Metagenetics

[Tsuzuki]

Metagenetics is for fools who can't think outside of the boxes they were born into. On the other hand, those who try to squish into other people's boxes are just as foolish, if not more so. They should know better.  

[TeaDidikai]

Tsuzuki

Metagenetics is for fools who can't think outside of the boxes they were born into. On the other hand, those who try to squish into other people's boxes are just as foolish, if not more so. They should know better.

Tsuzuki- you sound a little divided on the subject.

Some groups claim a blood tie to their gods- and that such a tie is important.  

[Tenzin Chodron]

私はボリアナズさんが大好きだよ。

ll well unless i had parents from Tibet, India,
China, and Japan (which i don't), then i call
"bullshit" on metagenics. i'm of european
descent. ll

地蔵菩薩

 

[wicked_faery]

TeaDidikai

Metagenetics states that your ancestry has a direct connection to your belief system and the gods. It suggests that there is a genetic link between individuals and spirituality and by extention, the gods.

Well, I can see it in some faiths. Ones with creation myths that play a key role? But then you have the problem that there are lots of mutts in the world. What does that leave them?

i think that it is true in some aspects...but there are other factors. there's past lifes, current surroundings, and many other things to consider. but like i said i do think that it's got some affect on our beliefs.  

[TagraNar]

TeaDidikai

As someone who is non-Hebrew, would you feel okay forcing yourself on a religion that says you are not welcome?

That would feel very awkward, but it would depend on whether you feel that that's the people's restriction or the god's restriction.

From what I have learned on my family, I'm mostly of Irish descent, along with some Scottish and Welsh. Reading through my book on Celtic Myths (which seemed to focus specifically on Irish and Welsh legends) things started feeling comfortable, and right (for lack of a better word). I'm also very tempted to say familiar. I've always cherished my Irish ancestry, mainly because my family puts such an emphasis on it (especially my Grandfather). I can't really explain it, but it fills me with pride, and reading those legends made things feel so right. Is it a product of my family's emphasis on that, or is it a spiritual connection, or just infatuation? I can't say.

I don't think it's a bad idea, nor should it exclude those who are interested in that culture and their gods. But one should be careful to seperate an infatuation with your ancestors and their gods and what you really believe and what feels right. Hopefully that made sense.  

[wicked_faery]

TagraNar

I don't think it's a bad idea, nor should it exclude those who are interested in that culture and their gods. But one should be careful to seperate an infatuation with your ancestors and their gods and what you really believe and what feels right. Hopefully that made sense.

it makes perfect sense. i'm in a similar boat. dad was born in ireland & there's a whole side of my family over there that i've hardly met at all. i've always been fascinated w/ my heritage...but i know i'm not confusing that fascination w/ my current beliefs. all through growing up i was catholic. & i followed it...but it never felt right to me. it felt faux. u know? & when i learned about wicca it just snapped..."wow this is what i've always truely BELIEVED. why didn't i realize it before?!?" so now i'm on my way down a path i feel is the one for me, though my parents don't really approve of it.

now i'm not saying i'm going against their wishes or being disrespectful...i feel i'm lucky for the fact that they're ok enough not to hassle me. though they do have a tendency to mock it...in public...but anyways...yes ur making perfectly good sense ^_^  

[queertastrophy]

One of the reasons why I'm studying Asatru is because I have a lot of Germanic blood in me. I've always felt a connection to the Norse deities when reading the myths, so it felt right to take this up as my path.

In fact, that's why I studied a bit of Slavic paganism before I went into this--I have almost as much Slavic ancestry as I do German. If anything, I'll incorporate a little bit of that into the Germanic stuff.

I'm honestly not 100% sure how it's going to work, but it's worth a shot. I just hope to find something that works for everyone involved. Lots of work to be done.

Now, as to certain paths being based on metagenetics...I'm not sure. I've considered a few recon. faiths that I don't have any bloodline to at all, and it didn't feel right for me. (Of course, that's just me. sweatdrop ) I kind of felt like I was intruding. But hey, if someone feels drawn to a faith that they don't have a link to ancestor-wise, and they pursue it, more power to them. I kind of envy that--I'll probably never get to work with any deities outside of the ones I mentioned above because of my own nasty little gut feeling of uneasyness about it.  

[Operation Shoestring]

Hotly contested theory my a**.

Completely untable is more like it.

Metagenetics fails because most social contructs of race, ethnicity, tribe, lineage etc, are genetically meaningless from a biological standpoint.

Abort/retry/fail  

[TeaDidikai]

Tagra>> Well said. But how do you feel about closed cultures?

wicked_faery

i think that it is true in some aspects...but there are other factors. there's past lifes, current surroundings, and many other things to consider. but like i said i do think that it's got some affect on our beliefs.

