#for their own good??? Anyway this discussion doesn't have anything to do w reincarnation but that is one place where this attitude
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abyssalpriest · 1 year ago
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Me: I am steadfast on the issue that cultural appropriation is an issue, but being drawn to research and talk to people of a spiritual culture and find out what you need to convert and/or appropriately interact with the culture is OK and that doesn't change when youre directed to start it by a spirit. If you're going to go through the proper means, the reason you started going through those proper means whether it's mundane or spiritual shouldn't matter. Many of the cultures in question are perfectly OK with people who think they are reincarnations of people involved with the group (for example monks taking on - taking BACK on - people who have memories of being in their monastery in a past life and who are now returning to said monastery to continue their work), or are OK with being drawn there by spirits of the group like hindu gods calling to people who aren't hindu because many Hindus see them as avatars of a universal God, and it's a rather uniquely western (for lack of a better term) idea that the only appropriate way to approach being drawn to another spiritual path is by completely mundane things, as if spirits and those groups have no autonomy nor ability to reach out unless it's through mundane means. Many of these cultures do not have the distinction of mundane therefore normal vs religion therefore not entirely real or able to be leaned upon as factual, it's disrespectful to tell cultures that believe in, say, reincarnation memories and autonomous/far reaching gods that you're Protecting them from.... things they believe are possible and ok... and not letting each individual culture make their own decisions on whether someone is respectful or not when they come knocking and give their reasons as to why they knocked is just in my mind much more harmful and intolerant of these cultures than the odd person genuinely appropriating
Spirits: OK, so here's where I want you to go research-wise and what name of mine I want you to learn about, it's directly connected to these people who you are not a part of, but I deserve to be able to not have my families and work on Earth ignored just because you aren't a part of them. If you want to be intimately close with me you need to meet my families, I will send you to learn about me from the people who know better than you and who are more experienced than you, and obviously I want you to do that in the way that's respectful to them, because they are my family, their importance and autonomy and the sacredness of their religion is exactly why I'm telling you who I am in their pantheons - it is about me honouring the work they have done with me over millennia. If you claim to love me then you should understand who I work with and why
Me: hmm....... Sounds like cultural appropriation tho....
#Insert what I just said about Leviathan being straightforward and ''if you want to actually do this work it will be hard and push#your understandings but if you believe in spirits then you better act like we're real and autonomous. If you want to treat us like#theories and lists of association you can go back to not talking to me and not listening to me and just worship my name''#He didn't say that to me but it's what I've gathered from a lot of conversations with him on shit like...#People just automatically worshiping him and getting barely anything out of it bc they can't even talk to him so he just has to be vaguely#present - not even vaguely present most of the time he points out given all the cultures that just give him shit for existing#Not saying actual literal cultures are wrong I'm saying that there's a lot of cultural ''we honour this trio because they created us'' in#the way wed talk about a culture of drinking. Not like a culture as in a literal locational group of people. Anyway.#Stuff like that and talking about how yeah sorry put in the work if you want results and how the spiritual world does not conform#to discourse any more than the natural world on this plane does like.... Animals will still kill and torture and abuse other animals#even if we sit here debating if they should or not.... Likewise we can sit here and have discourse over whether spirits will or won't#reach out to people of other cultures and whether reincarnation only works within the same culture over and over which....#I don't...... Unless you wanna use castes as your primary example of what Good ideas of reincarnation looks like.......#So many cultures that believe in reincarnation are being thrown under the bus by our discourse on what they should and shouldn't believe#for their own good??? Anyway this discussion doesn't have anything to do w reincarnation but that is one place where this attitude#is exemplified so. It's an example#ramblings //#Anyway. I know he's encouraging me to talk about it bc I know what I need to do and if I'm wrong I will figure that out#But man I spent enough years in a spiritual cult and then a borderline political cult online I'm so tired of being told I am evil#for having opinions on how to be Good and Appropriate and Kind. Bit even on how to get away with stuff I genuinely think the way#we approach appropriation is harmful to these cultures and I want to go about this more educated and understanding and....#Aware that we all use discourse a lot of the time to denounce other cultures' autonomy and practices and beliefs#but because we can rationalise why what we're doing is Helpful and Good we just shut down any attempt to say UMMM not good....#As being an excuse to appropriate and cross borders that shouldn't be crossed. Anyway#UGH. It makes my head spin to be sitting here like yes the most respectful thing for me to do seems to be reach out and learn#like. Because I know this spirit is real - shared by the culture I'm interacting with so if you shut me down saying yeah how do you Know#he's real you're shutting them down too which... Is most of my argument.... But because I know he's real that means he is a part of this#culture. This is a partner of mine. A best friend. Who has spent millennia in Mongolia with millions of people there. And I'm sitting here#like yeah yeah anyway we can't talk about Mongolia and what you do there and who you work with and why bc.... People on the Internet#will yell at me for it....
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