![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hearthstone4. Beliefs - Birth, death and rebirth
I'm not a literalist about this. In my opinion, death is a continuation of our lives, it's the entry point to another part of our existence. I think it may be a more flexible reality than the one we know now. Mainly, I think that any attempts to describe it by earth-bound people (i.e. us) are bound to fail because we don't have the understanding or the tools to do it. Any such attempts made are at best incomplete and almost certainly just wrong.
I don't mean that we shouldn't think about these things, or theorize. I think it's a useful exercise. I just don't think we should expect that we're going to be correct in our guesswork. :)
But I do think we go on. I think we may be able to connect with the world we're in now in some way. Possibly we'll gain a better understanding of the gods. These things are all possible. They just aren't guaranteed. (This is a point where I find myself diverging from the more reconstructionist folks at times.)
So, the answer to this one? As the agnostics say, "I don't know, and neither do you." :)
1. Beliefs – Why Paganism?
2. Beliefs – Cosmology
3. Beliefs – Deities
4. Beliefs – Birth, death and rebirth
5. Beliefs – Magic, spellcraft, mysticism etc
6. Beliefs – The power of prayer/reciprocity
7. Beliefs – Patronage and other deeper relationships
8. Beliefs – Holidays
9. Deity Gender
10. Patrons
11. Pantheon – For these posts, pick a deity or speak of elements of the
patheon, such as tribes or nature spirits, etc.
12. Pantheon –
13. Pantheon –
14. Pantheon –
15. Pantheon (anti) – On finding a pantheon.
16. The meaning of terms like “earth-based” and what they mean to this path
17. My ways of worship
18. Community
19. Paganism and my family/friends
20. Paganism and my relationship
21. Other paths I’ve explored
22. Paganism and major life events
23. Ethics
24. Personal aesthetics with magic and ritual
25. Priest? Clergy? One or both? Neither?
26. Any “secular” pastimes with religious significance, and why
27. How your faith has helped you in difficult times
28. One misconception about Paganism you’d like to clear up
29. The future of Paganism
30. Places of spiritual significance
I'm not a literalist about this. In my opinion, death is a continuation of our lives, it's the entry point to another part of our existence. I think it may be a more flexible reality than the one we know now. Mainly, I think that any attempts to describe it by earth-bound people (i.e. us) are bound to fail because we don't have the understanding or the tools to do it. Any such attempts made are at best incomplete and almost certainly just wrong.
I don't mean that we shouldn't think about these things, or theorize. I think it's a useful exercise. I just don't think we should expect that we're going to be correct in our guesswork. :)
But I do think we go on. I think we may be able to connect with the world we're in now in some way. Possibly we'll gain a better understanding of the gods. These things are all possible. They just aren't guaranteed. (This is a point where I find myself diverging from the more reconstructionist folks at times.)
So, the answer to this one? As the agnostics say, "I don't know, and neither do you." :)
1. Beliefs – Why Paganism?
2. Beliefs – Cosmology
3. Beliefs – Deities
4. Beliefs – Birth, death and rebirth
5. Beliefs – Magic, spellcraft, mysticism etc
6. Beliefs – The power of prayer/reciprocity
7. Beliefs – Patronage and other deeper relationships
8. Beliefs – Holidays
9. Deity Gender
10. Patrons
11. Pantheon – For these posts, pick a deity or speak of elements of the
patheon, such as tribes or nature spirits, etc.
12. Pantheon –
13. Pantheon –
14. Pantheon –
15. Pantheon (anti) – On finding a pantheon.
16. The meaning of terms like “earth-based” and what they mean to this path
17. My ways of worship
18. Community
19. Paganism and my family/friends
20. Paganism and my relationship
21. Other paths I’ve explored
22. Paganism and major life events
23. Ethics
24. Personal aesthetics with magic and ritual
25. Priest? Clergy? One or both? Neither?
26. Any “secular” pastimes with religious significance, and why
27. How your faith has helped you in difficult times
28. One misconception about Paganism you’d like to clear up
29. The future of Paganism
30. Places of spiritual significance
