causticus: trees (0)
Causticus ([personal profile] causticus) wrote 2024-03-18 05:25 pm (UTC)

Yeah, no disagreement from me there! I was myself thinking along the lines of, "the Tao that can be named is not the Tao."

On the question of "what's the point?" the author answers it quite clearly:

Why reconstruct pagan monotheism? I have two reasons for doing so.

First, as a role-playing game designer and worldbuilder by vocation, reconstructing ancient religions is simply something I enjoy. The insights I gain from this effort will be directly useful in the continuing development of the fictional “Auran Empire” that forms the centerpiece of my role-playing game intellectual property. So, even if Tree of Woe did not exist, I would make this reconstruction for my own creative purposes.

Second, as a philosopher of the Right, I believe that reconstructing pagan monotheism can make a valuable contribution towards what Nelson Elliott calls “alt-ecumenism.” Our current religious institutions have become corrupted by the forces that they ought to oppose, and right-wingers of very different religions nowadays have more in common with each other than with the members of corrupted sects that are nominally their own. Yet all too often there is mutual antagonism between right-wing Christianity and right-wing Paganism. This must be overcome. By reconstructing pagan monotheism, I hope to demonstrate that many right-wing Christians and Pagans are ultimately worshipping the same high and holy God, and by doing so improve comity among our allies.


Clearly, a political project. But to be fair, it's arguable that every organized religion has been a political project.

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