Widening Perspectives – Page 2

With Justice to Ourselves

Today’s random reading selection was from Dion Fortune’s Estoteric Orders and their Work and the Training and Work of an Initiate.

In it one phrase caught hold of me, hard:

“with justice to himself”

The sentence it was from, for context, was “Upon this plane…man must function as a master; he cannot, with justice to himself, meet its entities upon equal terms.”

With justice to himself.

These days we are pretty good about self-entitlement and have something of a handle on justice for others (and more prevalent among women is the sublimation of self to others, but that’s a blog for another day). But justice for ourselves? Doing ourselves justice?

As I type this my thoughts want to slide over into the “what we’re owed” concept. Again, what we are entitled to. And kiddies (I’m one too, btw) I can tell you that we’re entitled to jack shit. No guarantees in life. No promises. Nothing that we’re intrinsically, cosmically owed. Many things that we may end up owed amongst our own community and culture, but there is no cosmic justice saying that I’m entitled to be set for life.

The only cosmic entitlement once we’re born is to have some fleeting time in life, however long or short that might be.

I think it is very easy for us to feel entitled for ourselves. Just see my rant on the how Christmas has turned into the season of buying things for ourselves.

But this is not what Dion Fortune was talking about. It wasn’t about being owed, it’s about owing ourselves.

What we really need is to ACT with justice to ourselves, our full Selves. This is not about a liscence to shop. This is about doing right by ourSelves.

What actions do we owe our Selves? Which behaviours are truly in service to our Selves? And which are convenient, easy or unconsciously distracting?

I had a lovely day out at Vancouver Pagan Pride Day today and so while I would like to ramble more on this, the sun (and sunburns, oops!) are getting to me. Hopefully what I have gotten down makes sense to more than just me.

Sometimes I feel alone on my own Wonderland Island in the Sea of Communal Insanity.

Do your Self and your Life justice today and I’ll try and do the same. Deal?

~Abysmal Witch

Paganism 101

Firelyte from Inciting a Riot made a facebook post that inspired this train wreck of a thought. 😀 Though to be fair, it really had nothing to do with what I’m planning to talk about.

What he said that got me thinking (and we know how hard that is!) were the words “paganism” and “101” in a related sentence.

And I end up thinking “is it possible to have a Paganism 101 book?”

I don’t think it is.

We have Wicca 101s and Heathenism 101s and it certainly wouldn’t surprise me to see Druirdry 101s and there are tarot 101s and rune 101s and herbalism 101s. Or in other words, there are intro books to all kinds of topics that are of interest to pagans.

And oh gods, I’m going to do it. I can’t believe it, but I am going down the road that all sane pagans should avoid: defining paganism.

My gods, there are almost as many definitions of paganism as there are paths within it. With nuances and blatant differences, arguments and bickering. It’s a point that pushes us away from each other rather than drawing us together (funny, isn’t it? given that it is a community term?). But I’m going there any way.

This is my opinion. It is endorsed by no one by me. YOUR WORLDVIEW MAY VARY. And that’s perfectly grand and fine. However, if you end up agreeing with me, I can’t help but think that’s a little grander and finer, but then, we’re all egotists at heart.

My definition is born out of what I witness as being included by those within and without the practices that get lumped under that poor maligned umbrella.

There are two components: magical practice and spirituality.

Only one is required for falling under the pagan umbrella. Yes, I am saying that you do not have to be spiritual to be pagan. You also don’t have to be a tree-hugger. Neither do you have to believe in magic.

Magical practices that tend to get lumped into paganism: hermeticism, occasionally alchemy, thelema (yes, that’s the Crowley stuff), hoodoo (though this one is frequently debated), witchcraft as craft, not religion.

Spiritual practices that tend to get lumped into paganism: wicca, druidry, heathenism, voodoo (sometimes but debated), goddess-worship, reconstructionist religions (particularly of Europe)

Some magical practices have a spiritual component.

Some spiritual practices have a magical component.

Any and all of these get lumped as paganism. It’s no wonder that my paganism isn’t like anyone else’s. And neither is yours.

Stage 2 of my definition of paganism. How a person is identified. You can be a) self-identified or b) identified by others.

We generally allow for self-identification of paganism…and not. But you know what? That’s only half the battle for me. If you self-identify as pagan but your behaviour is that of a muslim, I will disagree with your self-assessment and do not consider you pagan. If you do not self-identify as pagan but your spiritual practice revolves around goddess-worship, nature-worship and seasonal celebrations, well, then, you can deny it as much as you like but I’m still going to view you as pagan.

