This is something I see come up all the time, and it makes my heart sad. There are enough people outside the community that proselytize that their way is the 'one true and only way'. One of the things I loved about Paganism, from the very start, was that there were many ways to practice, many paths that one could follow, and that you could find what worked for you...and it was all good!
But I am starting to see more and more totalitarian thought in the spiritual community (not just the Pagan groups, I've seen it in women's spirituality groups, gem groups, pretty much anywhere where someone can have an opinion). It seems like people are really forgetting that not everyone is the same, and that there is no such thing as absolute Truth.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, truth as we know it is subjective. There are so many things about the physical world that we have come to understand are really in the eye of the beholder. Things like color, scent, sensation, these are all things that we all perceive in our own way. And if we can accept that the physical world that we think of as reality as being subjective, how can we not see that the unseen world is also influenced by the person perceiving it?
One of the most pervasive truisms I see tossed around in the Pagan community is still the Threefold Law, Harm None and Karma. I sort of lump these together, because they are guidelines of morality that are often treated like universal law. Of the three Harm None is the most man-made. It is absolutely just a caution that was created, during the early days of Witchcraft going public, mainly to assure others that we don't go around cursing people willy nilly (or at all...)
The Threefold Law and Karma are sort of reflections of themselves, that state that the universe will give back what it gets. They are the negative version of the Law of Attraction (or the way of negatively stating the Law of Attraction). But, they aren't universal laws by any means, and as a moral compass, they aren't something that everyone follows.
My favorite thought on these concepts it that of the Karma Police...the idea that somewhere out there in the land of spiritual entities, there are beings dedicated to making sure that bad people get their comeuppance. I think it's a little ridiculous. It also defies common knowledge, because there are plenty of bad people in the world who 'get away with it' for their entire lives, and by all measurements are living the good life.
The worst example I've seen of people applying these laws to other people is when strangers state that someone had something bad happen to them because of Karma from a previous life. Seriously, if you don't know the person, how are you going to tell them that the random bad thing that happened to them is their fault? In the same vein are the people who say that everything in our lives is a reflection of what kind of energy we send out (Law of Attraction). It's really not cool, in my book, to tell someone with a chronic illness that it's their fault because they were sending out energy that caused them to be sick (or that they did something in a previous life that led to this life being one of misery).
I fully support people believing these things...but when you try to assign blame to other people based on what you believe, it makes you come off very judgemental. And just in general, I don't see a reason to make other people feel bad, especially about something they might not have any control over (like past lives).
I actually got told once that I was a bad person for saying that I didn't think that Ouija boards were dangerous. I think I was blocked for my comment too, which amused me. The post was in regards to a scarf that was printed with a Ouija board pattern, and my personal opinion is that just printing the symbols on something (especially when it is mass produced) doesn't make it powerful. I don't think the scarf was dangerous, and I said that. I feel like things like this are highly influenced by your beliefs, and of course, if you believe the symbols create power, then they do....for you. Because it is your belief fueling it (not the symbol itself).
Another big trend is in saying who should and should not be practicing things. I know that an early restriction, for working pairs, was always that it should be a man and a woman (to preserve the duality of the genders). But this just doesn't work for many people. I have also seen lots of people say that you shouldn't work when sick, which for a healthy person can be a bit of good advice, but for someone with health concerns, that can be prohibitive.
Most recently, I heard of a book that suggested that anyone with mental health issues or on any type of meds shouldn't have a spiritual practice, and even if they did, they wouldn't be able to reach the same levels as other (presumably healthy) people. This caused someone to question whether they should continue taking their meds. That is seriously messed up and dangerous, in my opinion! And again, it was information in a book that prompted this doubt, so it was a statement made by someone (the author) who didn't know the person AT ALL.
I know a lot of people with all sorts of health concerns, both physical and mental. And many of them have really great spiritual practices. Some of the people I know who have the most robust spiritual practices are people with some of the greatest health challenges. Your circumstances don't preclude you from being spiritual! We are all different, there is no absolute normal, and there is no benchmark for spirituality...there are no levels that we are being graded on. You need only be concerned with what works for you, and what makes you feel right and spiritual and whole.
And I do recognize the irony of me making a whole lot of statements about how I think that people who make statements about other people are wrong. I understand that all of this is just my opinion, and that other people may have different opinions.
So, instead of suggesting that you think the way I do, I challenge you to just stop and think. To think about how other people might think or experience the world. To think about how your words might effect other people (not just in what they do, but in how they feel). To think about how your deeply held beliefs might just be personal experiences (and yes, this is something I have done, and continue to do). And to be mindful of how you express yourself.
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