[Vyth]

". . . [The Ancestor] is, for his descendants, the essential personality, the substance of which they are the accidents. . . . [P]iety consists precisely in viewing him thus, & in seeing in him but the bridge connecting his descendents with the Divine. . . . Ancestors are the human imprints of angelic substances and for that reason, also of divine Qualities: to be true to them is to be true to God. They oblige us to remain in conformity with the eternal 'idea' whence we came forth, & which is the law of our existence, the goal of our life.

"This connection between the ancestor and his angelic & divine prototypes, is apparent in the Japanese word kami, which denotes the Ancestor & the literal meaning of which is 'located above'. In sacred language, this word means 'divine aspect,' 'cosmic principle,' 'spirit.' The Shinto tradition is called Kami-no-Michi or 'Way of the Gods,' which implies that it is also the way of the Ancestors."

Schuon, Frithjof. Treasures of Buddhism, 'The Meaning of Ancestors', p. 173.

[mikema63]

My ancestors were dicks. I see no reason why they deserve worship just because they managed to have sex before they died.

[Dagoth Ur]

Ancestor worship is essentially the belief that our current actions dictate the afterlives' of our ancestors, versus the Abrahamic concept where your position in the afterlife is wholly your own responsibility. Ancestor worship is therefore more energy intensive than simply the worship of one God (who you can basically ignore).

[Vyth]

My ancestors were dicks. I see no reason why they deserve worship just because they managed to have sex before they died.

The Ancestor in the traditional sense is the essential personality or celestial archetype of which his descendants are the collective embodiment. Thus, Romulus is the Ancestor of the Romans, Athena of the Athenians, and so forth. Hence, if the you say that the ancestor of your people (Esau) was a wicked or vile person, that would entail that you yourself are wicked, since you manifest the same archetype in a reduced form. But if you are not evil, then he is not your true ancestor.

[QatzelOk]

As a Christian, I was always told to worship Jewish ancestors who had nothing to do with my own family history or culture.

As a Canadian, I was always fed a diet of America-worship that was based on stars, red and blue, and superheroes.

As a gay, I was told to worship female movie stars and musical artists, and to always be suspicious of straight men.

In all of these identities, my own ancestors are meant to be crushed by hype. Which is one reason why I have given up on identity politics. It's dead-end ideology based on worshiping a fake self.

[mikema63]

The Ancestor in the traditional sense is the essential personality or celestial archetype of which his descendants are the collective embodiment. Thus, Romulus is the Ancestor of the Romans, Athena of the Athenians, and so forth. Hence, if the you say that the ancestor of your people (Esau) was a wicked or vile person, that would entail that you yourself are wicked, since you manifest the same archetype in a reduced form. But if you are not evil, then he is not your true ancestor.

I can be nice, and I can be a total dick, just like everyone else.

What's the celestial archetype of being a bit of a dick but mostly okay?

[Saeko]

My ancestors were dicks. I see no reason why they deserve worship just because they managed to have sex before they died.

Maybe one's ancestors shouldn't be worshipped, but I think they should be revered. At least they cared about their progeny enough and were capable enough to have sex before they died, just think how many didn't.

There's a courage wolf meme that says, "You are the product of 4 billion years of evolutionary success, fucking act like it."

[ThirdTerm]

"This connection between the ancestor and his angelic & divine prototypes, is apparent in the Japanese word kami, which denotes the Ancestor & the literal meaning of which is 'located above'. In sacred language, this word means 'divine aspect,' 'cosmic principle,' 'spirit.' The Shinto tradition is called Kami-no-Michi or 'Way of the Gods,' which implies that it is also the way of the Ancestors."

Schuon, Frithjof. Treasures of Buddhism, 'The Meaning of Ancestors', p. 173.