Not that I discount the self-identification. But frankly, it alone doesn’t do it for me.

Now coming back for a moment to the spiritual component, obviously it is more complicated than just a simple list. How do we decide which spiritual practices count as pagan? Well, if they are european reconstructions or descendents, excluding Christianity, we tend to include them. If they are nature-based, we tend to include them. If they have goddess worship (but not Mary), then we tend to include them.

If a practice has a strong connection to one of the “big” religions, then it ain’t paganism. But still, it’s not like we’re everything that’s left over. Some people like to include First Nations practices in paganism. I personally consider paganism to be a european creation, but I’m willing to negotiate on this one. And that, my dears, is the fun part of paganism.

It is a communal fictional dream.

There is no one practice that constitutes paganism. You can’t even say that a magical component is required because it isn’t! You can goddess worship and nature worship and old god worship without ever touching magic. Yes, many of the spiritual practices under the label do have a magical component but that’s cuz we like to have a combined world rather than a segregated one. But when you look at what we include under the umbrella, it is most definitely NOT an AND situation. It’s an either/or/and situation.

So given all this, how could there possibly be a Paganism 101 book?

To have an intro book on how to do something, there has to be a single, DEFINABLE practice that is done. All of the 101s I listed above are definable and separable from the topic herd. Paganism is its own topic herd. You’d have to cover a dozen different items in a Paganism 101 book and even then, none of them would have to be included and you wouldn’t cover every possible pagan contingency.

None of them would have to be included. Doesn’t that say it all?

I can’t think of a single requirement that applies to all groups that can be considered pagan. Not one. Okay, not one that can’t also be applied to any other major religion.

There is not a unique identifier to paganism. Not one thing you can point at and go, absolutely, ALL pagans have that. There are things that you can point to and will think ‘well, hell, ya, that’s pagan all right.’ but nothing that applies to everybody.

I’ve been in pagan groups with the hermetic, the thelemite, the druid and the wiccan, and the self-identified pagan who adheres to no particular path (but who embraces some of the components listed above).

Oh, those pesky “i’m pagan” people. They make it extra tricky. They’re not in one of the handy dandy defined categories listed above. They’re comfortable as being just pagan. Their spiritual practice may be earth-based, it may be goddess-based, it may not be. But you watch them in their behaviour and you’ll either agree with their statement or not. If you do, well they self-identified and you agree, ergo they’re pagan. If they do, and you don’t, well they may not be. They may be inappropriately using the label. It does happen.

So given all this, do you think it’s possible to do a Paganism 101?

If it is, what would it look like?

Honour the seasons? Hugs some trees (I don’t mean it in a derogatory way, I’m just enjoying saying it…now I want to go and hug a tree, either oak or willow I’m thinking)? And don’t forget that if you’re interested, there’s this magical thing that’s possible to?

So, again, no, I don’t think it is possible to have a Paganism 101.

HOWEVER, none of this means that I don’t believe in the pagan label. I do. It unites us with people who also seek to elevate themselves, who celebrate the same things we do (mostly), with people who make the best conversations. By banding together in a larger group we become a greater force.

And by allowing such fabulous diversity amongst our ‘bigger’ group, we help to keep ourselves open minded and flexible. And that is a recipe for health in my book.

And with that, my beloved crazies, I have reached the end of this ranting tale. Til next time, live strong!

~Abysmal Witch

It’s Your Life

It is, you know. Just yours. No one else’s.

You decide when to get up and when to sleep (don’t try that “I have to get up for work” shyte on me because working is still a choice, making it your decision ultimately to get up.)

You decide who to love.

And who to hate. (You may be influenced by other people, but your emotions belong to you, and no one else.)

You own your life. All of it. Every scrappy, crappy, happy piece of it.

So sink your hands into it! Go deep, into the wrists, the elbow, the armpits. Sink down deep into your own life and wrap it around you like the smoothest fabric, the softest embrace, the best, most tangled, wrapped up, caught up, cuddled up enfolding of yourself into yourself.

Take hold so deep, so hard, that no one can ever separate you from yourself again.

Grab hold of your life and love it, hate it, feel it, share it, f*ck it, dream it, OWN it.

It’s yours.

Not your friends’. Not your parents’ or your family’s. Not your boss’s and not even your kids’, pets’ or fern’s. It’s bloody well yours.

