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Sixth Stone (![[info]](http://www.inksome.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} sixth_stone) wrote,@ 2008-08-05 10:13:00 |
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Where we're coming from
I'm currently reading a book called "Why Bother? Getting a Life in a Locked-Down Land", by Sam Smith. It's about the perceived loss of individualism and individual power in American society, which is deeply interesting stuff, but not particularly relevant to the topic of this post. The thing that is relevant to the topic of this post is that in one section of the book that deals with the place of religion in society, and particularly, the role of religion in creating positive change, Smith throws out a little side comment to the effect that he was grounded in the work of societal change and the movement towards freedom by his parents, who were involved in the Labor movement and several other cause-oriented movements. It seems to me that any time I read anybody on the subject of creating social change, they talk about how their parents were involved in the peace movement, the civil rights movement, and so on. It makes sense that people who grow up in an environment dedicated to creating change should take in some portion of that dedication to action, even if the issues the younger generation works for are not the causes of the older.
I can't lay claim to any such grounding in social action from my family. My parents, having grown up poor and worked their way up to the middle class, are suspicious of altruism. They were, at first, eager to fit in with their new social class, and impressed upon me the value of conformity and competition. They are deeply interested in What People Will Think. My grandparents, who grew up poor and remained poor, are more inclined to share, but they too are disinterested in change at a society-wide level. They are, however, the sort of people who would do anything for you, which is worth quite a bit to me in the good example department. And, in the interest of fairness, my parents are becoming more socially aware as they age. At some point after I had grown up and left the house, my dad, who is a critical care nurse, got deeply involved with the project of unionizing nurses in his state, mostly in the interest of maintaining adequate staffing patterns for patient care. My mother takes in feral cats and pays for the cost of spaying and neutering, assists in a local animal shelter, and is interested in alternative energy. They're currently serving as an excellent example of how people can move from a place of self-interest to a place of service. My parents' causes are all fights that have potential benefit to them, in addition to any side social benefits, and that's fine by me.
It makes me think, too, about the place of pagans in social action. What grounding do we have in working for change? Where does it come from? What values do we hold that could or should be expressed by a commitment to service or activism? Of course, there are as many different answers to those questions as there are pagans - one of the beautiful things about living a pagan faith is that we have a good deal of freedom in selecting which values we will uphold and what commitments we will make as people of faith.
Some of us work in a faith tradition that comes through the Reclaiming movement, which comes with a commitment to feminism and ecology work, among other causes. The place of service in that sort of pagan faith is clear. That sort of pagan, as a person of some degree of enlightenment, ought to work to make the world a better place because they are able to see the world's problems in a way that others can't or don't. The work is part of the price of that ability to see.
Some of us practice reconstructed traditions like Heathenry or Druidry. When we take up that sort of faith, we inherit the values of the culture we reconstruct, which often comes with an obligation to the betterment of the tribe and the community. Those faiths often provide their adherents with a list of virtues or values that the individual should profess and uphold. The virtues vary by tradition, but they're a clear and present part of the faith. You might argue with a co-religionist about the meaning of, say, Hospitality, and how one might best practice that virtue, but if you're an ADF druid, you have to be aware that Hospitality is on your to-do list, and you're going to have to engage with it at some level.
I originally came to paganism through British Traditional Wicca. The motivation to service in that tradition is simple on the surface: the Three-Fold Law states that whatever we send out, we get back three-fold. I help another person, other people will help me. If you've ever helped friends move, you'll probably have noticed that this principle does not require a supernatural agency to enforce it -- once you've moved a couple of people, when it's your turn to move, some of those folks will show up with their buddies to help. It's a bit more like my parents' approach to service, in which you give because it benefits you as well as others, but as I said above, I'm fine with that. Wicca also has some built-in issue focus: it calls for support of causes that see the sexes as equals, because that's the structure of the coven. It calls for support of ecological causes, because of its identification of the Earth as Mother, and the fact that, hey, if the seasons go all crazy, your whole ritual year is off its tilt. Also, being basically a fertility religion, it's big on abundance and having enough food to feed the community, so we have some call to fight hunger.
And there's another thing that calls pagans to service, something that crosses tradition lines. We're empowered as individuals to create change. If you're in a magic-working tradition, you can't escape your own power to change things. You could choose to change things only for yourself and your own benefit, but even that can create ripples of positive effect for others. Traditions that place less emphasis on magic tend to place more emphasis on a close relationship with a single deity or small group of deities, on prayer and a relationship of favors. Even though the individual pagan in these relationships may not be "casting spells" or doing magical work, they are empowered to ask favors directly from their deity, who is assumed to have direct power in the world. As pagans, we require very little intercession in order to get things done. We don't need a leader to tell us where to go and what to do. We don't need to wait for our congressperson to take a stand, or our clergy-person to tell us it's OK to be involved, or even for a group to form near us that will facilitate the work. All we need to do is see a need, and then be brave enough to act to fill it.
