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Be Excellent to each other!
Just about every religion's got a version of it: The Golden Rule (Do unto others as you would have others do unto you). The Rule of Three (Whatsoever energy you send into the world shall be returned to you threefold). The Hindu epic Mahabharata quotes a god's view on piety: "That man who regards all creatures as his own self, and behaves towards them as towards his own self, laying aside the rod of chastisement and completely subjugating his wrath, succeeds in attaining to happiness." The Dalai Lama has addressed the concept: "If you can, help others; if you cannot do that, at least do not harm them." The "little Rabbi from Nazareth" told an entire story about it, shocking some in his audience by portraying good behavior in a character roughly equivalent to a hardcore Baptist in the middle of a neopagan convention. It's found in Islam, Jainism, Confucianism, the Baha'i Faith, Zoroastrianism, and who knows how many "aboriginal" faiths?
Given its relative universality, and the equal frequency of people in any religion who claim to be good people but don't actually follow their faith, I guess it should not be a particular shock to me when I run into a self-professed Wiccan who thinks themselves perfectly right and reasonable to be hating.
Boy, that sentence is a trainwreck, eh? Lemme try again.
There're Christians and Muslims and Jews who run around confident that they're behaving as Deity intended, including when they throw their energy into despising, scorning, mocking, sneering, and generally willing negativity onto some third party. I've seen it, I've got it, I know it's dumb but hey, you can't save anyone who's unwilling to participate in their own salvation, right? I'd waste more irrecoverable energy trying to ease their rampant, intentional bleeding of energy into psychic ugliness. Nothing to do but say, "Well, you're a fool," and move on.
So why does it astound me to witness the same fundamental, hypocritical dumb, just because the fool in question refers to Deity as "Lord and Lady"?
Dumb on me, I guess. Adherence to any belief system doesn't guarantee actual enlightenment, or efficiency of mind, regardless of the operating system. I know that intellectually, but it's past time I knew it inherently.
Here's to future enlightenment!
Given its relative universality, and the equal frequency of people in any religion who claim to be good people but don't actually follow their faith, I guess it should not be a particular shock to me when I run into a self-professed Wiccan who thinks themselves perfectly right and reasonable to be hating.
Boy, that sentence is a trainwreck, eh? Lemme try again.
There're Christians and Muslims and Jews who run around confident that they're behaving as Deity intended, including when they throw their energy into despising, scorning, mocking, sneering, and generally willing negativity onto some third party. I've seen it, I've got it, I know it's dumb but hey, you can't save anyone who's unwilling to participate in their own salvation, right? I'd waste more irrecoverable energy trying to ease their rampant, intentional bleeding of energy into psychic ugliness. Nothing to do but say, "Well, you're a fool," and move on.
So why does it astound me to witness the same fundamental, hypocritical dumb, just because the fool in question refers to Deity as "Lord and Lady"?
Dumb on me, I guess. Adherence to any belief system doesn't guarantee actual enlightenment, or efficiency of mind, regardless of the operating system. I know that intellectually, but it's past time I knew it inherently.
Here's to future enlightenment!