A Very Pagan Thursday
I just came home from a meeting of about 6 Christians and 6 Pagans came together to discuss their spirituality.
Of course any such meeting is considered significant because it brings together two groups that have historically hated each other and even killed each other. Both groups have such baggage and distrust from the mainstream culture that much of group found themselves clarifying their individual uniqueness to the stereotypes presented by culture. I think that’s a healthy thing – our brains cannot handle total awareness of the particularity of each and every person we meet, so we make generalizations. Those generalizations become stereotypes which we many times use to manipulate people we’ve never met or know and turn them into stock characters of their true selves. This evening we were able to pull back some of the misconceptions of our faith and try to present it from a personal, on-the-ground perspective.
Several in the Pagan crew were quick to say that there is many styles and types of Paganism, much like there is denominations of Christianity. As I listened further, they said that the things that tie all the branches together are: eco-spiritualism, (a worship/reverence of the earth and the physical), a practice of magic (projection of self-will either inward or outward through practices), and reincarnation (though the finer points of this are debated among different groups).
Diving deeper, I continued to hear that the goal of Paganism was to get in touch with the divine self, and to allow that self to readdress the truth that, “all is one.” Several talked about worshiping a pantheon, and gave several examples. Others mentioned séances and “past life regression” (contacting the dead). One person in the group asked how reincarnation and past life regression could coincide in the same worldview, which is a question some Pagans wrestle with too.
I mentioned what I saw was the biggest difference between what I knew of Paganism and my experience with Christianity. It seemed that the goal of Paganism was to center on the self, where as the aim of Christianity was to become aware of your centeredness on God.
All throughout the night, I was humbled by the openness of the group – and their willingness to listen. I know that the first time an interfaith group meets, its usually “hugs and hummus,” with no one stepping on the other person’s toes. This had some of that – and the ever-present “all religions are the same” that I’ve grown increasingly frustrated with lately (it disrespects the uniqueness and contributions of each religion in favor of a melting pot of mush.) But it also had some soul-bearing, meaning people were willing to admit the weaknesses of their faith perspective, which I found very productive to getting at raw conversation and the deeper meaning beneath just throwing theological grenades at each other.
For instance, I admitted that most of my life I had lived as if this world didn’t matter, because God was going to destroy it and take me to heaven. I could trash it and abuse God’s Creation anyway I pleased. Recently I’ve been made aware of the Kingdom of God being near me – and the “new heavens and new earth” Jesus speaking about being “already” but at the same time “not yet” here. When I see that God created the earth and called it very good, and when I see God confuse those at Babel for turning the earth into something they can claim for themselves, I am reminded – not to worship the earth but – to treat the earth as if it were holy. It is a sacred trust – a gift – and more than that. God is all throughout the earth, and to destroy the earth is to defame God himself. While I certainly do not find my Creator AS the Creation, I definitely see the Creator IN Creation.
This reverence for the tangible world was something I respected greatly in the Pagan participants. I have much to learn from them in this.
We chatted about the origins of terms – “Pagan” for instance, means “country folk” and “practitioner of the old ways,” whereas we suggested that the disciples of Jesus were practicing the teachings of Christ well before they considered themselves anything but Jews.
I noticed a need for some to ask what “sort” of Christian we were – those that came all had a very hands-off approach to adding much more after their faith besides “a follower of Jesus Christ.” It certainly makes the conversation aim the right direction.
Also surprising was that both groups referenced the Emperor Constantine as a major turning point in the world’s history. Up until 346AD, Rome had been pagan, with the Emperor as a god that was to be worshiped. There were different theories from the Pagans on why Constantine converted than I had ever heard before (his desire to “get right with God” was one of them), but I had always thought that Constantine saw a growing movement of Christianity in his armies, and in his cities, and needed to “convert” in order to co-opt the wave of potentially ex-patriots of Lord Cesar to the Lord Christ. It other words – his conversion was political – big surprise.
I’ll end on this – one guy who wasn’t necessarily Pagan or Christian brought up the idea of the mystical being the core of our longing for spirituality, and ritual/religion becoming what we set up as a result of that original mystical experience. I see this certainly in the Christian faith – you have a burning bush moment, and you expect to watch it repeat itself week after week – but it just won’t happen. I believe that many religions of this world focus on the “tingly feeling” of a mystical experience. But Christianity is more than just “feel good” experiences. It is about adoption – into a new family. That feels good for sure – and the communion you share with God is ecstatic and overwhelming. Many Western Christians could learn from their Eastern brothers in this.
I look forward to more meetings with our Pagan friends – it is encouraging that so many from the Underground were present for the meeting too; I’m so thankful and excited for the open hearts and the capacity for rigorous dialogue in our group. I hope we can display what Christ looks like in a way that loves those so different from us.
