who are the twain
that on ten feet run?
three eyes they have,
but only one tail.
All right guess now
this riddle, Heithrek!"

"Good is thy riddle, Gestumblindi,
and guessed it is:
that is Odin riding on Sleipnir."

The clue here is that Sleipnir is a horse with 8 legs. It's Óðinn's horse, so he rides on it. So why do they have 3 eyes? Because Óðinn gave up one of his eyes to gain the wisdom of the world.

Gestaþáttr
Deyr fé, deyja frændr, deyr sjálfr et sama;
ek veit einn, at aldri deyr:
dómr um dauðan hvern.

If you translate it it means something along the lines of

Your cattle dies, your friends die, even you yourself die,
I know one thing, that never dies,
the judgement of a dead mans' life.

So this is really about the moral aspects of living ones life (along the rules of the Hávamál as that is where this is from). It's the same as 'memento mori' reminding people that everyone one day dies, but the judgement that Óðinn passes on you and decides whether you go to Valhalla or not never dies. So remember to live your life dutifully along the rules of Óðinn's rules (which aren't rules, but more like guidelines.)