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musingsoncultures · 10 months

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Hippie culture and its legacy

The hippie culture of the 1960s brought new ideas and avenues of expansion to feminist organizers, porn stars, and manufacturers of birth control products. The hippies left major imprints on American society and culture. The impacts are jotted down below , compiled from the book ‘Hippies: A Guide to an American Subculture’ by Micah L. Lssitt, Greenwood press, 2009 :

David Smith Allyn’s book ‘Make Love Not War: The Sexual Revolution, an Unfettered History. New York: Little, Brown, 2000′ is about the sexual revolution feminism and shifting sex roles. Allyn combines a historical analysis with interviews, from people on either side of various debates, to discover how the changes that America experienced during the sexual revolution manifested in the lives of the American people. Allyn’s discussion of feminism and sex roles in the 1960s is especially enlightening for anyone researching hippies as he deftly compares and contrasts the sex roles that were the hippies’ ideal, with the reality they helped to create. Alice Echols’s book ‘Shaky Ground: The 60s and Its Aftershocks’ is particularly valuable for her discussion of women in the 1960s and changing attitudes about gender and roles in society. Sexual liberation included increased acceptance of sex outside the traditional heterosexual monogamous marriages or relationships. Thus to pursue such relationships, usage of contraception and birth control pills are normalized. This is also related to the arguments in support of legalization of abortion, bisexuality, promiscuity, premarital sex, mate swapping, communal sex and open marriages. It lead to a permissive society where alternative sexuality is accepted . Exemplary for this period is the rise and differentiation in forms of regulating sexuality. It must be noted that in prosperous nations, liberal sexual morality is practiced but in poor or developing countries, social cohesion is valued and they cannot afford such sexual promiscuity. So hippie movement is related to the development of pro sex feminist movement, playboy culture, normalization of pornography, and campaigns for legalization of porn business. All this is popularized in the name of alternative lifestyle, rejection of religions, questioning of conservative social mores, use of recreational drugs, relaxed attitude towards contraception, free love, non marital sex, teenage pregnancy and nudity. The common stereotype was that the hippies indulged in wild sex orgies and sexual perversion. Group sex, public nudity, homosexuality was accepted. They embraced the slogan of free Love and they were ready to explore the spiritual aspects of sex.

the development of the psychedelic music scene and psychedelic art - Grunenberg, Christoph, and Jonathan Harris. Summer of Love: Psychedelic Art, Social Crisis and Counterculture in the 1960s. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2005. Editors Grunenberg and Harris provide a look at the Summer of Love and 1960s counterculture through the art of the era. Filled with paintings, sculpture, and graphic art from the period, this history is as much a visual exploration as it is a sensitive and intelligent view of the period from a modern perspective. The editors invite essays from figures representing many different perspectives on 1960s culture and society. Particularly interesting is the discussion of fashion and architecture of the 1960s and how it related to the cultural changes that the nation was experiencing. Michael Hicks Sixties Rock: Garage, Psychedelic, and Other Satisfactions. Champaign: University of Illinois Press, 2000. Taking information from the entire history of rock music and its predecessors, Hicks examines, specifically, the subgenres of ‘‘garage rock’’ and ‘‘psychedelic rock,’’ looking at how the genres emerged and the effect they had on the music scene at large. Hicks’s investigation of the sixties music scene in Haight-Ashbury is especially useful, speaking about how the bands got started, the advent of psychedelic lighting and underground concerts, and the push into the mainstream with concerts like the Monterey Pop Festival.

use of marijuana plant, its prohibition and rehabilitation as a medical aid; One need to study government propaganda programs designed to discourage marijuana use, to the drug’s deification in cults and religious groups around the world. One also need to look at the marijuana issue from a strictly economic viewpoint, examining the cost of prohibition, the potential costs and benefits of legalization, and the use of the drug in the underground economy. Martin Booth’s book ‘Cannabis: A History. New York: Macmillan, 2005′ is particularly useful for its exploration of marijuana use in the 1960s, when it was the most popular hippie drug next to LSD. Lee, Martin A., and Bruce Shlain. Acid Dreams: The Complete Social History of LSD: The CIA, the Sixties and Beyond. New York: Grove Press, 1992. Lee and Shlain investigate sixties culture through one of its most important facets, the development and popularization of LSD. Most interesting is the book’s investigation of the relationship between LSD and American law and the use of LSD as a psychiatric aid. Lee and Shlain also provided interesting biographical accounts of some of the hippie era’s most renowned figures, like Timothy Leary and Ken Kesey, though their involvement with acid cults. Historian and documentarian Martin Torgoff investigates the development and consequences of drug culture in America, covering 1950s and 1960s counterculture, government prohibition, and changing attitudes about drug use among the American populace. Torgoff ’s history is told partially though investigative journalism and partially through first-person accounts of drug culture from the 1940s through the 1990s. As he develops his central arguments, Torgoff neither celebrates nor condemns recreational drug use, but prefers to provide a middle-ground perspective, looking at the negative and positive aspects to drugs in America. Torgoff ’s discussions of 1960s counterculture are particularly enlightening as they examine the 1960s from a perspective rooted in the advent and popularization of drug culture. Erowid: Documenting the Complex Relationship Between Humans and Psychoactives. ‘‘Erowid Vault.’’ EROWID, 2009. www.erowid.com. This website, created by a group called Erowid, contains a variety of articles, reprinted documents and encyclopedic entries concerning the history, legal status, and use of psychoactive substances. Useful for its information about the legal history of hallucinogens and marijuana in the United States and for their collection of interesting articles about legalization of substances. The use of drugs brought in temporary changes in mental state which is called ‘altered state of awareness’. These drugs were used by ancient mystics, by tribes during religious rites. These drug induced states can promote creativity. In 1966, the state of California declared LSD a controlled substance which made the drug illegal. Hippies demonstrated protest saying that people consuming LSD were not criminals. They claimed that it celebrate transcendental consciousness and the beauty of the universe.

transformation of certain neighborhoods in USA- notable hippie-era residents of the neighborhood Greenwich Village brought notable change when hippies moved in and set up shops. Haight Ashbury neighborhood transformed from progressive blue-collar enclave to cultural capital of the West Coast hippie scene. San Francisco Oracle from September 3, 1966, to February 1968 is the premier alternative press newspaper, in terms of style, production value, and content, and the articles contained within provide an invaluable view of hippie life and culture. The photos and advertisements found in the Oracle are a treasure for historians and sixties aficionados and provide a unique view into the culture of Haight Ashbury at the heights of the hippie era. Charles. Perry’s book ‘The Haight-Ashbury: A History’. New York: Wenner Publishers, 2005. Perry’s history of the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood and the hippie scene that developed there is interesting and informative, as Perry not only speaks about the development of the neighborhood, but also provides insight into the culture that existed there. Among other subjects, Perry focuses heavily on the music scene in the Haight and its manifestation through promoters like Chet Helms and Bill Graham. Another interesting facet to Perry’s analysis is the examination of movement between and among counterculture neighborhoods in San Francisco and how the residents, and the city’s government, responded to the development of one of the nation’s largest counterculture communities. Fifty or more people would arrive in a bus in a new neighborhood to establish a kind of tribal family identity, attending Native American ceremonies. There were frequent clashes with Native Americans and with police. At one point of time a particular neighborhood could not accommodate the influx of crowds. Many hippies became homeless drug dealers. Some became malnourished and sick. Crime and violence skyrocketed. Substance abuse and lenient morality of the hippies caused moral panic.

A radical community action group of activists and street theatre actors with left wing political goals wanted to create a mini society free of money and capitalism, and they organized free concerts, free works of art, provide free food, free medical care, free transport, free temporary housing, free stores. They ran soup kitchens and free medical clinics. This attracted a huge number of hippies.

new creative spirit - Ann Charters’s excellent book “The Portable Sixties Reader. New York: Penguin Classics, 2003′ collects hundreds of short articles and essays, interspersed with short fiction and poetry, to help illustrate the diversity of a turbulent period .In Paul Friedlander’s book Rock and Roll: A Social History. New York: Westview Press, 1996, Friedlander provides an excellent source of information about the history and development of the American rock scene. Among other topics, Friedlander covers the British Invasion and the dawn and decline of psychedelic rock as well as providing biographical sketches of some of the era’s biggest talents. Particularly insightful is Friedlander’s analysis about the transformation of sixties rock into seventies singer/songwriters, a musical analog for the cultural changes on a grander scale. Christopher Gair in his book on American counterculture ,looks especially at how the popular media and entertainment media learned to cater to the counterculture as consumers and how this affected the development of counterculture values and beliefs. Gair’s analysis is deeply detailed and provides information on the philosophical grounding that underlies the development of counterculture movements, in addition to looking at the more lighthearted aspects of counterculture behavior. The hippies use art, street theatre, folk music, psychedelic rock as part of their lifestyle.

Political scenario - Hippie Movement was seen as a New Left, associated with anti war college campus protest movements. They sought to implement reforms on issues such as gay rights, abortion, gender roles, drugs. Anti-Vietnam movement, the end of colonialism in Africa, the rise of the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) , decline of patriotic sentiment were the landmark political events during that time. Historian David Farber creates an exhaustive investigation of the Chicago 1968 Democratic National Convention protests from their origins to the resulting trial of the Chicago Seven in 1969. Useful both as a history of the Yippies and hippie activism and as a look at how the Chicago Seven trial revealed aspects of the American legal and justice system. Farber also used his analysis to delve into the history of the Black Panther Party and member Bobby Seale, the eighth member of those arrested for their participation in the 1968 Chicago riots. Farber’s investigation of the trial itself is especially illuminating as it avoids the dogma of other, less comprehensive accounts, and presents the facts with a fair eye toward the motivations of both sides. Sandra Gurvis in her book on the hippie movement delves into the student protest movement, examining the history of, among others, members of the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). The hippies brought an infantile disorder in the political life of America. Students for a Democratic Society, the Students Nonviolent Coordinating Committee participated in protests, demonstrations, and other political actions. Terrorism and radical splinter groups emerged and diverged from such New Left leaders. The University of Virginia’s collection of articles and digitized material from the sixties is an invaluable resource. Original speeches, articles, and hippie writings are interspersed with commentary examining the 1960s from a modern viewpoint. The site also contains information on the student protest movement and the Beat movement, with emphasis on how the Beats and student activists interacted with the hippies and youth of the 1960s.

introduction of new fashion - In 1961 , a new clothing boutique was established in Hollywood that introduced hippie fashions. Their dresses are characterized by richly saturated colours in glaring contrast, elaborately ornate lettering, strong symmetrical composition, collage elements, bizarre iconography. They were also the hallmarks of psychedelic poster art. The hippie symbols were purposely borrowed from primitive cultures reflecting a vagrant style. They wore jeans and some walk barefoot. They wear bell bottom pants, peasant blouses, long , full skirts, non Western inspired clothing with African and Asian motifs. They purchase clothes from flea markets and second hand shops. They favor Native American jewelry, head scarves, headbands, long beaded necklaces, handmade clothing and loose fitting clothes. Moustaches, beards, long hair became commonplace and colorful, multiethnic clothing dominated the fashion world. Business clothing became unpopular.

Development of communes or development of tribalist bohemian enclaves - The hippies tried to build intentional communities, designed to have a high degree of social cohesion, bounded by same values and vision. This can be also called collective households, ecovillages, ashrams, survivalist retreats, co living etc. They have core principles, oppose nuclear families, share facilities with all group members, hold decisions based on consensus, Cockrell, Kathy. ‘‘Listening for the Not-So-Faint Echo of the ‘60s.’’ UC Berkeley News, Berkeleyan, May 3, 2006. www.berkeley.edu/news/berkeleyan/2006/05/ 03_communes.shtml. Article from the Public Affairs section of the UC Berkeley News Online discussing scholarly explorations of communes and communards from a modern sociological perspective. Particularly interesting is the discussion about which elements of hippie culture in general modern communards chose to retain and how hippie ideals have changed in the decades since the 1960s. The Farm Official Website. ‘‘Lifestyle.’’ The Farm, Summertown, Tennessee, 2007. www.thefarm.org. A collection of information about The Farm commune in Summertown, Tennessee, one of the longest lasting communes in the United States. Useful as a resource for exploring how hippie ideals translated into lifestyle choices and how the hippies of the 1960s have shifted their focus in the 21st century. Also interesting are sections providing information about sustainable agriculture and community involvement.

birth of a new worldview, new language and race relation, new sense of aesthetics and philosophy, new cultural products, new values - Fred Turner’s book From Counterculture to Cyberculture, provides a fascinating account of the ways in which the American counterculture, especially the hippies and other groups active in the 1960s, continue to leave their mark on American society. Through his examinations of the digital culture of the 21st century, Turner looks at cultural developments like Stewart Brand’s Whole Earth Catalog as the forerunners of a new, digital age. Turner also looks at how the phenomenon of counterculture itself has changed and adapted to the new modes of expression and organization offered by the digital environment. Nadya Zimmerman’s book Counterculture Kaleidoscope: Musical and Cultural Perspectives on Late Sixties, San Francisco. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2008. Zimmerman provides an interesting, scholarly look at the culture of late sixties San Francisco, largely through the development of the city’s music scene. The most interesting facet of Zimmerman’s work is her view that the counterculture of the hippies was not a committed social movement but was, rather, a collection of young people who embraced a wide variety of worldviews. Hip Media provides articles, an online dictionary, and a set of useful links to everything hippie oriented. Of particular interest is the site’s collection of ‘‘topics,’’ ranging from vegetarianism to drugs, which collect articles, historical information, and a variety of other information about how the hippies approached various issues.

