Pagan Blog Project: E is for Entitlement

Entitlement is one of the more aggravating and widespread problems of the (overall) Pagan community*. It has a multitude of facets and tends to crop up repeatedly. In my experience, it appears the most among the Eclectic (Neo)Pagan scene, probably due to the scene's emphasis in individualisation, the lack of organisation and the - seemingly - large percentage of younger practitioners.

What is entitlement, though, and why is it so much of a problem?

Entitlement is having a right to something. It's not always a bad thing, although the term is used mostly negatively in the common vernacular. Feeling entitled means you believe you deserve a certain thing or result. In the way the word is used in this post, feeling entitled is believing you deserve a number of things whether you fulfill the requirements for said things or not.

There are many types of entitlement present in the Pagan community. Personally, I have observed entitlement in regards to knowledge, availability, recognition, training, gratification and others.

In the - nearly - 9 years I've been part of the Pagan community, I've come across people who demand that others hand out painstakingly acquired (or even secret!) knowledge "just because". The justifications range from "we're all Pagans so we should help each other" to "you're elitist snobs if you withheld knowledge". I've noticed similar behaviour from people who demand training or help while committing fallacies (such as appeal to emotion) as well as from people who want everyone to cater to their sensitivities and desires.

Entitlement in the Pagan community is a problem because there is very little anyone is entitled to within our religions. If one takes into account the fact that the Pagan community is actually a misnomer and an imaginary case (see note) and there are many, many different religions under Paganism, with their own limits, requirements and standards, then it becomes obvious that no one has a right to anything - at least not by virtue of association or "specialness".

No one has to cater to your sensitivities. You're not entitled to training, help, knowledge, acceptance or association simply because you want any of those things. Those things have to be earned (and for valid reasons - not mere desire or envy). Entitlement in the Pagan community is poisonous and problematic because it attacks the notions of hard work, effort, responsibility and progress.

Entitled people don't want to work to achieve their goals. They don't want to make an effort towards improvement. They don't want to build their spiritual and/or religious lives. They don't want to go through trial and error or to fight for their ideals.

Entitled people want to be handed everything for free. They want instant gratification. They want to be pampered and cared for regardless of their own worth. They want to be given everything without contributing anything. They want to have their pie and eat it too.

Unfortunately, entitlement stems from the flaws of our Western society, in many ways. It stems from bad education, from the issues of the demographic generations (such as the baby boomers and the millennials) and, last but not least, from social privilege. I don't want to go into the thorny subject of social privilege (not to mention, I don't have the qualifications to discuss it) but we can't deny that entitlement is rooted in it.

There are, thankfully, ways to battle entitlement. As Pagans we can strive to improve our respective communities; to choose and support our representatives carefully; to educate and improve ourselves where we fall short; to learn how to debate and discuss controversial issues without resorting to fallacies and fights; to reinforce the notions of hard work, valiant effort and co-operation.

These are neither easy nor quick solutions. However, few true and valid solutions are quick or easy.

____________

NOTES

*Pagan community: In truth there is no single, unified Pagan community. Rather, there is Paganism, which is a religious category, and countless communities within the belief systems that belong to Paganism. While those that identify as Pagans may feel a sense of connection to one another, even if their actual religious identities differ (e.g. Wiccans, Hellenists, Eclectics etc), the fact remains that "Pagan community" is an intentional misnomer utilised solely for simplicity's sake (instead of saying "the various religious and spiritual communities under the umbrella of Paganism").

Pagan Blog Project: A is for Academic Approach

To begin, let's see how the word is defined in general:

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, academic means:

1. relating to education and scholarship.
2. not of practical relevance; of only theoretical interest.

As an academic myself, I half-agree with the first and almost entirely disagree with the second. In my opinion, this is a bright example why even dictionaries need to be taken with a grain of salt. Someone recently told me "dictionaries reflect word usage - not the opposite". In other words, we don't use a word a certain way because the dictionary tells us so; rather, the dictionary includes a definition because that's how people use the word.

"Academic" can refer to the level of higher education: books written for professors and/or university students are academic books, for example. It can also refer to scholarly knowledge, research and informational approach. An academic study of religion - what interests us in this case - is the properly organised, properly sourced study that reflects the research methodology most oft-employed in higher education. Using the word as a noun we can refer to someone who's a member of an educational institution (like a college or university professor) or field (usually researchers in any field).

My disagreement with the second definition of "academic" - and the main focus of this post - is that it's reflective of the misconceptions of the general public (and, thus, a great portion of the wider Pagan community/ies): that the academic approach is useless.

It really isn't. An academic approach (in our case, to religion) can enrich us with much knowledge and help us separate the wheat from the chaff. In other words, it does wonders to disillusion us, to dispel half-truths and superficial nonsense as well as sharpen our minds and critical thinking skills. Our practices become better and more well-informed, our knowledge broadens and we become more thorough and focused in our pursuits. By utilising the tools of the academic approach, we can refine our own religious study and make it much more efficacious.
 

