| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Pagan and Christian Creeds by Edward Carpenter: of gods. It had not risen to the conception of eternal
deities sitting apart and governing the world in solemn
conclave--as from the slopes of Olympus or the recesses
of the Christian Heaven. It belonged, in fact, in its
inception, to the age of Magic. The creed of Sin and
Sacrifice, or of Guilt and Expiation--whatever we like to call
it--was evolved perfectly naturally out of the human mind
when brought face to face with Life and Nature) at
some early stage of its self-consciousness. It was essentially
the result of man's deep, original and instinctive
sense of solidarity with Nature, now denied and belied
Pagan and Christian Creeds |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from God The Invisible King by H. G. Wells: people. The pious are represented as being constantly delighted by
these little surprises, these bouquets and chocolate boxes from the
divinity. Or contrawise he contrives spiteful turns for those who
fail in their religious attentions. He murders Sabbath-breaking
children, or disorganises the careful business schemes of the
ungodly. He is represented as going Sabbath-breakering on Sunday
morning as a Staffordshire worker goes ratting. Ordinary everyday
Christianity is saturated with this fetishistic conception of God.
It may be disowned in THE HIBBERT JOURNAL, but it is unblushingly
advocated in the parish magazine. It is an idea taken over by
Christianity with the rest of the qualities of the Hebrew God. It
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Water-Babies by Charles Kingsley: touched them, they drew themselves in and turned into knots of
jelly; and then Tom saw that they were all alive - bells, and
stars, and wheels, and flowers, of all beautiful shapes and
colours; and all alive and busy, just as Tom was. So now he found
that there was a great deal more in the world than he had fancied
at first sight.
There was one wonderful little fellow, too, who peeped out of the
top of a house built of round bricks. He had two big wheels, and
one little one, all over teeth, spinning round and round like the
wheels in a thrashing-machine; and Tom stood and stared at him, to
see what he was going to make with his machinery. And what do you
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