It's that time of year!

So as of my last entry, I had mentioned that yes, I am indeed Pagan. Scary no? And today is in fact a religious observance for myself and thousands of others out there who consider this time of year a more spiritual time, than commercial.

Yes I am talking about Halloween. Or as I call it Samhain. And no it's not pronounced like it's spelled here. It's actually pronounced Sow-en. And no I don't know the exactly wordy type meaning, just some of the other meanings about the day in particular. To get the not-so bitterness out of the way, I'm not sure if Christianity has perverted this ancient festival, or if the meaning of the day has evolved overtime to accommodate the cultures of the period. It's well and good that the Christian faith has tried various methods to convert Pagans, and it does include some absorption of ancient days of worship and reverence, the most notable being Christmas (Dec. 25th) crowding out Yule (Winter Solstice around Dec. 21st). Some people would consider Samhain to be a time of great evil, mostly the hardcore Christians. So much so that some local churches have used Halloween as a staging point for the war on Satan, and have even produced such elaborate schemes as setting up Christian oriented haunted house displays, and producing video propaganda.

Pshaw.

The last time I checked there was nothing inherently evil about Samhain. Maybe the only thing evil about it is the commercialism associated with it, as with Christmas time. The amount of money flying around during holidays that have religious roots is ridiculous, and somewhat shameful I might add. Now before I continue, Halloween is a good time for the kids to enjoy being out and about, going through the neighbourhoods, and being together in the enjoyable quest for candy. I would not take that away from them. With that, my next comment will sound contradictory. The commercialism of this (for Pagans at least) or any other day of worship seems to detract from the spiritual aspect of it all. Not only that it takes away from the creativity that a day like this could inspire. What other day of the year could you have so many different costumes show up at your doorstep? I predict an abundance of Ironman, and Hanna Montana clad children tromping up my stairs to 'Trick or Treat'. Manufactured is a word I would use to describe this day. The candy factories mass produce the sugary confections to the delight of the kiddies, and chagrin of the parents. Toy companies stamp out cheap costumes so children can harass mommy into buying the next dress-up fad. The imagination is partially lost this day because big business sees the profits to be made. Communities for the most part do not come together like the small agricultural towns of yesteryear, to celebrate the end of the harvest, or the turning of the season. As opposed to elders telling stories of ghosts and hauntings, they have been replaced by Hollywood blockbuster slasher films, and gaudy lawn displays of dismembered corpses. Our world has become more complicated, overly so, to the point that the man in sheet moaning and shaking chains no longer frightens. Now unless there's six gallons of blood spilt, and a homicidal maniac, no one will pay it any mind. The modern world has made us desensitized to the point where formerly fearful things are passe, and the most shocking thing to put fear in our heart seems to be when the local coffee shop breaks the espresso machine. Children are growing up tuned into the idiot box, plugged into their iPod, and hooked up to the internet to the point where imagination seems to be an unpleasant distraction, a buzzing in behind the ears, annoying them if it steals them away from their favorite video game. Parents are no better and I include myself in this category. We're bombarded by jobs, the telephone, cars, world crisis, the price of oil and so on. Day to day, hour to hour we toil at our jobs, only to come home too tired to cook a good meal, and slump on the couch, order a pizza, and watch the next disaster in progress on the evening news. It's shameful.

Days like Halloween are suppose to excite us and bring us together, not cause our wallets to go up in flames, or serve as a way to make our local dentist more money. Days like Samhain are a time for reflection, and reverence for the passing of the year, not a dividing point over religious belief.

Just my two cents.

Freeman

Religion... Yeah, I know...

Christianity is the one true religion. No wait! It's Islam. Definitely Islam. But Judaism is nice too. Then there's those happy Buddhists. *Sigh*. Who's right and who's wrong dammit?!?!?

