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Confessions of an Obligate Psychonaut
I’m a psychedelic survivor. No, wait. I said that incorrectly. I have survived because of psychedelics. There, that’s better. Now, people have varying opinions about this class of drug…and all drugs which are used by some for fun and recreation. This is a big subject, and I hope to unpack it, but let me disclose my bias at the outset: Illegal psychedelic drugs saved my life. True story. I’ll get into that in a minute. Settle in: it’s a long one. The backstory of all of this, of course is Calvinism: the deep, inchoate Protestant fear that someone, somewhere is having a good time. Pleasure phobia is deeply baked into…
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Midsummer 2020
In the Northern Hemisphere, the long days are upon us*! These are the days of Midsummer. Click here for all the previous posts about this Sabbath. To me, Midsummer is the celebration of the prime of life–of robust, confident adulthood (rather than the urgent young adulthood of May Day), and, in the agricultural cycle, of relaxation and ease between the earlier plowing, sowing and planting and the later harvest Sabbaths. Many Midsummers I have celebrated have been times to deliberately, conscientiously goof off: to relax, eat and socialize with friends. Perhaps to go to the beach, which is a fine Midsummer tradition. But this is the (first?) year of COVID-19.…
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Ritual and Self Care for Protesters
Had enough? World just about all you can take? Well, first of all, if you aren’t one, welcome to the world of black and brown people. Maybe reflect on that for awhile. But beyond that, let’s talk about tools to help us manage. To help us feel better despite the Plague, despite the horror, despite the injustice and the violence and the betrayal by those who were supposed to help. It’s Wednesday evening as I speak. It has been two weeks and two days since the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis policeman and his accomplices. Protests continue to thunder around the United States and elsewhere in the world,…
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Because I Cannot Be Silent
“George Floyd! George Floyd! George Floyd! SAY HIS NAME!”Protesters in my city, June 2, 2020 There is nothing I can say that has not been said, more articulately and with more authority. There is nothing I can add that doesn’t come through a filter of privilege. There is nothing I can do but fight for justice. But I have a forum, and I will not be silent on this. Police murder of black and brown unarmed civilians is a pandemic in the United States. It is a means that entire communities are kept under the sometimes literal boot of white privilege. It is the perpetuation of oppression dating back 400…
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In Which Straw Men Get Punched —More on Halstead/Green
This is getting silly, but more has to be said in this conversation. Here is a link to John’s latest response to my response to his response. Links to all the other pieces are listed in that one. I am frankly tired of John’s putting words in my mouth and then arguing with them. He’s an attorney, he knows about logical fallacies, and he should know better. Let’s just list them, shall we? I have never suggested that renewable energy will provide as much energy as industrial capitalism consumes now. I am not a “techno-optimist”, as he had it. I am a pragmatist who understands that energy consumption will conform…
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Funding the Startup of The Atheopagan Society (with updates)
UPDATE MAY 31: WE HAVE REACHED OUR GOAL! Thanks to all our generous donors! Here it is, folks! We’re getting close to being ready to file for legal and nonprofit status for The Atheopagan Society, and need to raise the money to pay the fees. All donors (except those who wish to be anonymous) will be listed on the Society website as Patrons. The books of The Society will always be open to the community, showing where money has been spent. To be transparent: this money will flow through me, as we can’t get a bank account for it until it is legally recognized. But I will retain thorough records…
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The Doomsaying Simply Isn’t Helping: More on My Exchange with John Halstead
I really think my friend John Halstead has missed the most salient points of my recent post, “Why the Doomsters are completely wrong”. His response glosses over my most important critiques of his position and mischaracterizes others. First and foremost, though claiming the space of “speaking truth”, he ignores the thorough debunking of Michael Moore’s recent film, Planet of the Humans, which does the dirty work of the fossil fuel industry by making false claims about the impact and effectiveness of renewable energy sources. John doesn’t seem to acknowledge the very game we are playing here, which is one of contesting ideas. While he says that “of course” we should…
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Why the Doomsters are Completely Wrong
My friend John Halstead has published Die Early and Often: Being Attis in the Anthropocene, recently reprinted in Medium. In it, he argues that the job of humanity now is to die gracefully: to accept that extinction is coming and work to leave a legacy that supports the Earth’s further evolution and biodiversity, and the memory of a remarkable and admirable species. He spices this up with much Neopagan mythological stuff, such as the myth of the Dying God. But that’s in essence what he says. It’s a thoughtful, well-documented piece, and it’s completely wrong. It’s wrong for essentially four reasons: 1) It mistakes the very nature of the human…
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What if..?
What if we lived in a world that respected knowledge and expertise? That embraced kindness and compassion as the most important human qualities? The culture of which ensured that every mouthful of food, every day of living was acknowledged as a gift of the Sacred Earth? That saw poetry, art, music, rituals, happiness as every bit as important as money? In which every person felt loved, supported, and at home? In which the passages of the seasons, of birth, adulthood, aging and death were celebrated as sacred milestones? That’s the world Atheopaganism is working to bring about. Our goals are simple, and revolutionary: Happiness. Kindness. Compassion. Equality. And right relation…
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UPDATE: The Atheopagan Society. Also, Please Stay Home.
Well, the new nonprofit has a name! The Working Group selected The Atheopagan Society (TAPS) as our monicker. We hope to move relatively quickly in developing the documents we need to file for incorporation in California and federal tax exemption, but there are a lot of policies and details to be worked out. The Working Group is meeting by Zoom on Saturdays, though we may move around so members who haven’t been able to participate can attend. Meanwhile, I have been working on stuff for the new Society. TAPS will need a website, so I am building one; I have bought the domain “TheAPSociety.org” to ensure we have a good…