Although the academic approach is, indeed, theoretical, it doesn't mean it has no practical use or relevance. I doubt anyone would say that the theses and papers on medicine, electronic engineering or environmental sciences are not practically relevant or useful. The academic approach informs the practical - you rarely have advanced practice or complex practical application of any concept without academic study preceding it.

What does this have to do with Paganism specifically though?

The various Pagan religions have a host of issues that can be addressed and dealt with the academic approach. From faulty history to a lack of theology and from confusing ethics to half-baked philosophy (not to mention things like plagiarism, bad writing etc), there are countless problems that could be mitigated, if not outright solved, if more people were aware of and used the academic approach, at least to an extent.

There's another important reason as well. Most of the various Pagan religions are, to a certain degree, reconstructionist or revivalist systems. They depend on the past and the ancient religions, one way or the other, to shape their present. It is nigh impossible to study the ancient religions non-academically. This is a necessary sacrifice that we must make, at least in our generation, so those that come after us can find a more complete system. Of course, any active religion that lives, grows and evolves, will never really stop requiring further study and analysis, so the need for the academic approach will never truly die out. However, it will be much less needed in the future if we do the work today.

The Hellenic religion, for instance, does not have reputable non-academic sources a prospective follower can study in order to learn the religion. All of us are forced, in varying degrees, to study academic sources and attain a scholarly level of involvement with the religion. Failure to do so usually results in faulty understanding of the lore, misrepresentation of the deities and spirits, mistaken (and even offensive) practices and a system that can considerably deviate from a Hellenic character.

In any case, there's no need to get overly academic in our religions (unless we want to, of course!). However, it is imperative that we become more organised and well-informed. Pagan religions are still very new and if they're left to get (or remain, as the case might be) flooded with the mud of misinformation and nonsense, they will never have a proper position amongst world religions nor provide a fullfilling and valid experience to their followers.

My friend, Sarduríur, has an excellent guide for those unversed in the academic method; it can be found here.

My advice is: ask questions, maintain a critical POV (instead of simply an open mind), cross-reference and study. No one's perfect and no one knows everything but proper study can give you a pretty good idea of what and how much you (do and don't) know.

Next week, we'll discuss some specific uses of the academic approach in relation to some of the problems of Paganism we already mentioned.

Pagan Blog Project

I've wanted to try the Pagan Blog Project for a while and now I can finally begin properly. I'll be participating in the 2014 Project so you should expect the first post (for the letter A) on January 3rd!

Why I Am A Pagan

There seems to be a debate going on in the Pagan community regarding its very name: should we call ourselves Pagan or not? Many have voiced their views, so here's mine.

Before I express my view on why I prefer the term Pagan for myself, I want to present some background as well as the definitions I use and have designed as a student of Theology.

Definitions of Paganism:

What is Paganism?

Paganism is the whole of those religions, spiritual paths and faiths that are a) inspired, b) influenced, c) based on, d) revivals/reconstructions and/or continuations of old and ancient religions and systems of belief and worship of the Old World (Europe, Mediterranean lands and Mesopotamia), which are simultaneously NOT parts of the Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam and all their "heresies" and related faiths).

Paganism is divided into: a) Paleo-Paganism, b) Meso-Paganism and c) Neo-Paganism.

Paleo-Paganism includes the ancient religions and systems that resided within the borders of the Old World (e.g. ancient greek religion, anglo-saxon/norse faiths, sumerian religion etc).
Meso-Paganism refers to the various revivals (mostly short-termed and with little numbers in followers) of the ancient religions and faiths during the Middle-Ages, hence the "meso" prefic, meaning "middle". An example of this is Georgius Gemistus Plethon, who lived during the later Byzantine times and advocated a return to the Olympian Gods. He followed a neoplatonic, archaic-esque, eclectic one could say, form of the Hellenic religion.
Neo-Paganism is the term referring to the whole of those religions and belief systems bearing the characteristics mentioned in the above, first definition of Paganism and which are followed AFTER the 18th century (aka in the modern times).

Now, some background. I realize that in countries such as the USA and the UK, with the decades-old presence of Wicca and with the growth and publicity Wicca has acquired, "Pagan" sounds to lots of people as "Wiccan-ish". Let me inform you that in Greece, it's nothing like that. Wicca is surely known here, but it has almost no actual presence and influence. We have Masonic Lodges as well as A.:.A.:. initiates and an OTO branch but we have zero Wiccan Traditions and covens, save for some obscure Eclectic gatherings.

Our major Pagan population are the Hellenic Recons. Unfortunately, there are lots of problems with that group. First, they are (and in many cases, rightfully) associated with ethnicist and extremist political parties and ideologies. Some of the most vocal organizations (YSEE, Church of Hellenes etc) often engage in bickering and fights over who hosts what event, attacks on Christianity using the most degrading of expressions, dogmatic and ethnicist behaviour etc. All that overwhelms and overshadows any productive work they might yield.

In addition, the no. 1 word used, by media and (academic) texts on Pagan religions is "idolatry". Some theology books (such as the ones I have for my university) use the term "polytheism" to denote all non-Abrahamic religions when comparing them with Christianity as a religious subcategory. Pagan religions are also treated (in university nonetheless!) as dead religions and any modern systems, be them reconstructions/revivals or not, are considered fruitless and unrelated cults or "phases".