Well from a personal standpoint, they're all wrong. Yep. ALL WRONG. And yes, I am religious. I'm one of those tree hugging, dirt worshipping Pagans, whose Gods and Goddesses rule the universe! And it's still wrong. Oh it's right for me you see, but I'm me. Because at one point I was a Christian like so many other North Americans, and then one night I had an epiphany. I figured out that I didn't like the bible, Jesus was a front man for politics these days, and non of the "Big Three" really made me feel good because let's face it, they're very similar in nature. Please correct me if I'm wrong on that assumption, because that's all it is. I'm not a student of Christianity, Judaism, or Islam so my assumptions could all be completely wrong. But can you tell me that each of those religions don't hate the same way, or fight the same way, or even politicize the same way? You would have to go pretty far to convince me otherwise. It's amazing that anyone can claim they have found the "One True God" out of that mish-mash. After all they pretty much come to the same conclusions, and worship the same person ....errr... Deity. Yeah. That's it. Either way all three are intertwined, and as opposed to saying that they have more in common with each other, they turn around all pronounce, rather loudly, that they have the truth. Truth is a very dangerous word.

If any of them had the truth, don't you think they would be converting people quicker. Judaism seems to not be too pushy about it. It's like they're standing by the door waiting for you to leave before they hand you a pamphlet without saying a word. Christianity gets out of bed in the morning, stretches, eats some cereal, and tackles the day door to door, channel to channel, and person to person. Islam gathers the masses and does the same, although they seem to keep their numbers up by proclaiming that once you're in you can't get out. Kinda harsh really. So really none of them can leave a person alone to try and figure it out for themselves. Kinda like watching a man get torn apart by horses. So let's leave them behind and look around a bit....

Shintoism, Taoism, Buddhism.... Asian religions. And I'm generalizing when I discuss this, because honestly I have no real clue about their individual philosophies. Possibly because of the somewhat alien nature of their teachings. That and I just haven't picked up a book about anything Asian in a very long time. Part of my problem is living so far removed from anything remotely like a Buddhist temple, or a Shintoist shrine. I live in a not so diverse part of Canada, so exposure is what is on the TV that night. But from everything I can see, these religions are not pushy at all. And as I stated before please correct me if I'm wrong. They're not pushy to the point of seemingly non-existence, although I have it on good authority that Buddhism is a rather well populated religion, possibly surpassing Christianity. But find a Shintoist? It's like trying to find a snowflake in Miami. Taoist are somewhere in the middle. Then there's a few other religions that I can't remember at the moment, but I'm sure they have healthy followings as well. They just aren't trying to press gang people into their belief system. It also doesn't help when the likely majority of them are in Communist countries, and are quite possibly repressed by the governments there. So onwards....

African religion..... Ummm.... Sure.... It's in Africa.... I think. TV you have failed me here!

And of course now we have New Age. People like me. Disorganized. Dispersed. Barely able to find their shoes in the morning, let alone be a force for anything. My kinda place. But wrong as well. I mean it's had a huge resurgence in the last 20 or so years, popularized by TV and movies, but it is still influenced by the other religions of the world. Some people call themselves Christo-Pagans. Yep. I have a hard time with that one myself, but if it works for you.... Paganism and the New Age seem to be made primarily of disenfranchised Christians in North America, which can be a problem in one regard as they have a tendency to bring some of the problems associated with Christianity with them. Namely the politicking part, and occasionally the pushiness. I will say that a lot of Pagans lean towards the Activism part of society though. Not all Pagans are lazy and aloof, most are regular people, but some are very busy indeed. And there are a few that are just out right ridiculous. Nothing better for a group than to have one individual dressing the part 24/7, and acting foolishly a lot. It's no wonder we aren't taken seriously for anything. I almost have to wonder if some believe this kind of behaviour reflects on them to the point of shame. Curious thoughts....

Where was I? Oh! Yes. All wrong. In terms of a society, as a people, we should be united by the physical reality of the world. Belief systems are nice, but are corrupted easily when you have many people trying to develop the same religious real estate. Kinda like Islam is Islam, But Sunni Muslims and different than Shiite Muslims. Or Baptist Christians are different than Catholic Christians. Ridiculous. Way to complicate this fellahs. I'm waiting for Sanderian Wiccans and Gardnerian Wiccans to start duking it out next. I'm sure it will happen some day. Such is the price for complicating a mass system of belief. Truthfully though I can be accused of stating that my Gods were right and their God was wrong at one point. It took awhile to realize the fallacy of my statement. The last time I checked, no religion seemed to have gotten it right yet. If they did wouldn't the world be at peace? Or maybe peace will happen when everyone is Christian, or Buddhist, or possibly Pagan. Maybe their has to be a massive social sanitization of all that is intangible in our beliefs as human beings to bring about positive change.

