Post by B on Mar 9, 2009 7:56:58 GMT -8
93,
one easy first step is: you already have a captivated audience within your own lodges who "supposedly should" actually already believe in our principles, this is what the military would call a force multiplier, one can raise these issues as being "our" issues amongst our existing membership, asking for lodge participants to take an active interest in public affairs beyond as I said the typical mass/class/seminar/bake sale type attendance that make up the limmits of what most people consider the extent of their typical thelemic duties and involvement, rather than you working alone, this is a group of people you already likely have at your disposal so that its not merely you alone taking an active interest in these things, whether you are actively participating in contacting your local state reps or even simply researching what is going on out there, this is a group who can then expand beyond to other people they might know outside of those they know from lodge alone, and i know its extremely complicated and difficult to initiate organized resistance, rather I would incourage people to become active in pre-existing groups already tackling these issues, chances are theres already people out there interested in stopping these acts of legislation, one example with say the 2nd ammendment is the NRA, gun owner or not this protects your right to protect yourselves and your families not only from criminal acts but also tyranical government, thats just an example, another example is I'm sure there are various organizations within the Libertarian party also out there tackling specific issues they view as an overstep of big government, and yes the patriot act has been a national topic for a while, chances are theres an existing group out there already interested in fighting it, research is an initial key word, one doesn't have to go out and start a resistance, chances are its already there, research existing groups fighting on existing topics and then enlist and encourage participation in these groups within your own lodges, I'm sure you all are used to long drawn out theoretical type discussions with people you know from lodge, so it shouldn't be too difficult to bring up these public affairs issues, our ongoing losses of our freedoms, and how such things relate to the principles of what thelema stands for, draw the parallels and make it an issue for your local lodge to become involved in, and yes of course you'll get far more respect in these issues "dressing down" i.e. the soccer mom, the blue collar worker, etc... as an ordinary local actively involved citizen than you would trying to wave the flag of the order so to speak, its easier to take on an issue if you come off as a concerned upstanding citizen than if they tie you to something some people might simply write off as a lunatic, as magicians we should all be familiar with working from the shadows or hiding in the light to accomplish our workings, this doesn't have to be a conservative or a liberal issue, its an issue of government overstepping its power, which is generally something thats a case by case, act by act issue, know whats going, participate and ecourage participation in those groups and organizations already tackling these topics, many times these groups also have local functions, so on a flip side who better also to perhaps draw from to build our thelemic order as well, it can be a 2 way street, your involvement with like minded people might also result in building your own lodges to greater numbers, you never know
heres an idea, maybe after first explaining yourself to those in your lodges you can speak to your own lodge leadership and you can appoint yourself as the lodges current affairs officer, i.e. keep up with current/public affairs type topics and those groups and functions involved in resistance nationally or locally, and make it part of your lodge meeting announcements, newsletters, website links, etc...., i.e. use your existing available tools to keep your people informed and involved in public issues which are beyond typical lodge type topics
traditional churches have been doing this for years, just look at the roman catholic church itself and its involvement in politics or preachers like rev. wright, jessie jackson, faricon, or any other vibrant preacher that likes to get up there on sunday mornings and get people riled up on the issues, they don't methodically just stick only to what is written in scripture, they tie the links and show their congregation how what they believe in and whats going on in the world are related, this is something thats severely lacking in thelemic lodges and organizations, we can talk about magick all day, but people need to be shown how the book of the law and other holy books apply to their own lives and whats going on around us on a daily basis
93's
one easy first step is: you already have a captivated audience within your own lodges who "supposedly should" actually already believe in our principles, this is what the military would call a force multiplier, one can raise these issues as being "our" issues amongst our existing membership, asking for lodge participants to take an active interest in public affairs beyond as I said the typical mass/class/seminar/bake sale type attendance that make up the limmits of what most people consider the extent of their typical thelemic duties and involvement, rather than you working alone, this is a group of people you already likely have at your disposal so that its not merely you alone taking an active interest in these things, whether you are actively participating in contacting your local state reps or even simply researching what is going on out there, this is a group who can then expand beyond to other people they might know outside of those they know from lodge alone, and i know its extremely complicated and difficult to initiate organized resistance, rather I would incourage people to become active in pre-existing groups already tackling these issues, chances are theres already people out there interested in stopping these acts of legislation, one example with say the 2nd ammendment is the NRA, gun owner or not this protects your right to protect yourselves and your families not only from criminal acts but also tyranical government, thats just an example, another example is I'm sure there are various organizations within the Libertarian party also out there tackling specific issues they view as an overstep of big government, and yes the patriot act has been a national topic for a while, chances are theres an existing group out there already interested in fighting it, research is an initial key word, one doesn't have to go out and start a resistance, chances are its already there, research existing groups fighting on existing topics and then enlist and encourage participation in these groups within your own lodges, I'm sure you all are used to long drawn out theoretical type discussions with people you know from lodge, so it shouldn't be too difficult to bring up these public affairs issues, our ongoing losses of our freedoms, and how such things relate to the principles of what thelema stands for, draw the parallels and make it an issue for your local lodge to become involved in, and yes of course you'll get far more respect in these issues "dressing down" i.e. the soccer mom, the blue collar worker, etc... as an ordinary local actively involved citizen than you would trying to wave the flag of the order so to speak, its easier to take on an issue if you come off as a concerned upstanding citizen than if they tie you to something some people might simply write off as a lunatic, as magicians we should all be familiar with working from the shadows or hiding in the light to accomplish our workings, this doesn't have to be a conservative or a liberal issue, its an issue of government overstepping its power, which is generally something thats a case by case, act by act issue, know whats going, participate and ecourage participation in those groups and organizations already tackling these topics, many times these groups also have local functions, so on a flip side who better also to perhaps draw from to build our thelemic order as well, it can be a 2 way street, your involvement with like minded people might also result in building your own lodges to greater numbers, you never know
heres an idea, maybe after first explaining yourself to those in your lodges you can speak to your own lodge leadership and you can appoint yourself as the lodges current affairs officer, i.e. keep up with current/public affairs type topics and those groups and functions involved in resistance nationally or locally, and make it part of your lodge meeting announcements, newsletters, website links, etc...., i.e. use your existing available tools to keep your people informed and involved in public issues which are beyond typical lodge type topics
traditional churches have been doing this for years, just look at the roman catholic church itself and its involvement in politics or preachers like rev. wright, jessie jackson, faricon, or any other vibrant preacher that likes to get up there on sunday mornings and get people riled up on the issues, they don't methodically just stick only to what is written in scripture, they tie the links and show their congregation how what they believe in and whats going on in the world are related, this is something thats severely lacking in thelemic lodges and organizations, we can talk about magick all day, but people need to be shown how the book of the law and other holy books apply to their own lives and whats going on around us on a daily basis
93's
. I will take a serious look at what we have coming up in the city council and upward from there to see that may be a good opportunity for a show of group support. I see that some of our members are in the armed forces is there any causes or groups that we citizens can help them with as well? I know of some soldiers in masonic lodges that are asking for help paying dues or for a hold on them while away in active duty I could use some masculine help with this it is a difficult subject for women to approach sometimes with more mainsteam groups. Could I post that info here? I am trying to put together a contact list of the current whitehouse chiefs of staff and cabinet so emailing them as a group is simpler, is that something I could also post here?