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Polarity Center in Maryland

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snorks:
I read the exchange between Ken and Al.  As for the folks in the pictures, I do recognize some of them.  Folks in the Washington D.C. area who are New Agers or looking for Shaman teachings are not yuppies, but they are mostly white people who want more in spiritual teachings.  They are people who conventional religion doesn't satisfy and are looking for something they can be a part of.

Most of the people around here (D.C.) do combine several trads into one - the Tarotists study the Runes, I-Ching, and Kabala to understand more.  They come at it from a secular point of view (theraputic) and transform it into something spiritual.  I think from this way of learning spiritual things, it becames easy to include Native teachings as well.

There are no boundaries as such.  Most people are 'universalists' in that they combine many trads into one.  'Folkish' or 'tribal' understandings are alien to them.  "Folkish" means boundaries and what is mine is mine, and not yours.  The idea that it may belong to a specific group is an alien one.

I doubt many of the folks understand that mixing Shamanic with Lakota or other tribal rituals is disapproved of in various  Native communities.  It is a difficult concept when everything seems so open and accessible.  I think that a dialog between 'universalists' and 'folkish' is a hard one.  It is like one between U.S. liberals and conservatives.  Difficult to bridge.

Barnaby_McEwan:

--- Quote ---There are no boundaries as such.  Most people are 'universalists' in that they combine many trads into one.  'Folkish' or 'tribal' understandings are alien to them.  "Folkish" means boundaries and what is mine is mine, and not yours.  The idea that it may belong to a specific group is an alien one.
--- End quote ---

I wish you hadn't used that word 'folkish'. It has a very different meaning to the one you give it here.

"Identifying as folkish is a way of saying that you're a racist without actually admitting to yourself that you're a racist."

It's derived from the German word völkisch, which is difficult to translate fully. You can get a flavour of it by remembering that the Nazi party published a lurid hate-sheet called the "Völkischer Beobachter" (meaning roughly "Racist Observer"). if you want to find out where völkisch thinking came from, read George Mosse's "The Crisis of German Ideology: Intellectual Origins of the Third Reich".

Ken:

--- Quote ---
--- Quote ---There are no boundaries as such. ? Most people are 'universalists' in that they combine many trads into one. ? 'Folkish' or 'tribal' understandings are alien to them. ? "Folkish" means boundaries and what is mine is mine, and not yours. ? The idea that it may belong to a specific group is an alien one.
--- End quote ---

I wish you hadn't used that word 'folkish'. It has a very different meaning to the one you give it here.

"Identifying as folkish is a way of saying that you're a racist without actually admitting to yourself that you're a racist."

It's derived from the German word völkisch, which is difficult to translate fully. You can get a flavour of it by remembering that the Nazi party published a lurid hate-sheet called the "Völkischer Beobachter" (meaning roughly "Racist Observer"). if you want to find out where völkisch thinking came from, read George Mosse's "The Crisis of German Ideology: Intellectual Origins of the Third Reich".
--- End quote ---


In order not to get sidetracked by the Nazi spin which has nothing to do with the use of "folkish":
 
SYLLABICATION: folk·ish
PRONUNCIATION:   fksh
ADJECTIVE: 1. Of or characteristic of folk music, art, or literature. 2. Simple or natural; folksy: charmed us with his folkish wit and humor.  
OTHER FORMS: folkish·ly —ADVERB
folkish·ness —NOUN

More at folkways and mores.

snorks:
Sorry about 'folkish'.  I was trying to say that what belongs to a specific ethnic group.

educatedindian:
"Folks in the Washington D.C. area who are New Agers or looking for Shaman teachings are not yuppies"

Snorks, I don't know if you know how the term yuppie came about. YUPpie=Young Upwardly mobile Professional. The Young part was true at the time the phrase was invented, mid 80s. So now it means Baby Boomer generation, mostly ex hippies or people once on the fringe of the hippie movement (but who usually no longer are.) In the US, that rarely meant working class, mostly meant upper middle class.

It's pretty obvious this bunch, like most Nuagers, has at least a little money. She does pay to pray ceremonies. Very few exploiters are based in rural Mississippi or Harlem or East Los Angeles. They're in Sedona or Jackson Hole or Beverly Hills. Or the suburbs of DC, which is one of the most expensive places to live in the US.

So, yes, if they have money to live in DC...and to spend on pay to pray ceremonies....most of them are Yuppies.

"They come at it from a secular point of view (theraputic) and transform it into something spiritual.  I think from this way of learning spiritual things, it becames easy to include Native teachings as well.
 There are no boundaries as such.  Most people are 'universalists' in that they combine many trads into one.  'Folkish' or 'tribal' understandings are alien to them.  "Folkish" means boundaries and what is mine is mine, and not yours.  The idea that it may belong to a specific group is an alien one."

I think you may have a point. People from a strongly religious family background often have an easier time getting what we say than those who aren't. After all, most Christians. Jews, Muslims, etc, understand that Christian, Jewish, Muslim, etc traditions belong to people OF those faiths, not differing ones.

And like you point out, these are all whites in that photo. There's more than a little bit of White Privilege in the claim that "we can do whatever we want, we have the right."

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