We need more than care/harm as a standard of Pagan value

Response to a reader

Last week’s post generated a response. Since I disagree that ‘religion is going to destroy the world,’ I started writing. It got long, so here we are…

"Do as you wish but harm none" is deeply libertarian. It's no different than "Don't hurt people and don't take their stuff." The main problem with libertarianism is, just because you leave someone alone doesn't mean they will leave you alone. Not only do other humans not leave us alone, but nature won't either.

Steve says he doesn't judge. But that’s impossible [not to mention obviously inaccurate since he has a clearly stated opinion.] We’re human. Without judgement we would not have survived. Judgement lets us know where to aim. What we place our attention on indicates what we value. Without hierarchy of value we can't choose what to do next, and we die. Because other humans and nature won’t leave us alone.

Religion matters. A shared sense of the sacred allowed humans to bond to each other with a shared set of values and work in groups to hedge against people and nature not leaving us alone. Our structures and institutions are those hedges.

Respecting compassion and caring is nice, and arguably, in short supply in some places in the world. But how about loyalty and hard work? Steve clearly respects liberty since he’s an individualist. But what does the individualist hold sacred? Does Steve respect other people’s right to hold something sacred even if he thinks it's stupid? Does he grant them the right to think he’s stupid in return?

It doesn’t look like it from this short comment. According to him, [and I could be wrong here] if I judge someone, then I’m harming them. But that’s not fair. I’m really not supposed to have any judgements about things that affect me? Even libertarians beleive in negotitating deals, and letting things go.

People judging me doesn't harm me. I fully expect them to do so. It doesn't harm me because I’ve given a lot of thought to who I am, why I believe what I do, and what I’m a stand for. I'm also clear that I don't know everything. If the evidence for a needed change shows up, I’m capable of killing off part of my beliefs in order to follow a more correct path. The idea that ‘judgement harms people’ is path to fragility and poor mental health. It is the opposite of resiliance. Killing a treasured belief feels like dying. Perhaps this is what Steven means by ‘harm.’

Religion is [or can be, at it’s best] a path to resiliance, and not just increased survivability [as it can sometimes be,] but thriving. Anything that allows us to work in groups creates increased efficeincy. A great example of this is the speed at which the Amish are building new shelters for the victims of Hurricane Helene. Please note that it’s not a group of libertarians doing that caring work. We can’t do the work of caring without other values being in place; values like loyalty, humility, respect for legitimate authority, and shared higher goals. We can’t do the work of caring without agreements and institutions - either formal or informal.

In the 20th century, Pagans have had problems maintaining the structures that would hold us together in groups tight enough to be able to render the kind of aid offered by the Amish. But we are - depending on how you look at it - a young religion, or an old one that was supressed. It’s hard to talk about values that will get you censured or killed.

Pagans are fringe. Western culture has a center and we aren’t it. But I don’t think we need to be, as long as we know who we are, what we stand for, and why. Western culture has Pagan foundations, and modern Pagans were raised in fundamentally Christian societies. We don’t get away from each other.

What Pagans understand is how to walk that line between order and chaos. Christians aviod chaos and often externalize it as evil. But chaos is also the place from which ideas emerge. If we cannot reach into that ocean and pull things out, then we have nothing to build, nothing to reach for and all the order becomes an inflexible wieght that will crush us.

I want Pagans to build things. I want us to have temples again. I want us to have institutions that help the wider culture so we can all move forward to make the world [maybe eventually worlds] better. I want us to be able to talkabout what ‘better’ means. Values like freedom of speech are part of the foundation of Western Civilization. Valuing creative problem solving helps all humans reach into the future.

However, we need judgement and communication to determine which ideas are worth our limited time. We need more than a care/harm ethic to be able to build anything. Anything at all. Not all ideas are worth keeping. If we want to do more than live on the fringe, constantly disolving relationships and groups, then we need to see how Pagan values and goals can align with those of the wider American culture and follow that vision.

[I don’t think Steve is a subscriber. But without his self-proclaimed non-Pagan status, I wouldn’t have had this interesting thought process. So thanks, Steve, for your comment!]

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Selina Rifkin, M.S. [Nutrition], LMT, has been Pagan since she was 14 [which was a long time ago] and been to Hades in a handbasket. More than once. This has given her some opinions. She has direct communication with her gods and they’ve always given her answers when she asks. [One does have to ask.] Like most of her generation [X] she’s okay with snark. Most days she tries for good writing. But the snark, and side comments creep in. Be warned.

Pagan Organizations

Cherry Hill Seminary

Sacred Well Congregation