Within Paganicon there is usually a vendor room where people sell wares and different assortments of goods. From books, stickers, henna, clothing, tea and one vendor was a taxidermist selling bones of animals. Sometimes within the vendor room it is hard to have conversations with people because there are usually a ton of people buying different things. Surprisingly I was able to have one conversation with a vendor.
I asked her what she thought about all of this being within this event and she surprisingly told me that she was not pagan at all. She just mostly sold her clothing there because the people usually liked it. She stated she would put stones and different witchy things out for people to take because it usually helped them and made them feel good. We talked a little more and she told me that what she believes is the more good energy she produces out onto others, the more it has a ripple effect and it spreads out to other people. I then asked her if she believed that she is God? She stated no and then quickly changed the subject to something else. We chatted for a little bit more, I said goodbye and proceeded out of the vendor room.
The Truth of the Matter:
Even though this was a short conversation, this gal brought up some very interesting insights. One is that she is not pagan. The other is she believes that the more good energy that she produces herself the more it spreads onto others which causes a ripple effect.
Now think about it, not everyone has to be a pagan to go to an event like this. There are many different kinds of people who attend this gathering and most of them are lost, hurt, are wanting some type of community to be a part of or are wanting to feel something spiritual and have that spiritual awakening. Which means that they are searching for something. I would also wonder if this vendor was searching for something too. Whether it be community or just even a paycheck.
Now the other thing is you have a gal who believes the more good energy she sends out into the world the better it is and causes a ripple effect. This situation can be described as availability heuristic. Availability heuristic is defined as someone to expect the future to conform with the most salient and accessible outcome.1 Meaning people can either expect the future to unfold as the most easily imagined scenario.2 This can often lead to overestimation of vivid or recent events. For example, a people who see a news about someone winning the lottery, will want to make those people buy more tickets, as the success is highly visible, but they are overestimate their own slim chances of winning due to how many lottery tickets are being bought. So the instance of this gal thinking that the more good energy she produces out the more it will spread onto the world is within the realm of availability heuristic. The thought behind this is the more people who pick up the stones and things that she has, the more good she is producing onto the world.
Well now the thought that comes to mind is “well don’t we all do that when we are doing good deeds and it has a ripple effect onto others?” Yes, that is true but it depends on the heart. Are you trying to elevate yourself by doing the things you do? Or are you doing them for another reason. 1 John 4:11-16,19 states, “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. We love because he first loved us.” So, by abiding in Christ, you are showing God’s love in action to those around you. Mark 10:43-45 states “But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
We serve because he served, we work because he worked, to show God’s love to others. The cool thing is the things we do, do not go unnoticed. Matthew 6:19-21 states, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
It really depends on the heart. Are you doing it to elevate yourself in some manner, to make yourself feel good? Or are you doing it to serve God and to show his love unto others?
That is the question.
1. Braga, João Niza. 2024. “The Effects of Construal Level on Predictive Heuristics: Disentangling Representativeness From Availability.” Basic & Applied Social Psychology 46 (3): 187–99. https://doi-org.ezproxy.ccu.edu/10.1080/01973533.2024.2316086.
2. Braga, João Niza. 2024. “The Effects of Construal Level on Predictive Heuristics: Disentangling Representativeness From Availability.” Basic & Applied Social Psychology 46 (3): 187–99. https://doi-org.ezproxy.ccu.edu/10.1080/01973533.2024.2316086.