The rivalry between Christianity and paganism seems to be reviving in the West as the secular materialism of the post-war period becomes increasingly threadbare and unsatisfactory. Once our stomachs are full and we have a roof over our heads and maybe a family of our own, many of us find there is still something lacking in our lives and we look for what might fill that lack. What is missing is meaning, of which there is none in the modern world. Meaning is only to be found in religion, though some seek it in art but even there it only exists when art looks beyond this world for inspiration.
It is the search for meaning that is behind any revival of religion. Some people turn to Christianity but often today some look to the pagan traditions which can provide an ethnic foundation to spiritual practice that Christianity does not have. A problem for would-be pagans is that the pagan religions died out centuries ago so all we have are modern simulations, based on records from the past but not living traditions. Therefore, any modern pagan is of necessity being somewhat performative when he practices his religion. It's rather like Westerners following the path of Hinduism which can never be a natural thing. There is always a cultural difference, in one case caused by space, in the other by time, and that renders the act artificial which is to say false. That doesn't mean it has no value but it will only have limited value.
Another problem is that paganism died out for a reason. It was superseded by the advent of Christ who really did make all things new. And yet some things were lost in the process, in particular a real connection to creation and a contact with the inner workings of nature as well as a proper relationship with the spirit of place. This is why the contemporary Christian needs to re-engage with paganism and even add a pagan element to his Christianity. This element should be seen in the light of Christ, in other words it must be baptised, but it provides a form of spiritual nourishment that Christianity lost as it lost touch with nature, with the earth and the land.
This is what I mean by Christian polytheism. Such a polytheism does not mean believing in many gods rather than one God. It means that under God there are many what we can justifiably call gods who carry out his work in creation. This is not too great a leap from where Christians already are, characterising them as angels, but angels are often regarded as somewhat abstract or, worse, sentimentalised. By seeing them as gods our minds can enter more deeply into the spiritual universe and the inside of creation. You could call them the inner energies of creation though with the understanding that behind these energies are beings not mere impersonal forces.
As a matter of fact, many of us have long been exposed to Christian polytheism without necessarily recognising it as such. C.S. Lewis and Tolkien were Christian polytheists, at least in their fiction, and that is a good deal of what makes their work appeal so much to the imagination. They were devout Christians but they were pagans of a sort too due to their creative absorption in the myths and legends of the past which deeply marked their literary work. Their reconciliation of pagan and Christian elements shows how each tradition can bring greater life to the other. You might see this as paganism providing soul to Christianity while in return Christianity brings spirit.
150 years ago what had been esoteric began to be revealed until now all hidden teachings are out in the open, available for anyone interested to see. And yet the esoteric remains for there is always something more behind the scenes. How do you discover new levels of the esoteric now, ones that have the power of spiritual transformation that is largely lost when what is secret becomes externalised? You must go beyond the human mind and start to enter directly into the mind of Christ, and this you can do through love and imagination. An imaginative engagement with Christian polytheism in which the spiritual levels between the Creator and his emissaries, the gods and angels of creation, are explored will act like water on earth under the sun of Christ causing many beautiful flowers to grow.
13 comments:
Thanks - that's really excellent! It's an excellent take on how we could, and should go forward from here. A theme worthy of further exploration, I think.
Thanks Bruce.
This topic has recently become a locus of intense activity. From the theological side, Michael Heiser (Unseen Realm) and Fr. Stephen de Young (Lord of Spirits podcast & books); from the folklorists, Martin Shaw; and from the biologists, Michael Levin. Not sure how to categorize Patrick Harpur - folklore, maybe? - but he's on the same wavelength. And of course credence in demons has exploded, thanks to Epstein and UFOs; credence in angels goes hand in hand with that.
Finally, Christianity outside the sophistical modernist Eurosphere never stopped hearty involvement with saints and angels. What seems to be happening now is the modernist world view is coming apart at the seams, in pretty much every respect.
Yes, I was thinking that early Celtic Christianity and Orthodox Christianity and probably medieval Catholicism too with saints and angels all ran somewhat along these lines, and we have lost something important since then. As you say, the modernist world view is collapsing as its inconsistencies and falsehoods can no longer be compensated for simply by material prosperity.
You've put it so well William that it's difficult to add anything further except to agree wholeheartedly.
Now is indeed the time for Christians to open themselves to the wider spiritual realities. Sadly many have withdrawn into narrow defensive positions. In their absolutist denial of the older religions and paganism they have become what the new atheists joked about when they said they believed in just one less God than the Christians.