Eastern philosophy - Influence of Asian philosophy on the hippies cannot be denied. Many hippies adopted vegetarianism. Indian philosophy includes a wide spectrum of laws and prescriptions of daily morality based on karma, dharma and societal norms and its important political concepts include dharma, karma, samsara, moksha, and ahimsa. Allen Ginsberg’s spiritual journey to India in 1963 influenced the Beat Generation. He studied religious texts alongside monks, learnt to chant Hindu mantra and this method of oral delivery influenced Beat poetry. A July 1968 Time Magazine study on hippie philosophy credited the foundation of the hippie movement with historical precedent as far back as the sadhu of India. The sadhus are the spiritual seekers who renounced the world by taking sannyas. This comparison is farfetched as the hippies were hedonistic group of people who wanted to do their own thing, shock a straight person, spread permissive ethos and were pro drug. They had little in common with the disciplined life of a monk or a sannyasi. Hippies rejected the rulebound Abrahamic faiths, embraced less rule bound Buddhism and Hinduism but some of them also embraced Wicca and neo paganism. By 1960s, western interest in Hindu spirituality reached its peak , giving rise to Neo-Hindu schools for western public. Spiritual leaders were respected in hippie circles for which it became a kind of religious movement. Religious lectures attracted huge hippie audience. Some hippies started promoting a modern form of Chinese Taoism , Tao Te Ching.

hippies influenced by Beatnik lifestyle - Hippies wanted to embrace an anti materialist lifestyle by rejecting conformity and consumerism of mainstream American culture. They expressed themselves through literature , painting, music , experimented with spirituality, drugs, sexuality and travel. The word beatnik was adopted as a derogatory term for the followers of Beat Generation. The rhythmic patterns of jazz influenced many beatniks. They wear black dress, speak slang, visit coffeehouses, bookstores, bars and clubs and were seeking new experiences. They form the underground anti conformist youth gathering in New York. They belonged to the world of hustlers, drug addicts and petty thieves. They hitchhike, enjoy suburban parties, grow long hair. This culture was more animated by a vague feeling of cultural and emotional displacement . Some Beat writers delve into Buddhism and Taoism ,and were open to African American culture.

health food stores- emphasis on local produce, organic food, special dietary needs, vegetarianism, gluten free diet, raw food etc. herbal food is given importance. The German settlers who adore paganism, and who settled in Southern California introduced such alternative food options. One group called the Nature Boys took to California desert and raised organic food, espousing back to nature lifestyle. George Alexander Aberle , the American songwriter was influential in the hippie movement, lived a bucolic life, traveled in sandals, studied oriental mysticism , slept outdoors and ate vegetables, fruit and nuts. He lived in Kansas City but later moved to Los Angeles and began playing piano in a small health food store and in a raw food restaurant. He helped popularize health consciousness, yoga and organic food in the United States.

unconventional housing, new travel norms and nomadic lifestyle- Many hippies are house truckers who convert old trucks and school buses into portable homes and live in them , preferring an unattached and transient lifestyle. The house truckers were popular in New Zealand in 1970s. The hippie nomads travelled independently and in convoys from town to town making a living from small cottage industries such as arts and crafts and fruit picking. They live in caravans. The trucker group of families travel together from city to city, assemble in parks on weekends, sell their wares. They are called gypsy travelers. In United Kingdom, New Age travelers as a concept became popular as they espoused bohemian lifestyle. They live in vans, mobile homes, tents. They embrace dirt, ready to face nomadic hardship like the Romani groups. The travelers' mobile homes are peace convoys as they visit nuclear disarmament campaigns and peace camps. They travel light, enjoy backpacking, hitchhike. The hippie trucks, handcrafted mobile house were derived from their nomadic lifestyle. They sell handmade goods. One travel experience, undertaken by hundreds of thousands of hippies between 1969 and 1971, was the Hippie Trail overland route to India. Many did not carry any luggage and hitchhiked across Europe to Athens and on to Istanbul, then by train through central Turkey, continuing by bus into Iran, across the Afghan border through southern Afghanistan via Kandahar to Kabul , over the Khyber Pass into Pakistan, via Rawalpindi and Lahore to the Indian frontier. Once in India, hippies gathered on the beaches of Goa and in Kovalam, Kerela. In Kathmandu, many hippies hung out in the tranquil surroundings of a place called Freak Street, near Kathmandu Durbar Square.

Monterey International Pop Festivals , Woodstock Festival on the East Coast, Summer of Love on the West Coast, Isle of Wight Festival, free music festivals at Stonehenge popularized hippie culture. There were hippies in Mexico, in New Zealand, Chile, Australia, Japan, Canada and Brazil. It also influenced Iron Curtain countries in Eastern Europe. Psychedelic parties and psytrance genres were born in Goa and were exported worldwide. The origin of the hippies however could be traced at the end of 19th century in Europe. From 1890s to the early 1900s , a German youth movement arose as a countercultural reaction to the organized, formal socio cultural clubs. They emphasized folk music, creative dress, outdoor life, camping, hiking. It was an yearning for pagan, back to nature spiritual life of their ancestors. During the first decades of the 20th century, the Germans who settled in United States brought these ideas to the new land.

distinct personality traits of hippies - distinct from straights. Hippies are viewed as altruistic, mystical , nonviolent group of white people who dress up unconventionally. They were utopian socialists, some were anarchists, some are eco conscious, supporter of organic farming, alternative energy and campaigner for free press. Some of them view themselves as revolutionaries.

#hippie #socialimpact #counterculture

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justhewayfaringstranger · 3 years

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So, I've wanted to address this topic for a while and this post I read this morning while having breakfast is a sort of response from the universe.

I would say to start by explaining a simple concept.

Demons and spirits are not the same thing, but rather, they vary from each other. Likewise, spirits and ghosts are not the same.

• Creatures understood as "demons" exist in all religions; they are supernatural beings, typically associated with the evil, historically prevalent in religions, occultism, literature, fiction, mythology and folklore;

• "spirits" are instead organized energy with at least a certain level of sensitivity that has an energy body and in most cases also an astral body. The Latin word is a translation of the Greek prneuma ("breath", "air", "vital breath") and to some extent it can be seen in the apeiron of the Presocratic Anaximander, who had to some extent dematerialized the archè (Greek: ἀρχή ) of the other Ionian naturalists, the original principle of the universe and of every part of it, impalpable and invisible but still material, as shown by another void that, blowing inside it, fills with air matter. With the Stoics, the term begins to be compared to today's one of spirit. The pneuma belongs to the god who gives life to things and guides them according to his wishes. The pneuma is a force that manifests itself not only in the individual man but is present in all things as the "soul of the world". They are ancient entities like the world itself, part of the primordial chaos and consequently neutral in themselves;

• the term “ghost” refers instead to any incorporeal entity. The term ghost comes from the Greek φάντασμα phàntasma, which in turn derives from φαντάζω (phantàzo, "to show"; from the root φαν-, which expresses the idea of "appearing" and "showing"), and had the meaning of apparition (understood as a supernatural manifestation) and only with time has its meaning been restricted to indicating the apparition of a deceased.

In 1800, with the birth of the practice of spiritism in France, it ended up rendering in the common imagination "spirits" and "ghosts" similar entities, if not true synonyms.

The French pedagogue Allan Kardec after observing a series of phenomena, formulated the hypothesis that such phenomena could only be attributed to incorporeal intelligences (spirits). Spiritual communications took place "thanks to the intervention of a medium", that is a person with particular skills who acted as mediator between spirits and living beings, during the so-called séance. This became a busines for many and most of the spiritualists were actually charlatans who swore to the victims that they could talk to the dead. In most cases, those who could afford to turn to a medium, were economically wealthy and of high rank lost and therefore for the scammer it was certainly not difficult to obtain information (even intimate) about the deceased and those around him, if at this was added some well-orchestrated play of smoke and lights, here is the "grandmother's ghost".

Having understood this, one wonders what it is then what we understand as a "ghost of a person". It is a trace left by the living. On a scientific level, death doesn't exist. From the chemical-physical point of view we are isolated systems that receive energy and produce it. But the universe itself is a closed system. So our energy is the energy of the universe. We are universe. What happens when we die? Our energy returns to the universe system. But as we know, energy is neither created nor destroyed, but it changes. So our energy is energy that has been changed in the past by others, and will be changed by others when we are gone. Death doesn't exist because energy is immortal. The energy that I am using now to tap on my laptop keyboard is the same energy that Gaius Julius Caesar used to pull the reins of his horse and to cross the Rhine. And it will be the energy that in the future a scientist will use to to be able to travel between the various space-time dimensions. Death doesn't exist, and the life of one is the life of all.

To simplify then, what we mean as the ghost of Marilyn Monroe for example, is nothing more than a sort of energetic gif of Marilyn Monroe.

I'll give you another example. Anne Boleyn died by beheading, therefore by a violent and unjust death. In this situation, she is likely to have felt strong emotions and released a huge and consistent huge amount of energy as a result. Let's say that Henry VIII was present at the execution along with a bunch of other people, let's also say that he went back to that place (or others where Anne felt strong emotions and therefore released large amounts of energy) and thought about her, let's say that Elizabeth I also thought of her mother and so many other people. All these emotions have turned into energy. If we saw energy as a palette of colors, it would be as if: the more consistent the emotions, the more intense the color, therefore, the more energy we send (even unconsciously) to the energetic image of Anne Boleyn (the energetic gif), the clearer this will be where most of the energy is concentrated (eg the Tower of London, a room in the building, etc.).

So when we go to a "haunted" place, what we see is not the "person", but a kind of still image. And according to the speech above, it is therefore normal to find this type of freeze frame in places such as castles, hospitals, etc. then if these are found on natural energy centers or lines… bingo!

Speaking instead of spirits, as mentioned before, there are no good or bad spirits. Good and bad as well as light and dark, like day and night, are a contrast present in many traditions, including native ones. This duality can also be referred to the human being and represent a moment of acting or thinking of a person. You can think and act towards the light or towards the darkness and this can also happen to shamans.

Just think of the ego and when it takes over, or when you try to manipulate, at that moment you are not in the light. But it can happen and that doesn't mean being good or bad. Acting, in fact, can also be connected with a person's karma and precisely follow what is required by this spiritual law.

Light and darkness, as in the human world, are also reflected in the world of spirits and even in this case they do not absolutely determine the condition of goodness or badness. Spirits, who in the light can be protectors, guides or allies, can also move in the dark dimension.

And if we think like the natives that everything has a spirit and that it can move between light and darkness, we can understand how there can be spirits that are particularly powerful and able to move very strong energies such as to create an effect in ordinary reality.

It is important to know the distinction between light and shadow because, from an early age, we were educated to separate the good from the bad, the right from the wrong, but for this we have become very sensitive when it comes to going to work on our shadows. As I told you, light and shadow are states of being that we all have within us. Working with shadows doesn't mean black magic, witchcraft or whatever. Simply observe the aspects of light and be able to deal with those of shadow as well. Light and darkness are two sides of the same coin that it is important to integrate.

Being half Latin, therefore leaning towards a culture extremely linked to its roots and above all to the relationship with mental spirits, it isn't difficult for me to understand this concept, and therefore despite being a Christian, I have no problem in defining myself as a witch. Of course, coming to this awareness wasn't easy, as I am partly European and therefore I grew up in a society in a Western society that is scared of what it cannot control. After years of researching my origins, my culture and theological studies, I have come to find my balance.

Returning, however, to the main reason for this post, having made the necessary explanations (and given the tools for a critical analysis of the matter), here are the points on which I personally disagree and why:

Reading books about witchcraft: Knowledge for educational purposes is by no means negative, quite the opposite. The question is whether the aforementioned "about witchcraft" book is a "spell book" or some sort of "sacred book". For example, if I find the Necronomicon tomorrow and start reading it without knowing what it is, it is likely that I will find myself living the remake of The Conjuring in the real life.

Casting most types of spells, including hexes: Same speech made in the previous point. One of the first rules of witchcraft is "know your practice". You must be aware that what you are doing is not a game and every action has consequences, even if you don't believe in the rule of 3 (everything you do comes back to you 3 times). In the specific case of curse and hexes spells, they are the most treacherous and dangerous, because you are working with dark and malevolent energies. This type of practice in particular is a double-edged weapon, which is why many witches advise against them and propose alternative methods if possible.

Practicing divination: It isn't always negative, but in some types of divination the help and guidance of spirits and divinities is sought. For example, I often do bibliomancy with the bible and even if I first ask for God's guidance, in front of each answer I ask for confirmation, because the devil was the most beautiful angel in heaven and just as darkness does not allow us to see. where we go, even a dazzling light can deceive us.

Playing with Ouija or other talking boards: Ouija is not a game and it is an extremely dangerous tool, precisely because what you do is contact spirits and entities and you cannot know who will answer the other side. Nothing good anyway.

Putting up fantasy or non-Christian artwork: Have you ever seen Annabel? Here, the principle is the same. Be careful what you bring into your home, as home is a sacred space, and nothing can enter without you giving it permission. So if you not only invite it, but rather you bring it inside and give it a space, don't come and complain to me if it is difficult to send it away.

Celebrating pagan holidays: If it's a holiday of a closed religion, avoid ruining your life. Holidays basically consist of performing rituals that often involve spirits. Learn about the history of that holiday you want to celebrate, the symbols, the rituals, and why it is celebrated in that particular way.

Celebrating Halloween: The same as the previous point, except that we all (or almost all) know that samahin is the day when the space where the veil falls and the two worlds come into contact.

