Postmodernism and Paganism

[originally posted as a response to a post by chronarchy]

Personally, I think the heart of Postmodernism is the concept that there is no boundary between the observer and the observed. In many ways, it is a holistic movement. And it's not just in art that it is used. In current day anthropology, Postmodernism is a major touchstone as it demands the observer acknowledge that they affect the culture they observe, and furthermore, it affects them too. Objectivity is a path, not a destination, as no one can truly achieve it.

Postmodernism is certainly a central part of the current Neo-Pagan movement today. Much as us recons try and strive to rebuild the religions of our ancestors, ultimately, we are parthenogenic, giving birth to religions without any direct connection with the past. As such, we create religions that are a reflection of what is in us, as much as we strive to model what little we know of the religions of our ancestors. Recons are not assembling a puzzle, we are the puzzle, with pieces that are shaped by our past religious experience, our peers, our society, our history, our hopes & fears, our fantasies, and hope to make something better than what we have had before.

ttyl
Farrell

Yes, another post...

Even when I said I am taking time off to get my life in order...but I couldn't pass up this quote, which I saw a version of on Howard Stern's website.

"Why, of course, the people don't want war," Goering shrugged. "Why would some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best that he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece. Naturally, the common people don't want war; neither in Russia nor in England nor in America, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship or a Parliament or a Communist dictatorship."

"There is one difference," I pointed out. "In a democracy the people have some say in the matter through their elected representatives, and in the United States only Congress can declare wars."

"Oh, that is all well and good, but, voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country."

Hermann Goering's comments were made privately to Gustave Gilbert, a German-speaking intelligence officer and psychologist who was granted free access by the Allies to all the prisoners held in the Nuremberg jail. [snarfed from http://www.snopes.com/quotes/goering.htm]