The Remyth Project: That Old Time Folk Religion without the Folks

[yeloson]

It doesn't have a singular church. It's a few thousand years of various traditions, beliefs, and worships, poured under one name because it has some similarities. Which is like saying Christianity, Scientology, and Flying Spaghetti Monster worship ought to go in the same book.

Like Islam, it predicted it's own absence- coming as a stranger and leaving as a stranger.

They call it Taoism.

And, accordingly, supposedly, anyone can be a taoist. All you have to do, is do nothing. Or perhaps have lots of yin-yang symbols everywhere and i-Ching hexagrams for bonus points. Don't have sex. Have lots of sex. Do Yin-Yang Yoga. Do Tai Chi. No, do real Tai Chi. Stand on your plastic Tai Chi Ball to increase your core strength and balance your chakras. Have lots of Buddhas around. Burn incense. Buy more books. Drink tea. Get a Chinese girlfriend. Read lots of books written by white people who have chinese masters who no one has heard of. Or better yet, Tibetan masters. Or better still, Taoist teachers who show up in their dreams to tell them secrets (Hey, I just dreamt I was a Jedi, can I start a Jedi Church now?).

Or. Maybe, talk to people with lineages. With rules and books and histories. Which are all really important and they can tell you why everyone else doesn't have the Tao right. And how you can't share these secrets with anyone else (it's universal laws, you, small human, hide them).

Me? I don't think I'll talk to anyone about it. After all, what can be said isn't what I was looking for in the first place.

False gold exists because there is real gold, somewhere.

Comments

[bossymarmalade.livejournal.com]

It's kind of creepy how similarly Hinduism is candied and junkified by people who don't understand it and want to remove it from anything real. Your subject line is wry and chilling at the same time.

[yeloson.livejournal.com]

It's the same for both African Traditional religions and many NDN practices. The lack of a monolithic centralized authority makes them harder to dismantle (though, in both those cases centers of learning and specific spiritual societies and leaders were highly targeted), and at the same time more ripe for appropriation.

I was joking with some friends yesterday about forming our own Catholic Church with 9 Popes and Papesses because we had a dream!

[bossymarmalade.livejournal.com]

ahahahah! And then we can go to Scripture Yoga (http://christianyoga.com/), which is a glorious spiritual alternative to "secular" yoga!!

[reveritas.livejournal.com]

Hay-seuss, this is amazing.