Inara - a Wiccan perspective

POSTED BY: incongresswiththebeast
UPDATED: Friday, May 12, 2006 15:14
VIEWED: 21618
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KIZYR

Thursday, March 9, 2006 10:28 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Doffe:
Buddist religion (if You call it that) has different paths. Some of them use celibacy as the tool, some use sexuality. Look at Tibetan traditions, You find some interesting stuff about sex there.

What all of them have in common is that sexual misconduct is a pretty unskilled way of being, ultimately agreeing that "misconduct" means causing harm to yourself or others.

I think it's implied in the series (and stated explicity in the Serenity RPG book) that the dominant Buddhist tradition is Mayahana Buddhism.

Regardless, Siddhartha Gautama himself spoke about the importance of accepting responsibility for the consequences and outcomes of one's given actions; i.e., that it's not enough to just examine your intentions and motives when doing something, but you have to figure best you can on the outcome of your actions.

The same belief carries through to the idea of both reincarnation and karma. Both of them are more direct manifestations of consequences--or benefits, as the case may be. So, while individual Buddhist sects and traditions might not disagree on the importance of considering consequences, sex is a subject more specific that opens room up for debate. KF

~KF

Lord, I'm walking your way. Let me in, for my feet are sore, my clothes are ragged.
Look in my eyes, Lord, and my sins will play out on them as on a screen. Read them all.
Forgive what you can and send me on my path. I will walk on until you bid me rest.
~Haven Prayer

BROWNCOAT2006

Monday, May 8, 2006 3:24 AM

Wow... lots and LOTS of posts here to read.... I personally am semi-athiest... and I will explain this... I do not belive that one religion has all the right answers... and I am still looking for one that can cover how I feel about God... or Buddha, or whatever it is someone worships... I have no problems with anyones religons, unlike a LOT of biggits I know here in Prior Lake, Minnesota... most of the most biggoted people I know are christans, but w/e not meaning to insult christianity or anything... just seems that hardly any religion actually practices what they preach... I have noticed a lot of the parrallels that you are all discussing about Firefly and because I know a (very very) small amout about most religions (as I am trying to find my way in this crasy messed up 'verse of ours) I came to a lot of the same conclusions the rest of you did about Inara's wicca bits.... hmmm, Im not very eloquent tonight, can't seem to say what Im trying to say... and it's makeing me mad :( anyways, just throwing some of my own personal feelings in here and hopeing the general jyst of what I was trying to say got through.

FREDGIBLET

Monday, May 8, 2006 5:33 AM

This is a blast from the past, this thread is two months old. Wow.

Quote:
Originally posted by BrownCoat2006:
just seems that hardly any religion actually practices what they preach...

Which is why I abstain

EMMAZULE

Monday, May 8, 2006 7:22 AM

Quote:
That's how it works. That's how Wiccans gain respect. It won't come with a Title IX clause and bland American puritanical PC clucking.

...you do realize that Title IX is about gender, not religion? It's the clause folks use to get equal numbers of boys' and girls's athletic teams, it has nothing to do with religion (of course, it has almost nothing to do with reality, either, but that's a moot point).

Just thought I'd point that out... also, Wiccans as a whole aren't HALF as ridiculous as Scientologists (*coughTomCruisecough*), you're only thinking of the New Age Biddy and Goth Teen "Wiccan" subcultures. Having briefly belonged to the latter during freshman year of high school myself (well, minus the "goth" aspect. I was too lazy to go Goth.), I can confirm that most kids getting into it don't know what the actual religion really entails - once they do, they tend to get bored and abandon it, so you really can't call them genuine "Wiccans". Well, you COULD, but I'd have to respectfully disagree on the grounds that a "genuine Wiccan" would actually actively follow and want to follow all of the core bits and pieces of the religion, not, as Willow on BtVS once put it, "[Get] a pentagram and a spice rack and call [oneself] Wiccan." ;)

Quote:
Quote:
Negative viewpoints are valid, provided you give a viewpoint rather than just negativity.

Why? I mean, I did have another reason -fun- but I want to know why I can't merely be negative.

They didn't say you "couldn't be negative". They said pure negativity isn't "valid", and "valid" here would obviously be "valid in the minds of others", since other than your own personal opinion of what is or isn't "valid", that's the only type of "validity" you can have.

So, they're (he's? She's?) right. I don't see very many people agreeing with you here, I mostly see people expressing an opinion that you're being annoying and/or mean for no real reason other than to be mean (which is not a "valid" reason to be mean, in their eyes).

I think in large part your view's potential "validity" in this thread isn't helped by the fact that most people were actually clicking on the link to expect an actual, reasonable, intellectual discussion of an aspect of the Firefly 'verse... not a guy acting like an asshole because he feels like it (and if that's not the only reason you're acting like this, do enligthen me, although it would have to be ONE reason, since I'm sure you "felt like it"; it would seem silly to assume that you're being held at gunpoint and forced to act like this on a random internet site). And, of course, it isn't helped, either, by the fact that you dismissed the OP's thread idea as essentially a load of New Age hooey... without, apparently, having read anything more than the title of the thread (or at least, that's how it read to me, and I'm sure it's how it read to at least some of the others).

Quote:
I "lashed"? Silly me, I thought I just poked a bit o' fun. Here it turns out I was causing welts and bruises! She should put that plant stuff on the wounds, it really helps the burning.