And absolutely no one can tell you otherwise.

Not even yourself.

You can try and toss away your life, your responsibility, your choices and decisions but in the end such actions always fail because no one owns your life but you.

Which means no one can ever take it away from you.

It’s your life.

Live strong.

~Abysmal Witch

The Not Lost Art of the passing Head Nod

As I was out walking today (and there will be another post later because there are pictures to be had!), enjoying the sunshine and mildly envious of the crowds out picnicking and bbq’ing (how I love bbq’d food), I cheerfully nodded to many of those I passed.

Not really a big deal, it’s jut a head nod. So how does it rate a blog post?

Because I have a feeling it’s something that just isn’t done that much anymore. And it makes me feel good and connected, and therefore I want to share it and give others the opportunity to enjoy it (assuming all of you aren’t already doing this and I’m the late bloomer of the crowd).

The first time I really noticed it was many many years ago when I first started to play in the SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism – recreating the middle ages as they should have been, similarish to a ren fair). Several hundred people at the festival site, dressed up and not very appropriately for the weather, all of them strangers to me (I knew 3 people on site). And everywhere I went people nodded to me. The nods tended to be slow, stately, and accompanied with a smile.

What a wonderful feeling they gave me.

I was connected suddenly with all of these strangers. I was alone and knew no one, but I felt welcomed in and accepted, all by a boatload of simple head nods.

When I got home from that weekend I noticed that the head nodding continued. It was a very quickly acquired habit. So there I was, the very next day, on a walk on my lunch break, and nodding at every person I passed. Okay, not all, but those that made eye contact with me got themselves an actual, certified, Saturn head nod.

And you know what?

Those people nodded back.

I’ve been doing it ever since.

It is the smallest thing ever. Just this little movement of the head. And with it you acknowledge the other person as a fellow human being walking on this planet, just as you are. And you are acknowledged in return.

It is a most remarkable affirmation that costs nothing, not in money, not in time, not in effort (if you consider a head nod effortful, you seriously need to get moving more).

And you might say that the result is equally small. But give it a try first. See how you feel as you walk along, meet someone eye’s and nod your head at them with a little smile. And they do the same back.

Okay, sure, not everyone will meet your eyes, not all people nod back (though most who make eye contact do nod), but enough that I, at least, start feeling connected again.

And it’s not just ‘the older generation’ that nods back (though I guess they probably are more likely to), but people of all ages react positively to this small courtesy.

If you’ve never tried it, give it a shot. Let me know how it works for you. If you’re also a head nodder, high five! With a head nod. 😀

~Abysmal Witch

An illicit pleasure in lists of achievement

They say the first step is admitting you have a problem.

I like to make lists. In particular, I like to list what I’ve accomplished in a day. And I don’t want to just make a written list, I want to tell people. I don’t because what could be more boring? (Okay, maybe somedays I do with a tweet or to an unlucky close friend, but I really am showing a lot of restraint!)

Maybe it feels more real if I tell others? Maybe I’m shouting my pride out to the world? I don’t know, but somehow the thrill of accomplishment is even greater when I can splatter shot the world with proof of it.

On the flip side, there is something really great about listing all you got done in a day. And if you balance that achievement against how you felt at the start of the day (or how inspired you felt during the day), most times I find I come out ahead. As in, I’m really freaking proud of what I’ve accomplished.

I take time to count the little things. It’s easy to count the big things, but the little things can matter even more. Why? Because they are what you are doing everyday. If you wait for the thrill of success from a big thing, you could be waiting for awhile. If you count up your little ‘done’ items, you can be proud of yourself everyday.

Some days just getting out of bed is the biggest accomplishment (that’s where you have to take into account your state of being that you were accomplishing things in, because it can dramatically affect your output and acknowledging that puts a supposed ‘lack’ of accomplishment into its proper perspective).

Other days the list of things that got done can be huge! I love those days. They’re usually cleaning days (errand days are pretty good, but errand running can take a lot longer than intended). The trick is not to count the overall task as just one thing, but to break it out into its component parts that could have been done separately, on different days even.

We forget about the little things. To count them as part of the larger whole. Sometimes to plan for them (remembered everything for the ritual except something that could actually light a fire, oops!). It’s so easy to dismiss them as next to nothing.

But they’re not! Those little things make up the big moments. Those little things are what life is made of. When you tally the little things, you start to see just how full life is. Don’t gloss over it by using big labels that ignore all the pieces that make it up.

