International Pagan Values Blogging Month: Trust Me.

[half_double]

I resolved to write a "real" post on Pagan Values for Pagan Values Blogging Month, but it got complicated. I couldn't think of a value that was exclusively Pagan. I could barely think of one that was intrinsically Pagan. What values of mine would I attribute solely (or even primarily) to my Paganism, and not to other factors in my life and

Comments

[half_double]

(a) I have so many trust issues I rarely even circle up

Well, it struck me as the ideal, not necessarily The Way Things Are.

(b) I can't keep a secret, certainly not even my own.

I bet you would, were you in an oathbound tradition. Or, maybe this is one of the reasons you and I are not drawn to oathbound traditions! ;-)

On the other hand, it makes me happy that the Pagan community has these sorts of high standards in your eyes. Even if they are standards I don't/can't personally live up to.

Honestly, I don't know if anyone can. Perhaps that's why I'm sometimes disappointed in the Pagan community. Oh, what do I know? My "Pagan community" is, basically, 4 people, including me.

[half_double]

I suppose not. But when I started trying to write this post, I kept thinking, What are 'Pagan values'? And I was having a dickens of a time figuring it out. People talk about "Christian values" and "Buddhist values," and I think most people know what that means. But when you say "Pagan values," people give you blank stares. And I realize that that's part of the point of Pagan Values Blogging Month, but I wonder if, ultimately, we're going to present an even more confused picture than was out there before.

When someone asks, "What's a Pagan value?", the answer probably shouldn't be, "Aw, heck - what isn't?"

[sa_hall]

Trust is important in the shamanistic spiritual path that I follow as well. There are things that happen in the circle that must stay in the circle.

But as you say, here and in another post, the participants are human with human failings. I think having a shared value is worth stating, even if people don't always achieve the goal.