it has been my experience that voodou is not so much a religion as it is capitalist rules for the spirit world. you can be any religion you want under voodou (ninety percent of all practitioners in Haiti are in fact roman catholic), you just accept that God is a pretty big, pretty busy guy and that you need to speak to an intermediary to make an appointment to get shit done. now, the real slick intermediaries got the bright idea to cut out the big guy and just trade you favor for favor. thus voodou is just bartering for spiritual aid.
or at least it was. these days i am fairly certain that i keep running into loa in the strangest of places. i'm almost dead certain that Elegba is pulling the strings for the whole world wide web... which is why i consecrated my computer to him. sure, it smells like really cheap, really bad rum right now, but i don't get viruses and i don't have computer problems. ever.
when i was a youngster we would go early morning surfing near laguna where there was temple and this guy i mountain climbed with told me they prepare food every day to feed people who come by the temple because it is a sanctuary so i went and ate the first time ther and the food was good and free except for the fact that they dont use seasonings...so i would always keep a bottle of tapatio in my car for when i would go to temple and eat and put dashes of hot sauce on it when noone was looking , out of respect, you know, i have had many a good meal on a broke hungry day thanks to the all-attractive blue one.... my sea captain skills are getting pretty good, maybe we could rent a boat when i come up, not necessarily to fish, cuz i feel kinda bad about all the fish i been killin', but to just go out on the ocean on a lil boat, it is very peaceful feeling until i have to start working, but the ride back is always nice....except for being covered in blood...
i dated a krsna for a short while. we couldn't kiss with tongues. we also couldn't really make out but we could intesively cuddle. very strange.....
how do you feel about moving our discussion to email? i think it's pretty uninteresting to the rest of the world and i might like to add more personal tidbits (like about the work i do, etc) into the toss....?
honestly i prefer to view religion as a business. in many cases, mostly catholicism in my experience, it is the perfect business as the profit is absolute and the product is already possessed by everyone. in catholicism, they just try to convince you that they corner the market on what you have for free.
how sad that so many believe them.
i do rather like the idea of voodou as a barter system with the spirit world. as far as systems go, capitalism is a nigh perfect representation of the natural order of things, thus capitalism for religion is just a natural progression.
my experience with voodou has been the same experience with all the faiths i have studied - some followers are con men, some are the real deal, all of them have there own way of seeing it and it is safest to take what you resonate too and incorporate it into your own views.
I now of which you speak, I used to work downtown. and on one occasion I was caught on a smoke break by a krshna, we talked for awhile he sold me some books and then asked for a cig,( if memory serves me correct ). I still have them on my bshelf and yet to read them, kinda sick in a round about way, huh?
wishicould-find the time
Kinda sick in the sense that, I made the time to listen to him, and by his books, then have put them on a shelf, for what, posterity? I'm not sure completely. Keep twisting my arm I'm sure it'll break eventually, ow, ok the Bhagavad-Gita is next on my side table.
wishicould-feel my arm
i don't much like killing them, they seem so proud as they fight for that last moment, i know i should do something that doesn't trouble me so much, but this is what i can manage because i can't do 40-50 hours of construction a week, i tried and i ended up hurt real bad...anyway i go out at 5am because we have to time the tide so we don't get caught in an area called the potato patch which has wrecked many boats and ships, i caught 12 salmon and i could feel their spirits follow me all day..i have drank some patron and i am sounding a lil' crazy...i will probably cath more this morning cuz they are really running right now, it is hard to be the exucutioner of such a beautiful being, i hope i can be worthy to take them, they fight hard for their lives and they bleed as much as a person...i only hope to be worthy...i lost 50 $$$ gambling with the other fisherman..the fate of murderers is to risk everything for nothing i was once told.....
or at least it was. these days i am fairly certain that i keep running into loa in the strangest of places. i'm almost dead certain that Elegba is pulling the strings for the whole world wide web... which is why i consecrated my computer to him. sure, it smells like really cheap, really bad rum right now, but i don't get viruses and i don't have computer problems. ever.
yeah loa.