Re: Druidism's foundations
So I'm just really reading into this thread out of curiosity. Could someone please maybe dumb it down for me and explain what all those random seeming abbreviations are? BNP, PIE, OBOD, ADF ... I started to do a search but nothing I find really seems to make any more sense. I mean, I'm trying to figure out what brain natriuretic peptides or the British National Party have to do with anything associated with druids.
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Religion very much is a manifestation of a culture. It can even be argued that religion was a secondary creation of the forming of a culture.
For example, you are the leader of a group of people, and that group keeps getting larger and larger. Now, all around you, things are happening that you do not have the scientific knowledge to be able to explain, such as lightning, earthquakes, rain, and even the migratory movements of certain animals. In order to keep your people from slipping into chaos and simply milling about in their own randomness, you settle upon a series of rules and regulations that must be followed. Now, why, your people ask, should they follow them? Because you said so? So you sit and think on it, and come up with an idea. Just last week, lightning struck and started a fire nearby, burning the fields where your group had been doing most of it's foraging. Well, ya know what? You take that, and tell everyone that a giant, all powerful being had gotten angry at the disorder of you guys, his chosen people, and so did that to punish you. Get yourselves in line, or it will happen again! Oh, and a week later when your hunters come back with a large amount of game because the herds were happening to run through the area? See? That god was so pleased with how things were going, he sent animals so that everyone could eat.
In Nordic traditions, the gods are not all knowing, all powerful, or so high and mighty that they are above and beyond the experiences of humankind. They are petty, argumentative, greedy, violent, and humorous, as well as loving, compassionate, and wise. They did pretty awful and wonderful things to each other and to their worshipers, waging war, granting blessings, helping out, destroying folks ... just like people do to each other. I believe that gods have existed in one form or another for long before we were here, maybe even as just a writhing mass of divine energy, but it took us, and our ideas to eventually give them shape and form until they were able to become entities of their own.
Look at Christianity, Islam and Judaism (I choose these because they are the easiest to prove the point I'm making). They are NOT just about god, they are religions about society, social structure, leadership, and control. The tenements are not just about what should be done for God, but what should be done for each other. Rules to keep society in line, rules to make life easier, rules to create a system so that they can continue as a people.
As for those that dictate lifestyles, you cannot place that solely upon the shoulders of Abrahamic peoples. It was a good thing to fight hard and die in battle, so that the gods would take you up to Valhalla, so therefore the gods dictated that warfare and fighting was a good thing. In Hellenic life, you couldn't even wipe your nose without wondering if the way you were doing it was going to piss off some god or another. Want to go to war? Uh oh, gotta ask the gods! Want to dig a well? Hmm, do you think it will upset the gods that we're ripping up the soil?
Religion and culture walk hand in hand, influenced by and created by each other. Though it's not a difficult argument to make that culture came first.
So I'm just really reading into this thread out of curiosity. Could someone please maybe dumb it down for me and explain what all those random seeming abbreviations are? BNP, PIE, OBOD, ADF ... I started to do a search but nothing I find really seems to make any more sense. I mean, I'm trying to figure out what brain natriuretic peptides or the British National Party have to do with anything associated with druids.
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Originally posted by DavidMcCann
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For example, you are the leader of a group of people, and that group keeps getting larger and larger. Now, all around you, things are happening that you do not have the scientific knowledge to be able to explain, such as lightning, earthquakes, rain, and even the migratory movements of certain animals. In order to keep your people from slipping into chaos and simply milling about in their own randomness, you settle upon a series of rules and regulations that must be followed. Now, why, your people ask, should they follow them? Because you said so? So you sit and think on it, and come up with an idea. Just last week, lightning struck and started a fire nearby, burning the fields where your group had been doing most of it's foraging. Well, ya know what? You take that, and tell everyone that a giant, all powerful being had gotten angry at the disorder of you guys, his chosen people, and so did that to punish you. Get yourselves in line, or it will happen again! Oh, and a week later when your hunters come back with a large amount of game because the herds were happening to run through the area? See? That god was so pleased with how things were going, he sent animals so that everyone could eat.
In Nordic traditions, the gods are not all knowing, all powerful, or so high and mighty that they are above and beyond the experiences of humankind. They are petty, argumentative, greedy, violent, and humorous, as well as loving, compassionate, and wise. They did pretty awful and wonderful things to each other and to their worshipers, waging war, granting blessings, helping out, destroying folks ... just like people do to each other. I believe that gods have existed in one form or another for long before we were here, maybe even as just a writhing mass of divine energy, but it took us, and our ideas to eventually give them shape and form until they were able to become entities of their own.
Look at Christianity, Islam and Judaism (I choose these because they are the easiest to prove the point I'm making). They are NOT just about god, they are religions about society, social structure, leadership, and control. The tenements are not just about what should be done for God, but what should be done for each other. Rules to keep society in line, rules to make life easier, rules to create a system so that they can continue as a people.
As for those that dictate lifestyles, you cannot place that solely upon the shoulders of Abrahamic peoples. It was a good thing to fight hard and die in battle, so that the gods would take you up to Valhalla, so therefore the gods dictated that warfare and fighting was a good thing. In Hellenic life, you couldn't even wipe your nose without wondering if the way you were doing it was going to piss off some god or another. Want to go to war? Uh oh, gotta ask the gods! Want to dig a well? Hmm, do you think it will upset the gods that we're ripping up the soil?
Religion and culture walk hand in hand, influenced by and created by each other. Though it's not a difficult argument to make that culture came first.
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