Opus 2025-414: Animism Is Alive and Well

If you know what animism is you probably are looking at me as if I’ve lost my marbles or considering moving on to reading something else.  If you don’t know, what animism is, you may be feeling the same way, but let me give a brief explanation.

Animism is a belief in primitive cultures of the existence of spirits in almost every object you see.  If you were an animist you assume that every rock has a little god or spirit and every tree the same.  I have heard stories, I don’t know if they’re true, that American Indians would thank the deer for giving up his life so they could eat.  I can think of people apologizing to trees when they cut them down to make lumber.

You might think we’re beyond that but the superstitions of animism reside with us at all times.  They are still alive and well.  Have you ever knocked on wood?  Do you avoid black cats?  Have you ever worried after you broke a mirror about the potential for bad luck?  When you were a child, did you ever chant, “Step on a crack, your break your mother‘s back; step on a line you break your mother spine”?  These things are still with us.  They are a residue of animism.

Now let me really stick my finger into it.  People who talk to their pets are practicing animism.  It’s amazing some of the great conversations people have with a cat or a dog.  Some might even have those conversations with a hamster or with a plant growing in the kitchen window.  They would deny it, but I believe they think that these objects actually are aware of what they’re saying.  I will talk to the cat when it’s here and my wife is gone.  I don’t talk to it thinking it understands me.  I talk to it because I think it enjoys the sound of human voices, and it brings a sense of peace to the animal.  I wouldn’t talk to a plant thinking it understood.  I would talk to a plant thinking that it rejoiced in the carbon dioxide I was exhaling.

But some people actually think that their cat understands them.  No, I’m not talking about simple understanding of words like “outside” or “eat”.  I’m talking about asking the cat if his bed is comfortable or if the room is too hot.  I’m talking about sharing your recent romantic struggles with your dog.

So yes, animism is still with us.  I don’t know if that’s a big problem for us.  I don’t know how seriously our primitive ancestors took it.  But it is alive and well

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-304: What Potato Chip?

There are things that we know in our inner core being as wrong, and yet often we go ahead with them anyway.  I think of how when I’m on one of my glutton pilgrimages, I will sneak food into the house, tuck it away in the corner where no one will look, and eat it when I think no one will notice.  I can’t find anything in the Bible that says eating potato chips in the closet of my bedroom is a sin.  In an objective sense it’s not, but in a subjective sense I know that I’m doing something I’m not supposed to.

In the same way many of our bigger actions which are sins are covered up because we know what we are doing is wrong.  God seems to want us to tithe.  That is one of the reasons why we insist on secret giving and swearing the counters to silence.  It’s not because we don’t want people knowing how generous we are with God.  It’s usually because we’re being cheap and we don’t want them to know.  We forget that God knows exactly how much we made, and how much we gave.

Of course, you can come to some of the ultimate violations.  This could easily be having an affair with your neighbors wife.  It could be getting an abortion.  It could be cheating a customer on the contract that you had with him.  Sin comes in many forms.  In your heart you know they’re wrong.  That does not stop you.

Often it starts small and grows.  I don’t know if you’ve ever experienced a lab experiment using petri dishes.  You put the growth material in the bottom and just put it in one little speck of pollution and before you know it the dish is full.  In our moral lives we start small, but it grows very quickly.  I think that’s what Jeremiah is referring to here,

Jeremiah 19:5 (KJV) They have built also the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings unto Baal, which I commanded not, nor spake it, neither came it into my mind:

I don’t think that the Jews started off thinking that they were going to take their children and throw them into the furnace, at least not at the beginning.  At first, it was simply a matter of being invited to a party in the next village.  It went from there to flirting with a cute little girl, who had a pagan father.  It might progressed to involve temple prostitutes or wild and crazy sexual exploits that were perfectly normal in that pagan culture.  And the slope gets deeper and more slippery with every step.

With the first step these Jews of ancient Israel knew that what they were doing had been forbidden, but it seem like such a small thing.  It’s just a party.  But they knew that party was forbidden and went anyway.  Somehow they thought they were smarter than God, and they began suppressing that inner voice that said this is wrong.

