"So you're saying that you have no teachers, and no leaders?", some will ask, disbelievingly. But we've said nothing of the sort. We're a college educated crowd, coming from cultural traditions in which the parents play an active role in the education of their children. Our parents, our older relatives, our professors ... all of these are our teachers, who have helped us find the gift of critical thought. As we have discussed elsewhere, when bring this ability to bear, as free and independent individuals, to our own life experience, discussing our thoughts as equals rather than as master and slave, the gods themselves become our teachers. We only need to listen.

As for leadership ... we are inclined to quote the cliche, that custom is our leader, and note that as long as each of us exercises the freedom to see to it that tradition is remembered correctly, it will be a very difficult leader to corrupt. But how shall we think of the one who would act as the leader, instead of letting conversation be a free exchange between equals, in a place such as this?

Imagine the wisest of teachers standing upon a hill, speaking to his students below, the soft sound of his voice almost lost in the wind. The students strain to catch his words. Suddenly, some of the students announce that they know what he is saying, and stand up to speak, shouting so loudly that none of the students can hear what the teacher is saying, themselves included. Many of the other students yield to their demand to be heard, and write down what their peers say, as if it came from the teacher. Others seek to move away, to where the shouting will not distract them. As they leave, those they defy yell "well, if you do not wish to learn, then leave". But of course, it is only by leaving that they can begin to learn.

Our self-appointed teachers, elders and priests are as the shouting students, hoping that their volume and belligerence will keep us from noticing that they are even more in the dark than we are. We are as the students who left. Let us hope that the teacher still wishes to speak, by the time we can hear him.

But the objection to the pretensions of our "authorities", is not merely a matter of speculative metaphysics, but one that is deeply rooted in our tradition. Consider the form of prayer addressed to the Olympians, in which the god is condemned, sometimes even mocked, for failing to be true to his own nature and calling, with the expectation the god will be shamed into doing better (2). In accepting this form of prayer, rather than responding to it with punishment, the only status that the god has claimed for himself, is that of first among equals, as bound to honor the duties of his role, as we are to honor our own. If one is a Christo-Pagan, Jesus claims much the same role, in a dramatic fashion, as he washes the feet of his disciple. "And the first shall be last, and the last shall be first". This being so, who are we, that we should claim a higher station? To do so is to fail to honor the duties of our legitimate role, theologically - to commit sacrilege. One can not embrace authoritarianism in any form, and be a worthy follower of either the Hellenic or Christian faiths, or of any mixture of the two.

To continue ...