The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum

Fair enough, so ignoring comfort level then, how should I get started?

 
Uh, google? Check the news in your area to see what events are going on? I don't think we should have to spoon feed you.

Personally, I take a lot of comfort in "shit happens".  that means it isn't personal.

 
"I used to think it was awful that life was so unfair. Then I thought, 'wouldn't it be much worse if life were fair, and all the terrible things that happen to us come because we actually deserve them?' So now I take great comfort in the general hostility and unfairness of the universe." - Marcus Cole, Babylon 5

I've compared the higher self to a polytheistic god. Upthread it was pointed out that the Gods aren't infallible. The same is true of the higher self... think of it as the sum total of your experiences across all lifetimes. Does that make it wise? After a few lifetimes most likely. Does that make it perfect? No, no more than the Gods.

Miscarriages also bring into question when the soul or higher self enters the body. Personally, I believe it's not when the child's takes its first breath of air, but it's first breath. "Practice breathing" begins at 9 weeks. The other milestone that we could use is a docs guess at when a child "becomes conscious", according to this website :  http://www.beginbeforebirth.org/in-the-womb/fetal-development would be between 17 and 26 weeks. The breath thing comes (as UPG to me) from breath embodying life in the biblical story of creation (among others), so if you choose a different benchmark, that's fine with me. In any case, before the soul enters the body, the choice hasn't been made. (Sorry, longer sideline than I meant it to be)
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 I really hope I'm parsing you incorrectly and that you aren't actually cruel enough to tell me that the miscarriage that nearly killed me was because my child's higher self rejected me. I mean are you looking for a system where you can harm the most people or what? Because that's monstrous.

I think you're backwards of what I was saying.  

Your child chose you, potentially knowing the risks involved. Possibly because they saw something in you that was worth the risk of not incarnating properly.

If the choice was made in advance of the miscarriage event, then the choice was made. There may have been knowledge of the possibility of miscarriage of their part, but they chose you anyway. To me, it indicates something about you (mind you based solely on that, I can hardly claim to know you) that incarnating spirits are called towards.

That's how I interpreted it. You did say the 'Higher Self' was not omniscient, therefor it might not be able to foresee events *after* the choice had been made. After all, there is a lot to factor in (for instance, that the parent was *also* chosen for their parents)

Fair enough, so ignoring comfort level then, how should I get started?

 

Well, what Sage said. And also, just because the right choice/action is usually the hardest one, that doesn't mean it has to be torture.

Start where you're most comfortable and then push off from there.

Sure, pre birth choice is mine, call it UPG, dismiss it if you want, but I came to this realization before being exposed to the concept of privilege. I'm not going to throw it out just because it creates problems for a new concept.

Furthermore, I'm here because I've defined the concept of privilege, identified some of the areas in which I have it, and came to a dilemma about what some of it means. In short, I'm in the process of checking my privilege. My thought is, no, nobodies obligated to help me, for the phrase to have any meaning at all, the process WILL at times get messy. If you don't feel like helping that's fine, but attacking me, and the process I use, isn't helping me, isn't helping your cause, isn't helping you. I'm all for debate, and I'm all for having help,  but this is my process. I might say things that make you uncomfortable. That's ok, the process is mine, and there have been things here that have helped me, so my choice of venue works.

Yes, there's anger. Deal. That's my problem and part of my process is learning why that anger exists. That's not why I chose to ask for assistance.

In short, this is my work, it's messy and uncomfortable, and there's way more going on on my end than just this. If you (or anybody else) doesn't feel like helping that's fine, but I don't understand  why you're disruptive.

If you believe I don't have a proper understanding of privilege, then share one, if you're so inclined. You may be right, I think I've got it (although I don't think a definition from me would help you believe that), but I could be wrong. Just telling me I don't get it isn't helping

 
If this 'higher self' is your personal belief, why did you link to a wiki article instead of explaining it? I have no idea now what this 'higher self' actually functions. What is its decision making capacity? How does it relate to individual people? How is its actions different form that of any other outside force, like a god or even random chance?

As for the rest, the complicating issue is that you have used all the techniques of an inverted narrative. Ignoring the inherent levels of victim blaming in your philosophy, you portrayed yourself as the victim. People were 'attacking' you. Pointing our your privilege made you 'feel guilty'. Nobody was attacking you, they were simply pointing out the obvious implications of your beliefs. This is the same language used by other privileged groups, which tries to cast them as the victims. The term 'Reverse Racism' springs to mind. Like how Evangelicals in the US claim that Christianity is a persecuted religion when they don't get their way. Or when Men's 'rights' groups claim that giving women rights somehow makes men 'second class' citizens.

The problem with this type of privilege is that it is largely unspoken and unacknowledged. This makes it pervasive and very difficult to combat, because people don't realise that they have it, or that they are benefiting from it. Your are more likely to be hired for a job, believed by the police, be safer in general. If you do something bad you are more likely to be forgiven, or let of lightly, or taken at your word. This you take for granted. The bias is systematic, and pervasive.

This is probably the situation that you are in, and I don't believe you are doing this deliberately by any stretch. This calling out your privilege seems like an attack, because this situation seems normal to you. I know that it can be confronting sometimes. And of course there are white people, and white men, who do suffer from poverty and social exclusion. Nor does it mean that other people always have it hard. It means that the current western social system is biased in favour of white people.

If your serious about this, if you are really really interested in actually doing something, the first step would be to understand where other people are coming from and what their life experiences are like. Get to know them.