That was a pathetic attempt at satire, you do realize that, don't you? In order for that to work, "lashed out" would have to NOT be an extremely common idiom meaning exactly what it was being used to mean in that context. Jeez, at least have some pride in your asshole-ery, willya? At least it would be remotely funny to read, then.

Ahem.

Now, in response to the OP: Wow, you really should read that essay in "Finding Serenity". It actually references that kind of thing, albeit in a historical context, not a modern one, mostly referring to I believe ancient Greece and other civilizations at or before that time (though I believe it completely ignored the Aztec version, in which the temple preistesses were also holy prostitutes... and before you beat me to it, yes, that DOES sound like a deleted line from the old Batman TV series, heh).

Also interesting is the fact that Inara is portrayed as being primarily Buddhist...ish. E

KHYRON

Monday, May 8, 2006 7:29 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by incongresswiththebeast (posted 06 March):
Um, that's it. Excuse me while I run away and think very hard about what the heck I'm going to post next!

I don't think she ever posted anything after that.

Other people can occasionally be useful, especially as minions. I want lots of minions.

EMMAZULE

Monday, May 8, 2006 7:33 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by BrownCoat2006:
Wow... lots and LOTS of posts here to read.... I personally am semi-athiest... and I will explain this... I do not belive that one religion has all the right answers... and I am still looking for one that can cover how I feel about God... or Buddha, or whatever it is someone worships... I have no problems with anyones religons, unlike a LOT of biggits I know here in Prior Lake, Minnesota... most of the most biggoted people I know are christans, but w/e not meaning to insult christianity or anything... just seems that hardly any religion actually practices what they preach... I have noticed a lot of the parrallels that you are all discussing about Firefly and because I know a (very very) small amout about most religions (as I am trying to find my way in this crasy messed up 'verse of ours) I came to a lot of the same conclusions the rest of you did about Inara's wicca bits.... hmmm, Im not very eloquent tonight, can't seem to say what Im trying to say... and it's makeing me mad :( anyways, just throwing some of my own personal feelings in here and hopeing the general jyst of what I was trying to say got through.

That's not "semi-atheist". Atheist is anti-religion, period. The word you're searching for is "Agnostic".

As the saying goes, "Atheists don't believe in anything, and Agnostics don't know what to believe."

I'm pretty much an Agnostic myself. I had one freaky experience that led me to beleive that maybe there's something "out there", and I beleive in some forms of ESP (you know, like that thing that happens when you dream about something and then it actually happens in real life? Happens all the time to me, I even have some of them, every so often, where when it happens, I'm reminded of the dream and can recall how distorted the "picture" or audio were in the original dream. Also, to some extent, I'm willing to believe in "telepathy" between people who are very close to each other, having felt it between my mother and I. But most of that seems to be ending up thinking of the same exact word or phrase, so that could very well be me having been raised by her and having half her genes

)... but other than that, I'm a bit of a skeptic, especially on the afterlife stuff. After said freaky experience, I tried getting into Wicca, but then I just couldn't really believe the whole reincarnation or Summerland things, so I just went back to being an Agnostic, albeit a more Agnostic-y Agnostic than I was before. :P

~Emma

Shiny.

KHYRON

Monday, May 8, 2006 7:38 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by EmmaZule:
That's not "semi-atheist". Atheist is anti-religion, period. The word you're searching for is "Agnostic".

Yes, he was looking for "agnostic", but I want to point out that atheism isn't about being anti-religious. It's about not believing in God and not belonging to a religion, but that doesn't mean one is opposed to the concept of religion.

Other people can occasionally be useful, especially as minions. I want lots of minions.

EMMAZULE

Monday, May 8, 2006 8:49 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Khyron:
Quote:
Originally posted by EmmaZule:
That's not "semi-atheist". Atheist is anti-religion, period. The word you're searching for is "Agnostic".

Yes, he was looking for "agnostic", but I want to point out that atheism isn't about being anti-religious. It's about not believing in God and not belonging to a religion, but that doesn't mean one is opposed to the concept of religion.

Other people can occasionally be useful, especially as minions. I want lots of minions.

Oh, I apologize for the misconstru...eption. I meant exactly what you said, actually: the person themselves is the opposite of "religious", in their own views. Didn't mean to imply that atheists were against other people having one.

I know some very nice atheists that have no problem with it at all.

~Emma

Shiny.

PHOENIXROSE

Monday, May 8, 2006 9:22 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by incongresswiththebeast:
Inara is a person who considers sex sacred in a world that doesn't, something that a lot of Wiccans can sympathise with.

I certainly sympathize, yes. Wow, it's nice to know there are other Pagan Browncoats somewhere!
Has nyone read the essay in Finding Serenity that addresses this topic? I thought it was very well thought out and it's probably my favorite essay in there. It has a great deconstruction of Heart of Gold telling the story of the lost/sacrificed Goddess. It made me love the episode even more than before.
River is still my favorite character, but I do love the symbolism Inara embodies.

*************************************************
One summer.
One mission.
One legion of Browncoats.

Starting June 23rd, we aim to misbehave.

SAHARA

Monday, May 8, 2006 8:31 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Cedric:
BitterBierce,

As a former agnostic turned Wiccan, I just have to say that I enjoy hearing your vitriol nearly as much as you do yourself.
Cedric

Hee hee. Good one Cedric.

I guess I'm an insomniac, dyslexic agnostic. I stay up nights wondering if there's a Dog!

I'm also new to this board. Thanks for a very interesting introduction everyone!

Blackbird fly into the light of the dark, black night.

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