And I am ok with telling everyone that THIS is me:
The Wiccan ABC's
Accept others as they are, we are all individuals.
Belief in yourself is a necessity.
Concentration is important in any endeavor, both magickal and in life.
Do what you will, so long as it harms none.
Empathy is an important life skill...learn it, practice it.
Find strength in yourself, your friends, your world and your actions.
Goddess/God's are multifaceted - The Lord and Lady take many names and faces.
Help others every change you get.
Intelligence is something that cannot be judged on the surface.
Judge not - what you send out comes back to you!
Karma loves to slap you in the face, watch out for it.
Learning is something that should never stop happening!!!
Magick is a wonderful gift, but it is not everything!
Nature is precious, appreciate it and protect it.
Over the course of time, your soul learns many lessons. Make this life count!!!
Pray
Quietness both physically and mentally restores the soul, meditate often.
Remember to take time for yourself as well as others.
Spells can help you, but you must also help yourself.
Tools can only do so much, they are not the foundation of all. You are the most important tool to use!!!
Unless you enjoy worrying, keep a positive attitude.
Visualize the success of your goals before you set out to achieve them.
Wisdom can often be found in the least unexpected places.
Xenophobia (a hatred of those different from you) is a path to misery.
You are a beautiful person who is capable of anything!!!
Zapping away all of your troubles is not going to happen.
This will be my answer from now on. I may keep a copy of this with me.
As of September 13 (how appropriate is that - the 13th???), 2007. This is officially me.
Welcome to my World.
Blessed Be.
5 Comments:
Blessed be hon. You know me if I can't quantify and measure it, calculate it and reproduce it I'm suspiscious of it. BUT the change in you has been remarkable. You are much more mindfull of your actions and maybe more importantly reactions. This journey has been good for you. Like I said before, Black and White breathing did amazing things for my temper management long before we ever met. So any set of actions that brings calm and and a centered feeling to your life gets a thumbs up from me.
Very fascinating list! I think I will test it. Respectfully it isn’t for me (not that you are trying to convert me), you see I find religion is not the answer, religion does not work, and what you have described is definitely a religion.
The ideas seem reasonable and very human; this makes me question the authority behind the religion, these points tease this question from me, where does the authority for this religion come from?
By the way grace slays karma; I see nothing on this list that trumps grace.
My peace I give you my peace I leave you.
Livingsword I generally stay out of these conversations because I have my own beliefs and being raised a Jehovah's Witness I am extremely weary of long drawn out conversations about religion. But you seem to be extremely openminded for a christian, as well as accepting of others beliefs. So I'm pretty sure that you won't be offended.
The american use of the word Karma is wrong, and Bhuddaism is not a religion it is a set of codes applicable to all religions. So a person could be christian-buhddast. People think Karma is seeing the results of the energies you participate in. For instance if I steal then get something stolen people say "Karma". The belief of Karma requires the belief in re-incarnation ( wich I do not believe in ). Karma is what you do in this lifetime affects your next one. If I cut someone on the arm in this life I will be cut in my next lifetime.
The proper name for the ebb and flow of energies, actions and re-actions is Dharma and Adharma. Dharma is all that is holy peacefull and good. it is everything that brings calm and order. Adharma is the opposite. If you steal you get stolen from because you are bathed in the adharmic energy. If give somebody money who needs it and then find money it is because you are bathed in Dharmic energy. The buddahists believe Dharma is divine energy. Basically if grace exists( because I also don't believe in grace ) it is called Dharma in another language, and people in america generally use karma instead if dharma. So basically american "karma" is grace, just a different way of saying it.
Hi Royce;
I very much appreciate you engaging in dialogue with me, particularly since you developed a good and sophisticated comment.
I also appreciate that you have taken my words in the spirit in which they are given. Often comments and even articles or emails can seem very cold and even offensive, it is hard to guard against these kinds of things and still get to your point in a few words. Particularly when you have never physically met a person and know how they communicate. I hope that I have developed enough trust that my words are not seen as attacks, or preaching for that matter, I am sorry if at times they are not as well spoken as they should be.
I completely understand where you are coming from pertaining to your words about Buddhism and karma etc. You would see evidence of this on my blog right now as there is a conversation about Survivor and the events that took place in the Buddhist temple on the show. I have been in many temples etc.
Although I agree with your assessment that Buddhism is more of a philosophy than religion I personally know many Buddhists that disagree with that point of view (I live in Vancouver where we are fortunate to have huge Asian communities so there is a lot of interaction on these kinds of issues). I would say that I see serious issues in being able to deeply integrate Buddhist teaching into other beliefs not just Jesus following but I do understand what you are getting at and what you are saying is a common point of view.
When I used the term karma it was from the non-religious (non-Far East) perspective. The typical North American seems to use the term to mean what goes around comes around in this life (emphasis upon “in this life”).
With that understanding I do believe in karma to the extent that often things often do come back to “haunt” people (I obviously mean that in the clinical manner). If I cheat on my taxes there is a lot of potential that something bad is going to happen to me. If I speed (I mean really fast) there is a good possibility that I will get in an accident, etc.
I used the term grace in the Biblical manner: the freely given, unmerited favor, undeservable, unearnable, free gift, and love of God. It is not mercy, which is very different, mercy can be earned, also with mercy there can be forgiveness but not forgetting of the offence, plus it does not include love.
Yet at the same time grace can be applied in everyday life even if you are not a follower of Jesus. For example people can use it in their relationships. Karma (as I used it earlier) could occur if say I did something wrong in my marriage, my wife could divorce me, etc. Grace says that she will forgive me and love me like it never happened, but I have to receive that kind of gift. So in that way I believe that grace can slay karma, I have experienced both of them so I know they exist. My wife is a picture of grace (needs to be, she’s married to me :)
With God’s grace it is like I never sinned (and I have sinned, trust me). I can’t earn it and I don’t deserve it, it is a free gift. I deserve Hell but get Heaven.
By the way I didn’t grow up around followers of Jesus; I used to be an atheist.
I hope that wasn’t to “preachy”, or long. Since you developed such a good comment I thought it deserved a thoughtful response. Thanks for this opportunity, your time and patience, and consideration.
I “wish” you guys all the best.
I figured we would have different opinions, it's cool you weren't offended. You're right tone is hard to convey across the internet. I didn't take it as preachy at all. I have a lot of respect for someone who can discuss such emotionally charged subjects and not become.....well emotionally charged :-)
I came from the opposite background. I was raised extremely religious and became athiest because I felt no presence of god nor could I find any evidence. And the fact that all of the christian stories are recycled "pagan" stories. The Jesus myth is just a retelling of the Mithras myth. The sabbath was worshiped in ancient Babylon in fact the word "sabbat" is Babylonian. Women were not allowed to work on their menstrual cycle as they were considered unclean. This was called their sabbat. When the moon was full no one could work because the moon goddess was menustrating. It was everyones sabbat.
So my current belief is that no imformation present has been uncorrupted by mankind. Basically I believe in nothing. and am happier than I have ever been.
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