Fluffy Bunnies and Stinking Badgers
I have gotten in on the Fluffy Bunny debate over on recons. While I am not fond of the fantasy-prone, the Celtique Shamynnes, or the Celtique Wicces, I am also a mystic. Scholarship is not the be-all and end-all of my path - it's something I came to to *deepen* my spiritual practice. My ancestors were warriors and scholars and politicians, but many of them were also mystics. And mystical experience was such an integral part of the culture, it could be argued that, by the current materialistic standard, they *all* were mystics to one extent or another. If nothing else, mysticism touched all their lives, and the the fruits of mystical experience were interwoven into the fabric of their lives, even if only a few of them in every generation had the calling to go be hermits communing with the spirits full-time.
So it worries me when some people who consider themselves reconstructionists start to loudly disparage mysticism. I'm not sure I said anything in the discussion today that those who read this journal haven't already heard me say ad nauseum. I consider the whole "balance mysticism and scholarship" point all part of CR 101. But when I look at the community, it seems to always bear repeating. Sometimes I'll go many days making long statements in communities and the journals of friends, and say nothing in my own journal. So maybe I should link to more of these discussions, if nothing else so I can find them later.
On the general topic of relative "fluffiness", Isaac has an amusing article here: Making Fauna Pagans. Thanks to jfoxdavis for the link.
On a personal note, I seem to have a bit of a cold. Woke up with congestion and coughing. Ick. So I will have to rest a bit before getting to longer e-mail responses. I meant to go lie down and veg out a while ago, but got pulled into the "fluffy" debate and then felt like mentioning it here. My computer is in the shop, so at least I have an excuse for not getting real writing done today (unlike my usual, more absurd excuses). Off to lie down, shut up, and drink my herbal remedies (is that fluffy?) *cough cough*
So it worries me when some people who consider themselves reconstructionists start to loudly disparage mysticism. I'm not sure I said anything in the discussion today that those who read this journal haven't already heard me say ad nauseum. I consider the whole "balance mysticism and scholarship" point all part of CR 101. But when I look at the community, it seems to always bear repeating. Sometimes I'll go many days making long statements in communities and the journals of friends, and say nothing in my own journal. So maybe I should link to more of these discussions, if nothing else so I can find them later.
On the general topic of relative "fluffiness", Isaac has an amusing article here: Making Fauna Pagans. Thanks to jfoxdavis for the link.
On a personal note, I seem to have a bit of a cold. Woke up with congestion and coughing. Ick. So I will have to rest a bit before getting to longer e-mail responses. I meant to go lie down and veg out a while ago, but got pulled into the "fluffy" debate and then felt like mentioning it here. My computer is in the shop, so at least I have an excuse for not getting real writing done today (unlike my usual, more absurd excuses). Off to lie down, shut up, and drink my herbal remedies (is that fluffy?) *cough cough*