From: geep@theory.lcs.mit.edu (Kim Geep)
Subject: Questionnaire
Organization: Laboratory for Computer Science, MIT
Date: Fri, 10 Apr 1992 13:34:46 GMT



1.  What makes a person a Christian?

Worshipping Jesus Christ.  

2.  What makes a person a follower of the New Age?

(Flippantly): Buying crystals and attending expensive seminars in
   basic sociology, magic, meditation, and so forth with fancy names.

(Less flippantly): "Follower" is not the right word; one does not
   follow the New Age in the same way one might follow Jesus, Buddha,
   or some other teacher.  The New Age is a mass of assorted gentle
   chunks of esoterica and exotica from all around the world, often
   stripped of their darkest and most intense sides (eg, New Age
   Christianity might not have a hell; New Age tarot decks often
   replace the "Death" card by "Transformation"). People who use with
   more than, say, four or five of the chunks, might well be called
   New Agers.

3.  What do you think of evangelical-fundamentalist-charismatic--
pentecostal Christians?

Obnoxious devotees of a middling-annoying version of the Light and
Dark Twins.  (Who are a pair of gods who spend most of their time
bickering about anything they can -- usually about who rules the
world.  They insult each other extravagantly.  Whichever one of them
is on top at the moment claims to rule everything and be supreme
creator.  They are otherwise indistinguishable to anyone but
themselves and their Mother.)  

That is, their religion is centered on some deities -- called God and
Satan -- who are (at best) simply interested in attention, and (at
worst) want power for its own sake.  Wise folk have nothing to do with
either of them.

The fundamentalist Christians should, I think, pay more attention to
their other two gods, viz.  Jesus and Mary -- who are quite excellent
deities -- and follow their teachings and examples more.


4.  What do you think of mainline Protestant Christianity (i.e.,
Methodists, Lutherans, Presbyterians, etc.)

I don't understand them at all.  They don't seem religious to me.


5.  What do you think of Catholics?

Plagarists.


6.  What do you think of channeling?  meditation?  pyramids?  Tarot
cards?  astrology?  crystals?  UFO's?

(Channeling): As usually practiced, an amusing form of meditation but
   not worth all the publishing and seminars and such.  Most honest
   and effective channelers simply shout out for an entity capable of
   responding, and thus channel whatever random critter feels like
   answering -- who may or may not be honest or wise.

(Meditation): Very important basic technique.

(Pyramids): Basic geometric form.  Not particularly interesting.

(Tarot): Good divinatory tool for people (such as myself) who are not
   particularly psychically powerful.  They have a wealth of images
   and associations, which allow one to free-associate in useful ways.
   No innate powers, and no great magic going on.

(Astrology): I don't do it.

(Crystals):  Very pretty objects.  The ones which I've mined myself
   make good presents.  

(UFO's): By definition, unidentified; so I don't know anything about
   them.  

7.  Who or what is God?  Who is/was Jesus?  Who or what is the Holy
Spirit?  Do you think the literal Resurrection of Jesus literally
took place?  What do you think is the meaning of the resurrection?

See #3 for the God of the fundamentalists.  

Jesus was one of the vast number of incarnations of the God: the one
who repeatedly sacrifices himself for the life of the world, in
various ways, and is reborn.  The God is one of the two important
deities in my brand of Paganism.  The Christian Pagans in my circle
call on Jesus regularly.

I haven't a clue about the Holy Spirit.  

> Do you think the literal Resurrection of Jesus literally took place?
> What do you think is the meaning of the resurrection?

Probably: most the incarnations of God are resurrected.  It probably
was to reassure us that the God was still around despite one of his
incarnations dying.  It means the same as, say, the resurrection of
Osiris or of Persephone, and has the same cosmic significance:  every
religion should have one.

8.  Do you think Jesus will come again?  What do you think of the
Bible?

(Jesus): I was not aware that he had left.

(Bible): A random collection of myths and stories, which would be as
   valuable as the other myth cycles that I read if various Christians
   hadn't hit me with it quite so often.

9.  Why do you consider yourself a follower of the New Age?  What
do you think is (are) the central tenets of your beliefs?  How did
you come to hold these beliefs?  Are you a member of any formal
religious group(s)?  Which ones?

(New Age): I am not a follower of the New Age.  I am a Pagan, which is
   as different from the New Age as Christianity is from Islam.  That
   is, those who pay superficial attention might not be able to tell
   us apart, but it's pretty clear.

(Central beliefs): You're asking the wrong question.  Like Judeaism
   and unlike many kinds of Christianity,  Paganism is a religion of
   practice not of belief.  We regularly disagree about major topics
   of faith (e.g., how many gods are there?), but the answers do not
   make any difference. 

(Groups): I'm a member of the Unitarian Church.

10. What is your age?  sex?  Occupation?  [Optional, for
statistical use only:  are you single-married-divorced-widowed-
living with someone-under a vow of celibacy?  hetero-homo-bisexual? 
What race do you describe yourself as?]

25.  F.  Student.  sort of married.  Unclear.
I generally call myself "human".

11. [More optional questions:  What happens to us when we die? 

 No idea.

What makes an individual good or bad?

The causes are too numerous to mention.

Do you think that there is
an absolute standard of right and wrong?  

No, although "offensive to most of the gods" is a pretty good standard
for most purposes.  

What do you think are the central problems of American and World
society?

Self-centeredness (which, incidentally, is a major New Age problem as
well).  Self-centeredness is the ultimate cause of the real problems:
ecological destruction, war, crime, economic chaos, and so on.

How does your faith address these problems, if at all?

It emphasizes the connections between things, and the value in all
things.  For example, everyone is a child of the gods -- which makes,
say, refusing to feed and cloth them into an act of blasphemy.

Do you think that your faith is the only way to salvation or
self-fulfillment?

Wrong question: faith alone won't do much for either one.  
But it is very rare that there is only one way to do anything.

Is it the best way?

How do you think I (or any human) could know the answers to all these
absolute questions?  



(kim)
--
(kim)
Xref: sparky alt.pagan:4472 sci.skeptic:7902