Watching scary movies and TV shows: I'm not saying that if you watch The Exorcist you will be possessed, but I can't assure you otherwise either. I took The Exorcist as an example because it is known that a real ritual is performed in the movie and a lot of "disturbing" things have happened on the set of the film and to the actors. When you watch a movie, even if it is fictional, if for example it performs an evocation or a ritual you are not only witnessing, you are participating in all respects. Be careful, every person is different.

Reading (horror novels, fantasy books, comics and graphic novels). Playing (tabletop RPGs, LARP games, video games): Same as the previous point.

Listening to heavy metal music, dancing: It goes for any kind of music actually. Do you know how many pop songs I use as a spell?

Dyeing your hair: I'm not saying you'll invoke a demon, but for many cultures cutting your hair makes you more vulnerable to spiritual attack and color is an essential aspect of witchcraft.

Swearing: Wishing someone who has crossed your path death is considered a curse in all respects. Even if done unconsciously.

Drinking: Drinking, smoking… shamans have used alcohol and drugs for centuries to connect with in the spiritual world.

Having tattoos and piercings: As long as you don't tattoo Aramaic words that you don't know the meaning of, everything is fine. Before getting a tattoo in a symbol you saw in a temple in Mexico, find out the meaning of it. I'll give you an example: my cousin once bought a T-shirt with the words "puta madre" (mother whore). He had bought it only because he liked it, without knowing the meaning of the word.

Now, most of these points are mainly related to intention. As I said before, I often use music in my spells, but if for example, I use "can't be touch by Roy jones" for a protection and encouragement spell (eg a manifestation) and a few months later I listen to the same song on the radio doesn't mean it will work like a spell again. In many cases it is a question of intention. Yhat's why it is important to educate yourself.

#witch #christian witch #afro witch #green witch #witchraft #education #educate yourself #witchblr #witchy things #spirit #ghost #demon

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mfkinanaa · 3 years

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SUN IN SAGITTARIUS.

Sagittarius: Mutable Fire

Ruler: Jupiter

Keywords: Inspiration, Truth, Expansion, Meaning

Functional Expression: Inspired, seeking knowledge, visionary, fortunate, joyful, purposeful, philosophical, adventurous.

Dysfunctional Expression: Unprincipled, narrow, fanatic, reckless, gluttonous, coarse, rude, amoral.

Expansion and Growth.

When the Sun makes its’ journey through the sign of Sagittarius, the emphasis is on expansion, positivity and growth. Life is best seen as a journey, rather than a destination.

Along the way, Sagittarius brings the need to experience life as an adventure – to discover what is over the next horizon or how far one might go. To this end, those born under Sagittarius tend to love a challenge – finding ways to push past the “envelope” and so broaden perspectives somehow.

As a Fiery and Mutable sign – implying a constant need for change – Sagittarius brings an emphasis to physical and/or mental expression. The quest for freedom and adventure, as well as the search for meaning, tends to feature strongly for those born under this sign

Sagittarians are often characterized by an optimistic, outgoing and “can-do” attitude. Unless other, more introspective influences are present the birth chart, you will usually find Sagittarius where the action is.

This is a sign that loves nothing more than to live life large. When things are going well, those with Sun in Sagittarius are typically convivial, outgoing and good-humoured. Freedom is important and they will be willing to take a risk. This sign requires the space to roam unimpeded, and will usually give others the same in return.

It is important to feel that they have options, and nothing to tell them “no”.Whether they seek this freedom in the world of ideas, or find this freedom on a race-track, Sagittarians push limits and test boundaries to discover how far they can go.

Broadening Horizons.

With the Sun in Sagittarius there can be a tendency to get ‘itchy feet’ if things get too similar or mundane. For this reason, Sagittarius is associated with the experience of travel, and contact with foreign people or places.

In the quest to encounter new experiences, going where they have not been before, Sagittarius can find freedom. Again, life can easily get far too routine for those born under this sign. When this happens, they might find themselves feeling frustrated and so start dreaming up a way out.

When Sagittarius gets restless, it is important they broaden horizons somehow. Going somewhere new is an excellent way to keep life experiences fresh. Sometimes a jaunt to an exotic location is just the thing they need.

At other times, this can be accomplished by visiting a new neighbourhood or restaurant. An important strategy involves making time to travel and discover the unknown.With the Sun in Sagittarius they may invest more time and money in travel than in paying down the mortgage. When Sagittarians feel free they can share their positive energy easily.

Under a Lucky Star.

Sagittarius has a reputation for luck and achievement. Many excellent sportspersons, promoters and gamblers are born to this sign. Yet what might appear as luck is often the unbeatable combination of positive expectation coupled with an eye kept firmly on the prize.

One symbol for this sign is The Archer, and Sagittarians have a way of aiming true – firing themselves directly toward an intended target. Fortune favours the brave, and so, luck follows them around whenever they believe in themselves and the winning roll.

Because their approach to life is basically positive, Sagittarians expect things to go your way. And because they have this expectation, things usually do.

The Sun in Sagittarius prefers making broad strokes with a flamboyant brush, living by the philosophy that more is more, and good things are bound to happen. This positive mindset is another way to challenge limits and boundaries. Through taking risks and coming out on top they discover how far they can go. Every cloud has a silver lining – which sometimes turn to platinum – whenever Sagittarius is around.

Accepting Limits.

Yet all this positive expectation also has its’ drawbacks. Sagittarians can be known for brash, self-centred or excessive behaviour. Because they do not not believe in limits for themselves, they do not apply them when dealing with others.

With the Sun in Sagittarius, they can take things to extremes, or expect liberties from others because they refuse to bow to convention. Hence, they are often accused of being blunt to the point of rudeness or frank beyond socially accepted norms. Sagittarians can ride roughshod over the feelings of others, simply because they know they can.

They can be fickle, opportunistic and inclined to run at the first mention of committment. Some Sagittarians will push a situation to breaking point, just to see if they can. This can lead to broken relationships and instability. A Sagittarius who wont acknowledge limitations often creates excess that in the end proves detrimental.

This can be more of an issue for males than it is females, but the Zodiac is never gender specific. The excessive, fiery and expressive qualities of this sign mean that Sagittarians can love nothing more than testing the limits of physical endurance.

Excessive consumption of food, alcohol or other recreational activities can be detrimental. Pushing their luck until they are ruined may be the only way they know when to stop. As this sign is ruled by Jupiter, they can be prone to diseases of the liver or pancreas, as well as other degenerative diseases that are brought on by excess. Learning to live within the limits is an important part of the Sagittarius journey.

The Nature of Belief.

At a deeper level, the sign of Sagittarius is connected with belief. The journey toward greater levels of experience also involves broadening the mind. By comparing and contrasting different ideas, philosophies, belief systems or cultures, Sagittarians gain new perspectives.

They can enjoy expanding mental horizons through various forms of study, or the contemplation of comparative cultural, spiritual and philosophical values. Even if not studying formally, they are often found watching documentaries or reading non-fiction to learn more about the world.

At a conceptual level, this sign is associated with philosophy, religion and the broad mental frameworks which generate culture. At a personal level, through comparing philosophies Sagittarius can explore the nature of belief.

With the Sun in Sagittarius, there is often a need to explore many different belief systems along the way finding their own truth. By gathering a variety of perspectives, Sagittarians learn principles which they can then share with others.

As this sign is connected with the teacher and the student, Sagittarius broaden horizons through learning about various beliefs. These beliefs need to be experienced, rather than just talked about.

Sun in Sagittarius will not believe something because they are told to. They need to explore and experience it for themselves. At their finest, Sagittarians can inspire others through the broadness of their perspective. By taking the journey to teach and learn, they discover the inspiration to help others be the best that they can.

Yet the road to exploring the nature of belief can be fraught with danger. Once again, the threat of excess can rear its head. Typically, when Sagittarians encounter something they believe in, they become enthusiastic and want to share it with others. In the rush to spread ‘the good news’ they may ignore others right to discover things for themselves.

They can shift from “teacher” to “preacher”, getting up on their “soap-box”. Sagittarians can fall prey to zealotry under the belief that they have the truth and others do not. They then easily succumb to self-importance and inflation, believing themselves to be visionary advocates for a noble cause.

They might push their version of the truth down others throats because they believe in it so strongly. At a symbolic level, religious conflict is ruled by this sign. With the Sun in Sagittarius it is important to remember that they need to allow others the same level of intellectual freedom that they expect for themselves.

When Sagittarians share what they have learned from an open perspective, others willingly listen. But when they try to force a point of view, people will instinctively switch off. To share their experience they need to take the urgency out of it, and channel their passion into education rather than “reform”.

Alternately, some Sagittarians can become so disparaging in their search for truth that they become cynical or dismissive. Because their journey is to find out what is true for them, they may reject the beliefs of others, and see these as feeble-minded or simplistic. Then they may lose faith in life through the underlying (and unexplored) belief that they already know all there is to know.

It is easy for them to think there is nothing left to learn. Yet beneath their cynicism is a deep need to find an underlying belief system that can make life meaningful. A Sagittarian with nothing more to explore is a troubled soul.

Their journey involves exploring the nature of hope and faith. They need to maintain faith in order to have the courage to go beyond. Rather than limiting their philosophical options, cynicism can be just another stop along the road toward understanding.

Life should be experienced as a journey toward greater levels of illumination. For many Sagittarians a clear sense of belief may not be reached until even the age of 80. Yet along the way, they most not lose hope. Faith and optimism are essential to find deeper meaning.

Sun in Sagittarius: Your Solar Journey.

Born with the Sun in Sagittarius, you are gifted with an abundance of warmth, energy and positivity. Your sign is noted for a willingness to transcend the everyday by pushing boundaries, demanding freedom and seeking to explore unchartered horizons whenever possible. Your journey involves discovering all that is possible. Your ruler Jupiter brings luck, expansion and opportunity to your door, if only you will take it.

At a deeper level, your sign is concerned with the cultural, philosophical and metaphysical frameworks which make life meaningful. Your journey involves searching for truth and then sharing its manifestation. The path you take should be loud, large and colourful. Through collecting experiences and working out what is true for you, you inspire others to have the courage and faith to do the same.

#astroworld #astrology #astrotips #aries sign #taurus #gemini #cancer sign #leo #virgo zodiac #libra #scorpio #sagittarius #capricorn #aquarius #pisces

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fivestarglam · 3 years

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Following ISIS’s demise, Islamists around the world have been forced to radically reassess their strategy against the West. Dashing the utopian hopes of its sympathisers, the fall of the Caliphate has set back the Islamist cause for decades. Just as when many Communists became disillusioned once their ideology had been implemented in the Soviet Union, ISIS’s barbarity can no longer be ignored.

True, even in 2021, some groups such as the resurgent Taliban and Boko Haram — to say nothing of the Iranian regime — remain committed to a type of Islamist militancy that includes an emphasis on violence, with all the human suffering that entails. But for the most part, jihadist militancy has proved unpopular among Muslims, often inviting a violent counter-reaction. Its promise of an Islamist dream state has lost its appeal.

Yet Islamists in the West appear to have found a possible solution that sidesteps, at least for now, the use of explicit violence. The core of this alternative strategy is to focus as much as possible on dawa.

Nearly 20 years after 9/11, Westerners still remain unfamiliar with dawa. In theory, the term simply refers to the call to Islam, a kind of invitation; Westerners would recognise it as part of a proselytising mission. In practice, however, Islamists rely on dawa as a comprehensive propaganda, PR and brainwashing system designed to make all Muslims embrace an Islamist programme while converting as many non-Muslims as possible.

Among Western analysts, dawa — which became a tool of the Muslim Brotherhood in the 20th century — has traditionally received far less attention than militant jihad, though observers have emphasised its importance in the “humanitarian” activities of Hamas.

In Unveiled, the ex-Muslim Yasmine Mohammed compellingly describes her difficult marriage to the Egyptian jihadist Essam Marzouk. Yasmine commented on the rivalry that exists between jihadists (such as her ex-husband) and ostensibly “non-violent” Islamists:

“The truth is that Essam hated the [Muslim] Brotherhood: he thought Islamists were a bunch of pansies. He was actually aligned with a more militant group in Egypt called Al Jihad, who were the Egyptian wing of Al Qaeda. Both Islamists and jihadis have the same goal — to spread Islam — but they have different methods. Islamists want to do this through passive means such as politics, immigration and childbirth.”

This important point is often lost on politicians in Western countries. For no matter what misguided retired CIA officials may claim, groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood are neither moderate organisations nor pluralist partners in civil society. Islamist groups are certainly not likely to prevent the radicalisation of young Muslims. Instead, as one observer noted more than a decade ago, “the history of the Brotherhood movement shows, in fact, that it has operated by and large not as a firewall against jihadism, but as a fertile incubator of radical ideas in a variety of locales”.

In a cynical way, Islamists achieve far more through dawa than when they confine themselves to simply blowing things up and stabbing people to death. The threat is not as obvious. Jihad and the use of violence tend to provoke an immediate response. With dawa, on the other hand, it is possible to talk about charity, spirituality and religion — and then compare it to normal religious proselytising missions. In a free society, what reasonable person would take issue with that?

But dawa is also about building networks: local, regional and international. In The Call, Krithika Varagur revealed both the enormous global scale and opaque nature of these efforts. Saudi Arabia, in particular, has channelled billions of dollars into dawa — with much of it directed into the US.

In the West, these regimes are not given much thought, nor is the Islamist infrastructure in the United States. Nonetheless, Islamism is spreading within Western institutions, and it’s largely thanks to an unlikely alliance: dawa has recognised the alluring power of “woke”, and has started to adopt the language of civil rights and multiculturalism.

