11 Comments

Loved loved your conversation with Ed Bacon. I had no idea how "religious" the insurrection was. Maybe I was just not wanting to pay attention. I am wondering about the "secular" left. I am deeply connected into the contemplative movement and began that journey with other more psychological modalities. What I see all around me are young people claiming "no affiliation" but yearning for a connection to authentic experience of the divine / energy / God / universe / meaning ......

Would you call these people secular?

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We have the dilemma of trying to deal with adamant positions which have been formed on FEELINGS rather than facts. We just develop new methods for trying to change strongly held beliefs.

Thank you for stimulating our thought processes.

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Thank you for bringing a voice to these disturbing images.

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We've been struggling with identifying this liminality for 30 years, and you may have hit on some keys to it. I enjoyed the video with Ed Bacon. I am reading Jonathan Sacks on Morality, in which he also is consumed with the movement from "I" to "We." Westar's God Seminar is struggling with the need to de-colonialize all of our presumptions in studying history, Bible, and theology. So there is movement in our thinking. We need to look at other periods of cultural shifts. Among other times, I am looking at Ritschl, William James, and the end of the 19th century.

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Jan 25, 2021Liked by Diana Butler Bass

Diana, thanks for your weekly newsletter. It's alway insightful. On shifting religious and political sands, I recommend The Upswing by Robert Putnam, a very in-depth look at trends since the Golden Age 1880"s and comparisons. He notes that politics is a bigger factor now in marriage partners than faith or race. Other comparisons ( I have not finished the book yet) would lead me to believe that big money has been pulling the strings of political, racial, and economic divisions in this country for a long time. It has been the most overlooked source except by the extreme left recently although he points out that politicians of both parties at times of more than a century have warned of consolidation of economic power and both parties until recently have voted for "progressive" tax and welfare programs.

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Thank you for this. FWIW, I am not surprised at a right wing paganism in alliance with Christian nationalists. Both are essentially materialistic and this-world oriented, a form of prosperity gospel. Common cause comes easily, it seems to me.

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Jake Angeli Chansley most likely has no desire to actually embody what a shaman is--he just wants to dress like how he thinks they dress and claim power for himself. Those who actually are called to be shaman would most likely have not chosen that path for themselves. A shaman brings together his community for healing and wholeness, is their ally in the spirit world, and is a guide of souls between this world and the next at death. Breaking and entering the Capitol illegally, promoting division, and claiming to be a shaman because you believe in a potluck of alternative philosophies doesn't fit the role of a shaman in any way. But you are right--we certainly do have a lot of work ahead.

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Thanks, Diana, for this concise and insightful analysis. These three 'streams' are indeed becoming dangerous anachronisms reinforcing a particular world view. It is not surprising that the old Aryan Nordic shamanism is inserting itself into this mix. As Martha Hamilton says, These people have forgotten the Gospel - that they are children of a loving creator. Whether professing Christianity or paganism, they have built on a sandy foundation of Biblical abuse and the validity of human violence to achieve progress. They have scapegoated any social, cultural or spiritual leaders that would move humanity as a whole forward toward what Jesus calls 'the Kingdom of God'.

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Yes it feels chaotic for sure. I look forward to learning more.

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There is another group. Perhaps discounted because we don’t keep membership ledgers. Perhaps discounted because we don’t wave a discordant flag declaring the indignity of not being recognized divinely superior. Perhaps we are discounted because our relationship with Creation is personal and we shy away from God shows. Perhaps we are discounted because religion is constitutionally excluded, we revere our Founder’s wisdom, and spiritually follow the advice, “Give to Caesar....” Perhaps we are discounted because we don’t pass a plate around to showcase our divine nature. Perhaps we just aren’t interesting enough to write about.

That’s fine, we don’t need press to breathe us alive. And we don’t need a lot of complicated analysis. All we need to know is this, “ If, you get on the bus and it is full of clowns you are probably heading to the circus.”

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What I find most interesting about all of this is the chaos. It appears like a monumental struggle for identity. When people forget who they truly are, children of a loving Creator, a void exists ready to be filled by whatever is embraced. Within this vast mix of opinions and beliefs, there are seeds of remembrance concealed behind many different faces. Our task is to respect and honor one another’s journey back home within the context of do no harm.

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