Personal Agreements

Last updated on: September 9, 2013 at 12:28 pm by Aine Llewellyn

Personal Agreements 2013-09-09T12:28:23-06:00 Aine Llewellyn

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Greatness shall come from concrete actions and words, from ethics and the implementation of those ethics. It is not handed down from the gods or spirits. Greatness is what we do, not a gift from unseen forces.

Exploiting the violence and suffering of others, especially those already being fetishized and victimized by my culture, is wrong. It is especially wrong to exploit such suffering to recruit people to my gods and religion. My gods experience suffering and victimization and violence – they do not seek to exploit it from the comforts of their living rooms.

Inciting violence against those who hold different theological positions than myself simply because they are different shall have me kneeling at my altar in shame. Implying violence against those already suffering because they have failed my gods shall have me kneeling at my altars begging forgiveness from my gods.

And may I always give the gods a bite of any cheeseburger I’m fortunate enough to consume.

May my critiques be based not in whether someone personally irritates me but on their words, their actions, and their ethics.

May I criticize friends as well as I do those who I would call enemies. May not I assume my friends are above reproach. May I not assume that I am above reproach. May I not assume anyone is incapable of mistakes. May I never sacrifice my ethics for the sake of friendship.

I shall not use my faith as an excuse to fetishize violence. I shall not victimize the recent dead further by claiming their deaths were deserved. I shall not claim the suffering of human beings is punishment for failing to follow the proper gods.

I shall not imply that there are ‘true’ gods.

I will remember that even when the god whom I adore and live is full in me and overflowing that my words are my own, my actions are my own, and responsibility lies with me. For if I were to strike someone when full of Him I would be responsible, and so it will be with my words.

And, lastly – I will always have more compassion for the suffering human in front of me than the petty gods above me. Love of the gods comes easily to me – love of my fellow human does not. I know which one I value, for it is in that difficulty that I find greatness.

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