I'm currently reading a book called "Why Bother? Getting a Life in a Locked-Down Land", by Sam Smith. It's about the perceived loss of individualism and individual power in American society, which is deeply interesting stuff, but not particularly relevant to the topic of this post. The thing that is relevant to the topic of this post is that in one section of the book that deals with the place of religion in society, and particularly, the role of religion in creating positive change, Smith throws out a little side comment to the effect that he was grounded in the work of societal change and the movement towards freedom by his parents, who were involved in the Labor movement and several other cause-oriented movements. It seems to me that any time I read anybody on the subject of creating social change, they talk about how their parents were involved in the peace movement, the civil rights movement, and so on. It makes sense that people who grow up in an environment dedicated to creating change should take in some portion of that dedication to action, even if the issues the younger generation works for are not the causes of the older.
I can't lay claim to any such grounding in social action from my family. My parents, having grown up poor and worked their way up to the middle class, are suspicious of altruism. They were, at first, eager to fit in with their new social class, and impressed upon me the value of conformity and competition. They are deeply interested in What People Will Think. My grandparents, who grew up poor and remained poor, are more inclined to share, but they too are disinterested in change at a society-wide level. They are, however, the sort of people who would do anything for you, which is worth quite a bit to me in the good example department. And, in the interest of fairness, my parents are becoming more socially aware as they age. At some point after I had grown up and left the house, my dad, who is a critical care nurse, got deeply involved with the project of unionizing nurses in his state, mostly in the interest of maintaining adequate staffing patterns for patient care. My mother takes in feral cats and pays for the cost of spaying and neutering, assists in a local animal shelter, and is interested in alternative energy. They're currently serving as an excellent example of how people can move from a place of self-interest to a place of service. My parents' causes are all fights that have potential benefit to them, in addition to any side social benefits, and that's fine by me.
It makes me think, too, about the place of pagans in social action. What grounding do we have in working for change? Where does it come from? What values do we hold that could or should be expressed by a commitment to service or activism? Of course, there are as many different answers to those questions as there are pagans - one of the beautiful things about living a pagan faith is that we have a good deal of freedom in selecting which values we will uphold and what commitments we will make as people of faith.
Some of us work in a faith tradition that comes through the Reclaiming movement, which comes with a commitment to feminism and ecology work, among other causes. The place of service in that sort of pagan faith is clear. That sort of pagan, as a person of some degree of enlightenment, ought to work to make the world a better place because they are able to see the world's problems in a way that others can't or don't. The work is part of the price of that ability to see.
Some of us practice reconstructed traditions like Heathenry or Druidry. When we take up that sort of faith, we inherit the values of the culture we reconstruct, which often comes with an obligation to the betterment of the tribe and the community. Those faiths often provide their adherents with a list of virtues or values that the individual should profess and uphold. The virtues vary by tradition, but they're a clear and present part of the faith. You might argue with a co-religionist about the meaning of, say, Hospitality, and how one might best practice that virtue, but if you're an ADF druid, you have to be aware that Hospitality is on your to-do list, and you're going to have to engage with it at some level.
I originally came to paganism through British Traditional Wicca. The motivation to service in that tradition is simple on the surface: the Three-Fold Law states that whatever we send out, we get back three-fold. I help another person, other people will help me. If you've ever helped friends move, you'll probably have noticed that this principle does not require a supernatural agency to enforce it -- once you've moved a couple of people, when it's your turn to move, some of those folks will show up with their buddies to help. It's a bit more like my parents' approach to service, in which you give because it benefits you as well as others, but as I said above, I'm fine with that. Wicca also has some built-in issue focus: it calls for support of causes that see the sexes as equals, because that's the structure of the coven. It calls for support of ecological causes, because of its identification of the Earth as Mother, and the fact that, hey, if the seasons go all crazy, your whole ritual year is off its tilt. Also, being basically a fertility religion, it's big on abundance and having enough food to feed the community, so we have some call to fight hunger.
And there's another thing that calls pagans to service, something that crosses tradition lines. We're empowered as individuals to create change. If you're in a magic-working tradition, you can't escape your own power to change things. You could choose to change things only for yourself and your own benefit, but even that can create ripples of positive effect for others. Traditions that place less emphasis on magic tend to place more emphasis on a close relationship with a single deity or small group of deities, on prayer and a relationship of favors. Even though the individual pagan in these relationships may not be "casting spells" or doing magical work, they are empowered to ask favors directly from their deity, who is assumed to have direct power in the world. As pagans, we require very little intercession in order to get things done. We don't need a leader to tell us where to go and what to do. We don't need to wait for our congressperson to take a stand, or our clergy-person to tell us it's OK to be involved, or even for a group to form near us that will facilitate the work. All we need to do is see a need, and then be brave enough to act to fill it.