Re: IMPACT Trainings
Posted by:
DisiectiPoetae
()
Date: June 12, 2009 02:07PM
Hopeful,
Well, that certainly was a mouthful.
Oh my. I'm trying to think of where exactly to start on that.
Okay. First of all, as I've stated before, I believe, I don't have any specified diety that plays an adverserial role in my life. I do not believe in Satan.
Alot of this falls into the category of personal beliefs. I grew up learning these things, which were passed down from quite a few generations, and, of course, I developed some beliefs of my own along the way.
My PERSONAL beliefs are that evil exists everywhere, and there is definitely a potential for evil in every person. Actions, thoughts, behaviors. The first thing we learn is that THOUGHTS ARE THINGS. It's entirely possible to create what you could call "demonic energy" that would actually react to stimuli as if it existed of it's own accord. But. I do not believe that, on a spirtual level, "beings" or "energies" exist simply to "be evil" or do harm. There has to be some sort of balance in all things. If you pull out the balancing "negative" energies in an environment, the "positive" energies have nothing to counter them, and they collapse, thus creating sort of a "black hole." It's rather complicated to explain, so I hope that makes sense.
What THAT notion does to Paganism is... TWIST IT. There IS a sort of code that states, "An' it harm none, do what thou wilt." Which... basically says... as long as what you're doing isn't hurting anyone, go for it.
Of course, there are a million holes in this theory, and from person to person, you see a lot of differing opinions on what it means, what it limits, etc. It's been said before, that trying to get Pagans to agree on something is like herding cats. And that's true. It's more of an individualized thing.
See.. the problem is... for MOST of us, we see that to mean... it can't hurt ANYONE, ANYTHING, period. The best context I can use that in atm would be... It's wrong to lie and manipulate people for financial gain. Because it hurts someone. It's wrong to litter, because it damages the environment. It's wrong to harm animals, because it hurts the animals. So, if you think about it... it's quite limiting in and of itself, in the correct context.
It seems as if that "as long as it works for you" attitude was pulled from this code... however, it's wrong, it's twisted, and it doesn't make sense.
I've come across this frame of mind several times. Where people went as far as to lie and try to cheat me out of things because "it worked for them" to do so. It didn't work for me, though... Therin lies the problem.
The only Satan in my world lies deep within the twisted minds of men.
I think Einstein said once, "Look deep into Nature, and you will understand everything better."
There is competition. There is a "kill or be killed" attitude. But, that's survival. Animals don't understand malice. To be honest, I think that this is one of the main reasons why human beings appear to be underdeveloped to me. Animals are more civilized.
Of course profit is a motive. It would have to be. Because... I can't understand how anyone could do such damaging things in the name of sincere good intent. I just can't.
Anyhow, I hope this helps. I apologize for taking so long to reply. At the moment, I'm dealing with a recurrent health problem that's taken a turn for the worst, which... leaves me in and out of the hospital for treatment sessions, with a 3 day long session coming up in a day or 2, but I'll do my best to reply when I have the chance.