Past lives. Now that I don't hold with. I think Tagra's point about interests in a culture and a claim to said culture can be shown in this. I have an interest in Shinto. Pastlife or otherwise, I am not moving to Japan to be with the Kami any time soon.

I think that most folks of Metagenetic paths (Such as Native American and Rroma) would look at you crosseyed for the disrespect you were showing their culture and traditions.

AyanamiRei

Hotly contested theory my a**.

Completely untable is more like it.

Metagenetics fails because most social contructs of race, ethnicity, tribe, lineage etc, are genetically meaningless from a biological standpoint.

Abort/retry/fail

Hence why it's metagenetic. The concept of culture is not genetic, but there is a spirit to culture that can be experienced that goes beyond learned behaviors.  

[saint dreya]

i don't like the idea of metagenetics. for me, it's a conforming of sorts based on a chance occurance. it speaks to me of an almost racist aspect.

'your blood isn't of ours, so you can't worship our gods.' WTF?

i'd still encourage people to study their geneology though, and then the local religions and gods from their family's origins. even then, i really don't think that one shouldn't be allowed to worship even a set of deities that are not in their bloodline. there has been so much intermarriage throughout most of the countries, and immigration, that i don't think metagenetics really has a place in this world.

for that matter, who are we to question a deity's calling on someone?

as a citizen of the united states, born and raised, by a family of the same manner that goes back about three or four generations on multiple sides, this is my position.  

[TeaDidikai]

phoenix_shadowwolf

i don't like the idea of metagenetics. for me, it's a conforming of sorts based on a chance occurance. it speaks to me of an almost racist aspect.

'your blood isn't of ours, so you can't worship our gods.' WTF?

i'd still encourage people to study their geneology though, and then the local religions and gods from their family's origins. even then, i really don't think that one shouldn't be allowed to worship even a set of deities that are not in their bloodline. there has been so much intermarriage throughout most of the countries, and immigration, that i don't think metagenetics really has a place in this world.

for that matter, who are we to question a deity's calling on someone?

as a citizen of the united states, born and raised, by a family of the same manner that goes back about three or four generations on multiple sides, this is my position.

Part of the issue is that some gods are considered the founders of certain bloodlines and that some connection to the god through such a line is needed.

Also, Closed Cultures are closed for a reason and someone's passing interest in said culture does not entitle them to have full access to all the traditions of said culture.

I find it interesting that even within the pagan scene, many fluffies would claim to be Rroma and therefore display a sense of entitlement to traditions there of- where as there are far fewer people who would try and knock down the doors of a Native American Lodge or be the first ones with a chicken at the crossroads to honor Papa Legba.  

[Operation Shoestring]

TeaDidikai

AyanamiRei

Hotly contested theory my a**.

Completely untable is more like it.

Metagenetics fails because most social contructs of race, ethnicity, tribe, lineage etc, are genetically meaningless from a biological standpoint.

Abort/retry/fail

Hence why it's metagenetic. The concept of culture is not genetic, but there is a spirit to culture that can be experienced that goes beyond learned behaviors.

If that's what you speak of it should be Metaethinics, Metacultural, Metarace, or metalineage. Not metagenetics.

Seriously. Race, ethnicity, etc, are all social contrusts with no basis in genetics.  

[Gingerbread . Coffin]

I'm really mutt. If I go back 6 generations, I'm Irish, Italian, Creek, CherScotish, German, Ivory Coast African (slaves), Greek, Norwegian, Hebrew, etc, etc...

My family IS the American Melting Pot. gonk

Then there's that whole "Appalachian Granny Magic" thing, which some of my more recent ancestors practiced (like, my Grandpa and his mother before he was finally converted to Christianity shortly before I was born, and still held leanings towards it up until the day he died)...

I hadn't even thought about that until this topic. o_O; It actually seems a smiggin' bit more tuned to what I practice...

I think metageneics is somewhat strange. Sorta like saying you can't be Jewish if you weren't born Jewish. o _o;  

[TeaDidikai]

AyanamiRei

If that's what you speak of it should be Metaethinics, Metacultural, Metarace, or metalineage. Not metagenetics.

Seriously. Race, ethnicity, etc, are all social contrusts with no basis in genetics.

I'm inclined to agree. But I'm not the one who titled the theory and I think the common justification is that such is a blood lineage- often being passed down through bloodlines.

It also explains why someone raised apart from the culture can be welcomed back into it while having kept practices common to family lines even when said practices were not part of the culture they were raised in.  

[TagraNar]

TeaDidikai

Tagra>> Well said. But how do you feel about closed cultures?

This might sound silly, but could I get a definition on closed cultures? I don't want to base my answer and opinion on what I'm assuming it means.