ill_made_knight

the root of compassion is 'suffering with'. This is predicated on the idea that there is a shared similar experience among beings.
if this notion is dismissed, the root of compassion is dismissed as well.
if any individual or group claims that their experience is solely unique to themselves and that no other individual or group can share in that experience, either viscerally, or by an 'intellectual' derivative, they remove the ground of compassion in others.
if any individual denies that experiences can't be shared or similar, or even approximated, based on an association with a specific sociological or culturally defined demographic type, they deny that specific group the ground of compassion.

In other words, if you tell me I can't appreciate or relate to your suffering, struggle , or opression based on a stereotypical image you relate me to, then you won't get compassion or even sympathy from me. basically you can just f__k off.

"The kind of Woman meant for you and me
Came never from the riven side of man
But rose in splendor from the warm blue sea
On that grey morning when the world began
Goddess of Love and Wisdom, Fright and Lust,
Knowing not good or evil yet Divine
She knelt to clothe her glory in the dust
To form the Living altar and the Shrine
Between whose pillars man's first sacrifice
Was nightly poured to feed creations flame
Before the priests with fables crude device
Sought to conceal the source from which we came.
So let us pray forgiveness and return
To our first Temples, there to love and learn."
V.H.A
Forgive if the wording is a scad bit off,as i type from memory. T'is one of the four poems realized by Victor which resonated so deeply within me, that they've become ingrained within my heart.
A very fitting one for Fri-Dei ;-)
I don't need a temple or shrine made of stone. Mine walk the wide green earth in the flesh. Nor do I need have truck with Priests and sadly Priestesses, who would again ensnare us, with 'fables crude device', among other 'stories'.

"it is the cruelest month of all the year;
the frightened trees are frozen on the hill,
their naked branches shaken by the breath of fear
My sense quickened by the deadly chill,
I hear the silent moonquake in my heart,
and in the virgin snow I read Her triple will."

Just got in from a brisk walk in my wood with the hounds. Dead still, new fallen snow, clear crisp air. The moon, like a silver lamp.... Gods, it effing beautiful...

bah, folks are so swift to frame things in terms of injustice, inequity and privilege surely the black priests are pleased at this.

my choral career has slipped past twilight this eve with our performance of Joseph Martin's 'Canticles in Candlelight'
 a christmas cantata.
two persons actually asked which choir I usually sing with,heh.
p.s. I'v been invited back..

once you know, it doesn't much matter anymore, 'cause you know...

on reading the following:
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/johnbeckett/2014/10/thinking-about-the-gods.html
spawned somewhat by:
http://bansheearts.com/2014/10/theurgic-binding-or-st-just-got-real/

Absolutely not!
"never give your life force over to ANYONE or ANYTHING."
let me re iterate :
"9 Now, the question is raised: 'Since people think that they will become the Whole by knowing brahman, what did brahman know that enabled it to become the Whole?'

10 In the beginning this world was only brahman, and it knew only itself (Atman), thinking: 'I am brahman.' As a result, it became the Whole. Among the gods, likewise, whosoever realized this, Only they became the Whole. It was the same also among the seers and among humans. Upon seeing this very Point, the seer Vamadeva proclaimed: 'I was Manu, and I was the sun.' This is true even now. If a man knows 'I am brahman' in this way, he becomes this whole world. Not even the gods are able to prevent it, for he becomes their very self (Atman). So when a man venerates another deity, thinking, 'He is one, and I am another', he does not understand. As livestock is for men, so is he for the gods. As having a lot of livestock is useful to a man, so each man proves useful to the gods. The loss of even a single head of livestock is painful; how much more if many are lost. The gods, therefore, are not pleased at the prospect of men coming to understand this."
Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 1.4.9-10
from Upanishads, a new translation,Patrick Olivelle,Oxford World Classics


let me re iterate :
So when a man venerates another deity, thinking, 'He is one, and I am another', he does not understand. As livestock is for men, so is he for the gods. As having a lot of livestock is useful to a man, so each man proves useful to the gods. The loss of even a single head of livestock is painful; how much more if many are lost. The gods, therefore, are not pleased at the prospect of men coming to understand this."

more later as I have to go, this is what i get for deciding to peruse some Modern pagan stuff to kill time before going to work ,silly me.
(and yes, I AM a stone cold full bore polytheist, among other things)

http://wildhunt.org/2014/09/accountability-in-pagan-leadership.html
well now, isn't that interesting.....heh, maybe there can be pagan police too!
I truly hope they get everything they want.....

wonderin what it is folks hope to get out of religion.....

Bear in mind we can barely predict the weather no more than three days out with any real accuracy...