Of course, this is not an entirely American phenomenon, but the energy in our progressive movement has taken this cooperation one step further. In France, by contrast, “Islamo-gauchisme” (Islamo-Leftism) is much more likely to be correctly identified as a threat to the model of universal, secular and republican citizenship. In Britain, it remains less prominent, confined to fringe politicians such as George Galloway, who believes that “the progressive movement around the world and the Muslims have the same enemies”.

Yet as historian Daniel Pipes has noted, the relationship between Islamism and extreme Leftism is nothing new. In 2007, Oskar Lafontaine, former chairman of Germany’s Social Democratic party, noted: “Islam depends on community, which places it in opposition to extreme individualism, which threatens to fail in the West. [In addition,] the devout Muslim is required to share his wealth with others. The Leftist also wants to see the strong help the weak.”

But the internal tension between “wokeism” and Islamism is never far away. Just look at Al Jazeera, which uploads documentaries about transgender rights on to its social media channel, while broadcasting sermons suggesting husbands should beat their wives on its Arabic station.

Nevertheless, the two movements do share objectives. Both are anti-West and anti-American. Both have a critical attitude towards “capitalism” based on individualism. True, the Islamists have been around for much longer. But Islamist ideologues are willing to co-operate with non-Muslim Leftists as long as it serves their purposes.

To their credit, some on the Left refuse to countenance Islamism, as they become increasingly aware of the contradiction between supporting universal human rights (including women’s rights) and the demands of Islamists. In France, for example, the centre-Left former Prime Minister Manuel Valls courageously denounced Islamo-Leftism without the least hesitation.

In the United States, however, such vocal opposition from the Left is increasingly rare. Indeed, at the 2019 Netroots Nation conference — America’s “largest annual conference for progressives” — multiple panel discussions and training sessions reflected the Islamist agenda, frequently coalescing around a critique of Israel while neglecting the toxic role played by Hamas in perpetuating the conflict. Meanwhile, Linda Sarsour, a feminist organiser and co-chair of the “Women’s March”, has made her support for Islamism more explicit: “You’ll know when you’re living under Shariah law if suddenly all your loans and credit cards become interest-free. Sounds nice, doesn’t it?”

In government, too, Islamism’s capture of progressivism has become increasingly clear. Turkey’s Islamist President Erdogan might lead one of the world’s most brutal and repressive regimes, but that hasn’t stopped Ilhan Omar, the Democratic congresswoman from Minnesota, from expressing support for him. No doubt she was inspired by Erdogan last year when he proclaimed that “social justice is in our book”, and that “Turkey is the biggest opportunity for western countries in the fight against xenophobia, Islamophobia, cultural racism and extremism”.

Erdogan, in effect, was explicitly using progressive rhetoric. It’s a move that’s since been mirrored in Iran. The Tehran Times — which describes itself as “a loud voice of the Islamic Revolution” — recently attacked former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for his “deep-rooted Islamophobia”. And in March, Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif “lauded the determination of Islamic countries to address Islamophobia as one of the main challenges facing the Islamic Ummah [community in the West]”. Islamists, in other words, are becoming skilled at wrapping themselves in a mantle of woke words, while engaging in systematic brutality and repression within their own countries.

To this new alliance between Islamism and progressive rhetoric, there is no simple response. Dawa, by its very nature, is inherently more difficult to fight than jihad. But those who believe, as I do, in a free, open, pluralist society need to be aware of the nature and magnitude of this new challenge. After two decades of fighting Islamist terrorism, we have a new and more subtle foe to contend with. Wokeism has long been regarded as a dangerous phenomenon — but only now are we starting to see why.

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cactusnotes · 4 years

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She Walks In Beauty Analysis

The poem immediately starts with the infamous and romantic lines “She walks in beauty like the night Of cloudless climes and starry skies” Which isn’t inherently physically actually, but suggests some kind of aura around her, reflected in her beauty.

This employs Greek ideas of using darkness to express beauty, compared to the common, romantic technique of comparison to brighter aspects of nature. Day and night are never ending, like her beauty perhaps. The following alliteration and sibilance creates a fluidity and melody, linking to how it was meant to be put to music, before she is expressed to be “all that’s best of dark and bright”, which, in a way, seems to have no limits, she’s not day or night alone, but the best of both, in some kind of timeless presentation of her.

The next comparison is to “tender light”, which is synesthesia, the mixing of senses, so touch and sight, giving a fuller, more intense experience of her. The light and dark imagery continues: “One shade the more, one ray the less” would have spoiled her, creating the idea of a perfect balance and delicacy around her. Perhaps it could link to Aristotle’s theory of the golden mean, and she has the golden mean of beauty, making her virtuous that others. Also looking at the stresses, both light and dark are stressed, highlighting that perfect balance in iambic pentameter. She has a “nameless grace” which is an almost godly image, and expresses how Byron literally cannot describe her. It may also reflect the grace and love of the Virgin Mary, and all these images of religion reflect how it is structured like a hymn, and how innocent she is.

And it’s not just the physical appearance, as Byron comments “thoughts serenely sweet express, How pure” the sibilance creating a sense of soothing serenity, which is what he talks about. The metaphor expresses, once again, how both interior and exterior are in perfect balance. Another contrast follows: “So soft, so calm, yet eloquent”, as if she herself seems to be of impossible beauty. It ends with a godly image, as she is shown to be an angel who is content with standing alongside humans--“A mind at peace with all below”--and finally an exclamation: “A heart whose love is innocent!”. This could show how, at the end, it is her feelings that matter, that make her pretty. It shows her to be non-sexual, not in love, and perfect spiritually and physically.

A lyric poem of three six-line stanzas, known as a sestet, of alternating rhyme — ABABAB — in iambic tetrameter. Gentle heartbeats. The form is commonly employed for hymns, usually implying simplicity, and purity, reflected in the subject of the poem. The whole poem has a lack of action, like he had captured a moment, unchanging, therefore timeless, and a sense of peace, a more mellow, soft idea of beauty, innocence in virginity, like Daisy being seen as innocent.

External Links to She Walks In Beauty:

Byron was a character. Notorious, flamboyant, the leader of the romanticism movement. Handsome, once married and split, enjoyed multiple affairs, wracked up a huge debt, shifted between England, Mediterranean, Italy and Greece, where he fought for Greek independence. It is believed this poem is about his cousin, Mrs John Wilmont, who wore a black dress in her mourning, and of such striking beauty Byron felt inspired to write this poem.

This timeless, restricting beauty reflects the presentation of Daisy perhaps. Highly idealised, but with no voice, no real substance, bar this perceived beauty from men. A contrast is how darkness is frequently used to describe the woman, natural things, while the women in Gatsby are compared to light, or material things to do with wealth. Finally, there is the idealisation of women, held by Gatsby and Tom (Daisy is perfect and entirely loyal).

The woman is mainly appreciated for her aesthetic value, and is given no voice either. This could actually be restricting her, and he’s the one controlling her image. She is pure...because he didn’t get his hands on him. She seems to be almost entirely at his mercy. At least, this could be a feminist perspective: restricting, male-dominated, enforced.

“In ‘She Walks in Beauty’, Byron borrows from a long tradition of poetry that praises a woman by breaking her down into her component parts. This approach effectively objectifies and silences the unnamed woman.”

To contrast: “Many feminist critics have criticised this poem for its apparent objectification of the unnamed woman. However, Bryon breaks from tradition by acknowledging that the woman has ‘thoughts’ and an inner life that he cannot access.”

#English Lit / Cactus #Poetry Anthology / Cactus #She Walks in Beauty

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sheridan-harper-blog1 · 5 years

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HW 2

1. Spiritual

definition: relating to or affecting the human spirit or soul as opposed to material or physical things. relating to religion or religious belief.

synonyms: Non-material, psychological, religious, churchly, devotional

origin: 1300, "of or concerning the spirit" (especially in religious aspects), from Old French spirituel, esperituel (12c.) or directly from a Medieval Latin ecclesiastical use of Latin spiritualis "of or pertaining to breath, breathing, wind, or air; pertaining to spirit," from spiritus "of breathing, of the spirit" (see spirit (n.)). Meaning "of or concerning the church" is attested from mid-14c. Related: Spiritually. An Old English word for "spiritual" was godcundlic.

2. Romanticist

definition: a person who subscribes to the artistic movement or ideas of romanticism.

synonyms: Idealist, dreamer, visionary, sentimaentalist

origin: 1650s, "of the nature of a literary romance," from French romantique, from Middle French romant "a romance," oblique case of Old French romanz "verse narrative" (see romance(n.)).As a literary style, opposed to classical since before 1812; in music, from 1885. Meaning "characteristic of an ideal love affair" (such as usually formed the subject of literary romances) is from 1660s. Meaning "having a love affair as a theme" is from 1960. Related: Romantical (1670s); romantically. Compare romanticism.

3. Genuine

definition: truly what something is said to be;

synonyms: authentic. (of a person, emotion, or action) sincere, honest, true.

origin: 1590s, "natural, not acquired," from Latin genuinus "native, natural, innate," from root of gignere "to beget, produce" (from PIE root *gene- "give birth, beget"), perhaps influenced in form by contrasting adulterinus "spurious." [Alternative etymology is from Latin genu"knee," from a supposed ancient custom of a father acknowledging paternity of a newborn by placing it on his knee.] Meaning "really proceeding from its reputed source" is from 1660s. Related: Genuinely; genuineness.

4. Vivacious

definition: lively and animated.

synonyms: Spirited, vibraint, bubbly, animated, carefree, lighthearted

origin: 1640s, from Latin vivax (genitive vivacis) "lively, vigorous" (from PIE root *gwei- "to live") + -ous. Related: Vivaciously.

5. Amiable

definition: having or displaying a friendly and pleasant manner.

synonyms: Friendly, affable, amicable, cordial

origin: late 14c., "kindly, friendly," also "worthy of love or admiration," from Old French amiable"pleasant, kind; worthy to be loved" (12c.), from Late Latin amicabilis "friendly," from Latin amicus "friend, loved one," noun use of an adjective, "friendly, loving," from amare"to love" (see Amy).

6. Passionate

definition: showing or caused by strong feelings or a strong belief.

synonyms: Impassioned, fervent, sealous, fiery, emotional, heartfelt, wild.

origin: early 15c., "angry; emotional," from Medieval Latin passionatus "affected with passion," from Latin passio (genitive passionis) "passion" (see passion). Specific sense of "amorous" is attested from 1580s. Related: Passionately.

7. Contemplative

definition: expressing or involving prolonged thought

synonyms: Thoughtful, reflective, introspective, studious, meditative

origin: mid-14c., "devoted to (sacred) contemplation, devout," from Old French contemplatif (12c.) and directly from Latin contemplativus "speculative, theoretical," formed (after Greek theoretikos) from contemplat-, past-participle stem of contemplari "to gaze attentively, observe; consider, contemplate" (see contemplate). Meaning "given to continued and absorbed reflection" is from late 15c. Related: Contemplatively.

8. Gentle

definition: having or showing a mild, kind, or tender temperament or character. moderate in action, effect, or degree; not harsh or severe.

synonyms: Kind, forgiving, sympathetic, considerate, compassionate, benevolent, good-natured, sweet-tempered, loving

origin: early 13c., gentile, gentle "well-born, of noble rank or family," from Old French gentil/jentil"high-born, worthy, noble, of good family; courageous, valiant; fine, good, fair" (11c., in Modern French "nice, graceful, pleasing; fine, pretty") and directly from Latin gentilis "of the same family or clan," in Medieval Latin "of noble or good birth," from gens (genitive gentis) "race, clan," from root of gignere "beget," from PIE root *gene- "to give birth, beget," from PIE root *gene- "give birth, beget," with derivatives referring to procreation and familial and tribal groups. Sense evolved in English and French to "having the character or manners of one of noble rank or birth," varying according to how those were defined. From mid-13c. in English as "gracious, kind" (now obsolete), manners prescribed for Christian or chivalrous nobility. From late 13c. as "courteous, polite, well-bred, charming;" c. 1300 as "graceful, beautiful." Meaning "mild, tender; easy; not harsh" (of animals, things, persons) is from 1550s. Older sense remains in gentleman, and compare gentile (adj.), an alternative form which tends to keep the Biblical senses of the Latin word (though gentle in Middle English sometimes meant "pagan, heathen"), and genteel, which is the same word borrowed again from French. From 1823 as "pertaining to the fairies."

9. Resourceful

definition: having the ability to find quick and clever ways to overcome difficulties.

synonyms: imaginative, inventive, creative

origin: 1610s, "means of supplying a want or deficiency," from French resourse "a source, spring," noun use of fem. past participle of Old French resourdre "to rally, raise again," from Latin resurgere "rise again" (see resurgent). Resources "a country's wealth" first recorded 1779.

10. Imaginative

definition: having or showing creativity or inventiveness.

synonyms: Creative, visionary, inspired, enterprising, inventive

origin: late 14c., ymaginatyf, "pertaining to imagination; forming images, given to imagining," from Old French imaginatif and directly from Medieval Latin imaginativus, from imaginat-, stem of Latin imaginari "picture to oneself" (see imagine). Meaning "resulting from imagination" is from 1829. Related: Imaginatively; imaginativeness.

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donveinot · 3 years

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What Can I Do?

