Отличительные черты современного язычества
Не знаю, как у вас, а меня спрашивают о современном язычестве исключительно (!), когда у меня в руках сумка, пакет, зонт, книжка и готовый вот-вот упасть поднос. Или в метро в час пик на самом шумном перегоне, когда кто-нибудь еще просит денег. Или когда мы во время снегопада бежим в кинотеатр, чтобы успеть на сеанс. Поэтому я немного теряюсь и на вопрос "Чем современное язычество отличается от несовременного?" отвечаю "Тем, что это не непрерывная традиция" или "Тем, что мы учитываем события и опыт прошедших с тех пор веков" и начинаю расписывать какие-то отдельные детали.
Хотя, признаюсь честно, если бы меня хоть раз спросили об этом в более подходящей обстановке мои ответы не сильно бы ушли от описания "отдельных деталей".
Не так давно мне дала отправную точку для формулирования более ясного ответа на такой вопрос книга The Triumph of the Moon нежно любимого мною Рональда Хаттона. (Отдельно лучи любви этому человеку за то, что он сознательно выбрал подзаголовком для этой книги "A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft'. A history, not the history.)
Делюсь отрывком о характерных особенностях современного язычества.
The Triumph of the Moon. A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft, pp. 390-391
(Курсив - авторский. Жирное выделение - моё.)
The Pagan Federation has, since 1989, issued three statements of belief which, in its view, define a Pagan, and to which its members are expected to subscribe. As that Association was founded by Wiccans, and dominated by them until the mid-1990s, the definition may be presumed to apply to them with particular strength. The first component is an acceptance of the inherent divinity of the natural world, and a rejection of any notion of the creation of that world by a power outside itself. Such acceptance is immediately recognized to take a range of possible forms, from the animist belief that the cosmos is empowered by an apparently infinite number of spirit forms to that form of monotheism which suggests that the planet is a living body of a single divine entity. The second component is the rejection of any concept of a divinely prescribed law for human behaviour, and therefore of the concepts of sin and salvation. In place of those is an ethic of freedom to express and gratify individual needs and desires, and so pursue personal growth and happiness, with the single major limitation of an undertaking to avoid harming others in the process. This restriction is given a mystical quality for many by the concept of the inherent sanctity of all living things. The two aspects of this morality are summed up in ‘the Wiccan Rede’: ‘Do as ye will an’ ye harm none.’ The third component is an acceptance that divinity can be both female and male. This formulation leaves room for a further range of conceptualizations, from a single bisexual Great Spirit to a genuine polytheism, although duotheism - by which a goddess and a god appear in various aspects - is the most commonly articulated. The essential practical expression of this principle is that women are held to represents religious power at least as effectively as men.
At a glance it should be obvious that these principles can also characterize not only every other variety of modern Paganism, but some varieties of Hindu and Shinto beliefs and many tribal religious systems. They could, indeed, be endorsed by liberal Christians, with some reformulation such as the recognition of a Supreme Being who is beyond gender, incorporating both female and male. As already indicated, they leave room for a very wide span of beliefs, let alone practices, of a sort quite large enough to characterize separate religious systems. An unspoken definition is therefore crucial, that Pagans today are people who hold those tenets and turn for symbolism, kinship, and inspiration to the pre-Christian religions of Europe and the Near East, and that pagan witches identify in addition with a refashioned, positive version, of the traditional figure of the witch.
* * *
I would now like to add five more features of modern pagan witchcraft, based upon my own observation of it, which are not usually identified by its practitioners but seem to me to be important. First, it aims to draw out and enhance the divinity within human beings. Second, it abolishes the traditional Western distinction between religion and magic. Third, it is a mystery religion, or set of mystery religions. Fourth, its essence lies in the creative performance of ritual. Fifth, it is eclectic and protean.
(дальше идет более подробное рассмотрение этих особенностей на 9 страницах мелким шрифтом)
Хотя, признаюсь честно, если бы меня хоть раз спросили об этом в более подходящей обстановке мои ответы не сильно бы ушли от описания "отдельных деталей".
Не так давно мне дала отправную точку для формулирования более ясного ответа на такой вопрос книга The Triumph of the Moon нежно любимого мною Рональда Хаттона. (Отдельно лучи любви этому человеку за то, что он сознательно выбрал подзаголовком для этой книги "A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft'. A history, not the history.)
Делюсь отрывком о характерных особенностях современного язычества.
The Triumph of the Moon. A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft, pp. 390-391
(Курсив - авторский. Жирное выделение - моё.)
The Pagan Federation has, since 1989, issued three statements of belief which, in its view, define a Pagan, and to which its members are expected to subscribe. As that Association was founded by Wiccans, and dominated by them until the mid-1990s, the definition may be presumed to apply to them with particular strength. The first component is an acceptance of the inherent divinity of the natural world, and a rejection of any notion of the creation of that world by a power outside itself. Such acceptance is immediately recognized to take a range of possible forms, from the animist belief that the cosmos is empowered by an apparently infinite number of spirit forms to that form of monotheism which suggests that the planet is a living body of a single divine entity. The second component is the rejection of any concept of a divinely prescribed law for human behaviour, and therefore of the concepts of sin and salvation. In place of those is an ethic of freedom to express and gratify individual needs and desires, and so pursue personal growth and happiness, with the single major limitation of an undertaking to avoid harming others in the process. This restriction is given a mystical quality for many by the concept of the inherent sanctity of all living things. The two aspects of this morality are summed up in ‘the Wiccan Rede’: ‘Do as ye will an’ ye harm none.’ The third component is an acceptance that divinity can be both female and male. This formulation leaves room for a further range of conceptualizations, from a single bisexual Great Spirit to a genuine polytheism, although duotheism - by which a goddess and a god appear in various aspects - is the most commonly articulated. The essential practical expression of this principle is that women are held to represents religious power at least as effectively as men.
At a glance it should be obvious that these principles can also characterize not only every other variety of modern Paganism, but some varieties of Hindu and Shinto beliefs and many tribal religious systems. They could, indeed, be endorsed by liberal Christians, with some reformulation such as the recognition of a Supreme Being who is beyond gender, incorporating both female and male. As already indicated, they leave room for a very wide span of beliefs, let alone practices, of a sort quite large enough to characterize separate religious systems. An unspoken definition is therefore crucial, that Pagans today are people who hold those tenets and turn for symbolism, kinship, and inspiration to the pre-Christian religions of Europe and the Near East, and that pagan witches identify in addition with a refashioned, positive version, of the traditional figure of the witch.
* * *
I would now like to add five more features of modern pagan witchcraft, based upon my own observation of it, which are not usually identified by its practitioners but seem to me to be important. First, it aims to draw out and enhance the divinity within human beings. Second, it abolishes the traditional Western distinction between religion and magic. Third, it is a mystery religion, or set of mystery religions. Fourth, its essence lies in the creative performance of ritual. Fifth, it is eclectic and protean.
(дальше идет более подробное рассмотрение этих особенностей на 9 страницах мелким шрифтом)