The Ethical Eclectic by MacMorgan-Douglas Kaatryn

The Ethical Eclectic by MacMorgan-Douglas Kaatryn

Author:MacMorgan-Douglas, Kaatryn [MacMorgan-Douglas, Kaatryn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Covenstead Press
Published: 2011-05-01T16:00:00+00:00


4.Using UPG

In the last chapter, I briefly mentioned UPG as opposed to communal gnosis. A more important question about UPG might be how to use it. Ethical eclecticism has some major assumptions about UPG that need to be clarified here, and the first and most important might be the idea that sane and rational people follow deities who act in sane and rational ways. This is not to say that we, as humans, automatically understand the gods, merely that if the gods are gods we find worthy of following, then they aren’t so cruel and sadistic as to expect us to be convincing other people about them without some sort of evidence that other people will accept. Therefore, if the gods provide us knowledge that is unverified and personal, that knowledge must exist for personal use, not for public consumption.

For those eclectics raised in religions with the idea of going out and spreading the word, this can be a revolutionary idea. People are not required to go forth and spread the word, instead, if the gods desire to engage in a relationship with the individual, the gods will make the move. Since these gods are sane and rational, the move won’t involve sending another person to do their bidding unless the person has something more than mere words to back themselves up. This means that UPG, as opposed to stuff that is “backed up” is understood to be private.

How the knowledge might be backed up is a matter of some debate. For some people, if many people share the same experience, at different times, this isn’t UPG, but communal gnosis. For others, unless the evidence would be seen as evidence by “non-believers” instead of believers, the evidence simply doesn’t count. Where you fall in this debate will determine how you use UPG.

There are those for whom no revelations save those attached to evidence accepted by the outside world will be acceptable. These are people who, for whatever reason, doubt what they have experienced themselves. There are good reasons for this. If you are prone to hallucinations or delusions, or are using drugs that cause these things, or you feel you may’ve been unduly influenced by a regressionist, or a hypnotist, it may be best to doubt your experiences. If your doubt has to do with low self-esteem, feelings of worthlessness or worse, however, you may need to reevaluate your life. No doubt there are things you see everyday that no one else does, things that you accept as real because you have no reason not to, things like rainbows, visible only from one angle, or even shapes in the shadows of leaves that move and change. These things are real, and aren’t made less real when you’re the only one to see them, but you don’t doubt them because they are unimportant. If the only reason you doubt the UPG you receive is because it’s important, you really need to reevaluate your life.

Let’s assume that you’re like the rest of us for whom UPG comprises stuff that is at least true for the individual.



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