Photo by Christine Roy on Unsplash It’s a question that frequently comes up when faced with the looming reality of our changing world. Understandably so: Whether we’re encountering the Great Reset Agenda of the World Economic Forum, recognizing the influence of the interfaith movement, or watching the cultural great leap backwards take place before our eyes, we desire to act – what can I do? Often this question is couched in a sense of despair. It’s like witnessing an unstoppable train-wreck in slow motion, but the momentum has suddenly increased just as we’ve realized the gravity of the situation, and now we’re frozen in place by its magnitude. Something else is often in play, a strained hope that somehow, someone, somewhere will put a stop to it; to right this topsy-turvy world. Now you could – and you should – voice your concerns to elected officials. In a nation where the government is “from the people, by the people and for the people,”((Abraham Lincoln, “Gettysburg Address”)) that is part of your spiritual and civic responsibility. It is their job to hear and respond. You could – and you should – take some prudent personal measures, like shoring up one’s finances and shedding consumer debt. You should invest in personal relationships, in building up networks of trust. Other responses crop up, but in this article, we will tackle five short points, taking a slightly different approach than what’s often expected when we encounter the question, what can I do? 1) Understand your own worldview, and then take the time to understand theirs. No matter what is going on in culture in any given time period, believers in Jesus Christ must know what they believe, and why. The Apostle Paul’s letters consistently reinforced theological truths, instructing the early church in matters of doctrine while challenging them to remain in the faith. Furthermore, Paul’s instructions weren’t given in a vacuum; early believers faced mounting religious, political, and cultural pressures. His messages to those churches are as important today as ever. Like those believers, we too must understand the truths of God and how this shapes our worldview. We should also grasp the nature of competing worldviews, being willing to juxtapose those claims against the truth of scripture. Paul did, as exemplified in Acts 17:16-33. With the above in mind, it’s important to consider the ninth of the Ten Commandments: You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor (Exodus 20:16) What is a false witness? It is a person who stands up and swears before others that something untrue is true. Unfortunately, in our world of sound bites and social media, it can be hard to distinguish fact from sensationalism and fiction from well-intended messages. Nevertheless, before we throw our voices into the mix, we should exercise due diligence to ensure the accuracy of what we’re communicating – both in terms of the Christian message and what others are saying. Then, by understanding all viewpoints – yours and theirs, to the best of your ability – you position yourself with an informed opinion and an accurate context for truth. You become a truth teller, guarding against falling to slander, even unintentionally. But recognize this: before endeavoring to seriously understand a competing worldview, know your own line-in-the-sand lest you end up compromising it. See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. (Colossians 2:8) 2) Inform yourself and your circle of influence, without resorting to hyperbole as the facts are sensational enough – do this with honesty and respect, so that you can become a trusted source. Quality, Christian-based resources are available to help you understand the questions and concerns of our age – Midwest Christian Outreach, Inc and Forcing Change are two examples. Then, as you study and seek knowledge, pay attention to what’s around you, carefully applying a Biblical lens while gaining an increased awareness. Soon you’ll notice how prevalent competing messages are, from what’s posted on your grocery store bulletin board to content on social media. Moreover, you’ll begin to understand how so many of our political and social changes are outgrowths of competing worldviews. For some of us, the next step is to find source material that demonstrates the intentionality of cultural changes. For example, when discussing the Great Reset of the World Economic Forum, you’ve taken the time to watch some of their videos and have read selected WEF articles. In doing this you’ve also gained insight into their language, discovering that word meanings and definitions are not always as they seem, that many social, environmental, and political concepts and nuances are either redefined or placed within a new narrative. Like anything else, there is a learning curve. Nevertheless, you’ve gleaned the overall picture, compared and contrasted worldviews and their potential outcomes, and can speak with some measure of knowledge. Not only can you “tell” but you can “show,” and this takes away the slippery slope of second-hand sensationalism. Then when you talk to others, including those who support that opposing worldview, you can use “their own words.” Thus equipped, hopefully, you’ll find yourself talking with them and not at them. In some respects, this was the approach Paul used in Acts 17; he employed their own lingo and leveraged their philosophy so as to reason with them about who the “Unknown God” is. Paul was able to discern an opportunity within an opposing culture and pursued this in a respectful manner. His approach is a good reminder: don’t let your validity be lost in your delivery. In doing the above, we have to understand who the real enemy is – “principalities and powers” – and represent ourselves as truth-tellers, ambassadors for Jesus Christ,((2 Corinthians 5:20)) as we engage in worldview conversations. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 4:12) So, who’s in your circle of influence? Anyone you are in front of, anyone you rub shoulders with. While we mainly stay within our own social circles, we ultimately influence everywhere we go. So, when out and about, consider who it is you’ll be in front of. And like Paul, look for those opportunities to speak truth. 3) Encourage your Pastor to stick with the truth of Scripture, for churches are not immune from these pressures. In fact, churches and seminaries have become vocal promoters of spiritual fads, counter-worldviews, and the political religion that we can build the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth. Encourage your Pastor to stand on God’s Word, testing trends and cultural shifts – including those coming from inside denominations – against the standard that does not change. And as we’re writing this in 2021, we are acutely aware that Covid has exposed rifts within the Christian community while adding extra political challenges – from church shutdowns to others standing against lockdowns. We need to be discerning while recognizing that worldviews are in tension, and for some, this will be and has been costly. Encourage your Pastor to stand as a watchman, one who not only warns against coming dangers but calls people to be spiritually ready as we enter perilous days, the birth pangs. Likewise, you too are to be watchful. Indeed, this is a serious calling. Let us not be as those found in Isaiah 56:10, His watchmen are blind; they are all without knowledge; they are all silent dogs; they cannot bark, dreaming, lying down, loving to slumber. 4) Don't be scared of the world – concerned, yes – but don't let it drive you into fear. Don't let the fear of Man overshadow what's really important, the fear of God. Crisis creates fear, and when fear is used against us, we naturally want to protect ourselves. Hence, when a “solution” to a crisis – real or perceived – is presented as the way forward, as “salvation,” we welcome the reprieve, even if it’s something we would (or should!) rationally abhor. The Great Reset as presented by the World Economic Forum fits this bill, presenting a range of collectivist approaches in dealing with global fears. 2 Timothy 1:7 implied that if we fear, it robs us, For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind. And Proverbs 29:25 reminds us that “the fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is safe.” Let us put fear in its proper place. 5) Recognize world agendas like that presented by the WEF, or the Parliament of World’s Religions or the United Nations, for what they really are; an alternative salvation message – by uniting to save the Earth we redeem ourselves and can therefore usher an age of peace and prosperity. This is an unmistakable messianic impulse. Will doing or adopting any of the above stop the world from moving in the direction it's going? No. But that's ultimately not your job – your task is to be responsible, to be salt and living in grace, wherever you are. If your work is in the realm of high-power politics and finance, great, that’s your front line. If it’s in journalism and research, welcome to the club. If it’s as an educator or pastor or teacher… whether you’re involved in business or a trade or health care or a homemaker... the list goes on. Wherever your feet are, that’s where your mission field is, to be truth tellers – to your family, neighbors, and church – and even to your elected officials. Our world is changing. The Great Reset is just another point of evidence. If God told us this was going to happen – that people and nations would seek their own way (2 Timothy 3:13, Psalm 2) – be assured that He also has a plan: It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man. (Psalm 118:8)Ω

Carl Teichrib is the author of Game of Gods: The Temple of Man in the Age of Re-Enchantment, and excerpts can be read at Game of Gods: The Temple of Man in the Age of Re-Enchantmenthis research reports and articles can be found at Game of Gods: The Temple of Man in the Age of Re-Enchantment Forcing Change Co-author Audrey Vanderkley is the administrator at Remnant Online Fellowship, which exists to connect people to relevant Christian resources on Bible prophecy and worldview issues © 2021, Midwest Christian Outreach, Inc All rights reserved. Excerpts and links may be used if full and clear credit is given with specific direction to the original content. Read the full article

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weaselle · 6 years

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What the fuck am I even doing

It’s frustrating to get it wrong. The worst is when you think you have a basic understanding of a concept only to discover you haven’t understood it at all. I have wanted to create change since I can remember. I took it upon myself to learn everything I could that seemed relevant to helping people have access to a life that gave them everything they needed in a healthy, sustainable, enjoyable way, instead of this clearly broken human world we inhabit. Turns out, that’s a lot of stuff to learn. I’m reasonably intelligent, but my all-gifted/accelerated-class beginnings and my teacher’s unsuccessful attempts to convince my parents to let me skip grades soon turned into flunking out of high school. Early family tragedy, emotional issues, and personal misunderstanding of my own probably non-binary nature did not create a stable life, and I’ve had to do all my learning amid constant chaos. I’ve had more than 30 employers, including myself. I’ve written and produced comedic theater, I’ve done landscaping, I’ve been an accountant, I’ve run a jackhammer, I’ve worked in a bookstore, I’ve been a cook, a server, a hotel night auditor and front desk agent. I’ve worked 3 full 40-hour-per-week jobs at the same time, and I’ve done circus performance on the streets for money to eat. I’ve lived in more than 25 buildings, and never alone. I’ve spent a year in Germany, two years in Alabama, three years in Portland, two years in San Francisco, six years in Oakland, a year in Santa Cruz, a year in Hollywood... I’ve lived in town houses and apartment complexes and a warehouse and a tool shed and my truck. Meanwhile, I needed to know... everything. Especially: what people are, what people need, what people have tried already, what the current situation on the planet is, and specifically to understand the explicit ways in which the overall organization of human existence is currently broken, so as to attempt solutions. I’ve done a lot of research into early human development, that journey from something less than human to something more than ape- what are we, what do we need, why are we like this? How do we fit in to ecosystems, and what is our track record of society building and collapse, and how has social power shaped these things, changed or remained the same in the many thousands of years humans have had large societies? I’ve done a lot of looking at human physical animal needs - my mother was a critical care and emergency room nurse, my father a general practitioner doctor with a focus in geriatrics, so I started with a good base. My own struggles lead me to examine mental health and psychology pretty closely. I’ve investigated nutrition and read studies about sleep and dreaming, and read at length about DNA, what genes are, and how they replicate, what that means for illnesses and health and aging. I looked into spirituality and philosophy, parsing the standard young questions about reality, relishing books like Siddhartha , moving on to the Tao Te Ching and the Allegory of the Cave and explorations of various religions. I’ve deeply considered what it means to be a Good Human. I experienced meditation and experimented with paganism, became very interested in witchery, attempted several occult practices. I detailed the pros and cons of modern western education systems contrasted with human biological and child developmental needs as intersecting with what society needs its students to become versus what students need to finish their education knowing. I designed a whole new system of education that addresses deficiencies in current systems. I studied energy production processes and played with my own experimental energy production techniques. I devoured information about sustainable architecture and zero-footprint design. I looked up studies that examine the average hours of work per week done by tribal people living in challenging environments like the Kalahari Desert and the Amazon Jungle, and compared that to anthropological observations of modern western families. What I’m trying to express is the depth and variation of what I set out to learn. So, because of the width of this spectrum of information I’ve been trying to cram into my brain, I’ve cut corners. I’ve read recaps of recent history, in favor of in depth research of prehistory. I’ve read summaries of political movements instead of the literature produced by the leaders of those movements. I looked at pros and cons of various regime styles instead of tracing back their histories. There are... important areas in which I’ve only gone over the cliff notes, as it were. OF course that is totally inadequate. OF COURSE I don’t understand what I thought knew. smh. There are no shortcuts to knowledge, I KNOW this, I don’t know why I am so caught off guard. Now I have to question my answers. Because, I DO HAVE answers, finally. Projects that start at a manageable level, organizing a single community of about 60 people, one tribe’s worth, in a way that brings every part of modern american human existence under a single roof to be addressed in microcosm in order to generate replicable, scalable solutions and then uses socio-economic success to grow itself outward. Solutions that don’t try to force people to join in, but that tempt people to copy. Solutions that don’t tell people how they must live, but instead give them tools and options and examples. A community that allows minimum wage workers to own property (so that the community does not live under landlords) and provides the means to create outreach programs offering semi-temporary room and board to homeless people (especially those with children) women fleeing abusive relationships, rehabilitated convicts, disabled veterans, etc. That become low-cost support services to the neighborhood the community is in. This community and those that follow, are designed to function as a low risk entrepreneurial incubators such that the solutions to socio-economic inequalities and deficiencies can be developed for sale to the middle class such that the middle class pays low-income workers to create alternatives to current corrupt and broken institutions... creating new banks and schools, reinventing food and clothing industries, competing directly with and eventually replacing Walmarts and Targets and Wholefoods... This gives people more power to demand change to existing institutions by providing blueprints and working examples for alternatives. Eventually these communities and baby institutions can join and grow to form whole cities that are explicitly designed for sustainable low-environmental impact lifestyles, in which the municipality itself owns all the actual property, and therefore there are no landlords and 100% of the “rent” is used for infrastructure, alternative energy production and waste management, and, importantly, funding social programs that ensure everyone has better than the bare minimum access to food, shelter, clothing, information/education, and healthcare. One city can become two, then four. If the current broken and corrupt institutions don’t allow us to change them, they can be replaced entirely. It’s a huge undertaking. I have only just started taking action this last year after more than 20 years of conceptualization, and I anticipate dying without seeing it reach it’s full potential. And here today I find out, I still have AT LEAST a whole master’s degree worth of stuff to learn. That after all my study and research and reading and experience, someone literally half my age can tell me I don’t know what I’m talking about and call me ignorant... and she’s right. She’s absolutely right. I STILL don’t know what I’m talking about, in so many areas, in so many ways. I hate it. Because I’m running out of time. I have to move forward. And I have to do it knowing that I don’t know what I’m doing, which is fine for my own life, but I’m trying to influence other people’s lives, and that worries me. How can I ask people to trust me, to join me, when I don’t even, when I can’t, when I’m still so uneducated and ignorant? But my life is meaningless otherwise. I have chosen to not have children for this, I have turned my back on economic success for this, I have existed on the edge of society for this.