Sometimes that going ahead traps us into proclaiming that what we are doing is good when we know it isn’t.  We have the blatant parading of our second or third wife in fancy restaurants.  I speak not from experience, just observation.

I think this is where the modern church is.  For the most part they are teaching things that they know are not true and living lives that they know are rejecting God’s standards.  They may be able to suppress it.  They may surround himself with people who sing the same chorus and dance to the same tune.  If they were honest with themselves, they would remember that first step where they said, “I know more than God.  Don’t be a spoilsport.”

In the final analysis, we are only responsible for our own choices.  You cannot reform an entire country, a wayward denomination, or a local church that has sunk into pagan worship.  Often you will find no one willing to listen.  Make sure that you are willing.  Make sure that the one you were listening to is the Holy Spirit.  Make sure that the literature that your mind is absorbing is God’s word.

Remember that commercial talking about potato chips, which said, “I bet you can’t eat just one.”  You never thought of it as a theological statement.  Think again.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-035: Pagan Science

Words and concepts change as time marches on.  Some of that is cultural differences that were always there locally and gradually spread across cultural lines.  The Greek concept of the Logos was adopted by the Christian church and modified to meet their needs.  Other times it never crosses over because of a lack of need.  The Eskimos, now going by Inuit, have at least four different words for snow.  Arabs would just ask, “What is snow?”  

One word that has changed in meaning is “science”.

In the pagan world, the meaning of “science” was totally different.  In Aristotle, the meaning of science seems to be any area of study or interest.  In that way of thinking Theology was called the “Queen of the sciences” in medieval times.  The concept of science as we think of it was very limited.

Only with the renaissance and the emergence of the scientific method do we come to the modern concept that science is something that studies the physical world and investigates the principles, called laws, behind it.

Today we are reverting back to the pagan concepts that science is anything you want it to be.  That’s why we have terms like political science.  Politics is not a science in our modern way of thinking and in the Renaissance concept it is just an area of study.  At the heart of this is the humanistic philosophy that there is no absolute truth; truth is within you; it is anchored in your world view and self image.

Science may have passed its usefulness.  If science does not reach back and grasp the concept that there is truth then they will have no basis for further investigation.  All they will need to do is sit in their ivory towers, get grant money from the government and work their imaginations.  In many areas of science that is what they have been doing for years.

Keep in mind that the airplane does not fly because the pilot has a strong self image but because of Bernoulli’s Principle.

homo unius libri

Opus 2020-159: The Lion in the Street

I have a word for those of you who are agnostic, atheistic, pagan and so forth:  Fear.

I have an addition to that for those of you claiming to be Christians:  Fear God.

There is not only an eternity of difference, but a world of difference.

As a Christian I am aware that there are diseases out there that can get you.  That has been true my entire life.  I have had a few of them.  I have walked past innumerable others unscathed.  It is not a matter of luck it is a matter of something called Providence.  God made me.  He made you too, even if you don’t acknowledge it.  When he designed me it was like the modern day Lexus or whatever car you think is uber reliable.  He put in all the filters, warning lights, backups and overrides that were needed to guarantee almost flawless performance.  What happens if I cut myself?  “Got that,” God tells me.  I later learn about clotting factors, antibodies and white blood cells.  They were there all the time.  When my body is invaded by nasty germs God says, “Got you covered.”  And so forth.  Do I worry about getting sick?  I guess.  Do I allow that to make me walk in fear.  Hah!

As a generic pagan you have none of those assurances.  So, yes, walk in fear.  The virus is out to get you.  So are the hundreds of other viruses out there.  There is tetanus waiting and strep throat.  Food poisoning is right behind you and toxins in your water are looking for a hole in your filter.  In addition to that your government is full of people who would like nothing more than to control every aspect of your life.  Fear.

Wash your hands.  I do that.  I could even document that in the Bible.  There is nothing wrong with common sense but don’t worry about the unicorns.  Maybe a better example is lions.  I love this passage in Proverbs.

