Moss' Writings
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Spirituality Without Dogma
Gerald L. "Moss" Bliss, D.D.
"Religions only look different if you get 'em from a retailer; when you go to a wholesaler, you find that they all get it from the same distributor."
"What is in your heart is more important than what is written in a thousand books."
"Kashmir Shaivism just means two words: ParamShiva - the Ultimate Reality. Call by any name. Anugraha (Divine Grace) - also called Shaktipath, the descent of grace. It is independent of human efforts. There is no third word."
Simple version:
God is One -- everything is God, is within God, and God made it the way it is.
Three Step version:
1. Deity is One, Creator and Creation; the physical and metaphysical Universe and all within it is within Deity. Deity has one face, two faces (male and female), and many faces (gods, humans, Creation itself), depending on our current perceptions; the gods of all religions are merely faces of the One -- as are we ourselves. There is no "them", only "us".
2. It is our purpose to find Balance -- of Human and Nature, of Light and Shadow, of masculine and feminine, and of body, mind and soul/spirit/heart. We help guide ourselves and others to find this Balance; we allow ourselves, and help others, to grow -- in love of ourselves, each other, and the Deity we serve and are part of, and to be more whole within humanity and Deity.
3. Whatever path you follow, honor the paths of all others. Deity can be likened to a mountain, too large to be seen in totality and towering above the clouds; there are an infinite number of pathways up this mountain. We may journey alone or together, but whatever our experience of the mountain, it is valid.
That is all there is. There are many things that are obvious from the above; the following Corollaries are the most obvious to me.
Corollary One: There Is No Evil, there is only a range of experience. God experiences all things through God's creation, including emotions and actions. What we perceive as evil is a learning experience, and what we are learning is How To Love. For example, things such as "war", "hatred", "gay-bashing", poisoning our environment, hurting ourselves, etc., show we have not learned the lesson.
Sub-corollary - You cannot personify Evil - not as Satan, not as Hitler, not as your next-door neighbor...
Corollary Two: You Can Only Change Yourself, not the world/universe. We can only learn our lessons one person, one concept at a time. We cannot force others to learn OUR lessons. We cannot force them to learn THEIR lessons, either. If you can't find it within yourself, you won't find it outside.
Corollary Three: There Is No Hell, only different learning experiences. For some, Earth may be Hell; for others, the deepest Hell may be the finest University; and no Hell is permanent.
Corollary Four: We Do Not Die. God lives forever, and we are a part of That. Our mode of existence may change. It does not matter how that changes, our existence continues. What we believe beyond this is not worth fighting over - but is to be respected (see Rule 3).
Corollary Five: What Makes You Angry Shows Where You Need Work. There are things that caused us pain that have affected the way we think and feel about others. These need healing. If something makes you mad, it is something you don't like that you still keep yourself. If it's not within, you won't see it in others.
Final Comment: Anyone who attempts to use these precepts to prove anything except what is in their heart - can go to Hell (see Corollary Three). This is not intended as a substitute for Science, only as an overlay for global spirituality.
"I pledge Mother Earth as my one country
I pledge Humanity as my one people
I pledge Life as my religion
I pledge Love as my prayer
I pledge Peace and Freedom as my birthright
And the birthright of all humanity.
My heart beats one with all my Relations."
- Grandmother Drum Pledge
"We practice compassion through acts of forgiveness, releasing resentment, anger and hurt. We understand forgiveness when we realize that every act is either an expression of love or a call for love." - Mary Manin Morrissey
copyright ©2006 by Gerald L. "Moss" Bliss, D.D. Quotations are copyright by their authors. This document may be copied and distributed freely (without charge to you or the recipient) so long as it includes the entire document including this copyright statement.
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Hinduism In Brief
Gerald L. "Moss" Bliss, D.D.
There is a paucity of information in the West as to what is the religion called "Hinduism". The truth of the matter is that it is no single religion, but a grouping of religions, all of which originated at different times and locals in what is commonly called the Indian Subcontinent.
Anthropologically speaking, the earliest two religions of the Bharat Peninsula (as the Indians themselves often refer to their country) were Vaishnavism, as epitomized by the various Vedas and Upanishads, and Shaivism, found in the earliest texts in Tamil.
The Vedic civilization is believed to have formed around the Saraswati River, now mostly a dry ditch seen only in satellite photos, which relocated to the area around the Indus River when the Saraswati dried up (in other words, modern day Eastern Iran and Afghanistan, relocating to modern Pakistan). The Vedas themselves may (or may not) predate the Saraswati civilization; indeed, some find passages in the Sama Veda which appears to have originated either in the farthest Arctic regions or even off-planet, depending on who you believe. The infamous caste system of present-day India was due to a mis-reading of the Vedas; originally it was little different from the European system of Guilds.
At any rate, the Vedic civilization was based on the Vedas, which spoke the worship of Vishnu (hence Vaishnavism) and his ten avatars (the tenth is assumed to be incarnated yet in the future). The Upanishads expanded upon the Vedas, and other great poems, such as the Mahabharata (of which the popular Bhagavad Gita is a part), further resulted in the religion's growth among the people.
The ancient Tamil documents spoke of Shiva as the Creator (with his Shakti, which can either be seen as his creative energy, his feminine side, or even his wife). The Tamil-speaking (and related languages) people were in the southeast of India, now the states of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and the country of Sri Lanka.
