tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1883567827950405204.post820272963715710471..comments2023-10-24T11:53:12.980-04:00Comments on Meadowsweet & Myrrh: The Peaceful Warrior: Pagan Pacifism Without Excuse (Part 1)Alihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01738190874181111086noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1883567827950405204.post-91383012754988116462010-06-11T11:53:08.809-04:002010-06-11T11:53:08.809-04:00This is wonderful: "Violence is not merely an...This is wonderful: "Violence is not merely an act of destruction or harm; it is a rejection or denial of the unique and meaningful individuality of another being, a violation of our sacred relationship with the other."<br /><br />And even more wonderful: "We have already consented to our own destruction, with the passing of time, with the changing seasons. To live is to face the risk of death, and today's Pagan, joyfully and reverently immersed in the cycles of change and revolution, knows this better than most. As Pagans, and as people, we cannot ignore the need for fearlessness in our modern world, a call that resounds off every hillside and parking garage."<br /><br />Thank you for articulating the Pagan perspective on peace that I've not been able to find words for. You're right--isn't this religion about facing fearlessly the cycles of life and nature? Haven't we already agreed that risk and loss are inevitable? So why should we fear them in the name of peace any more than the ancients feared them in their acts of individual heroism?<br /><br />Having committed to a life of fearlessness, why should I not make it a life about peace and generosity? <br /><br />Nicely written. Thank you.Cat C-B (and/or Peter B)https://www.blogger.com/profile/10002916434676859262noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1883567827950405204.post-7680867971960416132010-06-04T19:12:10.099-04:002010-06-04T19:12:10.099-04:00...
That you read hostility into my previous pos......<br /><br /><br />That you read hostility into my previous post on Memorial Day saddens me a bit — my ambivalence, my grief, my frustration, yes, these things are there. I have long since come to terms with them without having to project them outwards onto others in the form of blame or hatred. Still, I would not want to tame or water down those beliefs just for the sake of appearing calm and wise; if we are centered in ourselves, we also know how deeply our passions — including our passion for peace and justice — can run, and how painfully we can sometimes feel them. In the comments (and in many conversations) I find myself again and again defending soldiers and members of the military — but defending their humanity rather than their actions, defending and upholding their responsibility, their capacity to choose and so their capacity to choose better, like all of us. To reduce such individuals to caricatures of the Noble and the Brave, to comfort ourselves and in doing so to encourage further violence on our behalf, seems to me to be just as real a form of violence. Yet I know that by expressing these views, some might misunderstand them as a condemnation of particular individuals (or a kind of pity that is condescending and small). I wonder if anytime we are brave enough to state our most dearly-held beliefs, someone will see this as a hostile attack on those who disagree. Still, I think we should take the risk of being that brave.<br /><br />When it comes to my statements about the ancient Pagan Celtic past, I definitely appreciate your critique. This is a flaw in the structure of the essay (and again in the nature of the blogging medium) — the essay was originally written to be specifically an exploration of certain themes in the archeological and mythological evidence we have of the ancient Celts, and how we might make these themes relevant to the modern world and more specifically to modern pacifism. The whole of this post is really just an "introduction" that got far out of hand as I wrote it. The second part, to be posted next week (but which is already available under the "Pagan Pacifism" button below the header image at the top of this blog) is the "meat" of the essay, but is far too short in my opinion, mostly due to my relative inexpertness in the subject. If I had a year , or a lifetime, to do research, I would gladly write a book on the subject. But as it stands, I can see how the essay leaves the impression of claiming that we can't know anything about the Celtic worldview except from these scant pieces of evidence. I agree completely that there is value in examining the Christianized traditions that have weaved their way into the present through the intervening years — this would be another book, at least! (And, being far from an expert in that area, too, if you have any texts you'd recommend on that subject, I'd love to hear!)<br /><br />And now I've gone and practically written another post in replying to you! There is so much to say, and always such a big risk of not being able to say it all, or say even half of it well. I'm glad folks like you are out there reading and ready with thoughtful feedback, it is always so immensely helpful. I hope you keep coming back and share your thoughts in the future!Alihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01738190874181111086noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1883567827950405204.post-40650234240917874602010-06-04T19:11:43.720-04:002010-06-04T19:11:43.720-04:00Garbhchù, Thank you very much for your comment.
I...Garbhchù, Thank you very much for your comment.<br /><br />I'll be honest in saying that in many ways I feel I cannot respond to it except by continuing to write, as I plan to, about peace-making and pacifism. This is one of those times when I feel quite poignantly the limits of the blog as a medium. Of the objections you raise, few are ideas that I have not yet considered, but most are things I am still struggling and working to articulate adequately, let alone as well as they deserve. Not to mention, of course, there is limited space and time in this kind of format (especially considering its total lack of pay for the hours and hours of work I put into the essays and posts that appear here — this is not a complaint, so much as a statement of fact that I can only do so much as one person, and some of that has to be earning money to pay the rent, and hillwalking in the park to maintain my sanity).<br /><br />The idea of owning our own capacity for violence and accepting (and forgiving) the violence of others is, in fact, one of the intended themes of a post I am planning for later this month. Still, I admit that the prospect of writing on such a complex and difficult subject is daunting. It is a life's work, perhaps more.<br /><br />...Alihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01738190874181111086noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1883567827950405204.post-7505336360399825142010-06-04T17:15:27.915-04:002010-06-04T17:15:27.915-04:00Eloquent as always, A., and before I get into what...Eloquent as always, A., and before I get into what I would like to say in response to this I would like thank you for these posts and organising this blog. There are some very interesting points put forward here and your facility with the language is very impressive - almost poetic. Likewise I admire and applaud the depth of feeling and commitment you have to the ideal of pacifism. There is a very clear beauty to what you've done here and I completely agree with your central thesis that an ideal society is one in which all members freely and completely commit to cultivating the individual honor and prosperity of all.<br /><br />That being said I disagree with you in several ways, the most prominent of which concerns the balance of creation and destruction noted in your last paragraph. Your etymology of violence (which I loved seeing - not enough people engage in this kind of exegesis) connects violence strictly with intent, yet I don't feel that you have expanded on this enough in what you have posted here. Neither is there a recognition here that the enculturated fear and grasping desperation for control is simply a part of the natural order (or at least humanity as it is now). If we are to realise the kind of society you advocate here, then we must first accept what we perceive as failings even as we work to nullify them. We must accept the propensity of others for self-destruction and the blind, panicked grasping for power. This is not to say that we should advocate apathy towards them, but in condemning them too violently we can inadvertently perpetuate the cycle of fear and destruction. The hostility you note in your memorial-day post I suspect is somewhat symptomatic of this.<br /><br />On a lesser point, you also express the very common notion that there is precious little left of the Celtic perspective and particularly that of the pagan Celt: Celtic perhaps, Gaelic not in the least. The happy rooting of non-orthodox Christianity in Scotland and Ireland resulted in a grafting that I would argue maintained much of the older perspective, though our modern literary presumptions, formed as they are in an indelibly Christian milieu, render it largely invisible without careful inspection. The difficulty we face is not in reclaiming a greatly eroded tradition but in identifying our own proclivities toward accepting its Christianisation and embody the older perspective clearly enough to begin producing again new work according to the old ways.<br /><br />I hope none of this comes across as being too critical. There is an openness and an idealism in your writing that I deeply respect and in some ways envy. You have an amazing perspective and I look froward to reading more of what you write.Garbhchù a' Chuainhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15460730833404348994noreply@blogger.com