Either way something has got to happen soon, because we are on a long, slippery, and familiar slope of disaster due to belief systems tainting the hearts of the world. Religion, or Spirituality if I may, is an intensely personal thing, and probably be kept personal for the good of society. If a likely minded group of people want to worship their respective deity together then have at it. But once they're finished, and back out on the street, they should keep it to themselves. Proselytizing has got to be one of the worst ideas in the world, and likely has been responsible for more than one fight throughout time.

So in conclusion, if you've found the "One True God", or a whole pantheon of them, keep it to yourself.

Freeman

Calamity!

Just curious. No need to answer, but I like to hear.... Are we in recession? Is Canada in trouble financially, because someone is dropping the ball here. I can't tell whether or not we have a real problem because every time you turn around some "official" somewhere is saying everything is alright. Then the next day someone else is crying out in anguish "Stock's are dropping! The economy is on the downturn! There's a fly in my financial soup!"

I cannot honestly for the life of me figure out if there is actually a problem here. I mean I check the financial section of the paper and glance over the headlines, and it's awash with doom one day, then nonexistent the next. If there was a soundtrack to this mess it wouldn't be profound like John Williams "The Imperial March", but be more like the theme song from "The Benny Hill Show". I mean that's what it amounts to right about now. I can hear that song playing and envision the traders at the TSX, or NYSE running about furiously waving their hands buying, selling, laughing, and crying, all because of how the markets are in turmoil. You would think that with all the supposed problems, hype, and miscellaneous tripe that the press has put out in the last month regarding the perceived crisis, that there would be a lot of dead executives on Wall Street. Sure if it's bad enough they would be jump out of windows left, right, and center. The sidewalks would be littered with high class suits getting their pockets searched for loose change by the very people they likely ripped off in the first place. But I'll get to the poverty bit later on....

If this is a true crisis, then I'm sure there will likely be severe repercussions to those responsible for causing it.... I can't believe I just said that.... I know what you're thinking. "C'mon Freeman, get real. No one is going to pay for screwing up the world." Yeah. I agree that it was a naive comment, but I slam my fist into the keyboard thusly : gfiphqwe, and cry out "Dammit it's what should happen!" But you and I both know that it ain't gonna happen. It's a cruel world in that regard, when overly complicated social, political, and financial rules take precedence over simple truth, and will. Punishment would never be doled out to those responsible for losing nations millions in currency, putting tens of thousands of people out of jobs, and creating more poverty than could possibly be healthy. You would almost think that governments are in it for themselves, as opposed to the very people they are supposed to govern. Whoa! Hold the phone here! This smacks of conspiracy. You can't be serious Freeman! Say it ain't so! Yeah, I'm serious. I'm not sure anymore where big business ends, and government starts. When you have people running the country that are lining their pocket books on the side, you have to question their motivations. I would have thought that to be a politician you would have had to want to serve the public, but in this day and age that seems to be less the case. I have to wonder what would happen if the Prime Minister of Canada, or even the President of the United States were paid one dollar a year, and were not allowed to have any business ventures or involvement. Well that's a kooky idea. I mean after all the PM is housed, looked after medically, has better security on his home than most bank vaults, and can travel where ever he needs to be. He's fed, clothed, and well looked after. I'm pretty sure he doesn't pay rent on 24 Sussex Drive, and that there's gas in the plane if he needs to travel. As well his driver keeps the car fueled up, and the cook makes sure there's food in the kitchen. Wow. So all he needs to do is get dressed in the morning, and primp and preen for the days work. Interesting. I wonder if he's worried about financial turmoil. From of the sounds of it he's likely getting a nice fat pay cheque anyways, so even if the country stood on it's head over the money problems of the day, I think he would be alright. Now you have to ask yourself: "What's his motivation?"

So here we are at or near the bottom. I don't exactly feel the soft squishy landscape of Wall Street fat cat corpses as I walk to the corner store, but as I look in my wallet nor do I see moths eating away. Where's the looming crisis. Or maybe it's only a crisis if rich people are affected? Well now, I'm just full of ideas aren't I. Crazy ones at that. I mean after all rich people are rich because they have a tonne of money right? If there's a problem they just dip into their savings to buy that new yacht. No crisis there. Meanwhile Joe Sixpack stands in line at the food shelter, waiting to get some food for the kids. Never mind last week he was "Joe The Plumber", and had a decent job before all this mess happened. It's OK though, because after he gets his food he'll go looking for work. But soon it won't be found. Joe will meet others like him in the food line, and slowly realize that there are WAY more poor people than rich. Maybe then something will start to change, because after all when you hit rock bottom the only way to look is up. Look up. Look up at the rich people who are still on top after you lose your job, your home, and everything that seemed familiar, friendly, and made life wonderful. He's still got it. But he ain't sharing it.