Think I’m going to go make a list of all the things I got done today. And then I’m going to bask in the glow of how damn good I feel about myself. 😀

Life ho!

Hekate’s Suppers

In honour of Her whom I serve.

It’s amazing what a question, some google time and a bit of logic can do for us.

My curiosity centered around Hekate’s Suppers, something that’s been mentioned repeatedly but casually around me (people, internet, etc.). So I went looking for specifics and this is what I found. Please note, this information is not properly cited and so I cannot guarantee the accuracy of any of the details, aside from those things that are simply my own experience and perception.

In case you don’t know, Hekate or Hecate is a Greek goddess of antiquity typically known as a Goddess of magic, crossroads, witches, etc. She is also a psychopomp.

There are two points I’d like to bring to you regarding these suppers, first on the timing of them, the second on the purpose.

Most references I have found to a ‘date’ for them is on the 29th or 30th of the month. However, this is not based upon our calendar! Something that I think most people forget. Using the old roman calendar (not the Julian calendar and not our modern Gregorian calendar, and boy, that was a fascinating little trip into wikipedia) led to an interesting realization. I did not look at the ancient greek calendar given that every city-state had their own calendar and most weren’t recorded. Besides, the early Roman calendar may well have been based upon a Greek lunar calendar.

Right, so the ancient roman calendar was largely based upon the moon cycles. The month would start on the day of the new moon, when the crescent was first visible. This would put the 29th or 30th of the month on the dark moon (1-2 days before the crescent would first appear). Their calendar system is complicated but the idea that the “date” for Hekate’s suppers is actually on the dark moon seems both logical and fitting for the Dark Goddess of the Crossroads.

Second, Hekate’s suppers, classically speaking, were offerings left at crossroads. It seems that part of the purpose of this may have been a round about way for the rich to feed the poor. The rich people would leave offerings to Hekate at street corners that the poor would take up. I don’t know, but it seems plausible, particularly when we remember that most offerings by the temples to the Gods would ultimately result in a feast that would feed the locals. Often it was the only time that poor people would get meat (this is from a class I took long ago).

CORRECTION: If you check out the comments, you will see a post from Dver explaining that while many offerings were of a nature to share with people, Hekate’s suppers do not fall in that group. The comments also give a link to their own post which includes an explanation of where this misconception comes from. Not that giving to the poor or the foodbank is bad, just that it doesn’t fit with offering to Hekate on the dark moon. Now back to the original post:

Experience says that it doesn’t make sense to take a whole plate of food to a crossroads. Instead, I would suggest two potential ways to honour Her through a supper. One is the offering of an egg at a crossroads (though if the animals don’t get to it, the smell could be most unfortunate), the other would be an offering of food to a homeless person who was at/near a crossroads. But as always, in the end it is your intention, will and passion that determines the purpose of what you do. There are, of course, a multitude of ways that She can be honoured through the use of food, offerings, and crossroads. It’s just a matter of personal choice.

Now taking this one step further, and from personal practice, Hekate’s Supper can also be an opportunity to sit down to a meal with her. Invite her to your table, or to a setting near a crossroads, and eat your meal knowing she is there with you. And yes, I don’t see why this couldn’t be done with any deity with a time and location suitable to their nature.

One of the wondrous things of being pagan is being able to bring the spiritual into any aspect of living. In this case, it’s bringing deity into our meal, rather than simply leaving something for them. Truly, we are blessed.

Mind Versus Magic?

This post was inspired by Episode 29 of New World Witchery in one of those random statements leads to random thoughts leads to curious wondering moments.

There is a lingering idea in the world that “a curse won’t work if you don’t believe in it”. Not all people or even practitioners adhere to it, but I still hear mention of it now and again. In the above episode, Cory, Laine and their guest discussed the impact of healing magic on animals and young children, young enough that the child wouldn’t understand what was happening. In both cases it’s obvious that the healing, which was witnessed, could not have been the result of positive thinking.

What then occurred to me was that perhaps the mind could impact the situation in a negative fashion, rather than a positive one. We know that magic is driven by our will and focus, powered by our passion. Now let’s assume that the recipient of the healing or curse is adamantly opposed to the magical possibility. Not just a laissez faire attitude towards magic but a complete and utter repudiation of it.

Or in other words, they put their will, focus and passion into the certainty that there is no magic that could possibly touch them.

