On 21 March 2012 16:12, Pitch <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> In addition, I pretty much agree with Ben's comments--
> Marxian materialist outlooks (and, in my own limited
> experience, group dynamics) go against the grain of
> Paganism in its spiritual and paranormal dimensions.
> I know of some folks whose Marxist outlooks took them
> away from and out of Paganism.
The Political Compass ( http://www.politicalcompass.org/ ) is a great
source of political information from around the world, whether it is
left, right, up, down or centre. I find it very useful.
I find that many Marxist groups edge toward the Stalin type of
Communism, and are therefore quite authoritarian, and therefore, as
has been mentioned, also quite materialist (although no doubt there
are exceptions). If we look at the more Trotskyist and Anarchic groups
within the Marxist domain we tend to find people that are not
materialist, often quite spiritual or at least very "eco". I can
imagine that many Marxist Pagans do have a Trotsky or Anarchy stance,
but if they move to the Stalin type then it might bring them out of
Paganism.
When we talk about "Far Right" groups, we're usually talking about
Fascists - which are actually, usually, at the top of the Political
Compass, and bizarrely in the centre. They are very nationalist (hence
the racism), very authoritarian, but they also quite like state-funded
things, and will often promote co-operative business.
I can quite easily imagine that some Pagan groups/people are "Far
Right" politically, if they start to become authoritarian and
nationalist - and then there are theories such as the Aryan thought,
which made its way into Esoteric (Pagan & Christian) thought in
Germany from Indian-Theosophy, which wouldn't help.
My personal line of inquiry into Synarchy is still rather puzzling -
How can Papus, Victor Hugo et al really be "rightwards-leaning", when
a lot of what they did seem to be "leftwards-leaning"? Even Saint-Yves
seems more likely to have been on the side of liberalism than
conservativism.
Cheers for the debate everyone.
Daniel
---
Daniel Lewis
* Professional Computer Scientist
* Amateur Theologian / Esoteric Student
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