Final ominous word: When we're all broke and in the gutter because the Capitalist system robbed us; the working class, of everything we own, maybe it's high time we stopped letting the money run everything. It's brought us nothing but heartache after all. As well it's divided us as a society, which is damnable in it's own right. So maybe instead of waiting for those Wall Street financial wizards to jump out of their windows because they lost 60% of everything they had invested, maybe we should just push them out. After all, they cost us 100% of everything we had.

Just me throwing it out there.

Freeman

The Start of a new Era....

.... Funny how epic that sounds. You would almost believe that I had something profound to say about society, God, politics, and so on. Hmmm.... maybe I do.... maybe I do.

Now I'm not a Republican, seeing as how I live in Canada, nor am I a card carrying member for any political party (any more), but while reading the paper this morning I was delighted by an article I saw. Apparently the Republican party is fighting amongst themselves. Could it be that the VP Nominee has stolen the thunder of the Presidential Nominee? Has Mrs. Palin usurped the throne of King McCain?? Did she dump whiskey in the Republican coffee urn, and claim she was the only one not drunk, and therefore was required to drive the Repulican party bus?!?!? Nay, nay. She just showed up for the party, said what she believes to be true, and then threw gas on the fire when the bus started to burn. Now don't get me wrong, I think McCain would be good for the US right now. It seems to me that he's probably the most moderate individual the United States could put in office in these troubled times. The problem is is that his chosen running mate seems to be tramping his moderate qualities into the ground, making him seem weaker than is good. When your the Presidential Nominee maybe you should step up, and get your ducks in a row so to speak. If this means 'smacking that bitch up', then maybe it's high time McCain put on his pimp suit, and get back behind the wheel of the Republican party bus. Honestly, when your subordinate seems to get more press time during an election than you do, there's a problem. If your party chooses you to run the country, then you better step up and lead, otherwise you've already lost the race. Obama is going to be at the finish line before you could find the keys to the bus.

So what's to be done. Do I have a solution? Nope. Not my problem. That's the American election, and America's problem to deal with. I'm not sure what each side is campaigning for anyways. There's so much political mudslinging going on, it's coating my living room windows up here! Not to mention the Canadian election we just went through. That was like being at the bottom of the hill when the mudslide happened. I'm not sure if U.S. politicking style has come across the border to manifest itself in the 'Great White North', causing our own politicians to be as forked tongued as their southern counterparts.

Now it occurs to me at this time that maybe there should be a law. Law? This is getting dicey. Maybe there should be a law that prevents attacking the other party.... Can you hear the crickets? If political parties concentrated on what they could do for the country as opposed to slamming the other guys ideas, maybe better ideas would be generated during election time. Maybe the issues wouldn't be so clouded with muck. Maybe, just maybe, people would feel like it was worth voting again if positive campaigns were run, as opposed to saying this guy is incompetent, or that gal is out of touch. Negativity is probably the most infectious disease out there, as it creeps it's way into the very materials we're made of, corrupting our heart and soul, to the point where we don't remember what it was like to be positive. Politics has always had debate, and it is by far a necessary thing to bring to light flaws in policy, however that's a debate, not a platform point. Now back to the Republican debacle....

In terms of explaining my train of thought, if a positive campaign cannot be run by the Republicans or Democrats, then maybe they should just duke it out in the ring for two out of three falls. Likewise, McCain should really can this supposed infighting within his party before it gets out of control. There are too many radicals out there to begin with, and if he does bring his party back to his more moderate views, then Sarah Palin is going to be running the country in no time flat if they get elected, which doesn't look like it's going to happen anymore. She's made the party look awkward like a drunken guest telling 'Pull My Finger' humour at a high class party. McCain has to do something so he can clean up his predecessors mess, and make the Republican party have credibility again.

Wow that's a lot. My hands are tired, my belief system is in tact, and there's still beer in the fridge. It's good to be Canadian folks, even though from that tirade you would think I was passionate about the United States. Nope. Just passionate about the world.