If they were strong enough in all these components, could they counter the affect of the magic coming towards them?

It would be a form of counter-magic (making it extra funny given that it would require the same tools as magic does).

If this is the case, it could account for the ‘you have to believe in curses for them to work’ statement. Except that the phrase has leapt to the wrong conclusion. It’s not that you have to believe in them, but perhaps if you repudiate the very idea on a deep, strong, passionate and consistent level, it could form a natural shield that might protect the anti-believer.

What do you think?

Bad days, Sad days

Note: this post is NOT to elicit sympathy, concern or expressions of support (no, seriously, I appreciate any such thought but really don’t want or need to hear it). I’m sharing because some days are bad days and there is something to be learned in them.

And yes, today is a bad day. My stupid freakin back is acting up enough for me to be incapable of ignoring it or pretending its just a blip. While I have held to a general state of calm and positive thinking, somedays fear surges up and all the horrible possibilities start doing a whirly twirly dance around me. Bad days are really good for letting the fear in (the fear in this case residing in how long will this injury last, will it outlast the really good medical leave at work, will I ever get back to normal, etc.).

What’s interesting is that sadness also leaks out on days like this. Is it just anger twisted inwards? Fear turned sideways? Or is it true sadness?

I honestly don’t know. It’s just a sea of heart-break, waves slipping long and deep across my inner sands. It wells up and subsides in a rhythm only it knows.

I don’t know what’s being released through this. I can only accept it as part of myself that needs its own acknowledgement, its own space, its own share of my attention.

And what I’ve found in the past is that when deep sadness or pain is lurking just below consciousness, one of the best ways for me to finish drawing it to the surface and release it is to watch an emotionally intense movie. There are some guarantee to make me cry scenes here and there, but let’s face it, you want a movie to wring you out, why not go with What Dreams May Come? After all, almost everyone is dead within the first ten minutes and the remainder die by the end anyways 😀

We’ll see what else may come tonight. Okay, anyone else think that sounded dirty?

~Abysmal Witch

Much Love…and Who We Could Be

For all of you who keep checking in on me, so much love your direction! I know I’ve been very quiet. Vewy quiet, though I haven’t been hunting wabbits, I swear! In fact, yesterday I was accused, oh so sweetly and gently, mind you, of becoming a hermit.

A semi-fair accusation, I must admit. Given that I’ve been trapped on my couch (I’m sitting up as I type this because lying down and typing is an exercise in aggravation) and up to so little, it’s been pretty easy to put off blogging and, realistically, all kinds of human interaction.

Add in the brain mush that resulted from all the pain and drugs, and I really didn’t feel like blogging. After all, what was I going to say? That I’m still recovering? Still suffering pain? Oooh, I’m off drugs now? This is not the type of thing I find interesting to share. So I’ve stayed quiet. (As for the friend anti-socialness, that’s probably a result of all of this plus the mindless distraction of reading & tv. Easier to vegemetate than to interact with real, live humans.)

I think my brain is coming back. Sssshhhhhh. We don’t want to scare it away. 🙂 So hopefully you’ll be hearing from me more often. Hope. It’s an enduring yet elusive thing. But that’s a topic for a different day.

Instead, the topic of the day is something I tweeted this past weekend. I asked “To become your dream self, you have to say farewell to who you are now. Is it worth it? Would you do it?”

And I got some great replies. Ranging from others who are asking themselves this type of question to the other extreme of being content with their current self and feeling no need to seek out their dream self (as that would be too much like living in a movie ((a fabulous comment!)) ).

The origin of the conversation arises, naturally, from my own personal contemplation. I’ve had a large amount of time for such thinking endeavours (though less than it would seem given the limits to said thinking), some of which I’ve actually used. The specific that triggered this instance of this train of thought (I’ve had it before) arose from dealing with my food issues.

I lost a dozen pounds during my incarceration (sounds better than illness, doesn’t it?). Turns out that you can counter a complete lack of exercise and even movement by an even larger lack of food. Between the pain and drugs I just wasn’t hungry, and it hurt too much to get food, and so I lost weight. Then I was able to move again and got off the drugs and rediscovered the joys of tasty food. Okay, so I was treating myself. 🙂 And the weight went back on. It’s been a see-saw which ultimately led me to contemplate my issues with food.

But that isn’t today’s topic, per se. Instead I’m focusing on a particular aspect of the situation that generalizes to many other aspects of life.

