“In the absence of understanding, triviality dominates.” - UPDATED
This is a page from the third version of Technopagan Yearnings. There are some formatting differences. Originally published at www.neowayland.com/C144519857/E20081106065908
Sort of progress, still not sure if I am going to do it
Okay, "the book." This is the first entry of a new category so I can tell you how it is coming.
I still haven't decided if I am going to do it, I am acting as if I will. I've been reading Writing Spiritual Books on Lupa's recommendation and thinking about my own practices.
I don't want to systematize my practices, I got enough of that with Christianity as a kid. I've also been guilty of the "pure intuition" thing, bouncing from spot to spot at the whims of the universe, my own passions, and the occasional nudges of my fellow humans. When I could be bothered to pay attention to them anyway.
The way I look at it now, my approach to my formal rites is sort of like a favorite camping spot. I do what I can to clean it up and make it useful, but I don't have to camp there. I may invite people along. I don't have to use a tent. If I use a tent, I have no idea what the color might be, if it can keep the rain off or not, or even if it smells. And if the tent doesn't work, there's nothing that stops me from trying something else. I don't have to have a fire, I don't even have to have a cookstove. I know where I am going, when I am going, and I know what the goal is, but the rest I try not to plan out too much before hand. That keeps my Wildman sated.
❝Okay, I have to share my Wildman joke with you. Well, it's not exactly a joke, another of those personal ritual things. I have a hutch on my desk. On top of the hutch, dominating a cluster of bear statues, some computer speakers, a centaur statue, and a Galileo thermometer, there's a Wildman that was a gift. Usually I enter and leave the sanctum by way of the library, and usually when I am there I'm not wearing much. Every time I leave the sanctum by it's front door, I touch the end of the statue's phallus. When I leave by the front door, I am wearing clothes, but I am acknowledging that there is a Wildman in me who'd like nothing more than wear only those clothes necessary for warmth and ignore the rest. So yep, you can say he's a fetish in both senses of the word.❞
So why did I tell you this?
Because some of the Pagan spiritual books I have been looking at are pretty dry. Oh sure, they have the mechanics, but the emotion has been wrung out of them. People cherish their passions. I believe that very strongly. My passions may not be the same as yours, but it's enough to know that you have passions.
My connections to the Divine can be argumentative, but hey, I was raised that way. There's no doubt in my mind that They care for me and I care for Them. The umm, "spirited discussion" (pun intended) is just another way to reaffirm that. Is that the only True Way™? No, but it's one of my ways and it's one of the ones I am most passionate about. Now, outside the "family" I'll protect Their honor as it if were my own. So I don't talk about the things we've disagreed on unless they convince me to change my mind.
So while I am a technopagan who likes his internet, his hot water on tap, and his clean sheets, I'm also that Wildman who likes howling at the Great Moon hanging full and ripe in the summer night sky.
If I am going to write this book, it has to bridge those worlds and show that the barrier between the worlds isn't really there. More importantly, I have to encourage people to figure that out for themselves. It's about passion. It's about both the Wild People and the Modern People. It's about finding one inside the other.
❝*grins* Okay, that reminds me. One of the first mindblowing bits of wisdom that someone passed on to me. You know about the yin-yang symbol right? Well, you see, it's really a two dimensional slice of a three dimensional sphere formed of two teardrop shapes. The little circle is really the tail of the other shade. The deeper you go into the "pure" color, the more likely you are to end up in the other color. That blew my mind at twelve.❞
And it's a good metaphor for this entry. "The book" is scholarly, me touching the phallus of a statue isn't. The Wildman runs and howls, the Modern Man walks with the tools of his trade close at hand.
I think that's about it for now.
Oh, the quote in the title? That's one of my humantic principles. I may have been laying the book's groundwork for a long time.
UPDATE - At the suggestion of one of my readers, one word was changed.
Posted: Thu - November 6, 2008 at 06:59 AM