The Ulch (Russian: ульчи)

The Jomon people, from whom the modern Japanese people are descended, originally came from Siberia around 20,000 years ago. The genetic structure of the Jomon exhibited some similarities with indigenous modern Siberian populations inhabiting along the lower Amur River, particularly the Ulchi people (Adachi et al. 2011), and some Jomon artefacts were also discovered along the Amur River. The Japanese are up to 39% Jomon (Ainu) and the Ulch girls in the photo do look Japanese. If they are serious about worshipping their real ancestors, they need to make a pilgrimage to their motherland (i.e. Siberia), where their genetic cousins still live. The Ulchi people have retained an animist religion centred on sun worship, which is similar to Shintoism's Amaterasu, the goddess of the sun.

[Vyth]

In all of these identities, my own ancestors are meant to be crushed by hype. Which is one reason why I have given up on identity politics.

Identity politics is a degenerate modern substitute for traditional ancestor worship. "Son of Athene" was an essential component of the identity of the Athenian citizen; "paederast" would have been considered incidental to the core identity of even the most outspoken of Athenian paederasts. There was never any "identity politics" because the people then already had ancestor-worship. Ancestors are central components of all authentic human identities; how a person uses his genitals is at most incidental to his core nature; at worst it is deviation from that nature.

I can be nice, and I can be a total dick, just like everyone else.
What's the celestial archetype of being a bit of a dick but mostly okay?

I would guess Esau or Cain, given the Idumean ancestry of the majority of Israeli citizens.

[mikema63]

I'm not Israeli, what does Israeli ancestry have to do with it?

Why does admitting that I'm not a saint make me a descendant of cain?

[Conscript]

Wouldn't actually worshipping your ancestors lead straight to something like nazism

[EU rope]

My ancestors were dicks. I see no reason why they deserve worship just because they managed to have sex before they died.

Come on, we know you like dicks, mikema.
Your ancestors deserve respect not because they had sex (any moron can ejaculate ) but because they raised your grandparents. And your parents deserve respect because they raised you from a shitty meatball to a grown man.
There.

[mikema63]

You dont know my family so I fail to see how you can make assertions about their quality.

[fuser]

If my descendants started worshiping me, I will haunt the shit out of them.

[KlassWar]

Our ancestors failed to build communism, why the fuck should we worship them? If and when it's built those responsible might deserve a personality cult, but not before .

Maybe one's ancestors shouldn't be worshipped, but I think they should be revered. At least they cared about their progeny enough and were capable enough to have sex before they died, just think how many didn't.

There's a courage wolf meme that says, "You are the product of 4 billion years of evolutionary success, fucking act like it."

Actually, on K-strategist species managing to have sex is the easy part: Most people who live to young adulthood manage it. The real evolutionary cull is offspring survival and fertility: An evolutionary success has to have descendants that live to have descendants of their own.

[Political Interest]

It is amazing how similar we are to those we descend from. I was doing research into my family history and upon reading documents about my great grandfather I saw how he shared some traits that I myself currently possess. I've never met him but just by reading about him I could see that I am very much from him.

[QatzelOk]

Wouldn't actually worshipping your ancestors lead straight to something like nazism

It's more accurate to say that Naziism was a product of the victims of a nasty Elite, an Elite that used Ancestor worship as a basis of entry into a very violent and intolerant mafia.

But this dynamic was primarily caused by the dynamics of organized crime, and not caused by Ancestor Worship which is perfectly normal and healthy.

Our Ancestor Worship is primarily crushed by a mass media/commercial culture that wants us - the masses - to have no community or culture. Meanwhile, they feed us Superhero Ancestor Media which teaches us to worship Our Master's ancestors because of their super-amazingness.

[skinster]

If my descendants started worshiping me, I will haunt the shit out of them.

[AuRomin]

Vyth, i need to know, do you truly believe all of what you post? If so, where did your ideas come from to you? Did your parents teach you this, some church institution, etc. To stay on the topic of ancestor worship, I think it's a horrible idea. Progressive ideas can't be made if you are always telling yourself that the people of the past were the best. I think this is a sufficient reason to refute the idea of ancestor worship. Just because something is tradition is no reason to continue doing it. I don't want to be rude, but i would be exceedingly happy if all of backwards cults, religions, and traditions died with this generation as to not corrupt the next with this nonsense.