Obviously I have something of a preferred ideal in mind when it comes to my weight. I also have a preferred relationship that I would like to have with food. But my reactions to food are too often emotionally based which, as you may know if you’ve ever tangled with your own emotional demons, are nasty trixy things to combat.

So I have this idea/dream/preferred (yes, all ranges apply) version of myself when it comes to food. There’s that version of me. And then there’s me. There is distance between the two.

There are a select number of dream me’s that are at some distance from my reality. And the gap between the two would seem to be a simple matter of choice, will and effort.

Ha!

Behind all three of those things lurks desire. And deep within desire is our emotional history and all the other desires that conflict with the supposedly easy and obvious one of becoming the person we dream of being.

And the more hidden the desire and emotional history is, the harder it is to overcome with any other more conscience desire that we have in mind.

Ha! again.

Desire that we have in mind. Desire doesn’t lurk in the mind. It may be informed by it, but desire is in our blood, our sinews, our bones and in our emotions and thus in our subconscious.

I believe that our cultural focus on the mind limits us in matters of the heart and soul. But that’s just my opinion.

Anyhow, there is this gap between who I dream of being and who I am, that is ultimately supported by some internal need of mine to continue to be the me I am now. This need can also be fear based, because changing from the known to the unknown (after all, we only have a concept of what that dream self in that dream life is like) is scary, so is the act of leaving that which brings us some strange level of comfort or satisfaction (if it didn’t,we would have ditched the behaviour ages ago).

And then there is the death of the I-of-now. In an easy, happy world, the change towards the dream self is gradual and you just look back one day and realize that you are not the person you used to be. But sometimes the change gets so focussed in that to go from old to new requires a release of I-of-now, a death as it were, and that, that is very hard indeed.

Thus leading to my original question “To become your dream self, you have to say farewell to who you are now. Is it worth it? Would you do it?” We are very attached to who we are now, and rightly so! This is who we are. Where we find our loves, our joys and our sorrows. Not easy to simply leave behind. It’s easy to talk about, just like it’s easy to talk about switching jobs or packing up and moving away. But the actual doing? That’s a horse of an entirely different colour.

Great kudos and power to you who are doing just that! I’m still a-struggling, but that’s part of life, too.

Well, that’s my $10.50 on the matter. For today. Apparently if I don’t vent thoughts now and again, I burst out with a profusion of inanity.

Much love to all.

Blessings of the deep and wild to you and yours.

~Saturn, the Abysmal Witch.

Society Encourages the ‘Me’-A Spiritual Christmas?

Okay, so a couple of days I got a tad tipsy, saw an ad that was for some high ticket item. It was definitely a Christmas ad, but it was promoting that we buy the item for ourselves, not for others. This led to something of a rant.

I’ve hopefully cleaned it up enough that you can garner some smidge of a booze-addled insight from my rantings. Feel free to correct me.

(Of course, it’s always possible that the commentary is also completely obvious, but letting it out made me feel good.)

Christmas ads are apparently now about getting stuff for yourself, before christmas. Giving license to all of us to be self-interested at this time of year. Oh yeah, don’t forget to get something for the people you care about, but don’t you also care about yourself? If you did, you would buy that fabulously priced 60″ lcd tv now to save yourself stress and money. Waiting for Boxing Day and using only those funds left after christmas that you can afford? That’s just silly talk.

We’re saying it’s okay to put yourself first.

Do you remember when Christmas was about giving to other people and yes, also about getting, but it was about what other people gave you. It wasn’t about what you could get for yourself. When did it stop being a social, community, all about each other event and become all about the Me?

The Me? What’s that? You know, the individual, the I I I me me me that wants to come first. Like when we were five and didn’t really get why we had to share our toys. Mine first, you can have it later if I decide to give it to you. All about me.

And here we are, 17 days to Christmas and the ads are telling us to go out and buy this cool ‘x’ for ourselves.

Commercialism is clearly driving our society. It is the driver of the chariot of our social opinions. It gets money by getting us to spend. We’re letting it tell us that it’s time to let go of the spiritual meanings in our lives in pursuit of getting the next cool thing.

It makes me ill. It’s hard enough holding onto, finding, and/or drinking in our spiritual experiences. It’s just that much harder when we are being slapped at every turn with instructions on how to be a more selfish, self-interested, self-involved individual.

Show your love this season by showing that you care. Which does not mean buying the biggest thing you possible can….for yourself.

Okay, I admit, I should stop watching tv again.

Happy holidays!