Post by brandra on Mar 20, 2006 17:22:44 GMT -5
An edited exert from my book of Shadows entry year 2000
This was how I saw things back in at the turn of the century.
I believe that the Gods and Goddesses that are generally worshiped by Witches are in reality high spirit. Spirit exist in another dimension of this universe, they are essentially energy, all of us are spirit, or at least the essence of what we are is spirit. As we travel through each incarnation we learn, this gradually moves us to a higher existence, it is believed by many in the pagan community that the ultimate aim is to connect with the great spirit, the ultimate god. I do not object to this view but I do not entirely accept it in it's entirety. I believe that the universe is in fact god/dess and as we are a part of that same universe we are already connected to that same ultimate force/ god/ the great spirit. All gods are one god but in different aspects. We as humans are aspects of the universe. We work our religious and magical rites with this in mind. On a two occasions in my life I have had what you might call moments of perfect clarity, I find it difficult to explain such moments, it as if a door opens just a little and the secrets of the universe are laid open with perfect knowledge, understanding, and it makes sense of all the things that we strive to know. How and why it happens I don't know, it lasts for just a moment and the memory cannot be retained just bits linger but from those bits you can build.
To have such moments is both exhilarating and frustrating, you discover without doubt that the Universe has purpose and order but you can remember little about it, it is perfect when it happens all of the secrets that we strive so long to find are there open and in that moment understood. There are two reasonable explanations to explain this phoneme.
1 My mind connected and for a moment became one with the spirit of the universe which I always claim that I am a part of anyway, if this theorem is correct then the answers to all of my questions are locked up inside of me, as any Buddhist could have told me, and at least one hereditary witch has tried to tell me. There is a saying in Wicca. If you cannot find the love inside you, will never find it without, I think that this applies to knowledge in the same way. The Buddhists believe that all the knowledge and understanding of the Universe is locked up within us, to explore the Universe we do not need to look to the stars we need to look inside. All of the elements that make up the Universe are apart of us. The atoms that make up the distant stars are the same as the atoms that make up our bodies, the food we eat, and the cars that we drive. Everything in the Universe is made of the same base material. This explanation is the one that I personally favor.
2 The second explanation is that one of our contacts in high spirit opened that door of understanding for me to see so that I would not question them to much. I have never taken what we are told from spirit for granted, if they ask me to act I insist that they justify what they want unless I can already see the reason. These moments of clarity could be a way of showing me their intent. This explanation would probably be favored by my wife, ether way I believe that I am not alone in getting them. One thing that is clear from these moments, is that there is no one religious group that has all of the answers, to find the answers requires a belief system that is capable of exploration and not full of dogma, this tends to rule out the organized religions as they will not normally consider new information.
While I am talking about organized religions, whatever your beliefs you can explore, you need no-ones permission to re-evaluate your beliefs, you need no-ones church, temple to practice your beliefs. All that you need is within you, if you can believe this then no-one controls you, make no mistake organized religions do work to control their followers. Your wisdom is within you and so is your temple.
This was how I saw things back in at the turn of the century.
I believe that the Gods and Goddesses that are generally worshiped by Witches are in reality high spirit. Spirit exist in another dimension of this universe, they are essentially energy, all of us are spirit, or at least the essence of what we are is spirit. As we travel through each incarnation we learn, this gradually moves us to a higher existence, it is believed by many in the pagan community that the ultimate aim is to connect with the great spirit, the ultimate god. I do not object to this view but I do not entirely accept it in it's entirety. I believe that the universe is in fact god/dess and as we are a part of that same universe we are already connected to that same ultimate force/ god/ the great spirit. All gods are one god but in different aspects. We as humans are aspects of the universe. We work our religious and magical rites with this in mind. On a two occasions in my life I have had what you might call moments of perfect clarity, I find it difficult to explain such moments, it as if a door opens just a little and the secrets of the universe are laid open with perfect knowledge, understanding, and it makes sense of all the things that we strive to know. How and why it happens I don't know, it lasts for just a moment and the memory cannot be retained just bits linger but from those bits you can build.
To have such moments is both exhilarating and frustrating, you discover without doubt that the Universe has purpose and order but you can remember little about it, it is perfect when it happens all of the secrets that we strive so long to find are there open and in that moment understood. There are two reasonable explanations to explain this phoneme.
1 My mind connected and for a moment became one with the spirit of the universe which I always claim that I am a part of anyway, if this theorem is correct then the answers to all of my questions are locked up inside of me, as any Buddhist could have told me, and at least one hereditary witch has tried to tell me. There is a saying in Wicca. If you cannot find the love inside you, will never find it without, I think that this applies to knowledge in the same way. The Buddhists believe that all the knowledge and understanding of the Universe is locked up within us, to explore the Universe we do not need to look to the stars we need to look inside. All of the elements that make up the Universe are apart of us. The atoms that make up the distant stars are the same as the atoms that make up our bodies, the food we eat, and the cars that we drive. Everything in the Universe is made of the same base material. This explanation is the one that I personally favor.
2 The second explanation is that one of our contacts in high spirit opened that door of understanding for me to see so that I would not question them to much. I have never taken what we are told from spirit for granted, if they ask me to act I insist that they justify what they want unless I can already see the reason. These moments of clarity could be a way of showing me their intent. This explanation would probably be favored by my wife, ether way I believe that I am not alone in getting them. One thing that is clear from these moments, is that there is no one religious group that has all of the answers, to find the answers requires a belief system that is capable of exploration and not full of dogma, this tends to rule out the organized religions as they will not normally consider new information.
While I am talking about organized religions, whatever your beliefs you can explore, you need no-ones permission to re-evaluate your beliefs, you need no-ones church, temple to practice your beliefs. All that you need is within you, if you can believe this then no-one controls you, make no mistake organized religions do work to control their followers. Your wisdom is within you and so is your temple.
