No, I'm just looking for a woman who will ride anything with a dick or a kickstand, that's all. I'm thinking she might understand that whole "sexual abandonment" thing listed above. OK, I'm a Hedonist, sue me. Not you, Roger.
ding ding.you win!! Paganism is an ancient philosophy that focused on the seeking of pleasure wherever it could be found...whether it be sexual or found in nature..tobacco, ganja, alcohol etc...... Obviously it is still around..........
Well, Cinderella - there you have it. Very few people know what the term really means, so it gets Humpty Dumpty's Rule of Words applied to it.
What is a pagan? That depends on what the meaning of is is. So many dicussions deteriorate here on strictly semantical grounds. It's sad. If you don't know what anything means, how can you ever know what anything means?
Sad? Maybe. Inevitable though. In order to keep a discussion from deteriorating there must be a) interest, and b) some common ground. If two people cannot agree on the definition of a word, there is no basis for discussion. There is only argument. Sometimes it happens that there is sufficient common ground to promote discussion. The longest threads, though, are the arguments Well, I'm off to VIR. Those of you left here behave yourselves!
Hey, that's the point. I know what "pagan" means... to ME. I can look it up in a dictionary, too (and get two contradictory meanings, but that's another story). I'm looking to find out what OTHER people think it means... which is an entirely different thing. Where this all comes from: My own personal beliefs are, shall we say, eclectic; I've never found ANY organized religion that mirrors what I have found, in my own experience, to be my personal truth. The "basic" modern definition of Pagan is: one who does not believe in the God of the Bible. Because this is the closest and shortest explanation to my beliefs, I've long been a part of the subset of people who would, if asked, describe themselves as being Pagan. Some time ago, though, I stopped using the term to describe myself; and the discussion/argument came from a friend asking me why. My reasons are twofold: 1) the fact that what I mean by the word Pagan is NOT what most of the rest of the word hears when I say it; and 2) there is a deep streak of antipathy in many Wiccan and Pagan people and communities against 'conventional' religion - justified, in many cases, by persecution or ridicule that these people have experienced - and that's fine for them, if they need to feel that way; but my own personal truth does not have room for that attitude. My friend took exception to this. There was a whole lot of back-and-forth useless jabbering about 'selling out' - as if I'm somehow beholden to the entire alternative-religion community to hold up a picket sign on their behalf - and after awhile, the debate settled down to the meaning of "Pagan" and the matter of what it means and what people think it means. Our discussion finally ended on the note of "let's stop talking about this before we start hitting each other with big sticks" -- but the question lingered in my mind; and so I asked it here. The answers so far hold up my side of the argument nicely. Thanks for that. ...I guess my next question would be: Given the information that pretty much all people who describe themselves as "Pagan" are people of faith - just not a faith that corresponds to the Bible - does this change your opinion of the word? Would it make a difference if your enemy described him/herself as Pagan? What about if it were your friend? And really, how much does it even matter? Honest opinions, please; I promise to take no offense at anything said in this thread. And will be back to check it again after VIR. =c.
no. it has always meant to me, among the above definitions, someone in tune with nature, internally and externally. yes. i would be insulted to hear them claim to be of such an exalted nature. more power to' em. how much does what matter? c, you have always struck me as an individual with a strong mind. check this out... http://www.churchofsatan.com/Pages/cosinfopack.pdf ...recognize yourself?
Cinderella, You've hit the nail on the head with the perception of meaning thing. That's alot of the problem today with intolerance of any religion or lack thereof. Personally, I see pagan as being an umbrella term that covers alot of other labels. It can be derogatory, or mean that someone worships nature or any other number of things. My best suggestion: ask someone else who claims to be pagan...then ask a couple hundred more pagans what they think. Basically that should get you right back to where you started Here's an interesting link in the meantime though. It's supposed to be able to tell you what your "belief" is. Take it worth a grain of salt (I've been everything from Liberal Quaker to Buddhist), but it's interesting. Good luck in your search. http://www.beliefnet.org/story/76/story_7665_1.html
well I mostly aree with the test Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (100) Orthodox Quaker (98) now I have to find where the Friends meet around here.
That's a pretty interesting site. I found some of the choices a bit constraining; no doubt you did also. My experience with 'pagans' has been that most got involved out of an edge-pushing rebellious thing (goth like) and for the drugs and sex. These aren't real pagans though, I think. The real one's don't flaunt, just as most other truly religious don't flaunt.
I hope my daughters' priest doesn't surf here. 1. Secular Humanism (100%) 2. Unitarian Universalism (98%) 3. Liberal Quakers (84%) 4. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (81%) 5. Nontheist (76%) 6. Neo-Pagan (67%) 7. Theravada Buddhism (64%) 8. Bahá'í Faith (58%) 9. New Age (50%)
Be patient with me PC-I'm really smarting over what happened at VIR. Exactly which nub are you refering to?
c, you have always struck me as an individual with a strong mind. check this out... http://www.churchofsatan.com/Pages/cosinfopack.pdf ...recognize yourself? [/B][/QUOTE] No. The structure being espoused by the Church of Satan has no more to do with my own personal truth than any of the other JudeoChristian faiths... =c.
Hey Chameleon, have you ever read Flannery O'Conner? One of my favorites. Not for the weak minded. I bet you like her.
How hard is it for us feeble minded old ladies to read? Actually duc, I'm not sure I've ever even heard of that author, but I'll be sure to check it out. I'm off to the library the next couple of days anyways (2 huge religion research papers this semester) so I'll look around. Ella, Am I strong minded or maybe just strong willed? From your posts, I'm sure you can recognize either equally as well. You've scared me with that post though! I have more than one (but thank goodness not most) of those qualities. Are you trying to say I'm Satan? or maybe Satanistic? It's been proposed before, but you'd be surprised how far off it really is. I'm more the harmless, absent-minded professor type Just curious, but have you looked OUTSIDE the Judeo-Christian religions? I'm sure this won't surprise duc much, but I find Hinduism and other Eastern religions much more satisfying than most Western ones. www.beliefnet.org is a good place to start to get generals on most world religions. We should talk at a meeting this summer.
