An uncomfortable truth [View all]

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There has been a lot of conversation lately about people who desperately want to be god-bothered but aren’t. A lot of excellent points have been raised. Modern Western people — and Americans especially — seem to feel that we are entitled to whatever we want and that things should be egalitarian. If one person has or can do something everyone ought to be able to — even though this just isn’t the way the world operates and earlier societies were acutely aware of that, especially as regards the sacred. Not everyone has the necessary wiring to have regular encounters with gods and spirits — and most of those who do have had to make excruciating sacrifices and have rigorous demands placed on them as a result which others cannot or will not meet. A society comprised entirely of shamans won’t thrive — it requires leaders and priests and warriors and artists and craftspeople and doctors and farmers and homemakers and people doing all the simple, unglamorous and supportive work too. The faith of those who do not directly encounter the gods and spirits is stronger and in some ways more dear to them than that of those who do.

These and other noble sentiments have been expressed during this community-wide conversation — but so far there’s one argument I haven’t really seen anyone make. No doubt that’s because the people participating in this are fundamentally decent human beings and so are understandably reticent of coming off like assholes. Thankfully I am not so encumbered.

Perhaps the reason gods and spirits don’t communicate with you is because they don’t like you.

http://thehouseofvines.com/2013/02/10/an-uncomfortable-truth/