B is for Belief 01/19/2012
Paganism is a collection of religions largely made up of converts. Most of us have converted from Abrahamic faiths that put a high premium on this thing called belief; and even if one grew up in a non-religious home, our dominant cultural paradigm in the United States is very much a Protestant Christian one, which strongly and sometimes insidiously impacts the way we are conditioned to approach the idea of religion, ritual, the Gods, and the role one’s faith should have in one’s life. With this emphasis on belief, comes a deeper emphasis on thinking the right things, i.e. thought control, and a fear of any *ideas* that might corrupt one’s faith. It comes with a mental insularity that ostensibly protects against spiritual contamination but in truth leads all too often, I think, to narrow-mindedness, hostility, discrimination, and hate. Look at the impact of Christian fundamentalism in our world today for examples too numerous to count. There is a deification of “belief,” a fetishizing of a very narrowly determined set of principles, wherein having one’s thoughts properly aligned (i.e. believing the right thing in the right way) is all important. Being a shaman, I never had to worry much about belief. I experience the Gods with as much active reality in the here and now as I might experience my best friend walking through my door. There’s nothing abstract or metaphorical about it. I never thought about belief or faith because for me it isn’t and issue; it’s reality and actively experienced knowledge. It took a very long time for me to realize that not everyone has had those experiences; moreover, not everyone is capable (or meant to) experience the Gods so directly. At the same time I realized this, I realized too that there’s a tremendous grace in doing what should be done be it living rightly, doing a particular ritual, making a particular offering, etc. because it is right and proper without ever receiving the proverbial pat on the head, the reinforcement of experienced presence. Still I digress. Before I get too far off my point, I shall try to be clear: I don’t think belief is all that important, at least not in the way that so many contemporary Paganisms would have it (the way that they have learned from their monotheistic upbringings). The indigenous polytheisms which we are working to restore were far more orthopraxic than orthodoxic. What does this mean for the average person? It means that what one did was far, far more important than what one believed. (It also means that there weren’t any wars waged and attendant lives lost over supremacy of religious *belief*). So long as one did the right ritual actions, made the right offerings, honored the Gods at the appropriate times, the question of belief was a matter for the individual’s spirit. Such openness led to the development of major philosophical schools of thought like Stoicism, Epicureanism, and the Sceptics. There was no culturally ingrained fear of thinking the wrong thing, so thought, discussion, even dissent was encouraged. Whether or not one believed or had any type of deep devotional life was a personal matter, or something to take to the many mystery cultus. It was not the defining social and theological facet of ancient polytheisms. I’ll even take this a step farther (quoting a paper I recently wrote on Lucretius): Polytheism is ideologically open ended when compared to monotheism. The former is often openly syncretistic and its numerous theologies do not place humanity outside of nature (as contrasted with the book of Genesis, which gives mankind dominion over nature). Moreover, because there was room for a multiplicity of divinity, there is no one truth or one “right” way to the exclusion of all others. Inherent in polytheism is an understanding that with many different Deities, there may well be many different “right” ways of doing a thing and many right ‘beliefs.’ Freud, in his ‘Moses and Monotheism” posited that religious intolerance began with the advent of monotheism for precisely this reason. I tend to agree. The great Roman orator Cicero posited that the etymology for the word ‘religio’ (from where we get our word ‘religion’) was ‘relegere’: to retrace or reread, as “retracing the lore of one’s ancestors.”(King, p. 35) This involved paying homage to the Gods via the performance of certain ritual rites and acts. Active and impassioned belief played little part in these ritual obligations.(King, p. 37) Religion then becomes a set of customs or practices, supported and transmitted inter-generationally, i.e. a form of mos maiorum –the traditions of one’s ancestors. Historian Richard King note on precisely this point that “In the Pagan context, questions of truth and falsity were simply not applicable to religion –how could traditions or practices be described as true or false? They were simply the ancestral practices of particular communities” (King, 39) I remember several years ago, sitting with my adopted mom after a particularly grueling shamanic ordeal (on my part). We had just finished dinner and were talking and the subject of belief came up unexpectedly. She said, “You know, sometimes I don’t believe in the Gods at all. But even when I don’t believe I love Them.” I was stunned. Belief, up to this point, had never been an issue. It’s hard to not “believe” when a Deity essentially shows up and says ‘wake up, I’m here and you have work to do.” I was appalled and concerned. She looked at me and recognized that this was very, very hard for me to even fathom. That’s when she told me something that I have since come to realize is a tremendous piece of wisdom: belief is for us. It