Fighting Fires and Building Systems

Last updated on: April 9, 2012 at 7:09 pm by John Beckett

Fighting Fires and Building Systems 2012-04-09T19:09:00-06:00 John Beckett

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

In the past week or so I’ve seen several Pagan bloggers and other writers saying our first religious priority should be personal growth and empowerment. Other say our first priority should be honoring and serving our gods and goddesses, while still others say it should be creating ecstatic religious experiences, caring for the Earth, caring for our fellow humans, or building lasting religious institutions.

All these writers were passionately advocating for their views, some calmly and some with an evangelistic zeal.

When your house is on fire you don’t care that the bathroom needs to be cleaned and the carpet needs to be replaced and oh, yeah, you need to make dinner. When your house is on fire all that matters is getting the people and the animals to safety and putting the fire out.

When you convince people their house is on fire they jump into action. They start reading ancient lore and going to meetings and raising money and riding bicycles and and all the things we wish everyone would do. There’s a crisis and they’re doing something about it! They feel good and we feel good and some small improvement starts to happen in the world.

But sooner or later two things happen. First, people get tired. Running around in crisis mode – or in new religious convert mode – is exhilarating, but it’s also draining. You can only keep it up for so long before you get burned out. And second, eventually you realize your house isn’t on fire.

We have some serious problems in our world (climate change and social justice being at or near the top of the immediacy list), but none of them demand we stop everything we’re doing and devote all our efforts toward fixing them now. The Huns are not at the gates. An asteroid is not bearing down on Chicago. Barack Obama is not Chairman Mao and Rick Santorum is not Savonarola. Zeus is not threatening to destroy our cities if we don’t resume proper sacrifices. “Important” and “urgent” aren’t synonymous.

What should be the primary focus of Pagan religion and Pagan practitioners? In February I discussed eight “channels” of Pagan practice: areas of interest, emphasis and expertise. They are all important and we should be knowledgeable about all of them, but we cannot be experts on all of them. Pick one or two that call most strongly to you and explore them deeply… but understand that other intelligent, observant, compassionate Pagans have other callings and will make other choices.

This is more than just respecting each others’ choices and callings. It’s about building structures and systems that support the kind of world we want to have and the kind of lives we want to live.

Let’s say you want to minimize your contributions toward climate change and decide (or are convinced) you need to stop driving a car. If you don’t already live in a walkable neighborhood with a nearby grocery store, it’s going to be difficult. If you don’t live near public transportation, or if your job isn’t either very close or also located near public transportation, it’s going to be difficult. If your friends and family all live in the next town, it’s going to be difficult. There are structural and systemic decisions made years in the past (some by you, some by local communities, and some by society at large) that must be redesigned, reworked, and rebuilt before getting rid of your car becomes a practical alternative.

The same kind of supporting systems and structures need to be built around our religion. They typically aren’t as tangible as transportation infrastructure but they’re every bit as important. Want to serve the old gods? We need historians to help us understand how they were worshipped in the past. We need artists to create representations of them and tributes to them. We need priests and priestesses to help us connect with them. We need mystics to commune directly with them and help us understand what they need here and now.

None of this stops you from going into the woods and opening yourself to the god of the forest. If he’s so inclined, you can have a deeply meaningful unmediated experience of wonder and awe. But if you want to identify which god or goddess spoke to you (they don’t wear name tags and they don’t always broadcast who they are), you’re going to need some help. if you want to interpret your experience, you need some help. If you want to check your experience against those of others, you need some help.

Want to take what you learned and put it into action to make the world a better place here and now? You’re going to need some help.

How do you get that help? You turn to the historians and artists and priests and priestesses and other practitioners. Hopefully there’s one near you – or at least one you can find.

But they won’t be there if they’re all fighting fires. They won’t be there if they’re burned out and give up. They won’t be there if the systems and structures they need for their own support aren’t there for them.

What should be the primary focus of your Pagan practice? Whatever calls to you, where ever your passion lies. That’s where you’ll do the most good – that’s where you’ll make the biggest contribution.

Recognize that others are doing the same thing in other channels.

And together, we’re building a strong, deep, vibrant, resilient Pagan religion – from the ground up.

Uncategorized

Previous Post

April 6, 2012

A Pagan Looks at Easter

Next Post

April 10, 2012 Wands

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Books Community CUUPS Druidry Foundations and Context Gods and Goddesses Magic Myth Nature Ritual Spiritual Practice Theology Travel Uncategorized Videos

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who said, "Lord, increase our faith!"?

Select your answer to see how you score.

The disciples Paul Peter John