|
THE
ARCANE
ARCHIVE |
a cache of usenet and other text files pertaining
to occult, mystical, and spiritual subjects.
|
TOP | RELIGIONReligion as a spiritual bank
To: alt.paranormal.spells.hexes.magic,alt.magick.tyagi,talk.religion.misc,alt.religion
From: catherine yronwode
Subject: Re: Religion as a spiritual bank
Date: Tue, 11 Jul 2000 20:26:47 GMT
Kendar Deltos wrote:
>
> ... my explanation of how religion is like spiritual banking.
>
> If you are a member of a religion, you put [in] all your extra
> spiritual energy through praying. When you need it, you use a
> different prayer to take some energy back from this storing place.
> The thing is, you are not the only one putting energy in, and all the
> energy that gets put in is mixed together (so it may not come out
> exactly the same.) The benefit is that you can take out more
> than you already put in, if you need to. That's the goal behind
> religion, and the popular dogmatic viewpoint: keep enough energy in
> the idea (god[s]/goddess[es]) to keep the spiritual bank open.
>
> If you leave religion, you take with you your surplus (what you
> put in minus what you took out.) If you have no surplus, you will
> probably feel like you owe something to the religion, and decide to
> stay with it until you've paid off your spiritual debt. That can
> [also] be overcome without paying off (karma is not universal).
>
> You can also never join worship of any sort (which in our society is
> unlikely).
>
> Either way you end up being non-religious.
>
> Like the religious, the non-religious (NR) store their extra
> spiritual energy in a sort of spiritual bank. The difference:
> NR have full control of their personal spirit bank, they cannot
> take out more than they put in, and it is easier for them to
> create spiritual energy with just one or two friends.
>
> But if a NR person needs more energy than they have stored away,
> they have to look to NR companions. Such explains the strong
> comraderie between atheists (the most common/well-known NR) where
> they help each other reach higher levels, as opposed to the more
> military support structure between the religious, where they
> can bring each other higher, but there is almost always a leader
> in such activity (most commonly (afaik), elders are the leaders).
>
> I've been sitting on this theory for about a week waiting for a good
> time/place to bring it up (it came to me in the shower, if anyone is
> wondering.) This seemed like the right one.
>
> --Entari
It's a great metaphor, Kendar. Unless i am mistaken, the form of bank
you describe is a credit union or an old-fashioned savings-and-loan
(before deregulation) -- a bank where the total assets consist of the
deposits of the members, against which some members can borrow in times
of need.
The Frank Capra movie "It's a Wonderful Life," starring James Stewart
and Donna Reed, describes exactly this type of bank, in which no outside
investments are made and all the interest on deposits is derived from
interest paid by lenders, with only a small handling fee taken by the
employees and administrators of the bank. The movie is also -- no
coincidence, i believe -- a highly religious one, in which it is
demonstrated, first through positive and then through negative example,
that the welfare of the small town is linked directly both to the
services provided by the local savings bank and to the townspeoples'
faith in deity.
The speech that Jimmy Stewart gives when there is a "run" on the bank
during the financial crisis of 1932 (in which he explains that there is
no actual money in the bank -- "it's all in your neighbors' houses") is
a classic statement of how such savings banks operate and it could also
function as a sermon on religion according to your metaphorical model.
Likewise, the famous "Auld Lang Syne" scene at the end of the movie
describes both a financial transaction, as the townspeople contribute
their excess nickles and dimes to save the bank, and a religious
transaction, as their spiritual love (agape) restores Stewart's faith in
God.
cat yronwode
Lucky W Amulet Archive --------- http://www.luckymojo.com/luckyw.html
Karezza and Sacred Sex ------ http://www.luckymojo.com/sacredsex.html
No personal e-mail, please; just catch me in usenet; i read it daily.
Lucky Mojo Curio Co. http://www.luckymojo.com/luckymojocatalogue.html
Send e-mail with your street address to catalogue@luckymojo.com
and receive our free 32 page catalogue of hoodoo supplies and amulets
|
|
Did you like what you read here? Find it useful?
Then please click on the Paypal Secure Server logo and make a small
donation to the site maintainer for the creation and upkeep of this site.
|
|
|
The ARCANE ARCHIVE is a large domain,
organized into a number of sub-directories,
each dealing with a different branch of
religion, mysticism, occultism, or esoteric knowledge.
Here are the major ARCANE ARCHIVE directories you can visit:
|
interdisciplinary:
geometry, natural proportion, ratio, archaeoastronomy
mysticism:
enlightenment, self-realization, trance, meditation, consciousness
occultism:
divination, hermeticism, amulets, sigils, magick, witchcraft, spells
religion:
buddhism, christianity, hinduism, islam, judaism, taoism, wicca, voodoo
societies and fraternal orders:
freemasonry, golden dawn, rosicrucians, etc.
|
SEARCH THE ARCANE ARCHIVE
There are thousands of web pages at the ARCANE ARCHIVE. You can use ATOMZ.COM
to search for a single word (like witchcraft, hoodoo, pagan, or magic) or an
exact phrase (like Kwan Yin, golden ratio, or book of shadows):
|
OTHER ESOTERIC AND OCCULT SITES OF INTEREST
Southern
Spirits: 19th and 20th century accounts of hoodoo,
including slave narratives & interviews
Hoodoo
in Theory and Practice by cat yronwode: an
introduction to African-American rootwork
Lucky W
Amulet Archive by cat yronwode: an online museum of
worldwide talismans and charms
Sacred
Sex: essays and articles on tantra yoga, neo-tantra,
karezza, sex magic, and sex worship
Sacred
Landscape: essays and articles on archaeoastronomy,
sacred architecture, and sacred geometry
Lucky Mojo Forum:
practitioners answer queries on conjure; sponsored by the
Lucky Mojo Curio Co.
Herb Magic:
illustrated descriptions of magic herbs with free spells,
recipes, and an ordering option
Association of
Independent Readers and Rootworkers: ethical
diviners and hoodoo spell-casters
Freemasonry
for Women by cat yronwode: a history of mixed-gender
Freemasonic lodges
Missionary
Independent Spiritual Church: spirit-led, inter-faith,
the Smallest Church in the World
Satan Service
Org: an archive presenting the theory, practice, and
history of Satanism and Satanists
Gospel of
Satan: the story of Jesus and the angels, from the
perspective of the God of this World
Lucky
Mojo Usenet FAQ Archive: FAQs and REFs for occult and
magical usenet newsgroups
Candles and Curios:
essays and articles on traditional African American
conjure and folk magic
Aleister
Crowley Text Archive: a multitude of texts by an
early 20th century ceremonial occultist
Spiritual
Spells: lessons in folk magic and spell casting from
an eclectic Wiccan perspective
The Mystic
Tea Room: divination by reading tea-leaves, with
a museum of antique fortune telling cups
Yronwode
Institution for the Preservation and Popularization of Indigenous
Ethnomagicology
Yronwode Home:
personal pages of catherine yronwode and nagasiva
yronwode, magical archivists
Lucky Mojo
Magic Spells Archives: love spells, money spells,
luck spells, protection spells, etc.
Free Love
Spell Archive: love spells, attraction spells, sex
magick, romance spells, and lust spells
Free
Money Spell Archive: money spells, prosperity
spells, and wealth spells for job and business
Free
Protection Spell Archive: protection spells
against witchcraft, jinxes, hexes, and the evil eye
Free
Gambling Luck Spell Archive: lucky gambling spells
for the lottery, casinos, and races
|