Paganism, from my experience with other Greeks, is associated with nature and polytheism. It is not dominated by Wicca, it is not tainted linguistically (since few Greeks are aware of the Latin meaning).

My personal reasons for using Pagan as a self-identifying super-label (the specific name of my path is NeoHellenic Witchcraft) are as following:

1. It is an evolved word no longer being used with the exact meaning of its Latin origin (like "gay" is no longer used with its older meaning of "happy").

2. According to the definitions I provided, it is a term applicable on exactly those religions that often choose to call themselves Pagan (as opposed to, let's say, Hindus or First Nations who abhor the term); the religions being those within the Old World, which is exactly where the Latin term would have been used in any meaningful context.

3. Within Greece, it is a relatively "clean" term, without the burden/taints it has in the USA, the UK etc.

4. It has been, so far, the only term to fully encompass and thoroughly fit my path when I need to present it to non-Pagans (polytheist, Ethnic Hellene, Witch etc apply only on PARTS of my path and leave out other core elements).

In conclusion, I am and will identify myself as PAGAN. I must also note that as a theologian, in any and all possible projects of mine where Pagan religions are mentioned, I will use it as a valid categorizing label. Of course, I will indicate that some/all members of this or that system self-identify differently.

Who I Am

OK, introductions time! As I already said most, if not all of you know me well enough but I think this is needed.

My chosen nickname is Alorer. I am 19 years old (soon to be on April 19th) and a Greek. I live in Athens. I've been involved with Paganism and the Occult for about 5 years now.

Here's my spiritual and religious progress: baptised as a toddler like the vast majority of Greeks, I grew up as a Greek Orthodox Christian. However, my mother being atheist and my father (although his influence was miniscule since my parents divorced when I was still 9-10 years old) believing in some sort of higher power as well as the fact that my family is largely secular and non-religious save for my devout grandma (who mind this, never pushed her religion on us - the family and relationships in Greece differ greatly from the US and other countries - here most parents won't mind if their mothers/mothers-in-law take their kids to church or whatever) made it so I was never very religious. My familial environment was (and still is) also highly paranormal-friendly (I really can't call it in any other way), meaning things such as energy, spirits, "psychic abilities" and such were not only accepted but embraced. My mother frequently commented and still does so, on how sensitive I always was. So, I got into Paganism and the Occult (especially the Occult) with already established "foundations".

At the age of 12, I started questioning and doubting much of Christianity (note that in Greece all schools are obliged to teach a religious course, which for nearly all years of school, primary and high, deals with Christianity and specifically Orthodox Christianity almost exclusively). This resulted in my rejection and "departure" from its midst (not that my family or I were much involved, again with the exception of my grandma). For a few months I was "wandering" since I didn't feel drawn to anything I knew religious-wise. While trying to find a fitting path, I contemplated on what I believe in and decided I do believe in a higher power of sorts but I do not have a name or figure for it. Later on, I learnt that was called "agnosticism".

Around the age of 13, I finally found a footing, something I could use and research for: the ancient Greek religion. Frustrated by the complete lack of any sort of details in school books and curriculum as well as in my own books, I turned to the Internet. Pretty quickly I found info on Gods and celebrations far more detailed than the sketchy, fairytale-like descriptions in school books. That lead to me finding Greek Reconstructionism and although I never considered myself a Recon, I did approach the Pantheon of my ancestors. Additionally, I approached some of the Egyptian deities in their hellenized forms (e.g. Thoth as opposed to Tehuti).

As time went by, I ended up disappointed and disheartened by the attitude, behaviour and some of the views of the Greek Recons I was reading and researched about. That led to me leaving Hellenic Polytheism as well, at least as far as naming and identification went. I maintained a relationship with my Gods (mostly Athena, Apollo and Artemis - the relationships in this point were quite impersonal and "professional"-only).

Now comes the "juicy" part (hehe). This might make you laugh or drop your jaw in surprise but it's true and it's the reason I am here writing this today, no matter how silly it sounds. I thought about researching this "Wicca" thing I heard mentioned in Charmed a couple of times as well as whether Magic truly exists (as I said I already had foundations in paranormal/occult beliefs and fields such as energy, what it is, how some use it, spirits etc). I have to say I never really doubted the old cunning folk (well, as far as the Greek equivalent can be called that based on the similarities and linguistic approach) and I always thought people could "do stuff". So, research got me more than I bargained or ever hoped for. It fit so utterly that I was dazed. I researched more and more deeply and began studying.

And this takes us to my mid-fifteens. After taking up the label of Eclectic Wiccan and joining a little community called "WiccanTogether", I considered that my path truly started unfolding. As time passed, I dropped the Wiccan aspect (mostly thanks to the education provided by the discussions with my beloved Trad Wiccans - you know who you are, little Elders :P ) and began identifying as an Eclectic Pagan Witch. This is the name for my path I go by for a little more than 2 years now.

And with reaching this crucial point in my little story, I'll end this post. In the next one, I'll discuss my path itself as it is now.