tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25987874.post115686724772335789..comments2023-10-05T06:20:40.173-04:00Comments on Quaker Pagan Reflections: Syncretism and the RiverCat C-B (and/or Peter B)http://www.blogger.com/profile/10002916434676859262noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25987874.post-1157662714841166142006-09-07T16:58:00.000-04:002006-09-07T16:58:00.000-04:00Beautiful post, Cat! Thanks.I'm often challenged ...Beautiful post, Cat! Thanks.<BR/><BR/>I'm often challenged to be the sole Pagan in my local (liberal and very diverse) interfaith council when it comes to explaining who we are. Not only because we're so diverse but also because we, and I, are constantly changing. This doesn't mean we're unstable or confused, but more, to me, that we're engaged in the flow of Life. We're dancing. To that end, I've just begun reading Carol Christ's <I>She Who Changes</I>, a spiritual feminist's expansion on the process philosophy originally formulated by Whitehead and Hartshorne. I think I'm gonna love it.<BR/><BR/>Have also been chewing on food for thought from Erik Davis' <I>Techgnosis</I> and images of Indra's bejeweled Web.<BR/><BR/>May this school year be easier on you so we can continue to read an occasional blog.Broomstick Chronicleshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11217890674112142957noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25987874.post-1157247593955888862006-09-02T21:39:00.000-04:002006-09-02T21:39:00.000-04:00Thank you for another moving and resonating post. ...Thank you for another moving and resonating post. You have written much in the past month that speaks to me quite deeply.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25987874.post-1156953030276451792006-08-30T11:50:00.000-04:002006-08-30T11:50:00.000-04:00Anonymous--I accept that you believe I am wrong, b...Anonymous--I accept that you believe I am wrong, but I hope that would not prevent our being able to sit together in worship, or to listen deeply to one another.<BR/><BR/>Jim b--I really like your phrase, "blogged down!" I suspect that part of what fuels divisions among bloggers is not being able to listen to "where the words come from," to quote the old Quaker story. Online, we have only human words and human empathy to guide us. I will say that the tension I sometimes feel around my calling myself both Quaker and Pagan is _not_ something that I feel at all in my own meeting for worship. I realize that I'm lucky enough to be able to attend one of the most liberal monthly meetings of one of the most liberal yearly meetings, and I'm not sure my experience would have been the same in another part of the country.<BR/><BR/>But just this past week, at a discussion of our experiences at NEYM, one of the oldest and most seasoned of the Friends at Mt. Toby made such a point of letting me know, when I commented that I had sometimes felt like an indsider-outsider because of my Pagan-ness, that I was no outsider to her.<BR/><BR/>Again, what inadequate things are words--I write them down, and it doesn't capture the warmth and genuineness of her support. I wish I could convey, somehow, just how open and welcoming my face-to-face _experiences_ with Quakers have been, almost without exception.<BR/><BR/>Geography may be part of it. But a big piece of it, I'm sure, is that this kind of communal listening spirituality is just very, very hard to approximate at a distance... Quakers are best at being Quaker up close. At least that is my experience...<BR/><BR/>I'm guessing that, married to a Friend, you find a great deal of common ground to unite with, which must be good. I know I love the fact that Peter understands my spiritual yearnings so deeply.<BR/><BR/>Blessed be.Cat C-B (and/or Peter B)https://www.blogger.com/profile/10002916434676859262noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25987874.post-1156897341595581402006-08-29T20:22:00.000-04:002006-08-29T20:22:00.000-04:00Hi, Time to dive in head first. I am relating quit...Hi, Time to dive in head first. I am relating quite closely to these questions of language and religion and your comments of a River reminded me of a quote of Meister Eckhart's that goes "Divinity is an underground river that no one can stop and no one can dam up." And a book by Matthew Fox called "One River, Many Wells." He talks about different religions and spiritual traditions being wells to the River of the Divine. For me the book and its meaning is one of those "go beyond" experiences where the disagreements we have over language and practice came to look down right childish. Yet I didn't get over them and continue to wrestle with the challenge of communicating my experiences. I am a Pagan who has married into the Society of Friends. I found a great deal of compatibility between my core beliefs and Quaker beliefs. As well as I could grasp from a short time learning them (2 years). I am troubled by the divisions that appear to be arising over what looks like people simply being in different places in their spiritual development and getting bogged down in translating them. Or blogged down as the case may be. The language changes not merely between spiritual traditions but also significantly within them as we grow, develop and then transform within the Divine. If I clung to the meaning of God that I had yesterday how could I "know" God today? If I cling to the meaning of Love I have today how will I love you tomorrow? <BR/>Peace, JimJim Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06440909331998481283noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25987874.post-1156891468870689992006-08-29T18:44:00.000-04:002006-08-29T18:44:00.000-04:00I need to admit that I did not and could not read ...I need to admit that I did not and could not read the entire blog. All I kept thinking of was George Fox and his comment that in his journal is repeated time and time again "My job was to lead people to Christ and then leave them there to be taught by Him." Pagan Quaker, to me, is an oxymoronAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com