Naturalistic Paganism
For Discussion: “Evolution at Odds” by Bart Everson
We are constantly forgetting trivial experiences. What did lunch taste like last Tuesday? Strangely enough, we can also forget important experiences. We can, in fact, forget the most experiences of all. We can and do lose touch with the most profound truths of existence.
How is this possible? Why does it happen? It seems tragic. It may be adaptive. This is pure speculation on my part, but it seems conceivable that our evolutionary survival is at odds with our spiritual development. Evolutionary fitness need not be congruent with spiritual fitness. That is, the strategies encoded in our genes through natural selection may promote behavior that increases the likelihood of those genes being passed on, but that’s no guarantee of happiness or enlightenment. If we are prone to forget profound truths, perhaps it’s because keeping mindful of such truths has little evolutionary value. However, it may have great value for individuals and communities. Passing on genes ain’t everything.
What do you think? Is individual spirituality adaptive or maladaptive for the human species? What makes you think that? And what does that mean for our individual spiritualities? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
The Author
In addition to writing the A Pedagogy of Gaia column here at HumanisticPaganism, Bart Everson is a writer, a photographer, a baker of bread, a husband and a father. An award-winning videographer, he is co-creator of ROX, the first TV show on the internet. As a media artist and an advocate for faculty development in higher education, he is interested in current and emerging trends in social media, blogging, podcasting, et cetera, as well as contemplative pedagogy and integrative learning. He is a founding member of the Green Party of Louisiana, past president of Friends of Lafitte Corridor, sometime contributor to Rising Tide, and a participant in New Orleans Lamplight Circle. See Bart Everson’s other posts.
“Mother of Mysteries” from the Darwin Song Project
The Darwin Song Project is a compilation album, released in 2009, featuring folk artists from the UK and North America, who were tasked with the creation of new songs that had a resonance and relevance to Charles Darwin. The album is available on YouTube, iTunes, and Amazon. Editor’s note: I want to thank Jodi, who I met at Pantheacon, for turning me on to this awesome project. “Mother of Mysteries” Lyrics Oh I wish I believed if only for you In a Sweet Ever After beyond the blue In an Eternal Father who after the fall Cast us all out of the garden Now I’ve found an Eden I can believe in Leavened with nothing but time There is grandeur in this view of life Where one becomes many through struggle and strife But the mother of mysteries is another man’s call Why is there something instead of nothing at all Why is there something instead of nothing at all If the devil’s own chaplain is leading the prayer From a book that’s been written with sorrow and care Then his hand is indifferent but it isn’t unkind There’s no evil design in his sermon For I hear a chorus of those gone before us Scored upon pages of stone (Chorus) Oh what an utter desert is a life without love Would that you blessings alone were enough To banish my doubt in the veil of your tears Oh my dear how the fabric has fallen For I’ve found an Eden I can believe in Free from the master’s design (Chorus)
Call for Essays: March’s theme at HP is Cosmos!
Albert Einsten was born this month, on March 14, 1879.
The day is also celebrated as “Pi Day” (i.e., the date 3/14 = the numerical constant 3.14…) This year is the Pi Day of the century … 3/14/15 = 3.1514.
Also this month, on March 15, is Hypatia Day, on which some humanists and Pagans honor the female philosopher, astronomer and mathematician who was martyred in the 5th c. CE. In honor of Einstein and Hypatia (and pi) our theme for the month of March will be the Cosmos.
How have the disciplines of astronomy and mathematics impacted your religiosity? What role do stars and prime numbers play in your spirituality?
Send us your essays! Email to humanisticpaganism [at] gmail [dot] com.
“Humanistic Pagans at Pantheacon” by John Halstead
[left to right: John Halstead (in the Wheel of the Year shirt Jon gave me), Jon Cleland Host, and Mark Green]
My wife and I just returned from Pantheacon in San Jose, California. This was my third Pantheacon and my wife’s second, and they just keep getting better.
The highlight of the Con for me was the three Atheopagan events organized by HP columnist Mark Green, which included an open house on Saturday and a talk and ritual led by Mark Green on Sunday. When I started as managing editor for HP, one of my goals for 2014 was to see more open participation by Humanistic an Naturalistic Pagans in Pan-Pagan events like Pantheacon, and I want to thank Mark Green and everyone else that made that happen.