has nothing to do with the Gods. They exist whether we “believe” in Them or not. True faith is a choice every moment of every day. It should rest on stronger foundations than this nebulous thing called belief. Anything can impact “belief.” Maybe you’ve had a bad day, maybe you’re getting sick or you have indigestion, or you don’t feel well, or your romantic relationship just broke up. Belief or non-belief is a blip of the mind and emotions and these things can be tremendously shallow at times. What one chooses to DO, belief or no—that’s what’s important. I love my Gods. I choose to love Them: when I believe in Them and when I don’t. That love is an ongoing choice.” This woman was the greatest mystic I have ever had the privilege of knowing. She was a holy woman, more deeply steeped in devotion to her Gods than anyone that I have ever known. I took her wisdom to heart. It made me realize how often the shield of “belief” is a substitution for engagement, as an excuse not to change and grow and connect. It’s all too easy to eschew the complexity and messiness of actual active engagement for the sweet, numbing pabulum of belief. After all, once one has found the “right” belief, one need work and search no further. Polytheism isn’t about that though. It’s about living engagement. It’s about doing the right thing consistently (whether one feels like it or not). It’s about behaving in a way that honors our Gods whether we, at that given moment, consciously believe in Them or not. Belief will return. In the meantime, it’s about letting the mind do what the mind will do and cherishing those days when the reality of the Gods is clear and sure but not allowing one’s faith and praxis to become too sidelined on those all too human moments when it isn’t. For further reading, I recommend the two books that I quoted above: King, Richard. (1999), Orientalism and Religion: Postcolonial Theory, India and ‘The Mystic East,” UK: Abingdon: Routledge. Paper, Jordan. (2005). The Deities are Many. Albany, NY: The State University of New York Press. Learn more about the Pagan Blog Project here:http://onewitchsway.com/pbp2012/ CommentsGlenn 01/19/2012 6:01pm
Even if every man, woman, and child stopped believing, the Gods and Goddesses would not stop existing. They exist because they are, not because we believe they are ! Great article Galina ! It is so nice to have you back ! Brava! I've been in two separate discussions in the past week which have been about this topic, and in which several different people were very vehement that "belief" was necessary, even essential. It made me sad to think that it was so important to them that everyone think in the same way they do. As far as I can tell, the monotheisms are the only world religions that define religious identity in terms of belief (<i>i.e.</i> intellectual assent to a particular set of propositions about Deity). This is one of the things that monotheists find difficult to understand when engaging in dialogue with people of other religions. 02/09/2012 9:08am
Makarios wrote: RedLadyMoon 01/20/2012 2:13pm
I liked this, a lot. Thank you for sharing. I want to ask though because I do not understand, how can you love deity without believing? I understand that they are in existence whether we believe in them or not. I also understand that there are many "right" ways of believing or no wrong ways. I guess my questions comes from the problem of what your definition of belief is. Or anybody's for that matter. I'm fairly new at being pagan so excuse me while I try to pick through what you've said and what I'm trying to say. I don't think I'm trying to argue the point of your post but I'm trying to understand it better. The whole time while writing this I'm frowning while trying to put my thoughts here coherently. Galina 01/21/2012 8:22pm
Hi RedLadyMoon, starrdusk 01/22/2012 4:50am
Hi Galena. I also enjoyed the article also very much. For some reason when I came out of the church, it was then that I actually finally realized that the god of the old testament actually did talk very much about other dieties, thus he was quite strong in his command that his people should have No Other God before him Galina 01/22/2012 6:07am
How do you love when belief falters? You choose to do so. Laura 01/22/2012 7:00am
Fantastic! Our ancestors knew the value of duty, obligation and service. Faith without follow through is an exercise in spiritual masturbation. Sara 01/22/2012 7:22am
Just as a note, Judaism places very little or no importance on belief. starrdusk 01/22/2012 1:20pm
Ok. I was in part responding to Redladymoon...how do you love something that you do not believe in. I know that, before I converted away from my old faith, I met so many people who wanted to 'love god' but who just could not believe the thing that were taught. I saw their lives as actively loving, but they could buy into the tenants of the faith and so often came away confused. Of course we all experience doubt at times, even in the middle of believing; to be given the freedom of doubt, knowing that that is what so often strengthens our faith or causes to us to search for a deeper understanding, is what the gods should be about...whatever way we choose to believe in said gods. <b>belief is for us. It has nothing to do with the Gods. They exist whether we “believe” in Them or not. </b> Elizabeth 03/03/2012 4:55pm
I've not considered the concept of "belief" along these things before. Your comment will be posted after it is approved. Leave a Reply | AuthorGalina Krasskova is a Heathen author and devotee of Odin, Loki and Sigyn. ArchivesMay 2012 CategoriesAll |
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