"The abuser won. Everything is back to the way it was before."
...PaganSquare
PaganSquare is a community blog space where Pagans can discuss topics relevant to the life and spiritual practice of all Pagans.
Subscribe to this list via RSS
Blog posts tagged in conflict
I overhear a lot of conversations that become arguments, and I just want to smack my head because, as an outside observer, it's so clear to me why the two parties are having a difficult time communicating. Why, in fact, a pretty benign topic can become a full on argument. Often it really boils down to intention. What's your intention? What are you trying to communicate? What's your goal? What do you want to get out of this communication/interaction?
...
...
A while back, I read a book by a contemporary theologian whose initial premise was: The story of the struggle between Good and Evil is a human universal.
And that's quite simply not true.
One certainly seems to see this story everywhere. Go to a Hollywood movie, pick up a popular novel: good guys vs. bad guys. Worse: we see it in our own heads. Matriarchy good, patriarchy bad. Abrahamics bad, paganisms good.
Recent Comments
-
Show all comments
-
David, my heart beats faster when I hear words like "teleological" and "deontological." (How pathetic is *that*?) I surely do love -
I often do the same thing! None the less, it's a good conversation to have and thinking about how we view our ethics is very impo -
Thanks David: you're absolutely right about the overstated conclusion. One of my besetting flaws as a writer is a tendency to get
-
I agree that non-dualistic thinking is preferred to dualistic thought. We certainly live in a dualistic culture here in the USA.
In our culture belief is the sine qua non of religion. We talk of ‘beliefs’, and ‘believers’, and ‘other beliefs’, as synonyms for religious doctrines, adherents and other religions. The problem with this is that only one religion on the planet actually cares about what you believe: Christianity. Most other religions relate to their doctrines or practices in very different and sometimes contradictory ways, such as having several unresolved and conflicting opinions in one person. For them, this is not a problem, but for Christianity it is. The history of Christianity is mostly about disagreements in doctrine and who had to flee, hide, fight, be killed, or submit to whom, about it. It is true that across human history religion has been an excuse for war or plunder, but that was usually about resources or dominance and not about technical points of theology. Christianity is different.
Recent Comments
-
Show all comments
-
heh, the old 'faith vs works' debate... -
That was a very interesting read, thanks. My own take on this is something I've understood since reading Starhawk's "Spiral Dance
-
Sam, this was nicely written. Thank you. There are two quotes that I return to again and again on this matter: Joseph Campbell's:
-
First of all, the problem with Christians isn't that they tend to disagree with one another. The problem is that they have a tende
-
My experience with Goddess is entirely faith based and I place no value in the experiential. Furthermore, I could care less if how
In the essay Photo of boy in public housing with an iPad prompts debate over what the poor should have, blogger Jarvis DeBerry describes the moral outrage expressed by some readers over a little boy occupying himself with an iPad in a poor neighborhood. Further outrage, as well as outrage over this outrage, was expressed in the comments section and reflects the ongoing dilemma of what to do about the poor and our understanding of what is fair.
Recent Comments
-
Show all comments
-
After having read some of the posts in reply to that image over on DeBerry's blog, I was truly struck by those comments of people
-
"Fair" probably starts with knowing the context of the photo, and knowing what assumptions we are making that may or may not have
-
Questions of redistributive (I prefer the term "restorative") justice vs. meritocracy actually *do* come back to religion. If you
A cross-post this week, if I may - between here at my first blog 'home', and the wonderfully eclectic 'Witches & Pagans' site (because if you can't 'moonlight' as a Pagan, then who can?).
I am very aware that I haven't written anything at either location for a couple of weeks. I could give excuses - ultimately, the days have flown past and life has been more important. I'm sure we all know how that goes. Instead, take a wander with me, if you will.
Regular readers know that one of my favourite places for inspiration is as I walk the dog across the hilltop where I live. This evening I wandered the streets, looking out at the fierce clouds parting after an intense rain and thunder-storm just a few hours ago, the remnants of a rainbow, and the slightly 'stunned' feeling of a normal, modern, country village after a violent and unavoidable incident of Nature. The grass is rich and green, the snails appear to have made a small bypass across the path outside one particular row of houses, and the occasional early bat is swooping overhead.
