Re: Pearls Before Swine? Branfionn Fri Aug 11 11:15:20 2000 *br*Wise Not-so-Old Owl and Brothers and Sisters,*br* *br* You know me...if I could go in any more directions, I might be the wind...I have mixed feeling about everything lately. Even Druids. *p* I wonder how we class things as Great Truths. Surely, the really great ones can't be fully conceived by humans who only use 7% of their brain; that's ridiculous to me. We can know some of the relative and earthly truths. We can perhaps even understand how they relate to Cosmic Law but if we claim anymore. Well. You may want to buy "The Druid's Big Bad Book of Magick" once it's written because there will be a whole chapter on Druid Hallucinations and Delusions. For fun and enlightenment. In my understanding, The Cosmos has NO version of Good and Bad; merely positive and negative. Ethics would not fit a cosmic agenda, only a human one.*p* Personally, I've had some genuinely enlightening moments. Several. I cannot prove them. I cannot describe them well even with a relatively large vocabulary. They sound silly even to me when I describe them and they were *my* life-altering experiences. And what's worse is that as I know more "truth", I am further from others understanding me than I was before. I was always going to write my autobiography and call it "Mixed Blessings" but someone took the title.*p* I am a tested "genius" with "fool" tendencies. I am a wandering mystic with no structure and a scientist with no dreams. It depends.*p* One aspect which I want to lay before you to consider is...there are many many many days that my loneliness (for lots of friends) is so deep or my personal nightmares are so strong that I can't really tell if I am the "swine" or the "pearl-passer." Certainly, I've been both in my time. *p*This has chastened me and I am a sadder-but-wiser Druid now. I am attempting to be brutally honest. If I who am sought out by beginner celtic pagans from around the world feel this way, how much more would a newcomer feel this way? *p*I was crying one day to my mate about being so far from my circle and not finding a student who acted serious about it in what I would call a spiritual way. For me, the passing of the teachings and best is part of my homework. I am asked to locate my replacement one way or another. He said, "Be patient. She doesn't even know that she is a pagan yet!" That made me think. *p* Perhaps the best Druids aren't here yet. Perhaps all we have right now are hippie/yippy leftovers from the 70's. Maybe we are the perfect torch carriers. Maybe the best is yet to come. Maybe our future leaders and poets are currently disguised as swine.*p* Just some thoughts,*p* Branfionn*br* Turtle Island City Druid*br* <g>*p* *p**p**p*TopazOwl wrote,*br*: There is a discussion going on in another place that I *br*: thought I would bring here.*br*:*br*: Some of us feel, as Druids, that it is no use trying to *br*: present the Great Truths of the universe to folks who won't *br*: understand them or are not committed to their accurate *br*: dissemination. Some of us also feel that many of these *br*: Truths cannot be expressed in words, but can only be *br*: attempted badly and therefore can become confusing to those *br*: who have not already experienced them. While we can guide, *br*: we cannot force understanding.*br*:*br*: Therefore, some of us refuse to "cast pearls *br*: before swine," instead being content to offer guidance *br*: only to those who demonstrate an aptitude for understanding *br*: and a desire to learn.*br*:*br*: Others disagree with that view, feeling that pearls *br*: cast before swine are not lost, but are more like seeds *br*: dropped in the soil to grow where they will.*br*:*br*: I'd like to know what the Druids here think about all *br*: of this.*br*:*br*: Leigh*br* Pearls Before Swine? TopazOwl 659 Thu Aug 10 17:54:51 2000