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What I see Pan as being opposed to is not Christianity, but rather what I guess I could call guilt-based consciousness. I believe that one of the great roadblocks to happiness is poverty-based consciousness, where you always feel like there's never enough and spend all your energy grasping at things to fill that unfillable hole caused by that frame of mind. Another block to happiness, and these both may have the same root somewhere deep down, is guilt-based consciousness. That's about not ever feeling like you're good enough, sort of a poverty of spirit.
Christianity sadly can lend itself to this sort of mentality very well, because you are always in a state of sin and there's no hope for you unless you've atoned through being baptized or confessing or whatever... and to me, that's an awful way to live. Wiccans who (in my mind) misinterpret the Rede to mean 'you must never harm anything' set themselves up for this same sort of always-reaching yet never-attaining that seems to me would be very depressing. It's not the fault of these paths, but it says more of the person who latches onto this particular interpretation that they would set themselves up for endless failure that way... it reinforces my belief that your worst enemy is always yourself.
Obviously not every Christian or Wiccan gets themselves trapped in this sort of mentality. But a lot of people do, and it poisons every aspect of their lives. Perhaps they were raised by disapproving parents and mined this particular vein of their spirituality to the very dregs... where others raised in happiness ignored it. So while I don't buy into the notion that all Christians were dour guilt-peddlers and all ancient pagans were happy and carefree, I definitely see this sort of guilt-consciousness (and its handmaiden, Miss Misery-Loves-Company) in people around me. One of the most unfair traps Christians set up is 'despair is a sin'. So even feeling bad about your perpetual state of damnedness is just making it worse for yourself.
So what opposes it? This is what I see Pan as representing. Ethical hedonism- thoughtful, mindful joy. Pan-consciousness. Something that deep down I think we are all born with the potential for- I don't think we're born with it, because part of the joyful process of maturity is to extend your circle of happiness to include family, friends, your community, humanity, all of creation. But it gets squashed, caged, stifled, twisted. By your parents, a bully, a bad teacher, a bad culture, bad luck, bad brain chemistry- any number of things. Bringing Pan-consciousness to replace guilt-consciousness must truly be one of the Great Works.
Christianity sadly can lend itself to this sort of mentality very well, because you are always in a state of sin and there's no hope for you unless you've atoned through being baptized or confessing or whatever... and to me, that's an awful way to live. Wiccans who (in my mind) misinterpret the Rede to mean 'you must never harm anything' set themselves up for this same sort of always-reaching yet never-attaining that seems to me would be very depressing. It's not the fault of these paths, but it says more of the person who latches onto this particular interpretation that they would set themselves up for endless failure that way... it reinforces my belief that your worst enemy is always yourself.
Obviously not every Christian or Wiccan gets themselves trapped in this sort of mentality. But a lot of people do, and it poisons every aspect of their lives. Perhaps they were raised by disapproving parents and mined this particular vein of their spirituality to the very dregs... where others raised in happiness ignored it. So while I don't buy into the notion that all Christians were dour guilt-peddlers and all ancient pagans were happy and carefree, I definitely see this sort of guilt-consciousness (and its handmaiden, Miss Misery-Loves-Company) in people around me. One of the most unfair traps Christians set up is 'despair is a sin'. So even feeling bad about your perpetual state of damnedness is just making it worse for yourself.
So what opposes it? This is what I see Pan as representing. Ethical hedonism- thoughtful, mindful joy. Pan-consciousness. Something that deep down I think we are all born with the potential for- I don't think we're born with it, because part of the joyful process of maturity is to extend your circle of happiness to include family, friends, your community, humanity, all of creation. But it gets squashed, caged, stifled, twisted. By your parents, a bully, a bad teacher, a bad culture, bad luck, bad brain chemistry- any number of things. Bringing Pan-consciousness to replace guilt-consciousness must truly be one of the Great Works.
