LadyEllen
Posts: 10931
Joined: 6/30/2006 From: Stourport-England Status: offline
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quote:
ORIGINAL: SugarMyChurro LadyEllen: I don't claim an understanding of your experience of the divine, but I do seem to recall that you claimed to be a follower of a neopagan Ásatrú type faith. As it happens I have an enormous fondness for Norse myth, pageantry, ritual, and philosophy - I really do. But don't you find it at least a little revealing that the subject of your faith is equally the subject of books on mythology, comic books, cartoons, and movies? The fact that something may be aesthetically captivating doesn't lend it a truth value of any kind. It's still just pretty stories with no foundation in reality. The Lord of the Rings was a kind of redaction of northern European myths - does it mean that Tolkien's myth-making is true? Fair enough points. Yes, I've been in Asatru for a long while, albeit well out of the mainstream for most of that time. I'm afraid though that I dont really understand your point about the mythology etc being adapted for entertainment - could you explain please? Sesame Street did not undermine advanced mathematics as I understand it...... which is how I read your question, though more likely I didnt get it. I wont go into what I experienced too much - seems little point to do so. What I will say is that it transcended any and every form of mythology, scripture or other formalisation, and indeed was beyond any accurate or ample description in words such as we might be familiar with. In short, no there was no old man in a white beard present, but "God" (a loaded term I dislike) was. The formalised religions we have, including those which we reject as "mythology" are a problem somewhat, in that they have become ends in themselves when really they are keys to the end. As ends in themselves they are ridiculous and anyone with a thinking brain can grasp that, but as keys to an end they retain enormous value if only we have the will to use them. Once the door is opened, one need not ever use the key again except to pass it on perhaps. The reason I exclude myself from mainstream Asatru indeed, is that too many there have the same problem as many within any other religion; this unwillingness to see beyond that which is written. Yet, as a key, Asatru remains valid and useful. E
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In a test against the leading brand, 9 out of 10 participants couldnt tell the difference. Dumbasses.
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