(Pro 26:13 KJV) The slothful man saith, There is a lion in the way; a lion is in the streets.

I am not accusing you of being a sloth; just reflecting on how fear can cripple.

homo unius libri

Opus 2019-218: Karma Questions

As a Christian I must confess that I do not understand Buddhism or its teachings.  One of the beliefs is called “karma”.  What brought this to mind was this quote from The Tyranny of Cliches,

“Under karma we are rewarded for our good deeds and punished for our bad ones, in this life and our next lives as humans or grasshoppers or carpet mold.” p. 256

I think the basic idea is that your current life in the cycle of life is a result of how you lived your previous life.  In a nutshell, you get what you deserve.  That is as objective as I can be about the doctrine.

My mind goes on tangents whether it is engaged by a sermon, an advertisement or Buddhist doctrine.  So I ask myself, “How would you evaluate the life of a grasshopper to determine if it would move up or down the order of life in its next incarnation?”  What is right and wrong to a grasshopper?  Do Buddhists debate such things?

My life is not going to be transformed by the answer.  I don’t wait on pins and needles.  In fact I will probably move on as soon as I exhale, but for now it is a genuine question that I have no idea what the answer could be.  I expect that a Buddhist would feel the same way about the trinity.

Goldberg, Jonah.  The Tyranny of Cliches.  New York:  Sentinel, 2012.

homo unius libri

Opus 2019-069: On the Street: Signs of the Time

On the way to the airport early this morning I noticed a sign of Easter.  The message board above the lanes was talking about hopping and bunnies.  I guess I should not be surprised.  We do live in a pagan culture and there are many people trying to drive the last vestiges of Christianity out of sight.  I really don’t expect the interstate sign to announce “He is risen!”  I just think bunny hops are worse.

It is early.  Maybe I am just grouchy.

But,

He IS risen!

homo unius libri

Opus 2016-119: The Glorious Pagan

I salute those who have no faith but keep fighting the good fight. 

You know who you are.  You might have vaguely Christian standards but you don’t see the point in getting carried away with all the extreme stuff.  There is probably a god out there somewhere but you will worry about that later, if ever.  And yet, like me, you get up and go about your business.  You do the best you can.  You practice courtesy and help your neighbor when there is a problem. 

I don’t understand how you keep going but I see it.  It renews my faith in God that you keep on in spite of nihilism. 

Nihilism means that there is no real reason for life, intelligence or anything.  Nihilism says we are just an accident in a universe of chance and since in infinite time there will be infinite combinations of possibilities we are bound to happen.  If there is no God who created then it makes all of this nothing, nil, thus nihilism.  In reality it doesn’t matter what you do because what chance caused, chance can uncause.

Yet you still are good to live by. 

Thank you for the encouragement.

homo unius libri

Opus 2016-53: The Day of Darth

We all want to be Darth Vader.  Don’t get confused by Luke Skywalker, the Jedi Lord is the real protagonist of modern America.

It is a matter of our pagan culture.  Although people are not aware of it they are followers of pagan religion and philosophies.  Why do pagan religions appeal to the modern mind and groups so much?  Because pagan deities are susceptible to being manipulated and fooled by men.  Mythology is loaded with humans who outsmart the local god and walk away with the prize.  They are also interchangeable parts in the story of life.  If you don’t like one you can switch to another.  In the pagan world men are in the drivers seat.  The gods are just there to be manipulated and blamed.  The God of the Bible will not accept that treatment.

The minor gods of paganism give people excuses for doing what they want to do.  They can blame others for the flaws that exists.  They can be in charge and self centered.  The gods are satellites that revolve around them.

We all want to be Darth Vader.  We want to be able to hold out our hand and have the powerful general sink to his knees as he suffocates.  We want to be powerful in the force.  We believe the force is there so serve us.  Of course we want to be Darth Vader before he repents and with the caveat that when it is time to pay the piper there will be a god like Luke Skywalker to get us out of the hot water waiting.

Paganism is the religion of the New Age.  Eventually it will bring back the civilization that brought slavery and subjection to the masses. 

