Living in Fort Worth (the rodeo buckle of the bible belt,) you don’t expect to encounter a new age, pseudospiritual freakshow like on the west coast. You expect good ol god fearin’, heterosexual, religious bigotry. That is a given, after all Texas is God’s, armed, heterosexual, oil and cattle country (at least it is if you believe our retarded sleazebag governor.) Somehow, Fort Worth has been inundated with new agers. I thought they’d all been exiled to Austin years ago. I’m not talking about hippies. I don’t mind them (except for the patchouli.) They just want peace, love, music and weed. Good people for the most part. No, I’m talking about these strange, raised middle class, whitebread loons who think that wind chimes are a musical instrument. For the most part, I just like to look at them, shrug and say 'whatever works man." This ends when I see them co-opting other people’s cultural and religious traditions piecemeal. New Agers: stop it with the grocery store spirituality. If you are going to embrace the native american spirituality: go to a res and ask them to teach you. Wanna get some of that esoteric learning from the subcontinent? Go convert to hinduism. Maybe inscrutability is your thing. Go spend a few decades as a buddhist novice. When you start mixing traditions and throw in a few crystals, you just seem silly. More than that, you insult people who grew up with the traditions and spiritual practices which you have decided to co-opt.
That was an astonishingly mild pitting, I have to say.
I’m just trying to imagine the reception you’d get if you showed up at a Native American reservation and asked to be taught their traditional wisdom.
They’d probably be put in their place and told to STFU and GTFO.
While this pitting is kinda mild, I endorse it. The vast majority of these people are touchy-feely “if it feels good, do it” self-absorbed morons who can’t think their way out of a wet paper bag, and who will happily jump off a bridge (or not vaccinate their kids or use some kind of woo instead of using proven medicine when they get sick) if the right person told them to. Of course, this describes adherents to most organized religions, but at least most of them won’t kill themselves due to their own stupidity.
At least they’re making some effort to think, unlike those who are just going along with what they are born into.
And for added bonus points they’re probably not telling anyone else who they can and cannot marry or claiming a say in what women can do with their bodies on the basis of their mumbo-jumbo.
Yeah, people believe some astonishingly dumb things. Why, there are even people out there who believe that loud motorcycle pipes are a safety device. Never underestimate human stupidity.
Its a welcome change from the usual cowfucker truck driving idiot that inhabits Fort Worth.
But dude! I’m like, trying to learn stuff so that I can pick the parts that seem cool to me and claim I’m tapped into the Wisdom of the Universe. Er, um, I mean learn everything so that I can find the truth in all of Man’s Religions. yeah, that second one.
Why won’t you teach me your secret gaia worship native magic? I’m like, totally cool and down with the oppressed Native Americans and stuff.
As long as they aren’t telling people who love members of the same sex that they are going to hell and shouldn’t have equal rights under the law or that their most devout women members should spend less time on social justice issues, I’m good with it. And I really don’t see how believing in an Earth Mother or trying to learn about other faiths is an insult to those faiths, but then again I don’t see how gay marriage degrades heterosexual marriage, so I must be slow that way.
“The path of knowledge is long and arduous and will require many offerings to the Great Spirit. Cash is preferred.”
If you really hate Texans that much, maybe you should just leave. Or maybe you only hate the white ones.
Better new bullshit will modern sensibilities than bronze-age society-crippling bullshit. I’d prefer no bullshit, but this stuff is a step up I think. Or maybe a step sideways into slightly less stinky bullshit.
**Loony’s **solution to the “Texas problem”: everyone who isn’t a homophobic fundie bigot can just leave!
Never split fours, fives, or tens.
Dismal Turdpit’s answer to everything: Whenever whites don’t think the way you insist they must think, accuse them of bigotry.
…
Very New Agesque!
More reason to give Texas back to Mexico. (the OP not the newagers, we can just send them back to Canadia)
Hey! We don’t want them either!
But the US needs to keep Texas to advance our strategic bbq interests.