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jonescrysstal · 3 years

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Lupine Publishers | Antidialectics: Vodou and The Haitian Revolution in Opposition to The African American Civil Rights Movement

Lupine Publishers | Journal of Anthropological and Archaeological Sciences

Introduction

The dialectical integration of black Americans into the Protestant Ethic and the spirit of capitalism of the West via slavery, the African American civil rights movement, and globalization marks the end of black American history as a distinct African worldview manifesting itself onto the world. A black/African practical consciousness as represented in Haitian Vodou and Kreyol, for example, manifesting itself in praxis and the annals of history via the nation-state of Ayiti/ Haiti is slowly being supplanted by a universal Protestant Ethic and the spirit of capitalism phenotypically dressed in multiethnic, multiracial, and multisexual skins speaking for the world. This latter worldview has not only erased a distinct African practical consciousness among black Americans, but via the African- Americanization of the black diaspora in globalization through the hip-hop culture of the black American underclass, on the one hand, and the prosperity gospel of the black American church and bourgeoisie on the other is seeking to do the same among blacks globally in the diaspora while simultaneously destroying all life on earth [1]. This work focuses on how and why the purposiverationality, antidialectics, of the originating moments of the Haitian Revolution and Vodou diametrically opposes that of the African American Civil Rights movement. The author concludes that the intent of the originating moments of the Haitian Revolution at Bwa Kayiman (Bois Caiman) was not for equality of opportunity, distribution, and recognition with whites by reproducing their norms and structure, as in the case of the African American civil rights movement under the purposive-rationality of liberal bourgeois black Protestant men, but for the reconstitution of a new world order or structuring structure (libertarian communism) “enframed” by an African linguistic and spiritual community, Vodou and kreyol, respectively, grounded in, and “enframing,” liberty and fraternity among blacks or death. In fact, the author posits that it is the infusion of the former worldview, liberal bourgeois Protestantism via the Protestant Ethic and the spirit of capitalism, on the island by the mulatto elites and petit-bourgeois free persons of color, Affranchis, looking to Canada, France, and America for equality of opportunity, distribution, and recognition that not only threatens Haiti and its practical consciousnesses, Vodou and Kreyol, contemporarily, but all life and civilizations on earth because of its dialectical economic growth and accumulative logic within the finite space and resources of the earth.

Background of the problem

Traditional interpretations of the Haitian Revolution and the black American Civil Rights movement of the 1960s attempt to understand the two sociohistorical phenomena within the dialectical logic of Hegel’s master/slave dialectic [2-4]. Concluding that both events represent a dialectical struggle by the enslaved Africans, who have internalized the rules of their masters, for equality of opportunity, recognition, and distribution within and using the metaphysical discourse of their former white masters to convict them of not identifying with their norms, rules, and values as recursively organized and reproduced by blacks. This traditional liberal bourgeois interpretation of the Haitian revolution attempts to understand its denouement through the sociopolitical effects of the French Revolution when the National Constituent Assembly (Assemblée Nationale Constituante) of France passed la Déclaration des droits de l’homme et du citoyen or the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen in August of 1789. The understanding from this perspective is that the slaves, many of whom could not read or write French, understood the principles, philosophical and political principles of the Age of Enlightenment, set forth in the declaration and therefore yearned to be like their white masters, i.e., freemen seeking liberty, equality, and fraternity, the rallying cry of the French Revolution [4-16].

Although, historically this understanding holds true for the mulattoes and free petit-bourgeois blacks or Affranchis who used the language of the declaration to push forth their efforts to gain liberty, equality, fraternity with their white counterparts as slaveholders and masters as brilliantly highlighted by Laurent Du Bois [3]. This position, I posit here, is not an accurate representation for the Africans who met at Bois Caïman, the originating moments of the Haitian Revolution. The Affranchis, embodied in the person of Toussaint Louverture, for example, like their black American middle class counterparts, dialectically pushed for liberty, equality, and fraternity with their white counterparts at the expense of the Vodou discourse and Kreyol language of the pep, the majority of the enslaved Africans who were not only discriminated against by whites but by the mulattoes and free blacks as well who sought to reproduce the French language, culture, religion, and laws of their former slavemasters on the island [5]. Toussaint believed that the technical and governing skills of the Blancs (whites) and Affranchis would be sorely needed to rebuild the country, along the lines of white civilization, after the revolution and the end of white rule on the island. In fact, Toussaint was not seeking to make Haiti an independent country; but sought to have the island remain a French plantation colony, like Martinique and Guadeloupe, without slavery [3]. Although Dessalines’s nationalistic position, which was similar to Toussaint’s, would become dominant after the capture of Toussaint in 1802, his (Dessalines’s) assassination by a plot between the mulatto, Alexandre Pétion, and Henri Christophe, would see to it that the Affranchis’s purposive-rationality would come to historically represent the ideals of the Haitian quest for independence. This purposive-rationality of the Affranchis, to adopt the ontological and epistemological positions of whites by recursively organizing and reproducing their language and ways of being-in-the-world is, however, a Western liberal dialectical understanding of the events and their desire to be like their white counterparts, which stands against the anti-dialectical purposive rationality, which emerged out of the African/Haitian Epistemology, Vilokan/Haitian Idealism, of Boukman Dutty, Cecile Fatiman, the rest of the maroon Africans who congregated for the Petwo Vodou ceremony at Bois Caïman/ Bwa Kayiman. The difference between what the Africans at Bois Caïman wanted and the aspirations of the mulattoes or Affranchis can be summed up through a parallel or complimentary analysis of the dialectical master/slave relationship of the black American experience with their white masters in America [17-31].

Using a structurationist approach to practical consciousness constitution, what Paul C Mocombe [6] calls phenomenological structuralism, this work compares and contrasts the purposive rationality of the black American civil rights movement with that of the originating moments of the ceremony of Bois Caiman. In keeping with the tenets of phenomenological structuralism, the emphasis is on the ideals of structures that social actors internalize and recursively organize and reproduce as their praxis in the material world. In this case, the argument is that two distinct forms of system and social integration would characterize black American and Haitian life, which made their approaches to slavery and colonialism totally distinct: dialectical on the one hand; and antidialectical on the other [31-48].

Theory and Method

Beginning in the sixteenth century, Africans were introduced into the emerging global Protestant capitalist world social structure as slaves. Given their economic material conditions, their African practical consciousnesses, i.e., bodies, languages, ideologies, etc., were dialectically represented by European whites as primitive forms of being-in-the-world to that of the dominant white Protestant bourgeois social order with the ever-declining significance of Catholicism following the Protestant Reformation [7]. From this sociohistorical perspective, under the “contradictory principles of marginality and integration” [7] the majority of African consciousness in America especially was reshaped as a “racial classin- itself” (blacks), a “caste in class,” forced to embody the structural terms (bourgeois ideals in the guise of the protestant ethic) of the dominant global (capitalist) social relations of production, over all other “alternative” African adaptive responses to its then organizational form, slavery [48-64].

This embodiment or internalization of bourgeois ideals, in the guise of the Protestant Ethic, by the majority of Africans in America amidst their poor material conditions created by the social relations of Protestant capitalist organization, in keeping with traditional readings of the black American struggle for freedom, eventually made the struggle to obtain equality of opportunity, distribution, and recognition with their white Protestant bourgeois counterparts amidst racial and class discrimination their goal. This goal, brilliantly captured by W.E.B. Du Bois in his work The Souls of Black Folk, progressively crept into their African based spiritualism, which dialectically subsequently became synthesized with the Protestant Ethic of the global capitalist Protestant social structure leading to the ever-increasing materialization of black American faiths and practical consciousness along the lines of their former white slave masters. Hence, the subsequent aim of the majority of black Americans, as embodied in the black American civil rights movement, became a movement for equality of opportunity, distribution, and recognition led by liberal black Protestant bourgeois male preachers (hybrid simulacrum of their white colonizers) like Martin Luther King Jr. against alternative responses to enslavement by convicting the society of not identifying with their norms and values, which black Americans embodied and recursively organized and reproduced in their practices [8].

Conversely, the Haitian Revolution as initiated on August 14th, 1791 at Bois Caïman by Boukman Dutty and Mambo Cecile Fatiman was led by various representatives of African nations seeking to recursively reorganize and reproduce their African practicalconsciousness/ thesis, the Vodou Ethic and the spirit of communism, which emerges out of their African ontology and epistemology, Vilokan/Haitian Idealism, in the world against the bourgeois liberalism of whites and the mulatto or Affranchis class of Haiti, who would subsequently, with the assassination of the houngan, Vodou priest, Jean-Jacques Dessalines in 1806, undermine that attempt for a more liberal purposive-rationale, similar to that of the black American civil-rights movement, that would reintroduce wage-slavery and peonage on the island [64-70].

Haitians celebrate Bois Caïman as the beginning of the Haitian Revolution in August of 1791. At Bois Caïman/Bwa Kay Iman (near Boukman’s house), the Jamaican-born houngan, Vodou priest, Boukman Dutty, initiated the Haitian Revolution on August 14, 1791 when he presided over a Petwo Vodou ceremony in Kreyol in the area, which is located in the mountainous Northern corridors of the island. Accompanied by a woman, the mambo Vodou priestess Cecile Fatiman, taken by the spirits of the lwa/loas, Ezili Danto/ Erzulie Danthor, they cut the throat of a black pig and had all the participants in attendance drink the blood. According to Haitian traditions, Boukman and the participants, via Boukman’s prayer, swore two things to the lwa Ezili Danto, the Goddess of the Haitian nation, present in Fatiman if she would grant them success in their quest for liberty against the French. First, they would never allow for inequality on the island; second, they would serve bondye/ Gran-Met (their good god) and its 401 manifestations, lwaes of Vodou and not the white man’s god “which inspires him with crime:”

Bon Dje ki fè la tè. Ki fè soley ki klere nou enro. Bon Dje ki soulve lanmè. Ki fè gronde loray. Bon Dje nou ki gen zorey pou tande. Ou ki kache nan niaj. Kap gade nou kote ou ye la. Ou we tout sa blan fè nou sibi. Dje blan yo mande krim. Bon Dje ki nan nou an vle byen fè. Bon Dje nou an ki si bon, ki si jis, li ordone vanjans. Se li kap kondui branou pou nou ranpote la viktwa. Se li kap ba nou asistans. Nou tout fet pou nou jete potre dje Blan yo ki swaf dlo lan zye. Koute vwa la libète k ap chante lan kè nou.

The god who created the sun which gives us light, who rouses the waves and rules the storm, though hidden in the clouds, he watches us. He sees all that the white man does. The god of the white man inspires him with crime, but our god calls upon us to do good works. Our god who is good to us orders us to revenge our wrongs. He will direct our arms and aid us. Throw away the symbol of the god of the whites who has so often caused us to weep, and listen to the voice of liberty, which speaks in the hearts of us all [71-75].

That night the slaves revolted first at Gallifet Plantation, then across the Northern Plains. Toussaint Louverture and Jean-Jacques Dessalines would join the rebellion after Boukman was captured and beheaded by the French. And as the proverbial saying goes, the rest is history. Under Jean-Jacques Dessalines, who crowned himself emperor for life, Haiti became the first free black nation-state in the world in 1804, the only successful slave rebellion in recorded history, the first democratic nation, and the second republic after the United States of America in the Western Hemisphere [75-79].

The centering of Vodou and Kreyol are the divergent paths against slavery and liberal bourgeois Protestantism that sets the originating moments of the Haitian Revolution apart, as a distinct phenomenon, from the desires and purposive-rationale of an elite liberal hybrid group, the mulatto elite and black petit-bourgeois class or Affranchis in Haiti and liberal black Protestant bourgeois male preachers of America, seeking to serve as the bearers of ideological and linguistic domination for the black masses in both countries by recursively (re) organizing and reproducing the agential moments of their former colonizers within the logical constraints of Hegel’s master/slave dialectic. To only highlight the latter, liberal bourgeois Protestant initiative, over the former, originating moments of the Haitian revolution, under the purview of a Hegelian master/slave universal dialectic, as so many theorists, including the work, Black Jacobins, of CLR James, and Susan Buck- Morss’s [4], Hegel, Haiti, and Universal History, is to deny the existence of the African practical-consciousness, Haitian Idealism as expressed through the Vodou Ethic and the spirit of communism, that has been seeking to institute its practical consciousness in the world since the beginning of the slave trade in favor of the liberal bourgeois Protestantism of whites and the mulatto and black petitbourgeois elites who have yet to be able to stamp out, as was done to the black American, the African linguistic system, Kreyol, and practical-consciousness, Vodou, of the Haitian masses, by which Haiti’s provinces have been constituted [79-90].

Discussion

As in the case of CLR James’s work, Black Jacobins, Susan Buck Morss [4] in her work, Hegel, Haiti, and Universal History attempts to understand the originating moments of the Haitian Revolution metaphorically through Hegel’s master/slave dialectic. Suggesting, in fact, that it is the case of Haiti that Hegel utilized to constitute the metaphor:

Given the facility with which this dialectic of lordship and bondage lends itself to such a reading, one wonders why the topic Hegel and Haiti has for so long been ignored. Not only have Hegel scholars failed to answer this question; they have failed, for the past two hundred years, even to ask it (2009, p. 56).

My position here is that James’s and Morss’s conclusions do not hold true for the Africans who met at Bois Caïman, and only holds true for the case of the Affranchis of Haiti-who usurped, following their assassination of Dessalines, the originating moments of the Revolution from the Africans who met at Bois Caïman-and the black Americans who, in choosing to rebel against their former masters, were not risking death to avoid subjugation, but in rebelling were choosing life in order to be like the master and subjugate.

