The Department of Silly Titles


Looking to the title for power instead of yourself

Yesterday I read an absolute zinger of a blog written by a fellow calling himself the Emissary of all Wiccans. Now he claimed that the Goddess herself had given him this title. The blog was a fun read, if for no other reason to remind me that "there, but for the Divine Nudge..."

Now title power is legitimate, but only if the title itself is legitimate and earned.

When it comes to title power, hardly any one ever tells you that if someone really deserves the title, they earned and used the power long beforehand.

I think that is one of the things that bothers me about some who call themselves Pagan. I know from personal experience that some people's commitment is only skin deep. If they faced any kind of test, they would run right back to the "faith of their fathers" with nary a backward glance.

Then you get all the people who want respect because of the title, never realizing that the worth of their individual path depends on what they draw out of themselves.

If someone depends on the title to give them power, then they never mastered the power to begin with.

I can't respect someone just because they call themselves Pagan, anymore than I can respect someone just because they call themselves Christian. Or Hebrew. Or Buddhist.

The title is worthless without the individual inside.

Gods always demand more than we can give now, just so we learn to stretch.

There will always be someone who can take authority when and if they choose. It's not because of a title. It's not because of a gun. It's not because they have good hair or a killer bod. It's because that power and authority is central to what they are.

That doesn't mean that other people can't earn authority.

It just means that the title alone is not enough.

A few years back, I was thinking on the name NeoWayland. I adopted it sort of quickly, like I did other internet names at the time. I hadn't been online at home that long, and I usually wondered in, said a few things, and then moved on under another identity.

Later when I was thinking about changing the name, Someone told me that NeoWayland wasn't a name as much as it was a title.

Well, what did that mean? I asked.

That is up to you, I was told.

It may be a title, but what it becomes is because of my actions. Until then it is a name I use online.

I'm still thinking about that one. It makes me nervous sometimes.

It doesn't give me any power or authority over anyone else.

It's just me. NeoWayland.

I can't make a declaration. But I can make a request. No titles unless they are earned.

Otherwise I think I will make up my own titles for silly people.

Posted: Thu - May 4, 2006 at 05:43 AM
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