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| Eg. Buddhism, some forms of Hinduism.. Nontheism is often mistakenly thought to be irreligious (anti-religious) despite the fact that religions can be nontheistic-orthopraxic (orthopraxy involves correct practice including but not limited to ethics, functional virtues, and the arts and disciplines involved in Equality, hospitality). A nontheist is neither a theist nor an atheist (nor, for that matter, an agnostic) and does not define reality through any black and white God vs. God or The Forces of Good™ vs. The Forces of Evil™ dualism. The Buddha didn't deny that there were Gods, but he did briefly differ with the definition of deity and then went on to put a fierce focus on orthopraxy and personal and community excellence...and part of excellence is choice of foucs, so I like this: The Buddha usually replied to questions about the existence of God(s) with silence but told the story of a man shot by a poisoned arrow. As the doctor moved to pull the arrow out of the wound, the man grabbed his hand and asked: "Before you treat me, tell me, who shot me with the arrow? Was he of a warrior or some other class, tall or short, young or old, dark skinned or light skinned?" Ignoring the question, the doctor pulled the arrow out in answered the question in doing so -- the patient would have died without pulling the arrow out. So, you can spend your time in endless speculation or get on with excellence, some mysticism, some pragmatism. Or, as I'd like to say, where the focus goes, the energies flow, which ensures more of the same, and that is why, in part, I wrote Painting Pluralism the say I did, in reaction to an atheistic organization putting up billboards, and why my path is an orthopraxy, though I'm not exactly Buddhist. | | |
| An atheist organization posted a billboard down in FL to let people know that atheism was an option and that their organization was reaching out. I replied: Most atheists unwittingly obey God vs. Godless dualism, the dominant (monotheistic orthodoxy) paradigm they're rejecting. I do find that phenomenon interesting because... Where the focus goes, the energy flows. That and if you want to really challenge the dominant paradigm and broaden the scope of your fellow human beings, you have to name the paradigmm, name the alternatives and how they may differ on a functional, theological and/or philosophical basis, as well as how definitions for worship, Deity, Divine, and religion may vary. So, besides monotheistic orthodoxy, there are other sorts of religion orthopraxic, polytheistic, non-theistic and so on. For example, as an eclectic Wiccan-Druid, well, eclectic that acknowledges many influences, I practice an orthopraxy (correct practice, including but not limited to ethics, functional virtues, and the arts and disciplines of equality and hospitality) . I define worship as "to recognize the worth of," not to grovel before some cosmic hierarchy, and my definition of Deity includes both anthropomorphized ones as well as ones that are not. It's not faith-based identity but people's demonstrable character, intelligence, and thought/behavioral patterns and **what they mean** and **how they touch the lives of others** that I pay attention to and and value because that type of focus is more functional and it tells me far more about the world around me. These are much more reliable indicators and that type of focus tends to have a very different directional force. They also tell me what power metaparadigm they're in (more on that in a moment). If more people succinctly nail (explain) what their path is, whatever it is, the political-social landscape becomes an obvious pluralism rather than occult pluralism, occult meaning "hidden," making the Equality power paradigm more likely than the Power and Control (abuse) paradigm whose dysfunctional axis is about taking power from others at others' expense and suffering. I like equality better because it's about the removal of the institutions of prejudice (creedism, racism, sexism, heterosexism, and so on) and about mutually earned and maintained courtesy and respect. Spreading the word of atheism just isn't enough. I'm not against all forms of atheism but promoting it isn't quite the win many would hope it would be. It may not move things along in the direction they wanted.
Putting up a different road sign while not changing the landscape or direction does what? An example of how little atheism can change if it doesn't challenge the dominant paradigm is how easily atheism and creedism flip flopped yet maintained dysfunction in Russia. | | |
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Does have a metallic look to it.
 Crystal on body of Goddess matches color used in chain. This is a starter piece, not something I'd sell. The metalic colors look cheap together...but, you know, I was having fun learning. I'd been afraid to make wire chains for years, and it isn't easy. Not for me anyway.
 Ah, and this has the red, green, and fire colors of Yule. Note the sun on the body of the Goddess. Yule welcomes back the sun. 
With it's leaf bead, this one is perfect for fall. Couldn't resist adding a copper moon bead to dangle attractively on the back of the neck, from off the clasp. 
Focal beads are about 1.5 to 1.66 inches long.
Not feeling well so not all the best pictures here. I'm having a terrible time trimming and tucking in those wire tails on each wire wrapped segment. I think I need better wire cutters and a few tips. Maybe I'll hit a few youtube how-to videos and try again. Later...wrapping the 28 gauge wire a few more times made it wide enough to use the micro crimper to tuck in the wire tails. Thanks for the tips! Updated October 17, 2009. | | |
| Not going to make the whole argument but... Kid, his brother and some friends break into a theater to vandalize it. Once inside, they were caught by the Theater's Artistic Director who gave them scripts, offered them parts, and one those kids became a well known movie star instead of another statistic. The actor is Vin Diesel and the guy who gave him a chance is Crystal Field. Why this worked out was probably part gut instinct and part awareness that legalism is limited. Vin Diesel was 7 at the time that his path in life was altered like that. Perhaps it's not always in the best interests of society to put kids through the court system. | | |
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and Etsy 
and Index of Some of My Blog Entries 
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