>The ones I don't have patience for are the Pagans (or, any other "spiritual
types")
>who think they can buy their religion at the local New Age shop along with
a
>"how to" book and some sacred sage.  Lezlie

And the "New Age" religions are definitely not alone in that.

The Dalai Lama said in an interview once that he's glad ppl are finding
their way on the Buddhist path, and doesn't wish to discourage that -- but
that some of the beauty in a religion comes from the traditions of the ppl
it was born to. His point was that searching doesn't mean you need to throw
your own religious traditions away, but rather delve more deeply into them.
So the Christian running away from Christianity because of ------ (and there
are a lot of reasons one might run away from it) may be missing out on the
very thing they're searching for. It was much longer and more eloquent than
I have managed to convey. It was a very interesting discussion.

I've read similar comments from religious leaders in some of the Native
American traditions - ppl fleeing or searching who sit crosslegged around a
campfire and smoke tobacco and think that they're an the road to being a
shaman.

I was raised in the So. Baptist tradition... forced into participating, and
when given my head in the matter, chose not to have another thing to do with
anything for quite some time. But religiosity didn't leave me - there was a
yearning there for Something Else Somewhere that put me on the road of my
own search and study. I'm still avidly interested in religious studies, but
in digging into more, I started remembering the things I loved about what I
came from. The songs, the community, the basic understandings in
Christianity before it was embroidered (and/or defaced) by the vagaries of
human interference and interpretation. I've said it many times -- the core
of just about every significant religion is exactly the same. Love, respect,
communion, a sense of Other being greater than Self, and some sort of return
to that Other. It's only once we've had our grubby hands on it for a while
that the codifications, intolerances and tar-like sticking to Rules slips in
and starts driving the hitherto faithful out.

In any case -- I was raised Christian, I've investigated, participated in a
great deal of other stuff, but I returned to Christianity and that's what I
identify myself as -- but with an inner understanding that my road is really
not much different than the many sterling ppl I met in those other
traditions. There are other sheep, other Shepherds, and how That Above
chooses to communicate with them is really not up to me.

Oh, and before I forget... Barb, quick, catch!

For as long as space endures, and for as long as living beings remain,
until then may I, too, abide to dispel the misery of the world. -- the Dalai
Lama


>
> >yup, yup :)
> >what she (Barb) said!
> >
> >Back a few years ago I went to a winter solstice gathering with a local
> >"pagan/wiccan" group, and found firsthand that there are
those who are
> >serious about it and normal in their seriousness, those who were not so
> >serious (but still believers - or not), and those who were so serious
they
> >put the wings on the dingbat so to speak. Ppl are infinitely varied..
makes
> >for interest, but gosh some of them can just *ruin* a good thing!


--- Rachel's Little NET2FIDO Gate v 0.9.9.8 Alpha