Naturalistic Paganism
Mid-Month Meditation: “Beloved Community”
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.
This month, our theme is “Community”. In honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who was born on this day in 1929, and who we honor as a nation next Monday, this month’s meditation about “Beloved Community” comes from King’s 1957 speech “Justice Without Violence”:
“There are certain things we can say about this method that seeks justice without violence. It does not seek to defeat or humiliate the opponent but to win his friendship and understanding. I think that this is one of the points, one of the basic points, one of the basic distinguishing points between violence and non-violence. The ultimate end of violence is to defeat the opponent. The ultimate end of non-violence is to win the friendship of the opponent. It is necessary to boycott sometimes but the non-violent resister realized that boycott is never an end within itself, but merely a means to awaken a sense of shame within the oppressor; that the end is reconciliation; the end is redemption. And so the aftermath of violence is bitterness; the aftermath of non-violence is the creation of the beloved community; the aftermath of non-violence is redemption and reconciliation. This is a method that seeks to transform and to redeem, and win the friendship of the opponent, and make it possible for men to live together as brothers in a community, and not continually live with bitterness and friction.”
How can we Humanistic and Naturalistic Pagans cultivate Beloved Community within our own spheres on influence?
More quotes by King about Beloved Community
More information about King’s vision of Beloved Community
[Rotting Silver] “Haiku Collection: Dogs” by B. T. Newberg
In the well-worn street
A dog is barking, barking
Barking at nothing
In the marketplace
Two dogs fighting for a bone
Only one will eat Read More
“The Devil Never Did Me No Harm” by Sable Aradia
Our theme for January is “Community”. We begin our new theme with an essay by a new contributor, Sable Aradia, challenging us to face up to the Satanic origins of contemporary Neo-Paganism. This essay was originally published at Sable Aradia’s blog, Between the Shadows: The Craft of a Liminal Witch.
Sign of the Horns. Source: Wikimedia Commons.
The Satanic Panic of the 1990s was a time of fear and persecution for witches. You want to talk about the Burning Times? We lived it in a social way. Our neighbours would find out we were witches and call the police to say we were sacrificing babies in the backyard; we would be fired from our jobs on vague pretexts; our children would be seized by social services who claimed we were subjecting them to horrible things. A desperate self-protection movement began. Witchcraft is a harmless earth religion, we said. Witchcraft doesn’t believe in the devil; we have nothing to do with him.
But that’s not entirely true. Read More
Looking Back: The Year in Review at HP
It’s been a great year here at HP. Here are some of the highlights … Read More
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Pagan Coming Out Day – May 2nd
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