Rather than putting on "the armour of God", they have donned an actual suit of armour which repels truth and falsehood alike thus entirely missing the New Age of Light that is now dawning.
Thanks Moonsphere. You're right that Christianity often exists in a desacralised form nowadays and does need to be re-enchanted to use a word popular these days. I believe this is one way to do that and cleanse it of the secularised accretions it has picked up over the last few centuries.
I have always felt that Leviticus 18:25, 20:22 where the land vomits out transgressors and Isaiah 55:12 nature's rejoicing in the Lord were more than symbolic. You have put it well. I expect many would consider the whole thing heretical though.
Perhaps many would but while some heresies are deviations from truth or perversions of it other ideas that may be called heretical can bring one closer to truth, the book of which is not yet closed.
There is also the reverse situation with the modern pagans taking a very anti-Christian stance, seeing it as a foreign import that displaced the indigenous pagan traditions.
But Paganism started dying at the start of the Kali Yuga circa 3100 BC. All traditions whose origins lay in the atavistic clairvoyance started on a long decline at that period.
So it is somewhat ironic that the future of Christianity will involve the unfolding of that thing the pagans lost so long ago - clairvoyance. But this time not the dream world of old but a clear-eyed daytime consciousness of the spiritual worlds and the beings who dwell there.
Those pagans who reject Christianity as a foreign import don't see that Jesus fulfilled all the indigenous traditions just as he did the Jewish one because he was the universal Logos. And it's a good point that the pagan religions themselves were probably decadent remainders from the Golden Age.
Bruce Charlton developed this post on his blog and in a response to a comment shed some light on the approach I was suggesting here. Below is a mix of his comment and my comment on that.
"This doesn’t mean Christians should “do” anything specific but that they start to think about these matters creatively rather than seeking for some external authority to give them a set of comprehensive principles and rules.
The point is that both Christianity as it is today and paganism are incomplete - and that if understood in the right kind of way each can complement the other though neither the Christian churches nor the pagans will be much help in this because they are too wedded to the outer forms of their religious practices.
What is needed is mental engagement in the spirit of intuitive discernment, not adopting or adapting any particular set of ideas or beliefs which would just take us to yet another thought created theoretical system.
The goal is to approach reality through the spiritual imagination. God is above the imagination, but the world of the gods is, partially, at least, accessible to it."
Hello William, I particularly enjoyed this post as it 'feels' reminiscent of the writings on the Albion Awakening blog, which I found so spiritually nourishing.
I want to share today's essay from Rupert Sheldrake's Substack, as it is 'in service' to something which seems quite simpatico to the ideas presented here and to Albion as well:
https://rupertsheldrake.substack.com/p/a-village-feast-day-needs-you
In the article above, Dr. Sheldrake is seeking sponsors for a program which proved very successful last year, as delightfully describes in the following article:
https://rupertsheldrake.substack.com/p/the-revival-of-patronal-festivals
Opening paragraph from above link:
"Every Roman Catholic and Anglican parish church, chapel and cathedral has a patron saint or angel, for example St. John the Baptist, St Mary Magdalene or St Michael and All Angels, or else is named after an aspect of Christ, as in Holy Redeemer and Christ Church, or dedicated to the Holy Trinity. Each saint or title has its feast day, and some, like the Blessed Virgin Mary, have several. Traditionally, parish communities celebrated the feast day of their patron saint, their patronal festival, in a way that involved the wider community. In Roman Catholic countries like Spain and Italy whole villages or towns still take part in patronal festivities that often include processions, feasting and fun."
I'm copying this to what few (even somewhat) apropro 'contacts' I have online, merely in hopes it will be passed along widely enough to be found by any who might have both interest & funds to contribute to such things.
God Bless and Keep you!
Carol
Hello Carol
The slight problem I have with that (without having read the whole thing) is that it is trying to revive something that is past. I feel we are in new territory these days and cannot return to what may have been a wonderful thing in days gone by. It may be pleasing to us in that it does offer some meaning that most modern religion has lost but it will no longer have its creative vitality.
I hope you don't mind me speaking frankly. Those are just my feelings and, as I say, I haven't read more than what is in your comment. It may seem that I say one thing in the post and then don't accept a suggestion of how it may be put into operation but I would refer you back to Bruce Charlton's comment that I paraphrased in the previous comment.
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