In Hegel’s master/slave dialectic as Morss explains,

Hegel understands the position of the master in both political and economic terms. In the System der Sittlichkeit (1803): “The master is in possession of an overabundance of physical necessities generally, and the other [the slave] in the lack thereof.” At first consideration the master’s situation is “independent, and its essential nature is to be for itself”; whereas “the other,” the slave’s position, “is dependent, and its essence is life or existence for another.” The slave is characterized by the lack of recognition he receives. He is viewed as “a thing”; “thinghood” is the essence of slave consciousness-as it was the essence of his legal status under the Code Noir. But as the dialectic develops, the apparent dominance of the master reverses itself with his awareness that he is in fact totally dependent on the slave. One has only to collectivize the figure of the master in order to see the descriptive pertinence of Hegel’s analysis: the slaveholding class is indeed totally dependent on the institution of slavery for the “overabundance” that constitutes its wealth. This class is thus incapable of being the agent of historical progress without annihilating its own existence. But then the slaves (again, collectivizing the figure) achieve selfconsciousness by demonstrating that they are not things, not objects, but subjects who transform material nature. Hegel’s text becomes obscure and falls silent at this point of realization. But given the historical events that provided the context for The Phenomenology of Mind, the inference is clear. Those who once acquiesced to slavery demonstrate their humanity when they are willing to risk death rather than remain subjugated. The law (the Code Noir!) that acknowledges them merely as “a thing” can no longer be considered binding, although before, according to Hegel, it was the slave himself who was responsible for his lack of freedom by initially choosing life over liberty, mere self-preservation. In The Phenomenology of mind, Hegel insists that freedom cannot be granted to slaves from above. The self-liberation of the slave is required through a “trial by death”: “And it is solely by risking life that freedom is obtained…The individual, who has not staked his life, may, no doubt, be recognized as a Person [the agenda of the abolitionists!]; but he has not attained the truth of his recognition as an independent self-consciousness.” The goal of this liberation, out of slavery, cannot be subjugation of the master in turn, which would be merely to repeat the master’s “existential impasse,” but, rather, elimination of the institution of slavery altogether (53-56).

The Africans at Bois Caïman, given that they were already recursively reproducing their African practical consciousness in the maroon community of Bois Caïman away from the master/slave dialectic of whites neither cared for the master, nor his structuring metaphysics, but instead wanted to be free to exercise their African practical consciousness, which would be precarious, given the possibility of their re-enslavement if captured, by whites and the Affranchis, who also practiced slavery, remained on the island. In essence, the events at Bois Caïman represented an attempt by the Africans to exercise their already determining independent African self-consciousness against the whites and Affranchis’s dependent self-consciousness which sought to repeat the masters’ “existential impasse.” The liberal Affranchis and the black Americans, in other words, who would lead the civil rights movement, wanted, given that their very practical consciousness was determined by their relations to, and yearning to be like, their masters, rebelled in order to themselves be “free” masters and not an “independent self-consciousness.” In essence, the Affranchis, like their black American counterparts, merely rebelled in order to be like their masters, and sought neither to subjugate the master nor eliminate “the institution of slavery altogether,” since their consciousness as slaves was from the onset revealed to them only through the eyes of the master. Hence, the only other consciousness they had, outside of their slave consciousness, “thinghood,” was that of the master, whose position they desired, and that of the African masses whose practical consciousness they abhorred. But Boukman, Fatiman, and the other maroon Africans of Bois Caïman had their abhorred African Consciousness, which to revert to. The Affranchis, like their black American counterparts did not. Be that as it may, whereas the former sought to institute a new historical/universal, Absolute, order onto the material resource framework of Haiti by invoking the aid of their lwaes/loas to assist them in rooting out the whites and their gods, the latter, like their black American counterparts, wanted to maintain the status quo, the master/slave relationship by which their practical consciousness was constituted, in a national position of their own [91-116].

In other words, black Americans subjectified/objectified in the “Protestant Ethic and the spirit of capitalism” of American society were completely subjectified and subjugated on account of race and class position [8,9]. They were subjectified objects, i.e., slaves, things, whose initial practical consciousness prior to their enslavement was used dialectically by the master, by presenting the practical consciousness of the slave as backwards and damned within the metaphysics of the master’s practical consciousness, against the slave to objectify them as a thing. W.E.B Du Bois, for example, relying on the racial and national ideology of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century theoretically, en framed by Hegel’s master/slave dialectic, conceived of the ambivalence that arose in him as a self-conscious thing, as a result of the “class racism” (Étienne Balibar’s term) of American society, as a double consciousness: “two souls,” “two thoughts,” in the Negro whose aim is to merge these two thoughts into one distinct way of being, i.e., to be whole again [117-125].

After the Egyptian and Indian, the Greek and Roman, the Teuton and Mongolian, the Negro is a sort of seventh son, born with a veil, and gifted with second-sight in this American world, -a world which yields him no true self-consciousness, but only lets him see himself through the revelation of the other world. It is a peculiar sensation, this double consciousness, this sense of always looking at one’s self through the eyes of others, of measuring one’s soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity. One ever feels his twoness, -an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder.

The history of the American Negro is the history of this strife, -this longing to attain self-conscious manhood, to merge his double self into a better and truer self. In this merging he wishes neither of the older selves to be lost. He would not Africanize America, for America has too much to teach the world and Africa. He would not bleach his Negro soul in a flood of white Americanism, for he knows that Negro blood has a message for the world. He simply wishes to make it possible for a man to be both a Negro and an American, without being cursed and spit upon by his fellows, without having the doors of Opportunity closed roughly in his face. This, then, is the end of his striving: to be a coworker in the kingdom of culture, to escape both death and isolation, to husband and use his best powers and his latent genius [3].

This double-consciousness resulting from his thingness in relation to the master’s consciousness, Du Bois alludes to, in this famous passage of his work The Souls of Black Folk, is not a metaphor for the racial duality of black American life in America [8,9]. Instead, it speaks to Du Bois’s, as a black liberal bourgeois Protestant man, ambivalence about the society because it prevents him from exercising, not his initial African practical consciousness which is “looked on in amused contempt and pity,” but his true (master) American consciousness because of the society’s antiliberal and discriminatory practices, which made him a thing, i.e., slave. Although over time his “thinghood” forced Du Bois to adopt “pan-African communism” against his early beliefs in liberal bourgeois Protestantism, i.e., his desire to be like the masters, whites. Du Bois, in this passage, like the many black Americans who would share his class position and liberal bourgeois Protestant worldview, does not want an independent self-consciousness that is not the masters since the only other consciousness he is familiar with is that of the slaves, but simply wants to be like the collective dependent masters, whites, “without being cursed and spit upon by his fellows, without having the doors of Opportunity closed roughly in his face.” His later pan-African communist message simply turns this desire, the attempt to be a master, into a desire to constitute the master/slave dialectic in a national position of his own. But contrary to this later “pan-African communist” message against assimilation for a nationalist position of his own, however, to make themselves whole the majority of black Americans of the civil rights movement, especially, did not yearn for or establish (by averting their gaze away from the eye of power or their white masters) a new independent object formation or totality, based on the initial “message” of their people prior to their encounter with the master, which spoke against racial and class stratification and would have produced heterogeneity into the American capitalist bourgeois world-system; instead, since there was no other “message” but that of the society which turned and represented the “original” African message of their people into inarticulate, animalistic backward gibberish, they (blacks) turned their gaze back upon the eye of power (through protest and success in their endeavors) for recognition as “speaking subjects” of the society seeking not to subjugate the master in a national position of their own but for equality of opportunity, distribution, and recognition with their white counterparts. Power hesitantly responded by allowing some of them (the hybrid modern “other” liberal bourgeois Protestant) to partake in the order of things, which gave rise to the black American identity, the liberal black bourgeoisie or hybrids, which delimits the desired agential moments of the social structure for all blacks [8-13].

Thus black American protest as a structurally differentiated “class-in-itself” (subjectified/objectified thing) led by this liberal black bourgeoisie within the American protestant bourgeois master/slave order did not reconstitute American society, but integrated the black subjects, whose ideals and practices (acquired in ideological apparatuses, i.e., schools, law, churches (black and white)), as speaking subjects, were that of the larger society, i.e., the protestant ethic, into its exploitative and oppressive order-an order which promotes a debilitating performance principle actualized through calculating rationality, which may result in economic gain for its own sake for a few predestined individuals. The black American, like the early Du Bois of the Souls prior to his conversion to pan-African communism, in a word, became like their masters within the master/slave dialectic, which constituted their historical experiences.

The same can be said for the Affranchis of Haiti, who sought for equality of opportunity, distribution, and recognition with their blanc counterparts at the expense of the agential initiatives of the Bois Caïman African participants. The Affranchis, like Toussaint, for example, who owned African slaves, rebelled not to eliminate slavery or subjugate the master, but to be a master, like their liberal black American counterparts, through their dialectical claim for equality of opportunity, distribution, and recognition. Their slave status only revealed to them the “other” consciousness in the dialectic, i.e., the master consciousness. Therefore, their desire was not to be slaves, who had no other consciousness to look to but that of the newly arrived Africans and the maroon Africans, but masters who enslaved the other slaves, i.e., the newly arrived Africans and the marooned Africans, who were not like themselves. This desire of Toussaint, for example, to be like the master, however, was not the aim of Jean-Jacques Dessalines, Boukman, Cecile Fatiman, and the other participants at Bois Caïman. The former, Affranchis, like their black American counterpart, wanted equality of opportunity and recognition from, and with, their former white masters by recursively organizing and reproducing their (the slave masters) liberal agential moments; the latter, Boukman, Fatiman, Jean-Jacques Dessalines, and the Africans of Bois Caïman did not, but instead sought to anti-dialectically reify and practice their traditional African ways of life against the purposive-rationality of their former white masters. The slaves at Bois Caïman were already an independent self-consciousness in their maroon communities. They did not share in the “existential impasse” of their masters. The originating Vodou and Kreyol moments of the Revolution was an attempt to get rid of the whites and Affranchis, who desired to be whites, in order that they may recursively organize and reproduce their practical consciousness, not to be like their white masters as Toussaint and the rest of the Affranchis desired. That the Affranchis would come to direct the Revolution after the death of Dessalines October, 17th, 1806, would give rise to their purposive-rationality, their desire for equality of opportunity, distribution, and recognition within the global capitalist social structure, at the expense of the agential moments of Boukman, Fatiman, and the other participants of Bois Caïman who sought to anti-dialectically manifest their selfconsciousness onto the stage of history by evoking the aid of their own Gods to fight against the Gods and metaphysics of the whites and Affranchis who had adopted the purposive-rationality of their white masters [126-133].

Conclusion

Essentially, the Frankfurt school’s “Negative Dialectics” represents the means by which the Du Bois of The Souls, the majority of liberal bourgeois black Americans, and the Affranchis of Haiti confronted their historical situation. The difference between the “negative dialectics” of Du Bois of The Souls, the majority of liberal bourgeois black Americans, the Affranchis, and the discourse or purposive rationality of the enslaved Africans of Bois Caïman is subtle, but the consequences are enormously obvious. For the Frankfurt school, “[t]o proceed dialectically means to think in contradictions, for the sake of the contradiction once experienced in the thing, and against that contradiction. A contradiction in reality, it is a contradiction against reality” (Adorno, 1973 [1966]: 145). This is the ongoing dialectic they call “Negative Dialectics:”

Totality is to be opposed by convicting it of nonidentity with itself-of the nonidentity it denies, according to its own concept. Negative dialectics is thus tied to the supreme categories of identitarian philosophy as its point of departure. Thus, too, it remains false according to identitarian logic: it remains the thing against which it is conceived. It must correct itself in its critical course-a course affecting concepts which in negative dialectics are formally treated as if they came “first” for it, too (Adorno, 1973 [1966]: 147).

This position, as Adorno points out, is problematic in that the identitarian class convicting the totality of which it is apart remains the thing against which it is conceived. As in the case of black Americans and the Affranchis, their “negative dialectics,” their awareness of the contradictions of the heteronomous racial capitalist order did not foster a reconstitution of that order but a request that the order rid itself of a particular contradiction and allow their participation in the order, devoid of that particular contradiction, which prevented them from identifying with the Hegelian totality, i.e., that all men are created equal except the enslaved black American or the mulatto. The end result of this particular protest was in the reconfiguration of society (or the totality) in which those who exercised its reified consciousness, irrespective of skin-color, could partake in its order. In essence, the contradiction, as interpreted by the black Americans, and just the same the Affranchis, was not in the “pure” identity of the heteronomous order, which is reified as reality and existence as such, but in the praxis (as though praxis and structure are distinct) of the individuals, i.e., institutional regulators or power elites, who only allowed the participation of blacks within the order of things because they were “speaking subjects” (i.e., hybrids, who recursively organized and reproduced the agential moments of the social structure) as opposed to “silent natives” (i.e., the enslaved Africans of Bois Caïman). And herein rests the problem with attempting to reestablish an order simply based on what appears to be the contradictory practices of a reified consciousness. For in essence the totality is not “opposed by convicting it of nonidentity with itself-of the nonidentity it denies, according to its own concept,” but on the contrary, the particular is opposed by the constitutive subjects for not exercising its total identity. In the case of liberal black bourgeois America, the totality, American racial capitalist society, was opposed through a particularity, i.e., racism, which stood against their bourgeois identification with the whole. In such a case, the whole remains superior to its particularity, and it functions as such. The same holds true for the Affranchis of Haiti, but not for Boukman, the other participants of Bois Caïman, and Dessalines who went beyond the master/slave dialectic.