You can read Mark’s review of the events here. Mark described the events as “the Atheopagan ‘coming out party’ to the broader Pagan community” and that is what it felt like. It was great talking to and circling with other Humanistic and Naturalistic Pagans and really feeling a sense of community in a way that is difficult online. But it also was really great that people with different beliefs showed up to the panel and ritual. In spite of our differences of belief, the ecumenical (from the Greek oikos: “house, habitation”) spirit of Pantheacon permeated the whole weekend, including the Atheopagan events.
left to right: John Halstead, Jon Cleland Host, Brandon Sanders
In addition to meeting Mark, I had the pleasure of spending time with Jon Cleland Host who, by the way, has a new site up, NaturalPagan.org. It”s hard to believe, but Jon is even cooler in person than in his writing. Jon wore his Cosmala throughout the Con, but you’ll have to go to his site to hear the story about that. It was also great to spend time talking about building religious communities (among other things) with HP contributor Brandon Sanders and his wife, Shelley, who are also the co-founders of Solseed, a tradition which overlaps significantly with HP. I also had the pleasure of meeting HP contributor Lupa Greenwolf and HP supporter William Blumberg (of “A Pagan Humanist”) and I hope I have more time to talk to them both next Con.
I also participated on the Patheos Pagan bloggers panel, which I wrote about here. I talked briefly about attitudes toward non-theistic Pagans in the larger Pagan community.
We handed out a lot of materials, including brochures and business cards. I handed out three different brochures for HP, which you can view or download in .pdf format below:
Paganism Without Gods? brochure
Naturalistic Transcendence brochure
Feel free to print them out and share them.
You can also find the Naturalistic Paganism and Atheopaganism brochures below.
Naturalistic Paganism brochure
I am really looking forward to next year for more Atheopagan events and meeting even Humanistic and Naturalistic Pagans in person!
The Author
John Halstead is a former Mormon, now eclectic Neo-Pagan with an interest in ritual as an art form, ecopsychology, theopoetics, Jungian theory, and the idea of death as an act of creation. In addition to being the Managing Editor here at HP, he is the author of the blogs, The Allergic Pagan at Patheos and Dreaming the Myth Onward at Pagan Square. He is also the administrator of the website Neo-Paganism.org.
Mid-Month Meditation: “In the Darkness of Winter” by Jennifer S. Getsinger
We encourage our readers to use these Mid-Month Meditations as an opportunity to take a short break from everything else. Rather than treating these posts the way you would any other post, set aside 10 minutes someplace quiet and semi-private to have an experience. Take a minute to relax first. After reading the quote below, take a few minutes to let the experience sink in. If it feels right, leave a comment.
In the darkness of winter the rains come.
Earth draws her mantle of darkness and moisture nearer,
pulls her grey blanket of clouds closer around her mountain
shoulders.
On icy heights the mountains become the storehouses of the snow.
On forested slopes and in lowland rainforests, evergreens soak in the
nurturing water,
and draw it into the soil.
Groundwater seeps into networks of cracks in Coast Range granite,
as rocks become the storehouses of the rain.
In darkness, and under[the]ground[of Vancouver],
the Earth draws in rainwater down along beds of porous sandstone
to wash the fossil leaves of ancient rainforests,
to cleanse the black layers of underlying coal,
waiting in the sleep of millions of years
while holding potential warmth and light for a future age.
In the darkness of winter as sunfire wanes and life forms sleep,
the cycles of earth, air, and water blur and mingle:
our drinking water may be muddy with mineral silt;
the solid ground seems to melt into rivers beneath our feet;
and the air we breathe is an ocean of dampness.
In the darkness of winter, we too need to rest and sleep,
and draw in the groundwater now
that will later nourish the springs of our souls.
This poem was published earlier on the website for the Canadian Unitarian Council.
The Author
Jennifer Getsinger has been a member of UCV since 1984, and was married there in 1985. She was raised as a Unitarian, attending various US UU churches, including 7 years at the First Parish in Concord, Massachusetts. Living about a kilometre from Walden Pond, Jennifer was influenced from an early age by the Transcendentalists, including Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson, thus beginning an interest in earth-based spirituality and panentheism. Her professional/educational background includes anthropology and earth sciences, and nature writing is one of her passions (essays and poetry). Jennifer has 2 children, Wolf and Chilko, who also attend the Unitarian Church of Vancouver.
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Pagan Coming Out Day – May 2nd
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