Song Parody Inspired Thoughts
Apr. 27th, 2007 11:33 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kokopelleA recent NPF post offered a pagan song parody to dan le sac VS scroobius pip "Thou Shalt always Kill". The post included these two points in support of "How Not to be Fluffy".
IMO extreme observation to "no stealing other cultures" would create either a sterile environment or extreme intolerance of other's ideas. Wait, that's already happened for some people. (smile)
Fortunately extreme observation is not the norm. The next trick is a definition of what "reasonable use" of cultural properties would be. This is a very hot topic in the shamanic world. One could write a book about this, making a short "thou shall not" woefully insufficient.
The shamanic world opens a lot of doors that cannot be labeled by others. More often than not, they cannot be labeled by the shamanist. They are instead experienced with manifestation flowing from wordless wisdom.
One of the "thou shalls" was "Thou shalt remember that every custom, practice, myth and story is just something someone made up sometime". There is truth here, but it has a very subtle flavor. The myths of primal religions are 'made up' while they simultaneously recreate the core of the story (i.e. world creation, discovery of fire, etc.). The Native American teachings were oral. Words were the vehicle for passing on teachings in which all aspects of life were considered sacred. While critical to the passing of knowledge, the application of the words was as important as the words themselves. The divine is manifested in the proper recitation or reading of the word. Intent and timing become important. The word is not power. The book is not power. The embodying of the word or book is the power.
To construct a phrase by borrowing from the American Indian philosophy, "God begins to make sense when words stop making sense".
- Thou shalt not steal from other cultures.
- Thou shalt remember that every custom, practice, myth and story is just something someone made up sometime.
IMO extreme observation to "no stealing other cultures" would create either a sterile environment or extreme intolerance of other's ideas. Wait, that's already happened for some people. (smile)
Fortunately extreme observation is not the norm. The next trick is a definition of what "reasonable use" of cultural properties would be. This is a very hot topic in the shamanic world. One could write a book about this, making a short "thou shall not" woefully insufficient.
The shamanic world opens a lot of doors that cannot be labeled by others. More often than not, they cannot be labeled by the shamanist. They are instead experienced with manifestation flowing from wordless wisdom.
One of the "thou shalls" was "Thou shalt remember that every custom, practice, myth and story is just something someone made up sometime". There is truth here, but it has a very subtle flavor. The myths of primal religions are 'made up' while they simultaneously recreate the core of the story (i.e. world creation, discovery of fire, etc.). The Native American teachings were oral. Words were the vehicle for passing on teachings in which all aspects of life were considered sacred. While critical to the passing of knowledge, the application of the words was as important as the words themselves. The divine is manifested in the proper recitation or reading of the word. Intent and timing become important. The word is not power. The book is not power. The embodying of the word or book is the power.
To construct a phrase by borrowing from the American Indian philosophy, "God begins to make sense when words stop making sense".
no subject
Date: 2007-05-07 09:31 am (UTC)"THOU SHALT NOT TAKE THYSELF TOO SERIOUSLY" ;-)
As you say, to not take anything from any other culture would make life very sterile, as well as completely destroying the worlds of Art and music. Our ability to be Magpies and take the best from what we see is one of humanities better gifts.
Michelle
PS - I had a witch (not Wiccan) explain the true historic relevance of "Blessed be" to me once. Another thing to add to the list - Thou shalt not go around warbling "Blessed be" to anyone unless you really know exactly what it means.