{"id":4876,"date":"2016-04-05T17:00:59","date_gmt":"2016-04-05T23:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/?p=4876"},"modified":"2016-04-04T19:56:16","modified_gmt":"2016-04-05T01:56:16","slug":"the-environment-in-which-we-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2016\/04\/the-environment-in-which-we-work.html","title":{"rendered":"The Environment In Which We Work"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Contrary to what some have suggested, the last post Monotheist, New Age, and Materialist Derailments of Polytheism<\/a> wasn\u2019t written to tell our detractors to sit down and shut up. Certainly I hope they\u2019ll examine the case and be mindful of the context of polytheist discussions, but I wasn\u2019t writing only to them.<\/p>\n

I was also writing for us, the polytheist community. This is the environment in which we work. It\u2019s not fair and it\u2019s not nice, but it is what it is. We don\u2019t have to like it, but we do have to deal with it.<\/p>\n

Several people have asked if\u00a0the last post was about definitions. I understand how they might think that \u2013 there were certainly enough definitions in it. But that post wasn\u2019t arguing for one definition over another. Rather, it was listing these definitions and calling attention to their prevalence in the mainstream culture.<\/p>\n

Ask the average person on the street about \u201cGod\u201d and they assume you\u2019re talking about the old man in the sky with the long white beard who\u2019s ready and willing to smite you for not following his many arbitrary rules. Even if you\u2019re speaking with a more educated, more sophisticated person, they\u2019ll likely assume you mean the God of Christianity. One of my biggest complaints with Richard Dawkins<\/a> is how he defines \u201cGod\u201d and \u201creligion\u201d very narrowly, using definitions taken straight from conservative monotheists.<\/p>\n

And if they\u2019ve moved beyond that, they\u2019ll likely have a definition of \u201cGod\u201d similar to\u00a0the many New Age examples I listed.<\/p>\n

These are the words we hear all the time. These are the arguments we encounter. These are the assumptions we have to deal with. Even if we try to ignore them, our subconscious doesn\u2019t. Our subconscious hears them and assumes there\u2019s something to them. They become part of us, and if we are not very mindful and very careful, they will have a negative impact on our polytheism and on our entire lives.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re trying to restore \u2013 or re-create, or reimagine: choose your favorite term\u00a0\u2013 polytheism in a world where the loudest voices scream there is only one God and the second loudest voices scream there are none. We can\u2019t put on headphones and block them out. So what can we do?<\/p>\n

Be aware<\/strong>. \u201cPay no attention to the man behind the curtain!\u201d No, see him for who and what he is. Learn to recognize monotheistic and non-theistic language when you hear it. Spot the biblical references when they appear in ordinary conversation \u2013 the King James Bible is still the best selling English book in history. That\u2019s not altogether a bad thing \u2013 so long as you don\u2019t read it literally \u2013 but it\u2019s diametrically opposed to polytheism, even though a plain reading affirms the existence of many Gods.<\/p>\n

Be aware when you\u2019re inclined to write off your mystical experiences as \u201cjust your emotions\u201d or \u201cjust brain chemistry.\u201d Certainly emotions and brain chemistry are involved, but there\u2019s a lot more going on than that.<\/p>\n

Be aware than many Christians, Muslims, and atheists consider it their sacred duty to convert you to their way of thinking. Not all, but a lot. That\u2019s no reason why you can\u2019t be friends, but it\u2019s plenty of reason to examine every religious comment they make rather than accepting it on face value.<\/p>\n

Practice<\/strong>. There is nothing you can do to counter a negative environment more effectively than practicing your polytheism on a regular basis. If you already have a strong religious identity, it\u2019s much harder for either proselytizers or the mainstream culture to pull you over to their side.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year I put a together a brief guide on Beginning a Devotional Practice<\/a>. Create an altar. Pray. Mediate. Make offerings. Talk to the Gods regularly and listen for Their replies. There are many ways\u00a0 to do devotion, but there is no substitute for a consistent, reverent, devotional practice.<\/p>\n

\"Danu<\/a><\/p>\n

Remember that our polytheist traditions are about many things, but at the top of that list are the relationships we form and strengthen through hospitality and reciprocity<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Read<\/strong>. There are many good polytheist bloggers who are worthy of your time, but it\u2019s best to build a strong foundation in the classics. Read the works of the Greek philosophers. I don\u2019t agree with all of them<\/a> all the time, but they wrote in an era where polytheism was a given. Read the stories of our ancient ancestors<\/a>. Even if they weren\u2019t written down until the Christian era, they still help us understand what it was like to live in a world full of Gods. Learn about the cultures that still have an unbroken tradition of polytheism. Few of them are in the West \u2013 that just means you\u2019ll have to look a little harder to find them.<\/p>\n

If you have a steady diet of polytheist ideas, eventually you\u2019ll crowd out the monotheist, New Age, and materialist ideas.<\/p>\n

Practice with a group<\/strong>. It\u2019s hard to build a strong religious identity as a solitary practitioner. Oh, there are some people who do it, but they\u2019re the exception \u2013 and I\u2019m not one of them. As meaningful and helpful as it is to stand before your altar and pour offerings to Cernunnos or Brighid or Auset, it\u2019s that much more meaningful to do it in a group. My few attempts at doing an ecstatic possession ritual solo did not go well. The times I\u2019ve done it in a group setting have been among the most powerful experiences of my life.<\/p>\n

And if you practice with a group, you\u2019ll soon find that you don\u2019t agree with everyone\u2026 and you\u2019ll figure out what\u2019s an important distinction and what really doesn\u2019t matter.<\/p>\n

This is the environment in which we work<\/strong>. These are the ideas, concepts, and language we hear on a daily basis. These are the challenges to our polytheism. We can\u2019t make them go away, but we can deal with them effectively. When we do, we strengthen our relationships with our Gods, ancestors, and spirits, and we grow stronger and more confident in our polytheism.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We\u2019re trying to restore polytheism in a world where the loudest voices scream there is only one God and the second loudest voices scream there are none. We can\u2019t put on headphones and block them out. So what can we do?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1129,"featured_media":4878,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[4,5,8,425,993,10],"class_list":["post-4876","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-theology","tag-pagan","tag-paganism","tag-polytheism","tag-proselytization","tag-richard-dawkins","tag-spiritual-practice"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Environment In Which We Work<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"We\u2019re trying to restore polytheism in a world where the loudest voices scream there is only one God and the second loudest voices scream there are none. 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