There is a lot of commentary flying about the internet, and here locally in Australia, on the topic of “why these Pagans?” My first blog post addressed this, but I will briefly speak to it again. If you are not on the scale of someone like the Dalai Lama, you are not “invited” to the Parliament. Everyone else submits program proposals that are either accepted or refused. Out of 1500 submissions, 600 were chosen. Those of us who are here are present because we felt called to be. We either saved money or raised funds to travel here in order to speak, to listen, to learn, and to expand our web of contacts. For me, the Parliament has already been a success, mostly from point of making connections. I traveled here with a Hermetic Magician and a Heathen – as far as I know, the only two of their kind at the Parliament – and we are all having an interesting time. We have helped out with Wiccan rituals despite not being Wiccan. I have taught. We have spoken and listened, a lot, and the conference is only half-way through.
The Parliament is not without its frustrations, of course. The pace can be grueling and the sheer scale of the thing must make programming a Herculean task. However, I have noticed that most of the Pagans are ghettoized rather than on inter-faith panels. My own proposed interfaith panel , “The Sacred Among Us: the Work of Social Justice as Prayer and Meditation” was rejected. Being a newcomer to the Parliament, I did not think much of it until I saw the final program and saw that there were no Pagans on environmental panels, for example, and only a few Pagans (some under the guise of Unitarian Universalists) on panels regarding Democracy or women’s history, neither of whom were speaking as Pagans on these topics, rather, they were speaking from research. This is a good thing, but I have a wish for Pagans speaking visibly as Pagans . Other than Phyllis Curott on the “Divine Feminine” panel, there was none of this. My wish is that by the time the next Parliament rolls around, this will have changed and we will have a place at the larger table. Meanwhile, I want to acknowledge again the perils and pitfalls of trying to organize a behemoth such as this, and am thankful for all the work that has gone into the orchestration of the event.
Here is a brief update for today:
Yesterday, in lieu of the Parliament, I taught an Iron Pentacle workshop organized by Australian Reclaiming. A hardworking crew, they were fully present for the work. I really appreciated what they brought to the lessons at hand. Last night was the Sacred Music and Dance concert back in the Plenary Hall, which was gorgeous, but we cut out early because of sheer weariness.
This morning, I skipped the Parliamentary spiritual observances to pray in the man-cave of a gym down the street from the Solar Cross flat. This body prayer, plus meditation, did me a world of good. I have noted already this week that Pagan gatherings do not schedule programming for eight am, and with good reason.
While rushing to the conference center, I was greeted by the “Jesus is the Only Way to God” people and gave them a smile and a “Blessed be”.
Unfortunately, I could not find the panel on Sikh principles and beliefs, which appeared to have been moved, so instead went to listen to the revered firebrand Hans Küng outline a “New Ethical Manifesto for the Global Economy”. I recommend you click that link.
My choices for later today are:
“Reflections on the Global Financial Crisis”
“Interpreting the Text: Apostasy and Homosexuality”
“Pagans and Religious Freedom”
Meanwhile, I’m taking a tea break and listening to Hindi chanting. The Gyuto monks are making a sand mandala around the corner and the usual activity of Sikhs, Hindus, Buddhists and Jews interacting in the halls is causing a swirl of color and flow. A Christian deep ecologist just stopped to thank me for my sacred dance session and ask where I got my drum Just another morning at the Parliament of the World Religions.
Blessed be.
T. Thorn Coyle for Solar Cross
