Topic: Join My Church!
Started by: John Wick
Started on: 4/6/2005
Board: Forge Birthday Forum
On 4/6/2005 at 6:16pm, John Wick wrote:
Join My Church!
(from my LJ, last month or so)
I'm starting my own church. This is what we believe.
We believe in a reality that is very close to our own, a reality that sometimes touches our own, and sometimes even crosses over. This reality has been called many things by many people. It has been called the Astral Plane, the Dreaming, the Tellurian, and Ideaspace.
We feed this place with our dreams, our ideas, our inspirations and aspirations. We visit this place when we dream. When our minds are set at the right speed. Shamen used peyote to reach this place. Tibetan monks used meditation. If we refuse to sleep, sometimes the dreams fight their way through. This is the place where dreams and dreamers meet. We call to them and they answer back.
Heroes are born here, live here, and die here. All our legends, all our faiths are born in this place. It is the home of Robin Hood and Beowulf. Buddha and the Christ are here, breaking bread and drinking wine. Just over there, Jacque de Molay and the Old Man on the Mountain play an endless game of chess. Odin and Loki argue with Zeus and Prometheus. All our dreams, all our legends, all our myths. They come from this place. This holy, sacred place.
We believe this place can be reached through various means. We use ritual and ordeal. We use the ritual of enacting the stories of heroes. We do not simply tell the stories of heroes, we walk in their footsteps. To summon the energy of heroes, we tell their tales. We wrap ourselves in their symbols and invoke the hero. We do not simply tell the myth, we become the myth. We are the heroes of the stories we tell.
We are shamen, summoning the spirits of heroes.
We are magicians, making magic with rituals and ordeals.
We are gamers.
* * *
If you'd like to join my church, let me know. More details later.
On 4/6/2005 at 6:34pm, Andy Kitkowski wrote:
RE: Join My Church!
If I join your church, can I buy a Toyota Echo and a decent HDTV and get them tax-free?
If so, I'm in.
-Andy
On 4/6/2005 at 6:37pm, inthisstyle wrote:
Re: Join My Church!
John Wick wrote: If you'd like to join my church, let me know. More details later.
Preaching to the converted, my friend.
On 4/6/2005 at 6:38pm, TonyLB wrote:
RE: Join My Church!
Is it too early for me to foment a schism and a bloody crusade?
On 4/6/2005 at 6:45pm, Lxndr wrote:
RE: Join My Church!
TonyLB wrote: Is it too early for me to foment a schism and a bloody crusade?
Too early. Try back next week.
On 4/6/2005 at 7:02pm, John Wick wrote:
RE: Join My Church!
TonyLB wrote: Is it too early for me to foment a schism and a bloody crusade?
A little too early. Wait till I write the Sacred Book... then we can disagree about interpretation. ;)
On 4/6/2005 at 7:02pm, John Wick wrote:
RE: Join My Church!
Andy Kitkowski wrote: If I join your church, can I buy a Toyota Echo and a decent HDTV and get them tax-free?
If so, I'm in.
-Andy
No. But all your game books are tax deductable. :)
On 4/6/2005 at 7:07pm, inthisstyle wrote:
RE: Join My Church!
John Wick wrote: No. But all your game books are tax deductable. :)
Excellent! That's worth it right there.
On 4/6/2005 at 7:21pm, Bob Goat wrote:
RE: Join My Church!
Hmm...
Do we have to wear funny hats? I'm not big on the funny hat rules some churches have.
Also, if there is any sort of mutilation ritual I am not interested. That shit just scares the pants off me (which I suppose makes it easier for the ritual to happen).
Keith
On 4/6/2005 at 7:33pm, Ben Lehman wrote:
RE: Join My Church!
What does your church have to say about being a good person? Doing right?
On 4/6/2005 at 7:55pm, Andy Kitkowski wrote:
RE: Join My Church!
John Wick wrote: No. But all your game books are tax deductable. :)
Ahhh, too bad. Because of the nature of my job, computer parts, PS2 games, manga and anime, and (some: PDF, foreign language) game books all count as business expenses, and thus tax deductible. But any way I squint, a new car nor a high-quality TV count for these purposes. :-(
Because I bought Cat this year, I'm one step closer to a tax bracket drop next year. Yay!
-Andy
On 4/6/2005 at 8:15pm, greyorm wrote:
RE: Join My Church!
Ben Lehman wrote: What does your church have to say about being a good person? Doing right?
Not all religions have a moral focus. Many of them do, but it isn't a prerequisite.
On 4/6/2005 at 8:16pm, Ben Lehman wrote:
RE: Join My Church!
greyorm wrote:Ben Lehman wrote: What does your church have to say about being a good person? Doing right?
Not all religions have a moral focus. Many of them do, but it isn't a prerequisite.
'kay.
I have no time for things that aren't helping me become a better person.
So I guess that's a big fat "no."
yrs--
--Ben
On 4/6/2005 at 8:40pm, John Wick wrote:
RE: Join My Church!
Ben Lehman wrote: What does your church have to say about being a good person? Doing right?
The First International Church of the Imagination teaches you how to find your own myths and symbols. You define their importance and meaning.
Through secret rituals and initiations, you learn the True Meanings of good and evil.
The final step toward Enlightenment is when you become a Grand Accepted Master of Esoteric Ritual.
On 4/6/2005 at 8:49pm, Ben Lehman wrote:
RE: Join My Church!
Can't you just tell me about good and evil right now?
yrs--
--Ben
On 4/6/2005 at 9:07pm, John Wick wrote:
RE: Join My Church!
Ben Lehman wrote: Can't you just tell me about good and evil right now?
yrs--
--Ben
I think I just did. ;)
On 4/6/2005 at 9:55pm, Miskatonic wrote:
RE: Join My Church!
Well if you don't have funny hats, I want no part of it. And if you do have funny hats, you've lost Goat. So right there we got a schism.
On 4/6/2005 at 10:11pm, Andy Kitkowski wrote:
RE: Join My Church!
Miskatonic wrote: Well if you don't have funny hats, I want no part of it. And if you do have funny hats, you've lost Goat. So right there we got a schism.
Maybe some of you can have funny hats, and a splinter sect could have, say, funny wallets. They would either be The Elite, or Pariahs.
On 4/8/2005 at 1:56am, Asrogoth wrote:
RE: Join My Church!
BLASPHEMY! BLASPHEMY! BLASPHEMY!
I must call upon the power of the Almighty EGG to destroy this abomination from being birthed!
Or whatever...
Sounds, umm, well... it sounds....
On 4/8/2005 at 11:51am, pete_darby wrote:
RE: Join My Church!
Sorry, I may already be Pope of the Church of the Terminal Paranoid reality.
I could tell you about it, but I'd have to kill you.
You may already be a member... or a heretic.
Look over there! (runs)