Tidying up offerings

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Creyr C
Creyr May 21, 2010 08:37:16
Replying to Creyr

Thankyou all for your thoughts and responses.

I don't want to lose the point of the thread here though.

In this case the leaving of offerings resulted in a tree being chopped down.

So, I hope we can all have the foresight and breadth of vision to take into account other people's perspectives and aim for the best possible outcome.

When we do certain things on other people's private land they might not like it and may act accordingly.

This is why I suggest that people who are into making offerings do it in a way that vanishes into thin air.

Making an offering can be an awesome thing. Ive been very moved by seeing people bear their soul in prayer. It seems to me that the most beautiful offerings are those that reveal everything and leave no trace.

M Mustard
Mustard May 21, 2010 08:41:08
Replying to Creyr

Creyr wrote:
In this case the leaving of offerings resulted in a tree being chopped down.
Whatever one's view on "offerings", the above statement is disingenuous. It was a farmer's arrogance and ignorance that led to a tree being chopped down.

L Littlestone
Littlestone May 21, 2010 09:44:52
Replying to Creyr

It seems to me that the most beautiful offerings are those that reveal everything and leave no trace.
Absolutely.

And until we all agree on that it might, perhaps, be best to see sites (within our own cultural tradition*) as being 'ours' only while we are there. In other words, apart from having a duty to be respectful to others who may be visiting a site at the same time as ourselves, we shouldn't deposit anything there that might offend those who follow (or anything that might damage the site) and we shouldn't take any material features (however small) away from a site when we leave.

* The feature here may be of interest as it tries to look at both sides of the argument from the perspective of two different cultures - http://heritageaction.wordpress.com/2009/08/29/votive-offerings-and-dondo-yaki/