Apparently at some point, the two cultures traveled widely enough to meet one another. In what is perhaps the only time in the history of mankind, these two cultures examined each others' religions, and rather than declaring war, declared them co-equal (which through the centuries has confused even Hindu scholars into thinking it truly is a single religion).
In the background, for whatever reason the women were mostly left out of the observances of this religion, and from this rose the worship of Devi, or Shakti, which today is called Shaktism. All three groups today include male and female worshippers, but only the Shaktins have any females in the priesthood.
The fourth, and smallest, sect which makes up "Hinduism" is called Smarta or Smartism. The Smartas believe in the Vedas and other Vaishnava writings, but rather than believe in Vishnu as the Supreme Deity, they feel it is up to the believer to choose his or her primary deity from among the gods. The main effect this has had upon Hinduism has been the naming of the ultimate deity as Brahman, as he is often referred to in the Vedas, and allowing Vishnu, Shiva, and and Brahma to be seen as a tripartate form of Brahman; they can be trivialized to "preserver, destroyer, and creator", as they often are when seen by the West, or considered each and all to be full Brahman.
Around the 6th Century b.c.e., the 24th Tirthankar, Mahavira, solidified the Tirthankar teachings into Jainism, still a powerful sect despite its small size and belief non-procreation, as well as in the holiness of the tiniest creature on the planet. This is perhaps the gentlest religion on the planet, as it reveres all life and seeks to harm nothing in any way.
The next "reform movement" in Hinduism was begun by Gautama, called "the Buddha". At one point in time, Buddhism encompassed not only most of India but also much of eastern Asia. The earliest origins are clouded in history, but the Second Council (which became schismatic) was thought to have been held around 100 b.c.e. As the Buddha mostly taught the same basic spirituality but was essentially non-theistic (practice was emphasized over belief), it engulfed many other native religions in the region, but this was ultimately responded to.
In Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Kashmir, from 800 to 1100 c.e., new versions of Shaivite thought emerged, adopting the Vedas but promoting Shiva as the Supreme Deity and expanding upon both ancient teachings and the more modern Buddhist teachings, showing the "fallacies" in either or both, resulting in Virashaiva and Kashmir (Trika) Shaivism. In the predominantly Vaishnavite areas of Punjab and Bengal, Krishna emerged from the Mahabharata as the Supreme Form of Deity (Vishnu).
Around this time also came the Islamic invasion, which nearly wiped out Vedic teachings and destroyed thousands of books (some of which survived by having been transported out of India by Buddhist monks over centuries). Remember, by this time even the Shaivas had adopted the Vedas.
About 1600 c.e., the great teacher Arjan Dev, in Punjab, collected the greatest surviving teachings in the Hindu world, in poetry form, forming what became the Adi Granth, and created the Sikh religion using this book as their center. This book by itself preserved much of the sacred poetry from the torch of the Moslems, as the Sikhs became known as ferocious fighters and, slowly, beat back the invading Moslems. The Adi Granth was expanded by later Sikh Gurus, until, upon the death of the 10th Guru, the book itself was proclaimed the True Guru (Guru Granth Sahib).
The various forms of Hinduism have changed the West in many small ways, but are still largely misunderstood in the West. For instance, Buddhist monks created "malas", necklaces of meditation beads, well before Christ; when this came into contact with the Catholic Church, I cannot say, but it was modified into the Rosary. Madame Blavatsky in the 19th Century c.e. tried to adopt and even alter Hindusim and present it to the West as Theosophy; she hoped to raise J. Krishnamurti to be the Avatar for the New Age, but the man himself, upon reaching majority, declined the honor.
Much more could be said; indeed, much of what I just presented is in doubt and the sources may be fuzzy. Hinduism today consists of (in the view of Hindus) Vaishnavism, Shaivism, Smartism, and Shaktism, but it is easily seen how one could include Jainism, Buddhism, and Sikhism, as well as other sub-sects (such as ISKCON, a branch of Vaishnavism), into the mix.
In the last 20 years, Western Pagans have found many similarities between their beliefs and those of the various Hindu religions. The result is IndoPaganism, which was reported on in PanGaea Magazine, Spring 2007, by Devi Spring.
There is no end to this subject. It is my fervent hope that this document can be improved, especially with the addition of appropriate footnotes.
Moss Bliss
January 30, 2008
[Note: This article was written in response to a listing on Hinduism at Occult Underground website which I felt was too sketchy. I complained to the Webmaster about this, and he invited me to write my own article. I attempted to get someone on the IndoPaganPaths Yahoogroup to write it or make suggestions, but eventually wrote it myself due to a lack of response. Since I completed the article, I again offered it to the group for comment; a few people offered to look at it and offer suggestions, and again no suggestions were offered. Either I'm totally nuts, or got it in one. This article is published on the referenced website.
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Articles Published on ScotWeb
In 1999, I was asked to begin writing articles about Wicca for ScotWeb, then hosted on freeserve.co.uk. There has been a total revamping of the website in the past few years, and these articles appear to be no longer available on the new website. I wrote five articles; four were published, the 5th has been lost. Here are the four articles:
Introduction
Candlemas 2000
Ostara 2000
Cowan or Coventry?
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Door to the Beyond:
Paganism and Mental Health
This is a series of articles still being written for PaganPages,org, an online Pagan magazine. You will find all articles at least 2 months of age; later articles will be published here as they age appropriately. Please go to the referenced website to read the current article. (Due to the large number of articles, click on the title above (Door to the Beyond) and be transported to a new page.)
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