You Might Be A Neo-Pagan...

We are living in some interesting times. Never before in world history have we been in control of so much i.e. the advent of the air conditioner allowed us to control the temperature, the pill allowed us to control how many children we are willing to have, etc. There are so much more modern amenities that have made life easier for the average citizen. However, this false sense of security has led to an increased desire for comfort unknowingly at the cost of religious devotion. I do not think there has been an official sociological study performed, but it is fair to say as the nation grows more prosperous, religious practice appears to wane i.e. Ireland, Spain, et al.

What is arising is a neo-pagan order that puts man at the pinnacle of societal order and religion somewhere below. This is the natural evolution brought about during the Enlightenment encapsulated by the unofficial motto of the time proposed by Descartes: "I think therefore I am." No longer is God given the preeminent position in any discussion on metaphysics but rather man and all his passions and desires. But as history has shown, the passions and desires of man knows no boundaries. So when man becomes the ultimate arbiter of what is good and bad, we create our current neo-pagan culture where Madonna who was once a symbol of all that was pure and chaste is now a postmodern pop idol of sexual liberation and expression.

So given our new neo-pagan order, I thought I would pull a Jeff Foxworthy. You might be a neo-pagan if:

1. You have multiple body piercings and tattoos.
2. You are spiritual not religious.
3. You read Richard Dawkins as your source for philosophy.
4. You went to a Marilyn Manson concert and actually liked it.
5. You refer to the land as Mother Earth.
6. You are an active member of the ACLU.
7. You thought Natural Born Killers was the greatest love story ever made.
8. You know the lyrics to every Ramones song ever written.
9. You have never missed a Burning Man festival.
10. Your role model in life is Carrie Bradshaw (for women) and Larry David (for men).

FYI
Atheists Send a Message, on 800 British Buses - NY Times
Those Brits are funny blokes. Its funny how we think of the English as civilized and well behaved. But history shows us that even the Brits are not immune to savagery. Just think of the folks that were hanged or beheaded during the reign of King Henry VIII. Actually you don't have to go that far back, just go to a English soccer, sorry I mean football match.

Saving a Squirrel by Eating One - NY Times
I know English cuisine leaves much to be desired but I don't know how squirrel meat enhances its culinary reputation.

Sweet on Caroline - NY Times
Doesn't the contrast between the coverage on Palin and Kennedy expose the mainstream media liberal bias? Kind of strange but you'd think the media that likes to tout the underdog would be on the side of the mother of 5 from a small town in Alaska versus the multimillionaire Princess of Camelot.

Joe the Plumber to become war correspondent- AP
Joe the Journalist? Doesn't have quite the same ring.

Alaska trooper says politics slowed drug arrest - AP
Now it wouldn't be quite a complete news cycle day without Sarah Palin. One thing I was thankful about being in Spain was no Joe the Plumber and Sarah Palin.

On Fr. Neuhaus - NRO
On a serious note, here is a man who knew how to live. Unfortunately the prognosis is not good. Thankfully, this is a man who truly is not afraid of death. Here in his own words is his great meditation on mortality:

We are born to die. Not that death is the purpose of our being born, but we are born toward death, and in each of our lives the work of dying is already underway. The work of dying well is, in largest part, the work of living well. Most of us are at ease in discussing what makes for a good life, but we typically become tongue-tied and nervous when the discussion turns to a good death. As children of a culture radically, even religiously, devoted to youth and health, many find it incomprehensible, indeed offensive, that the word "good" should in any way be associated with death. Death, it is thought, is an unmitigated evil, the very antithesis of all that is good.

Death is to be warded off by exercise, by healthy habits, by medical advances. What cannot be halted can be delayed, and what cannot forever be delayed can be denied. But all our progress and all our protest notwithstanding, the mortality rate holds steady at 100 percent.

Death is the most everyday of everyday things. It is not simply that thousands of people die every day, that thousands will die this day, although that too is true. Death is the warp and woof of existence in the ordinary, the quotidian, the way things are. It is the horizon against which we get up in the morning and go to bed at night, and the next morning we awake to find the horizon has drawn closer. From the twelfth-century Enchiridion Leonis comes the nighttime prayer of children of all ages: "Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray thee Lord my soul to keep; if I should die before I wake, I pray thee Lord my soul to take." Every going to sleep is a little death, a rehearsal for the real thing.