# The Motherhood story -- a neopagan / western unorthodox witnessing thread **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 13, 2005, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-motherhood-story-a-neopagan-western-unorthodox-witnessing-thread/326110 "2005-10-13T19:19:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2005, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-motherhood-story-a-neopagan-western-unorthodox-witnessing-thread/326110/21 "2005-10-14T21:08:23Z")
> [@Liberal](#): > > Most parts of this are very similar to my own faith. It may indeed be the case that we are two kindred spirits who merely speak different languages. May our God bestow upon you all Her blessings. Somebody…I think I’ve seen it attributed to Mahatma Gandhi? … talked about it as different people climbing the same mountain from different directions. Some are headed northbound up the south slope, some are headed southbound up the north slope, and so on. Trails gradually converge, especially as you get close to the peak. Etc. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2005, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-motherhood-story-a-neopagan-western-unorthodox-witnessing-thread/326110/22 "2005-10-14T22:17:20Z")
“Then why witness?” > [@AHunter3](#): > > People like to share things that affected them profoundly. Certainly at least in part that includes the desire/expectation that it’s going to elicit a similar reaction from those they share with. It’s human nature 🙂 Call it “Spiritual Relevant Stuff I Must Share” (SRSIMS) ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2005, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-motherhood-story-a-neopagan-western-unorthodox-witnessing-thread/326110/23 "2005-10-14T22:26:06Z")
The Devil took a big dump in God’s punch bowl. Adam & Eve said “eeeww”, Atlas shrugged, and here we are today! ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2005, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-motherhood-story-a-neopagan-western-unorthodox-witnessing-thread/326110/24 "2005-10-14T22:31:59Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > “Then why witness?” > Call it “Spiritual Relevant Stuff I Must Share” (SRSIMS) 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2005, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-motherhood-story-a-neopagan-western-unorthodox-witnessing-thread/326110/25 "2005-10-14T23:53:25Z")
**AH3** , I love your second redaction. I feel the truth of it deep in my heart. Thank you so much. It was beautiful and made me cry. Anyone who practices the craft of writing knows that the writer always rewrites her first draft. She never goes with the first draft. Sometimes it takes many rewrites. Please always keep clarity in mind. I invite you to compare your exquisite myth with a \*hadîth qudsî: Qâla Allâh kuntu kanzan makhfîyan wa-ahbabtu an u‘rifa fa-khalaqtu al-khalq\* Allah says: I was a hidden treasure and I wanted to be known, so I created the creation. Note that in Sanskrit _Allâh_ means ‘Mother’. 😃 **AH3** , your wonderful myth was a hidden treasure, hidden like Sleeping Beauty behind a thicket of impenetrable diction. When you clarified your writing, the Beauty awoke and came forth into the open. Thank you, dear friend. I feel blessed to be able to call you my friend. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2005, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-motherhood-story-a-neopagan-western-unorthodox-witnessing-thread/326110/26 "2005-10-15T00:59:22Z")
Thanks 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2005, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-motherhood-story-a-neopagan-western-unorthodox-witnessing-thread/326110/27 "2005-10-15T14:25:40Z")
> [@AHunter3](#): > > No, it remains true that nothing exists which is not God. The creation of other was accomplished without violating that rule. > [@AHunter3](#): > > So God had to make an even sadder, even worse sacrifice. She began to split, **and the other part was not something that was not God** , but in order to make the split an actual split **so that it wouldn’t again be true** **that they were still really one and the same** , she let go and separated completely from the other part. (Bolding mine) This becomes confusing then. If in the beginning God was all that was, and then God split into herself and something that was still really the same, how can such a split result in something completely separate? You seem to be saying that before the split there was nothing that was not God, and that after the split there was nothing that was not God, yet some kind of ‘separateness’ exists. How can something be ‘separate from God’ but not ‘other than God’? If it is not true that they are one and the same, then it must be true that they are not one and the same. > [@AHunter3](#): > > There was no “world” before, only God. Yes, better this way. Why were we born to suffer and die? What is the point of separating from God? What is improved by the torturous journey back to God? Is it simply to amuse her and relieve her boredom? ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2005, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-motherhood-story-a-neopagan-western-unorthodox-witnessing-thread/326110/28 "2005-10-15T21:56:02Z")
She’s having fun being you. Being you is probably more fun than you think 😉 Seriously, while life should be expected to contain struggle and strife, along with triumph and creativity and delights, if life as you know it, and as you observe others around you to be living it, seems to consist mostly of suffering, something is out of whack. Most likely a transitional phase of some sort, but still, your dislike for the situation can lead to you making changes (or participating in making changes) that propel the species to a better situation. Well, yeah, I _would_ agree that describes now. I think the Chinese were reputedly known for cursing people with “May you live in interesting times”. We live in interesting times. Put your seat belts on, expect disruption and disaster (alongside of seemingly miraculous new things showing up at breakneck speed) and rapid change, not all of it by any means good. But that’s just only for now. Wasn’t always that way, won’t always be that way. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-motherhood-story-a-neopagan-western-unorthodox-witnessing-thread/326110.md?page=1)