Sir Darius the Clairvoyent

I mean, im no Christ myself, but the only thing we can talk genuinley about is our understanding, and maybe with conversation we can all learn

I am not judging at all, and have no problem with it. But dont you think that often these things are better discussed without viewing then trough a lense of teachings?

No but Daniel, sincerly, i am not your enemy. In fact i appreciate a lot of what you do. It is not a battle, but a forum for conversation

I mean, we are all «not perfect» to put it mildly. It is really easy to recognize these traits in others, but hard in one self. Sometimes you (in general, not as in daniel) need to here from another perspective

That i dont see how that logically follows.

I do not follow Daniel

Hmmm… i have no clue, but i was under the impression that it was about embracing or at least accepting the… realities of life, and not binary in its approach? ☯️

👀

I am a newcomer and amateur on the subjects, but i must say that i am impressed both by the qaulity of the contend aswell as the atmophere and the members willingness to help me understand.

Good lord, that toook like to hours trying to Get thw pictures in. Ar least its done, good night all

So, some sort of marking around these days, is very common around the world, most notable is of course Christmas. But with so many traditions accross time and space, i am sure there is a lot of variation between different celebrations. I invite you to share how your tradition marks these holiest of days, and merry christmas to all.

from a post i made on another forum: Went down a little tirade on gift giving shamans flying trough the air in mid winter, gift giving, goats (alot of goats, everywhere), as well as evergreen plants and, you know, The Dark Lord 👹🐐. Lets go: Odin travels the realms of the world tree on his Eight legged horse sleipnir, flying in to unseen realms : ) The mead of poetry is a beverage (entirely with Out any psychoactive ingredients of course) that grants who ever tastes it the gift of poetry and knowledge. often associated with Odin the god of 'possession' via berserker rage or poetic inspiration. Etymotolgy of Odin: From Proto-Germanic *Wōdanaz, derived from Proto-Germanic *wōdaz (“rage, manic inspiration, furor poeticus”), from Proto-Indo-European *weh₂t- (“to be excited”). Depiction of the cloacked, wandering wise shaman, who travelled the skies on his Eight legged horse. Every mid winter he would organize a feast at his «castle.» Indulgence was something to celebrate back then. He knew each character as well; and awarded them there after. Here you see a nisse (magical creature) dressed in the color of Coke. Even the mushroom picked a matching attire. A mistletoe! Evergreen trees symbolosing fertility and rebirth at darkest time of the year? Cool, Jesus of Nazareth approves. No, lets move to the Kalash tribe of India: These people to decorate with an evergreen plant called Chaumos, every winter solstice. And look, a goat! The dardic (kalash) goes as follows: the gods and a hunter meet at a mountain, and the gods invites him to a cermony and a feast, where a mountain goat will ve sacrificed in his honour. He is given the meaty tigh bone, witch he devovers. After that, he broke the bone, to reach the marrow. The gods looked on in horrow and the hunter understood how he had wronged. In a panick he tried to replace the broken bone with a stick, but when the gods revived the goat again, he was limping. This reminds me of something… Lets return to the north for a moment. Thor on his goat driven chariot, travelling trough Asgard. Every night he slaughters them, and ever morning they rise again, good as new. On one of his journey, he stopped outside a farm to rest. He offered the family living there his goats, but on one condition…. Dont break the marrow! But when the god tried to ressuract his goats, he noticed one of them was limping. He furiously demanded answers, and two of the farmers children admitted it, as true it was. To pay him back they travel with him now. …… We seemed to really like goats once up on a time… Julebukk, a very old and popular decoration in sweden. Painting called old christmas (1833), From Robert Seymour, The Book of Christmas (1888) Oh look, it is our Friend the devil Pan, playing his flute in the lush forrest. Goat leggs and a creature of Trine. Demonic, truly demonic…. Because some how these folkelore motiefs… seems to have morfed a little: the friendly goat Kranpus. I likes to boil children alive in the alps. Very popular with the locals, but due to thw reformtion, authorties did little… well. Nobodys home, i promise! Satan himself, also known as Lucifer the morning star, light bringer. well, it was fun looking in to this, hope you enjoyed as well. Dont belive what i way, i am intellectually challenged…. Buuuuut…. I cant help but feel that goats in more nature centered pagan societies had a different feel then the horned one.

double post…

But do Christian themselves consider themselves «abrahami?» i know it is used in academica. But somehow i cant really imagine christians being bothered about the bloodlines and genealogi or religious laws. Important to stress that i grew up in q secular, liberal and traditionally lutheran nation. I am aware that there a loads of churches, so i guews it depends… but for me, christianity has alllways been about the narrative of and trying to follow the teachings of the idealized perfect being, the Christ. We never learned about OT in church and school, it was all about the son of god, and the «sacrifice and ressuraction» symbology.

This, i belive, is essential to keep in mind.

thanks for the help so far. I just downloaded the dao de zing as well as «warrior scholar,» as suggested by Trunk. Still have two Audible credits left, so ill see after ive finished these. Promising so far, I might ask a question here or in a seperate thread when im done with these. ————— I do get a strong sense that Dao is similar to the heraclian and stoic sense of logos as universal law. from wiki: Any thoughts?

Cheers

Thank you. Im probally only buying one, what would you reccomend. Also, Tao te ching is available on YouTube i see, that is the «main» text, is it not? edit: is it fair to say daoism is more about «a way of Life,» then a philosophy?

So, this is a big one. In the western hemisphere, we have the indo-european deus pater (sky-father.) The latin word "deus" in terms have indo-european roots, meaning god or higher power. The Christian heavenly Father, pantheism, the unmoved mover... We also have evidence the greek athanatos, witch means gods and immortal. Thats how Ceasar and others could become gods (or more precisely, immortals). Odin, the allfather, is simarily also often referred to the "kings" of the gods, and is believed to have been an historical king of 4th century Norway and Sweden. In germanic languages the word god comes from "got", witch again comes from the etnich group called goths. The name "goths" is again believed to mean something along of "the folk" or "tribe." The Semetic traditions of Islam and Judaism seem to have a concept of monotheistic, all powerful God who rules the world like a king. Lots and lots of native traditions (and some philosophies) sees the divine in forces of nature, spirits and animism. Ancient mid east also had the concept of "god kings" or "pharao," no? How the Eastern traditions conceptualize god I have absolutely no idea. I have asked two Chinese people about how they conceptualize god, but that seems to have been a mistake, as they got uncomfortable and didn't want to answer. I guess I'm lacking a little in cultural sensitivity. What do god(s), spirits, or "the divine" mean to you?

Some background on this Christian mytic: His sermons:

Yessir, it was very helpfull hearing it described with more western terminology. I will def check the link out with time.

@ChiDragon no wonder it is hard to explain

One of those «cant be described, but maybe pointed at» concepts?

Daniel, it is really not an attack on you or your faith, it is a (limited) summary of a book written by a very well respected academic. Can we agree on a few points, like: - judaism developed from Paganism - divinity is often used in plural form in OT - Yahwe is described quite antropromorphic at times And in regards to the piece If pottery, i do not see the problem. This would be pre judaism, and it is not exactly a wealth of archelogical evidence of the religion of the levant in this period. It is valid for you to point out that I dont understand hebrew, so much might be lost to me, but the author from Oxford has a pretty good picture of the religions of the near east in this time period.