Stay tuned for the sequels.

homo unius libri

Opus 2014-115: The Revival of Paganism, part 6 of 7, Indicators

Pagan culture is different from Christian culture.

Think of the pagan cultures of history and today.  Think of the values and morals:  Temple prostitutes, male and female, were considered normal.  The view of sex and family was definitely different.  Today we are seeing the culture become more violent and ugly.  Much of it runs in tandem with the breakdown in sexual mores as we move toward paganism.  

Infanticide was the order of the day.  Whether it was the followers of Moloch throwing their first born into a furnace or the Romans leaving their unwanted girl-children on the paving stones of the forum to die, children were expendable.  If they were a burden they could be disposed of.  

This attitude was extended to the rest of life.  In many pagan cultures if you murdered someone you could buy your way out of punishment.  I am not talking about justifiable homicide, I am talking about first degree murder. 

Women have always been looked at as part of the flocks in the pagan world.  In the ancient Middle East the Jews were the only ones that gave their women any status.  The veil that has been adopted by the Muslims was common for respectable women in ancient cultures.

Much of the change going on around you is a result of a resurgence of paganism.  Homosexuality is becoming accepted by those who don’t believe in the God of the Bible.  We have a mantra of “its for the children” and yet abortion is common.  Child abuse is growing.  We are accepting suicide and euthanasia.  Drugs are rampant.  Government officials think they are justified in doing anything so that liberty is dissolving.  Slavery, in the form of government control, is back.  Lies are accepted. 

Think about how George Washington or Clara Barton would respond to almost any popular TV program or movie.  They would probably call for the local law enforcement to deal with the perverts and sadists that were putting on what we consider normal entertainment. 

The changes are happening.  They may be so slow you haven’t noticed, but they are happening.

To be finished...

homo unius libri

Opus 2014-114: The Revival of Paganism, part 5 of 7, Animal Farm

The pagans are winning.  The children I work with are all familiar with the quote, “May the force be with you.”  None of them knew who Judas was.  They have heard of the circle of life.  They think Calvary involves horses.  They celebrate Earth Day and ignore Good Friday.  Truth is what you want it to be.  Today.  Tomorrow it might be different. 

Society today embraces evolution and environmentalism and don’t see the juxtaposition of the two philosophies.  Evolution believes that whatever happens and survives is the course of the future.  Thus, as man and his cultures develop and pollute the planet it is just a step in evolution.  We are a natural part of the environment.  Just as too many deer can kill a forest, too many people can kill a planet.  Paganism says let it come.  Why get excited.  If it is to be, it is to be.  The Bible lays out the demand for environmental responsibility, but with man in the driver’s seat.

(Gen 1:28 KJV)  And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

Paganism says that the earth is a god and we are to serve her. 

Animals are not our brothers in the Bible.  Notice the relationship established in the previous verse.  Notice the responsibility laid on human beings as superior beings.

(Pro 12:10 KJV)  A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast: but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel.

Pagan deities are often half or totally animal. 

Christians were involved in starting the S.P.C.A.  PETA wants to make us just another animal.

What difference does that make?  Last time my wife went to the local animal shelter to adopt a cat they wanted to send a social worker to our home to establish whether it was a proper environment for one of their charges.  I am starting to read about animal rights groups agitating for animals to have civil rights.  It is coming like a Mac truck.

It makes a difference.

To be continued...

homo unius libri

Opus 2014-112: The Revival of Paganism, part 4 of 7, Pagan Lite

Modern pagan gods have been modified by Christian concepts so they are a bit more palatable.  We don’t really like the pagan gods.  We have gotten used to Christian ideas expressed in the Love chapter.

(1Co 13:4-7 KJV)  Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

We like that.  Since we like it and it isn’t found in paganism, we have grafted it onto the old gods.  I keep trying to find fantasy authors that I can enjoy.  Some tell good stories and gradually introduce magic and sorcery as they move through a series.  That means in a series of five books I can make it through two and a half before I give up.  I notice that they use terms like, “church” and “sin” while trying to gild it onto the polytheistic superstitions that they are constructing.

