Aren't cities "earth based"?
I have to try to make this quick, (yet hopefully coherent) as I'm leaving for work in a few minutes. If any discussion arises, I'll add further thoughts in the comments.
I read this article this morning with a fair amount of disdain. http://www.witchvox.com/va/dt_va.html?a=ustn&c=words&id=11420
It got me to thinking, once again, what is meant by "earth based" and "nature". What is so unnatural about man, that things made by man are considered unnatural? (I realize I'm preaching to the choir here, so to speak) Aren't we, by the very nature of being human, earth based? Why is the countryside considered so much more "in tune" with nature than our urban constructs? I found it somewhat ironic that the author mentioned fences in the countryside several times in his essay, considering the fences did not grow there by themselves. Fences are symbols of possession by humans, to trap critters within their boundaries and keep tresspassers out. To define the boundaries of habitation and ownership. Doesn't sound very "pagan" (by the way the author seems to define "pagan") to me. How the author defines the word "pagan" is a whole nuther topic, one we can (and do) beat to death and isn't really the point of my post.
I guess I just see the term "earth based" as a bit odd, since the city I live in is earth based. My home is based on the earth, and was made by people, who were born and die on earth. Most of us never get very far away from earth, I sure spend a great deal of time here. Again with the natural... my computer was made by peoples, and to my knowledge, those peoples are as carbon based as the great stag in the woods. What makes this tool that I use any less natural than the plow or the scythe used by my agrarian ancestors?
I see nothing wrong with worshipping the earth and revering the wilds, I think they're pretty cool. I like to camp, and wander in the woods n' stuff, but it doesn't make me any more or less spiritual than anything I do in the confines of my house in the city, or in my car on the expressway. It seems to me that these folks feel that it is impossible to find the Divine in man and the constructs of man, which just seems contradictory to me. Did my afore mentioned agrarian ancestors go out in incliment weather if they didn't have to, just to "connect with teh goddess"? I seriously doubt it. I imagine, that like the rest of us, they made good use of their manmade structures to stay safe and warm and dry as much as possible.
Maybe I'm missing the point. I can appreciate the things that spring from the earth with no help from mankind, and I can do my part to try to not damage the ecosystem that sustains us. It seems the responsible "human" thing to not, ummm, crap where I sleep, so to speak. But that's common sense, not "paganism" or "spirituality". I also know plenty of eco-freaks that aren't pagan by any stretch of the imagination. I resent the idea that if I don't go out and get rained on (or heat exhaustion, as I live in the desert) that I'm less "Pagan" or less spiritual. I dismiss the idea that I can't connect with divinity where ever I am, even if I happened to travel to space in an unnatural space ship. (can't get much less "earth based" than that!) In fact, I think I might get a whole new appreciation for the divine were I to find myself in outerspace.
I read this article this morning with a fair amount of disdain. http://www.witchvox.com/va/dt_va.html?a=ustn&c=words&id=11420
It got me to thinking, once again, what is meant by "earth based" and "nature". What is so unnatural about man, that things made by man are considered unnatural? (I realize I'm preaching to the choir here, so to speak) Aren't we, by the very nature of being human, earth based? Why is the countryside considered so much more "in tune" with nature than our urban constructs? I found it somewhat ironic that the author mentioned fences in the countryside several times in his essay, considering the fences did not grow there by themselves. Fences are symbols of possession by humans, to trap critters within their boundaries and keep tresspassers out. To define the boundaries of habitation and ownership. Doesn't sound very "pagan" (by the way the author seems to define "pagan") to me. How the author defines the word "pagan" is a whole nuther topic, one we can (and do) beat to death and isn't really the point of my post.
I guess I just see the term "earth based" as a bit odd, since the city I live in is earth based. My home is based on the earth, and was made by people, who were born and die on earth. Most of us never get very far away from earth, I sure spend a great deal of time here. Again with the natural... my computer was made by peoples, and to my knowledge, those peoples are as carbon based as the great stag in the woods. What makes this tool that I use any less natural than the plow or the scythe used by my agrarian ancestors?
I see nothing wrong with worshipping the earth and revering the wilds, I think they're pretty cool. I like to camp, and wander in the woods n' stuff, but it doesn't make me any more or less spiritual than anything I do in the confines of my house in the city, or in my car on the expressway. It seems to me that these folks feel that it is impossible to find the Divine in man and the constructs of man, which just seems contradictory to me. Did my afore mentioned agrarian ancestors go out in incliment weather if they didn't have to, just to "connect with teh goddess"? I seriously doubt it. I imagine, that like the rest of us, they made good use of their manmade structures to stay safe and warm and dry as much as possible.
Maybe I'm missing the point. I can appreciate the things that spring from the earth with no help from mankind, and I can do my part to try to not damage the ecosystem that sustains us. It seems the responsible "human" thing to not, ummm, crap where I sleep, so to speak. But that's common sense, not "paganism" or "spirituality". I also know plenty of eco-freaks that aren't pagan by any stretch of the imagination. I resent the idea that if I don't go out and get rained on (or heat exhaustion, as I live in the desert) that I'm less "Pagan" or less spiritual. I dismiss the idea that I can't connect with divinity where ever I am, even if I happened to travel to space in an unnatural space ship. (can't get much less "earth based" than that!) In fact, I think I might get a whole new appreciation for the divine were I to find myself in outerspace.