Politics
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When the World Feels Icky
It’s particularly bad where I am right now. We are experiencing a heat wave that will drive temps up over 110° F today, and even higher tomorrow. In addition, smoke from the wildfires in the northern part of the state has been blown down here, casting a pall over everything and bringing a sharp, unpleasant taste to the air. The sunlight itself is a nauseous yellow, pounding down heat in a creepily still, hotbox environment of smoke. We even had a little earthquake yesterday morning. All in all, it feels like disaster is everywhere. Of course, that’s kind of how it’s been ever since November 8, 2016, when the worst…
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On Freedom
In the United States, we lionize “freedom”. We make much of how “free” we are, boast of it. Our national narrative is filled with reinforcing stories about liberty and the struggle for freedom. But what is it? If freedom means anything, it must be the freedom not just to believe as one wishes, to think as one will, but also to act as one will. To be treated as an equal. And that freedom is in danger in this country at this time. We are, in reality, one of the most authoritarian states of the developed world. We have a higher rate of incarceration even than China or Saudi Arabia…
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Visions of the Future
As I’ve written before, Atheopaganism is inherently political. It isn’t possible to revere the Earth as Sacred, to hope for a world where love and kindness and justice are far more widespread without having a political agenda to match. Many Pagans are political, in varying ways. While most lean to the left, some do not. And a significant number identify as anarchists, viewing the root cause of human suffering and strife as being institutions such as governments. I am not one of them. I simply do not see examples of anarchism having worked successfully in groups larger than a hundred or two. With the world’s population well over seven billion…
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Care and Feeding of the Atheopagan Activist
If you’ve flown, you’ve heard the direction: first, fit your own mask. Then assist those next to you with theirs. It’s good advice in these times, when we are called to service and protest and activism. Compelling as it is to pour service into the oppressed, the threatened, the victimized, we simply must keep ourselves going or we will be unable to serve as completely and for as long as we might wish. This is at least a four-year marathon, folks. We must sustain ourselves, because all kinds of hell are coming down the pipe, and we’re going to be up to our waists in it soon enough. Here are some…
