I received a reader question yesterday (yes, I'm still open to those, even though I have a backlog--so sorry, especially for Facebook people!) from someone who'd rather remain anonymous. Their questions were rather personal in nature (for them, not for me) so I won't post those up, but one of them was:
I wanted to give an easy answer and found I couldn't. I have spoken before about how I think some of us were destined to follow the religion or tradition they are. From that post: [a] person [can find] themselves naturally suited to live up to the standards placed upon you by the religion. I have that with Hellenismos; I fit its ethical standard, its belief system, its way of looking at the world. I understand instinctively the how's and why's of the religion and walking a Recon path is therefor pretty easy most days; I am just me and it is enough. I think this 'wiring', as I have taken to call it, was done by the Gods, on purpose.
That said, I feel a fluxuating religious draw to the Kemetic belief system--reconstruction of the old Egyptian religious practices. It's not always there, but when I was looking to commit myself to Hellenismsos, it played through my mind quite heavily. Most of the Egyptian religion is not for me, and while the ancient Hellenes made it work somehow, I can't imagine mixing the two. There is one concept, however, in Kemeticism, that I am drawn to so much: Ma'at. Ma'at, to me, means the active endeavour to promote order (as opposed to Isfet--chaos). This means living to the letter of the law, fostering stability within yourself so you are not swayed by Isfet, and actively removing chaos from the world when possible (the famous shopping cart example comes to mind here). There are philosophical equivalents in Hellenismos, but Ma'at is the Kemetic kharis, or xenia, or any other core value. It's inseparable from the Kemetic religion, where it would be possible for us to simply not adhere to this.
Solely for the beautiful lifestyle that Ma'at dictates, I considered the Egyptian Gods--who, I admit, speak to me as well. I have never truly worshipped Them--They have never seemed like the forgiving sort, and where the Hellenic Gods accommodated the Neo-Wiccan style rituals of days past, I never felt like the Kemetic Gods would do so. The mythology and the rituals are beautiful, though, and I have often mused about how incredibly easy it is here in the Netherlands to get statues of the Egyptian Gods while I have to mail order statues of the Hellenic Gods. That always seemed unfair to me.
So, for about two seconds, there was a chance I would take a detour into Kemeticism first... but it would always have been a detour. I belong here, in Hellenismos, and while I acknowledge all the Gods exist, I am solely called to worship the Theoi. I want to thank my Anon, though, for their thought-provoking question. I had a few very pleasant moments to walk down memory lane.
"If you had not become Hellenic, what would you have become?"
I wanted to give an easy answer and found I couldn't. I have spoken before about how I think some of us were destined to follow the religion or tradition they are. From that post: [a] person [can find] themselves naturally suited to live up to the standards placed upon you by the religion. I have that with Hellenismos; I fit its ethical standard, its belief system, its way of looking at the world. I understand instinctively the how's and why's of the religion and walking a Recon path is therefor pretty easy most days; I am just me and it is enough. I think this 'wiring', as I have taken to call it, was done by the Gods, on purpose.
That said, I feel a fluxuating religious draw to the Kemetic belief system--reconstruction of the old Egyptian religious practices. It's not always there, but when I was looking to commit myself to Hellenismsos, it played through my mind quite heavily. Most of the Egyptian religion is not for me, and while the ancient Hellenes made it work somehow, I can't imagine mixing the two. There is one concept, however, in Kemeticism, that I am drawn to so much: Ma'at. Ma'at, to me, means the active endeavour to promote order (as opposed to Isfet--chaos). This means living to the letter of the law, fostering stability within yourself so you are not swayed by Isfet, and actively removing chaos from the world when possible (the famous shopping cart example comes to mind here). There are philosophical equivalents in Hellenismos, but Ma'at is the Kemetic kharis, or xenia, or any other core value. It's inseparable from the Kemetic religion, where it would be possible for us to simply not adhere to this.
Solely for the beautiful lifestyle that Ma'at dictates, I considered the Egyptian Gods--who, I admit, speak to me as well. I have never truly worshipped Them--They have never seemed like the forgiving sort, and where the Hellenic Gods accommodated the Neo-Wiccan style rituals of days past, I never felt like the Kemetic Gods would do so. The mythology and the rituals are beautiful, though, and I have often mused about how incredibly easy it is here in the Netherlands to get statues of the Egyptian Gods while I have to mail order statues of the Hellenic Gods. That always seemed unfair to me.
So, for about two seconds, there was a chance I would take a detour into Kemeticism first... but it would always have been a detour. I belong here, in Hellenismos, and while I acknowledge all the Gods exist, I am solely called to worship the Theoi. I want to thank my Anon, though, for their thought-provoking question. I had a few very pleasant moments to walk down memory lane.
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