Paganism: Katrina Thralls

I read “Paganism” by Vivianne Crowley. According to Crowley, “Nature is a manifestation of the Divine,” so “life is balanced by death.” This is a more and more prominent view in America, but is still something that us in West have a very difficult time with. Even within our western religions, we tend to think of death as an end, or even a beginning. But even if your religion tells you that death is an end to suffering, or allows you to enter Heaven, or has other positive effects, it is nearly impsossible to think of death happily. Most Christians do not have wakes instead of funerals; it is inappropriate to be happy at someone’s death, even if you honestly believe they are in Heaven, by God’s side, finally complete and happy. If this is our ultimate goal, why are we not happy for them? Is it simply because we miss them and want them here? Or do we not really believe that they are with God? If it is the former, we are practicing selfishness to an unbelievable extent. It’s the cosmic equivalent of being terribly depressed for your friend who just got married, only instead of an Earthly union, it is one with God. If it is the latter, than our religion is not our religion at all, and we need to ask ourselves what we believe.