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Mar. 15th, 2007 01:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kyreneHere's something that came up from the previous topic I just posted which bears mentioning:
How do we as Hellenists provide outlets, resources, and spiritual solace for people undergoing rites of passage or a death in the family? Back in the day we had the Eleusinian Mysteries. I am wondering if we need something similar.
When my grandfather died over a year ago, I had nothing. There was nothing in modern day Hellenismos that offered any help, comfort, or spiritual aid. I wound up turning to Eastern philosophy and its texts for answers which I found lacking in modern day Hellenismos and feeling abandoned by a faith I thought would help me in times like that. I'd like that to not happen to others down the road, especially since I know of people already who have left Hellenismos for same or similar reasons.
One of the biggest attractors to Christianity from Hellenismos back when it began was the comfort in a beautiful life after death for people other than just the initiated. One of the strongest attractors today to Buddhism is that you can deal with your own death and actually prepare for it in a meditative way--just read the Bardo sometime.
These are things which occupied my thoughts for a very long, agonizing six months. Religion is supposed to offer solutions to these things. If they don't, they are missing a major function for which they are often held responsible.
The words "We can't offer the mysteries in the modern day because we can't know them/won't know them/shouldn't do them/would be hubris/the gods would strike us dead" are bullshit in the hearts and minds of people undergoing genuine life trauma due to its passages and passing of ones dear to us, spiritual transformation and transformation in the Dark Nights of their souls, and people who desire more than just offering incense and libations.
Thoughts?
How do we as Hellenists provide outlets, resources, and spiritual solace for people undergoing rites of passage or a death in the family? Back in the day we had the Eleusinian Mysteries. I am wondering if we need something similar.
When my grandfather died over a year ago, I had nothing. There was nothing in modern day Hellenismos that offered any help, comfort, or spiritual aid. I wound up turning to Eastern philosophy and its texts for answers which I found lacking in modern day Hellenismos and feeling abandoned by a faith I thought would help me in times like that. I'd like that to not happen to others down the road, especially since I know of people already who have left Hellenismos for same or similar reasons.
One of the biggest attractors to Christianity from Hellenismos back when it began was the comfort in a beautiful life after death for people other than just the initiated. One of the strongest attractors today to Buddhism is that you can deal with your own death and actually prepare for it in a meditative way--just read the Bardo sometime.
These are things which occupied my thoughts for a very long, agonizing six months. Religion is supposed to offer solutions to these things. If they don't, they are missing a major function for which they are often held responsible.
The words "We can't offer the mysteries in the modern day because we can't know them/won't know them/shouldn't do them/would be hubris/the gods would strike us dead" are bullshit in the hearts and minds of people undergoing genuine life trauma due to its passages and passing of ones dear to us, spiritual transformation and transformation in the Dark Nights of their souls, and people who desire more than just offering incense and libations.
Thoughts?
