Solution to my previous problem:
I have spent my life pursuing two main goals.
One is the quest for for the One Universal Ritual. People have all kinds of rituals they use to achieve some goal-- spiritiual rituals, social rituals, all kinds. But people keep getting so wrapped up in their rituals that they start to confuse them for their goals, and two people trying to reach the same goal through different rituals can't understand what the other is doing and oftentimes can't even see that their goals are the same. This turns into a lot of wasted effort and opportunities. If you strip away all aesthetics from all rituals, what content is left behind, and how can that content be pursued without rituals?
The answer: To live is to do, and to do is to live. There are any number of things a person can do, and many different levels on which the person can do them. It doesn't really matter what the person does, so long as it is done to its most complete exent by involving physical, intellectual, and spiritual levels, that it is in line with the person's being, that the person learns from it on its various levels, and that the person gives it all they have. In so doing, by doing whatever the person is doing, he/she becomes a more fully realized person.
The other has been my quest for an occupation that lies in line with my being, at which I can just be myself and do what I do, and get paid a descent living for it. I have that now, a job where my mental and spiritual being are finally mine, free and clear, and I don't ahve to deal with employers trying to convince me otherwise. A job where I no longer have to compromise on my own goals in life for the sake of earning a paycheck. I've worked all my life for this, and I finally have something to show for my efforts.
The obstacle I face is that the longer and harder I work toward achieving my goals, the harder it becomes for me to relate to other people who, for whatever reason, don't live the way I do-- don't give all they have to try to create their own utopic lifestyle. People being what they are and the word we live in being the way it is, it's so much easier for anyone to pick a path of lesser resistance and settle for something less than their fully realized life. And these people just go on with their lifestyle rituals that don't look anything like mine, so I can't get anywhere socially with these people, cuz they mistake my spiritual contentment with my fully realized life for lack of interest in the weak social rituals they use to cover over the incompleteness of their own lives. And it is true that if that's all these people care about, I'm not interested in them anyway, and in the long run they're saving me a lot of time & effort. But just because I don't require anyone else to make my life complete doesn't mean that I don't desire meaningful companionship.
So my solution: I start my own Pagan circle here, based on those two principles. I wonder how many othere people there are like me in the world. It'll just be an informal social group for people who start with a basic Pagan perspective on the world, work hard to achieve their own goals in line with their lives, who appreciate the company of other such people, who gain and like to share insights on the world that they develop over the course of their work, who have a wide variety of interests, and who want to learn more about the things other poeple do.
I've worked so hard to eliminate bullshit from my life, the last thing I want is to have to go looking for it for the sake of people's companionship.
...This is a spiritual version of FIght Club.
I have spent my life pursuing two main goals.
One is the quest for for the One Universal Ritual. People have all kinds of rituals they use to achieve some goal-- spiritiual rituals, social rituals, all kinds. But people keep getting so wrapped up in their rituals that they start to confuse them for their goals, and two people trying to reach the same goal through different rituals can't understand what the other is doing and oftentimes can't even see that their goals are the same. This turns into a lot of wasted effort and opportunities. If you strip away all aesthetics from all rituals, what content is left behind, and how can that content be pursued without rituals?
The answer: To live is to do, and to do is to live. There are any number of things a person can do, and many different levels on which the person can do them. It doesn't really matter what the person does, so long as it is done to its most complete exent by involving physical, intellectual, and spiritual levels, that it is in line with the person's being, that the person learns from it on its various levels, and that the person gives it all they have. In so doing, by doing whatever the person is doing, he/she becomes a more fully realized person.
The other has been my quest for an occupation that lies in line with my being, at which I can just be myself and do what I do, and get paid a descent living for it. I have that now, a job where my mental and spiritual being are finally mine, free and clear, and I don't ahve to deal with employers trying to convince me otherwise. A job where I no longer have to compromise on my own goals in life for the sake of earning a paycheck. I've worked all my life for this, and I finally have something to show for my efforts.
The obstacle I face is that the longer and harder I work toward achieving my goals, the harder it becomes for me to relate to other people who, for whatever reason, don't live the way I do-- don't give all they have to try to create their own utopic lifestyle. People being what they are and the word we live in being the way it is, it's so much easier for anyone to pick a path of lesser resistance and settle for something less than their fully realized life. And these people just go on with their lifestyle rituals that don't look anything like mine, so I can't get anywhere socially with these people, cuz they mistake my spiritual contentment with my fully realized life for lack of interest in the weak social rituals they use to cover over the incompleteness of their own lives. And it is true that if that's all these people care about, I'm not interested in them anyway, and in the long run they're saving me a lot of time & effort. But just because I don't require anyone else to make my life complete doesn't mean that I don't desire meaningful companionship.
So my solution: I start my own Pagan circle here, based on those two principles. I wonder how many othere people there are like me in the world. It'll just be an informal social group for people who start with a basic Pagan perspective on the world, work hard to achieve their own goals in line with their lives, who appreciate the company of other such people, who gain and like to share insights on the world that they develop over the course of their work, who have a wide variety of interests, and who want to learn more about the things other poeple do.
I've worked so hard to eliminate bullshit from my life, the last thing I want is to have to go looking for it for the sake of people's companionship.
...This is a spiritual version of FIght Club.
VIEW 5 of 5 COMMENTS
daevric:
Seems being the key word. 
lunna:
Happy Holidays Sweetie. 