Expanding Possibilities within the Trance of Life

August 12, 2011 by Gus diZerega

Continued from Page 2

In addition, the idea of One True Truth begins to dissolve. There is an enormous variety of Pagan practices and traditions. Very significantly they bleed over into other positions. I have met Pagan Buddhists, Pagan Christians, Pagan Jews, and Pagan atheists. I have met pantheists and panentheists, with no clear line of separation. My own approach is deeply shamanic but I have met others whose practice focuses on their community or devotional relations with their deities. In such a world what does it mean to say there is One Truth? I'm not sure.

I think as we live our lives within a Pagan framework our culturally acquired trance about these matters is gradually weakened. We will be more likely to notice what others do not, not because we are better at noticing the unexpected. We probably are not. But our sense of what might be expected has grown to encompass entering into a wider range of respectful relationships with the world around and within us than has a society blinded by the trances of monotheism and scientistic modernity.

We are not free from trance. I am not sure what that means. But we live within a far roomier context with far greater degrees for freedom, creativity, and love to manifest and explore.

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About Gus diZerega

Gus diZerega is a Gardnerian Elder with over 25 years practice, including six years close study with a Brazilian shaman. He has been active in interfaith work off and on for most of those 25 years as well. He has conducted workshops and given presentations on healing, shamanism, ecology and politics at Pagan gatherings in the United States and Canada. Follow Gus on Facebook. Gus blogs at Pointedly Pagan

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