by John Michael Greer, subtitled 'An Inquiry into Polytheism', is quite possibly the finest tome on polytheism ever written. And I have a shelf full of such books. [Amazon link] This one covers all the issues involved with theism versus atheism, and does so from a standpoint of reason and logic.

I'd like to paraphrase (in my own words) an argument from the book - The Cat and the Village.

It seems as though a village with five households was visited by a researcher interested in their belief in cats. At the first house, the homeowner declared that of course he believed in Cat - there is only one cat and he went on to describe it quite specifically. He prays in the morning by saying "Here kitty kitty!" and his offering (of cat food) is always gone by nightfall. He says some of his neighbors also claim to believe in Cat, but they are mistaken, as they don't describe the same cat he sees, and he believes that their offerings are taken by wandering hobos... he finds it rather sad, and feels sorry for his misguided fellow villagers.

The second householder believes in One Cat as well - but described an black shorthair as opposed to the first villagers tabby. He knows there's a cat because he actually saw it once, and when he prays in the morning "Puss, Puss, Puss!" his offering (cat food) is taken by evening. He knows some of his neighbors believe in cat, but beleives they're being deluded by evil Sewer Rats, whom he believes will one day be eaten by Cat, and he looks forward to his reward (of getting purred at) and his neighbors punishment (getting scratched and bitten).

These are two sorts of monofelists.

Householder number three has a different take. Of course she believes in One Cat, but insists on it being orange. And rather than praying, she simply leaves her offering (of canned cat food) out, and it disappears. She knows some of her neighbors also believe in Cat, and thinks that Cat has just appeared to them from a distance or after rolling in dust, which has clouded their perceptions of his true nature. She even admits that Cat may be accepting their offerings, but knows he likes hers best.

Which shows how close a monofelist can get to being a panfelist! Or vice versa...

The fellow in the fourth house is a scientist. He's never seen a cat, and thinks they're naught but outdated mythology. His neighbors are delusional, and it's quite probably wandering hobos and sewer rats that are taking the food they leave out. So called "cat tracks" seen around town were probably made by pranksters. He insists on what he calls "real proof".

An afelist.

The lady in the fifth home gets quite a kick out of her neighbors behaviors and beliefs: she knows that there are at least three cats running about the village, and sometimes feeds them all. There's a tabby, a black and an orange. Each one has his rounds and knows when and where to get the food he likes. She wonders how her neighbors will react when the Burmese she's spotted a couple of times has her litter, and there's a mini population explosion of cats in the village.

The polyfelist.

If you have an interest in theology of any sort, you owe it to yourself to get this book. It's written from a perspective rarely encountered, and is guaranteed to provide many meals for your brain.

Sun, 14 May 2006 11:39 /Asatru | 0 writebacks | permanent link

I recently purchased a Blue Microphones Snowball for use on Odin Lives - I'm very happy with this fine product. It's well engineered, uses standard Windows and Mac drivers and was a painless install on both platforms. But what really impressed me about the product was the registration card: somebody took some time and made it quite amusing.

Click the image for a larger view: stuff like this is altogether too rare these days.

Sun, 14 May 2006 09:46 /Humor | 2 writebacks | permanent link