From: STella@thelema.uucp (STella)
Subject: Correct? was Ye Golden Rule
Followup-To: talk.religion.newage
Organization: Idiosyncratic Anarchic Order
Date: Mon, 16 Nov 92 06:05:09 GMT

In article <1992Nov13.064717.9657@u.washington.edu> mimir@stein.u.washington.edu (Al Billings) writes:
>>>> "Do not unto others as you would not have them do unto you."
>>>How about just "Do as thou wilt."?    ;-)
....[YOU read as much of this as I did, right?]
> The Wiccan Rede is "An it harm none, do what you will."

> The quote that you are miscorrecting above is from the Book of the Law
>(Liber AL) which predates the Wiccan Rede by a bit (since you can't show
>evidence of the Wiccan Rede that is verifiable before the publication of
>High Magic's Aid). What you are quoting is a nasty conglomeration of the
>two that I've seen used by a few traditions of Wicca. It is not "correct"
>since the quote you are correcting is the original, modern, version.

Um, what the fuck is "correct"?  Jaysus got it from some other Jew,
Uncle Aleister got it from his wardrobe, his imagination, or the voice
of Aiwass (actually, I think it was the Timetraveler in the Closet,
m'self), the Wiccans got it from the ghoddess or Jaysus or Uncle Al or
a bumpersticker or something, and everybody in that whole train was,
for all practical purposes, making it up.

My trad's correcter than your trad?

To me, and your mileage is encouraged to vary, a core value isn't
something I receive, but something I steal ... well, actually, since I
take it from multiple sources, I _research_ it ... one meme at a time.
Shuffle 'em till the ideas I carry make it possible to live up to my
definition of a good person more often than not, and throw the whole
patchwork out to anyone who seems to think I Have Clue.

If I took a collection of axioms, hypotheses and delusions called
faith from my ancestors, and passed it on to the youngers unchanged,
I'd wonder why the hell ghoddess bothered with me anyhoo.  If I am not
an eye through which ghoddess can see hirself in a new light, then I'm
a waste of protoplasm.

I once got into a fight with manure forks and horseshit.  And that
experience, which I would neither repeat nor delete, has long been a
personal metaphor for transmission of any idea, including whatever you
call religious ideas.  (I'm not sure I will ever find "religion" a
useful concept -- not in this life, perhaps, and I'm not sure I'd sign
up for another if I HAD the choice,)

When you're in a shitfight, you throw out huge globs of stuff.  Some
of it hits the mark, and some of it splats off into space.  Some of it
falls off the next second, and some of it's still in your hair when you
get home and your mom asks you what that funny smell is.

And all intellectual discussion, in some deep sense, is remarkably
like that shitfight.  You throw out the words that grep your soul, and
some of 'em strike another's heart and stay with hir, and some make a
mess on the floor.

And none of us have all the clue, just like neither of us smelled that
good after the fight, but when we get home Mother Nuit will wash our
hair and polish our memes.

Do what thou wilt -- not just a good idea, it's the law....

STella@xanadu.com	1016 E. El Camino Real, #302, Sunnyvale, CA 94087
aka stella@glg.ucs.dec.com -- ping there if you can't find thelema
Don't blame me, I voted Libertarian!