{"id":1172,"date":"2017-01-01T16:33:55","date_gmt":"2017-01-01T20:33:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/thezenpagan\/?p=1172"},"modified":"2017-01-01T16:33:55","modified_gmt":"2017-01-01T20:33:55","slug":"congratulations-you-survived-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thezenpagan\/2017\/01\/congratulations-you-survived-2016\/","title":{"rendered":"Congratulations! You survived 2016"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Congratulations! If you\u2019re reading this, you survived 2016. (I will not be surprised if \u201cI survived 2016\u201d becomes a popular t-shirt slogan this year.)<\/p>\n

\"This
This collage by British art director Chris Barker of celebrities who didn\u2019t survive 2016\u00a0 went viral at the end of the year. Barker says he ran out of space.<\/a> (Image used under fair use provisions.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I rung in the new year in a wine bar in Ellicott City, the neighboring town that was largely destroyed by a flash flood<\/a> last summer. The recovery continues and a few places have reopened, Pure Wine Cafe<\/a> among them. There were only a handful of people there but it seemed a suitable way to bid farewell to a misbegotten year .<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been thinking recently of an exchange from the Babylon 5<\/i> episode \u201cThe Parliament of Dreams\u201d<\/a>. In this episode the various species gathered on the space station are having a cultural exchange, exhibiting their cultures\u2019 religious rituals. The Centauri festival takes the form of a drunken banquet. The Centauri ambassador\u2019s assistant explains,<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a celebration of life. It comes from a time in our world\u2019s history when two dominant species were fighting for supremacy: our people and a species we called Xon. At year\u2019s end, we count how many of our people survived and we\u2019d celebrate our good fortune.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The banquet table itself has a number of statues on it, and one of the station\u2019s human officers asks what they are for. The ambassador replies,<\/p>\n

Our household gods. In a world where every day is a struggle for survival, you need all the gods you can get.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So celebrate your good fortune. And may you have all the gods you need. (Remember, as the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster has taught us, you can always make up more.)<\/p>\n

\n

You can keep up with \u201cThe Zen Pagan\u201d by subscribing via RSS<\/a> or e-mail<\/a>.<\/p>\n

What Does It Mean For The Gods To Exist? and other essays<\/a><\/i> is now available as a free e-book! It collects my run on the Patheos Agora blog<\/a> plus a few bonus pieces.<\/p>\n

If you do Facebook, you might choose to join a group on \u201cZen Paganism\u201d<\/a> I\u2019ve set up there. And don\u2019t forget to \u201clike\u201d Patheos Pagan<\/a> and\/or The Zen Pagan<\/a> over there, too.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So celebrate your good fortune. And may you have all the gods you need. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1860,"featured_media":1183,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,75],"tags":[756,757],"class_list":["post-1172","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-life","category-seasonal-musings","tag-756","tag-babylon-5"],"yoast_head":"\nCongratulations! You survived 2016<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"So celebrate your good fortune. 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