It is kind of like anchovy paste.  A tiny amount enhances flavor and brings out subtleties.  It very quickly gets to the point that it overwhelms the other ingredients.  A better example might be giving someone a pint of B- blood when they are B+.  It may look the same and be similar in so many ways and yet it means death.

Paganism will do that to the American culture.  The virtues we enjoy did not come from any source but the Bible.

To be continued...

homo unius libri

Opus 2014-111: The Revival of Paganism, part 3 of 7, Karma and the Force

Western paganism is Saturday Morning Cartoons gone amuck. 

The predominance of western paganism is diminishing and being eclipsed by the eastern variations.

Eastern paganism can be divided into two general groups.  The first tends to take more impersonal avenues.  They were not originally religions although that has changed over time.  They were philosophies that govern behavior in this life.  Confucianism and Buddhism started out as philosophies, not religions.  

The other Eastern trend is impersonal but eternal.  Eastern pagan gods tend to be forces rather than persons.  They are not gods as we think of them but eternal principles.  Thus the ultimate goal of both Hinduism and modern Buddhism is Nirvana.  Western Christians do not understand how different this concept is from what they believe.  This is not a version of heaven.  It is totally different.  In heaven you are aware of your personhood and God’s personhood.  In Nirvana you cease to be aware and are absorbed into what Star Wars called the Force.  Eastern gods have names but they are viewed as all being a part of the same ultimate force.  The purpose of those segments of the eternal is to move you toward absorption.

To the Buddhist life is misery.  Being aware of self is misery.  There is nothing ultimately but pain and suffering.  Thus the goal is to earn the right to be absorbed and stop being aware of your misery.  There is no real joy or purpose in this existence.  Thus you have the wheel of life and repeated incarnations that move you up toward oblivion or down toward more suffering.

This leads to a culture that believes in karma.  It means you get what you deserve.  If you are a slave working in a salt mine it is because you were a real stinker in a previous life.  If you are a prince, you did a good job last time around.  It leads to a belief that the suffering classes are getting what they deserve and the only way they can get better is to suffer compliantly.

Obviously this means that upward mobility and prosperity for the masses is undesirable.  This is one reason why pagan societies have such an aversion to free enterprise, equal rights before the law and an acceptance of almost universal poverty.

Is that a world we see?  With the increase of paganism we see our underclasses swelling.  We see more violence and abuse. 

To be continued...

homo unius libri

Opus 2014-109: The Revival of Paganism, part 2 of 7, Western Paganism

Not all pagans are the same.  Americans have been more familiar with the European branch.

Traditional Western pagan gods tend to be just glorified human beings.  They have all the character flaws of the humans they order around.  They are like omnipotent infants.  They have power with no self control.  Gaia has a tantrum and we suffer an earthquake.  Venus cries and we have a flood.  Vulcan loses his temper and lava flows.  Mars gets rejected by a maiden and he turns her into a turtle.  The list goes on.  Read your Greek mythology if you think I am just making that up.  Or just read any modern fantasy.  I just read a story where a sorcerer told a jewel that was on the end of the hero’s sword to stop pouting.  This jewel representing half of the total power and wisdom of the universe (aka Ying or Yang), was pouting on the end of a sword and was confronted on this immature behavior by an old man. 

This is one of the reasons I have a hard time with fantasy as a genre.  The beings that are presented as gods are really just people with extreme power or Star Trek aliens with superior wisdom.  It is almost laughable as these creations of limited human beings try to share some eternal wisdom that the author just made up.  It is kind of like people who get excited about the wisdom of children.  It only exists when you are on an emotional trip.

On the stage we call it Deux ex Machina.  In modern fantasy it is called wisdom.  They can pull a previously unknown superpower out of the box and fix everything.  Or you have the all knowing, eternal gods who just forgot they could do that.  Cool.  All you need to do is sacrifice enough virgins and life will be good.  It is really just a belief in the ultimate power in the human potential.

How is it working for you?

To be continued...

homo unius libri