the Dao of Atheism :jeffers' petroglyph, pre-dakota, minnesota : the Shaman Atheist 38/81

38

Intelligent people have no need of degrees or titles or recognition to display their true knowledge.
Ignorant people need to demonstrate their intelligence in every way possible, and cannot shake the image of ignorance.
A truly good person does good unconsciously,
has no need of goodness or morality or ethics,
and is not viewed as being good.
An average person works hard at doing
good works and acting morally
but is still regarded as average.

Goodness is complete,
justice is always only partial.
When proper procedure is not followed
righteous people roll up their sleeves and enforce it.
When the path is lost, power remains;
when power is lost, religion remains;
when religion is lost, morality remains;
when morality is lost, patriotism remains.
Patriotism is only the appearance of civility
and is the first step to fighting and war.
Predicting what will happen is only a mirage of the way
and a step off of the path.

The wise person dwells in the here and now
and not in the past, the future, or the may-be,
choosing the fruit for sustenance, not the flower.
Embrace one, reject the other.

Shamans
young and old, female and male,
theist and atheist,
are strange creatures.
They operate outside the social and physical rationalisms
that the rest of us ask everybody else to operate within.

Shamans
breech the wall of reality
and dive into the other side
and come back.
Not everybody does.

Shamans
meld two worlds together
-- this one and another.
They are the wise ones.

Shamans
tell stories
with no morals --
things just are ...
no second-guessing.

Shamans
do not argue
do not preach
work with the psyche - communal and personal.
Who cares if a god or goddess exists, or two or three?
Their existence is not important,
but their stories are.




back :: next
first :: middle :: last
cover :: endnotes

©1992 tpkunesh@atheisms.info