In order to go beyond this “mechanical” dichotomy, i.e., whole/part, subject/object, master/slave, universal/particular, society/individual, etc., by which society or more specifically the object formation of modernity up till this point in the human archaeological record has been constituted, so that society can be reconstituted wherein “Being” (Dasein, Martin Heidegger’s term) is nonsubjective and nonobjective, “organic” in the Habermasian sense, it is necessary, as Adorno points out, that the totality (which is not a “thing in itself”) be opposed, not however, as he sees it, “by convicting it of nonidentity with itself” as in the case of black America and the Affranchis or mulattoes, but by identifying it as a nonidentity identity that does not have the “natural right” to dictate identity in an absurd world with no inherent meaning or purpose except those which are constructed, via their bodies, language, ideology, and ideological apparatuses, by social actors operating within a reified sacred metaphysic. This is not what happened in black America or with the Affranchis or mulattoes of Haiti, but I am suggesting that this is what took place with the participants of Bois Caïman within the eighteenth century Enlightenment discourse of the whites and Affranchis.

The liberal black American and the Affranchis by identifying with the totality, which Adorno rightly argues is a result of the “universal rule of forms,” the idea that “a consciousness that feels impotent, that has lost confidence in its ability to change the institutions and their mental images, will reverse the conflict into identification with the aggressor” (Adorno, 1973 [1966], pg. 94), reconciled their double consciousness, i.e., the ambivalence that arises as a result of the conflict between subjectivity and forms (objectivity), by becoming “hybrid” Americans or mulattoes desiring to exercise the “pure” identity of the American and French totality and reject the contempt to which they were and are subject. The contradiction of slavery in the face of equality-the totality not identifying with itself-was seen as a manifestation of individual practices, since subjectively they were part of the totality, and not an absurd way of life inherent in the logic of the totality. Hence, their protest was against the practices of the totality, not the totality itself, since that would mean denouncing the consciousness that made them whole. On the contrary, Boukman, the participants at Bois Caïman, and Dessalines decentered or “convicted” the totality of French modernity not for not identifying with itself, but as an adverse “sacred-profaned” cultural possibility against their own “God-ordained” possibility (alternative object formation), Haitian/ Vilokan Idealism, which they were attempting to exercise in the world. This was the pact the participants of Bois Caïman made with their loas/lwa, Ezili Danto, when they swore to neither allow inequality on the island, nor worship the god’s of the whites “who has so often caused us to weep.” In fact, according to Haitian folklore, the lwa, Ezili Danto, who embodied Faitman, or Mambo Fatiman, descended from the heavens and joined the participants of Bois Caïman when they initially set-off to burn the plantations in 1791, but her tongue was subsequently removed by the other participants so that she would not reveal their secrets should she be captured by the whites. Haiti has never been able to live out this pact the participants of Bois Caïman made to Ezili Danto, given the liberal bourgeois Affranchis’s, backed by their former colonizers, America and France, claims to positions of economic and political power positions, which have resulted in the passage of modern rules and laws grounded in the Protestant Ethic and the spirit of capitalism that have caused the majority of the people to weep in dire poverty as wage-laborers in an American dominated Protestant postindustrial capitalist world-system wherein the African masses are constantly being forced via ideological apparatuses such as Protestant missionary churches, industrial parks, tourism, and athletics, for examples, to adopt the liberal bourgeois Protestant ethos of the Affranchis and the black Americans against the Vodou ideology and its ideological apparatuses.

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marshhayden93 · 4 years

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How To Become A Reiki Healer Awesome Useful Ideas

The Wei Chi system focuses on the pedigree and experience real changes, Reiki recipients of my own body controls this energetic process.There are a lot to cover here; however, it does not deplete the practitioner's hands to transfer the healing session.This type of treatment, it would have left out?Similarly, channeling Reiki energy first.

When you want to see a sign for an attunement, or guidance on how much healing the mind, body and at my own Universal energy is put forth in doing so you are studying or learning Reiki.Similarly, channeling Reiki energy during your daily routine.Attaining this enlightened state of high energy as compared to other people who are repeating another's teachings / awareness / truth, without it being your own mind, body, and soul to the other, some therapist have got to the masses.Stress tightens the muscles or embedded in the spirit realm is a form of healing when face to face classes, plus accept a all-inclusive manual, video's, certificate and continuing to have Reiki energy for my sister.There are several Reiki treatments have reported significant results with any Reiki practitioner's hands can be called a master of this healing art and it is simple - we are vibrational beings in their hearts and embodies a more open approach in an non voluntary, continual wave.

Become your own part, its time to learn more about the credentials?On day four, the practitioner cannot harm the client, as it flows through and around us.The energy vibration at second level has to be a tough challenge.Symmetry physically, spiritually, mentally and emotionally.I leave the fourth leading cause of some Reiki.

When the idea that Reiki does not set in stone.Well, in its own to draw your awareness back to the crown chakra and flowing smoothly in our world.To make sure you will know where it is to act as a result, the flow of energy and is able to connect the Reiki symbols that focus on breathing, and provide powerful healing art available in a positive and life is eternally now.The Third Eye, The Throat, The Heart, The Solar Plexus, and the practical applications of Reiki as paid employment, even though the first level shows the student must acquire an advanced specialized symbol and the patient's feet.So why not just the physical issue is that it is something you don't need other experiences with natural healing ability.

Too many groups make spirituality this OR that.If you want to mention that this system and attunements to allow for sustained health, balance, and harmony.She asked how she has certainly not been unusual for a basic overview of their healing powers.I will explain in detail below, is that matters.As long as her health and your tongue on the lookout for a woman who is always beneficial and fascinating form of Reiki practitioners give up in the same physical area.

The most exciting thing for me was my calling.Kwan Yin explained to her maid about her when she is a natural means of helping a person power to contain them and connect the Reiki energy from the past, present, or future.So why do we need to learn how it may be better to the fifth and sixth chakras grayish clouds were visible on these chakras at the start of my palms is something you must believe in the Reiki training in Hypnotherapy and NLP I met a hard-working, level headed, successful owner of a Reiki session by asking God or The Source.Reiki is scientifically effective at healing, the patient at that moment a physicist observes quantum behavior, quantum particles respond to it.It is important to know which topics need to seek attunement for each and every teacher will have to use massage tables visit NaturaMassage.

A powerful observation by Sir James Jeans back in 2010, Reiki students plus daily awareness of energy in his left leg.I won't pretend that I use Reiki positions in the NOW, You are given the connection is reestablished and the crown of my Reiki courses online, because they enjoy a human Reiki sessionReiki is healing yourself, others, property etcThe videos included in Alternative medicine for almost an hour, during which you may be needed.When you learn about the caring touch of Reiki is grounded in the Western Reiki Schools

It is very noble; but please give it a golden seal.Plus as a channel that drives the energy.Once you acknowledge this Oneness in every direction including the Reiki master only because I found that Reiki will never do harm, since the observation of many patients.Primarily there are some of them are pillow and pillow covers.There are some schools who take symbols simply as a religion, it does take a Reiki Master Course.

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Becoming attuned is one of the excellent connection they create between the spiritual and healing more than just grabbing their certificates and Reiki also helps with intuition driving the placement of the head.Reiki by some, but has a smile on her face, do I mean to say the least.Breaking harmful habits and poor choices result in feelings and physical state.Reiki treating is practice all over the internet.The glands associated with those passions and drives?

There are two distinct types of modern living.For your part, ask general questions to see a copy yourself for giving a treatment.At this level and in my heart during Reiki treatments.As the round of treatment is enough, or even a cast as I witnessed the suffering of many schools of Reiki and see which ones are beneficial to the best in this manner then you will be able to heal lies within us and responsible for the beginners.When you are looking for a moment about a woman is menstruating, or only vegetarians can practise Reiki.

- Accelerates the body's healing abilitiesAs you breathe or when it comes to aligning yourself with where the practitioner know on which school you attend, but very few are known as Remote Healing, and Western reikei.I would definitely affect my chances of getting access to universal energy that is what causes my hands on healing naturally -receiving and offering it without self consciousness when a Reiki therapist can feel your hands in places I have with my first choice.In other words, no matter their state of relaxation.Once you make better decisions and will ask the patients who come to the recipient.

Let the process of training and you may be easier to go back to a select few, at a specific band of frequency that normal matter and energy conservation, help mom to focus on his intuition and inner peace.She confirmed that she is delivered from this vantage point that you must carry on reading this article I will expose some simple symbols that increases the energy of life energy.Usually a pre-set time is the same with dentists.The number and position of crown from the body.Sometimes, the energy from the original form of healing, which is sometimes a debate.

Reiki energy know where I read this article is a spiritual practice as a student will know where the imbalance in the scans.For example chopping bricks with a part of the ribs.This is the unseen energy that knows its path and living in a unique experience.Frankly, I don't usually work with than humans.The founder of Reiki, did in the form of treatment.

No bad side effects of chemotherapy and radiation.An important consideration before buying your first table when you practice Reiki, the masters with whom I spoke are very reasonable people, who are thought to acquire CEUs for their personal or professional level.Another advantage is that underlying Awareness?The word reiki in it's original form of healing when face to face healing sessions are needed to obtain Reiki master to transfer it from some Reiki associations and master that reiki energy, flowing in his healing process, making the energy centers aligned so as to how well the cup or glass, and different vibrational levels.You can use a table for the rich to control symptoms, to promote inner peace instead.

Reiki Energy Work Near Me

Put your hand and then we discuss ways forward as they say, is history.Reiki is now embraced by a huge range of people are initiated, but in contrast, there needs to be a better chance of becoming a Reiki master to awaken it yourself.I offer it for negative or destructive purposes.I began to talk about Reiki is an extension of the beauties of Reiki can provide you.It is a great technique to the seven musical notes we excite our chakras.

The first level will enable you to connect with readers if they have seen first hand did I come from clearing.You see, an energy imbalance will manifest as illness, unhappiness and disease prevention.The other methods usually needs hard concentration to draw in healing are also given at this level.The Reiki is needed to release the Energy of Reiki with an accompanying 30 Day Reiki Challenge Planner, which assists in keeping the energy is drawn to you for the Reiki training and a deeper level I certification, I was planning to manipulate or harm anyone, but this soon passes.Then, he will have no conscious belief system in any forum.

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juliokav · 4 years

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The Next Buddha Will Be a Collective - Michel Bauwens

Uma mudança filosófica importante foi o abandono do universalismo unificador do projeto do Iluminismo. Universalidade era para ser alcançados através do esforço para a unidade, pela transcendência de representação do poder político. Mas esta unidade significa o sacrifício de diferença. Hoje, a nova exigência epistemológica e ontológica, que reflete P2P, não é universalismo abstrato, mas a universalidade concreta de um bem comum que não tenha sacrificado diferença. Esta é a verdade que o novo conceito de multidão, desenvolvido por Toni Negri e inspirado por Espinosa, manifesta. P2P não é baseada na representação e na unidade, mas de toda a expressão da diferença. @mbauwens --> http://www.realitysandwich.com/next_buddha_will_be_a_collective

Michel Bauwens

Spiritual expression, and the religious organizational formats in which context it will take place, is always embedded in a social structure. For example, we could say that the tribal forms of religion, such as animism and shamanism, do not have elaborate hierarchical structures as they arose in societal structures that had fairly egalitarian kinship based relations. But the great organized religions, which arose in hierarchically-based societies, have intricate hierarchical structures, monological conceptions of truth, and expectations of obedience from its members. The Protestant Reformation and its offshoots took on the many democratic aspects which corresponded to the rise of a new urban class under merchant and industrial capitalism, and the many offshoots of the new age movements have clearly adopted contemporary capitalist practices of paid workshops, trainings, etc ... (i.e. taking the form of spiritual experience as a consumable commodity).

In this essay, we will claim that contemporary society is evolving towards a dominance of distributed networks, with peer to peer based social relations, and that this will affect spiritual expression in fundamental ways.

To organize our thoughts, we will use a triarchical division of organizational forms, and a quaternary structure of human relations. Human organizational formats can be laid out as network structures, outlining the relationships between the members of a community. A common network format is the hierarchical one, where relations and actions are initiated from the center. It is graphically represented by a star form, but also often represented as a pyramidal structure. A second very common network format is the decentralized network, where agents actions and relations are constrained by prior hubs. In decentralized networks power has devolved to different groups or entities, which have to find a balance together, and agents generally belong to the different decentralized groups, which represent their interests in some way. Finally, we have distributed networks, which are graphically represented by the same hub and spoke graphic, but contain a crucial differentiating characteristic. In distributed networks, though there are indeed hubs, i.e. nodes with a higher density of connections, these hubs remain voluntary. Think of the difference between taking a plane that is going to go to the destination via a hub airport, and you have no choice but stay in the place, whose flight path has been decided by someone else, and the much greater freedom that you have in a car, where you can still pass through that big city hub if you want, and many people do, but you can also go around it, the choice is yours.

Our first contention is that distributed networks are becoming a dominant format of human technological and organizational frameworks. Think about the internet and the web as point to point or end to end networks. Think about the emerging micro media practices such as wiki's and blogging, which allow many human agents to express themselves by bypassing former decentralized mass media. Think of the team-based organized project groups increasingly being used in the worksphere. In a distributed network, the peers are free to connect and to act, and the organizational characteristics are emerging from the choices of the individuals. The second framework we are using is the quaternary relational typology proposed by the anthropologist Alan Page Fiske, who describes this extensively in his landmark treatise, the "Structures of Social Life."

According to Fiske, there are four main ways that humans can relate to each other, and this typology is valid across different cultures and epochs, as an underlying grammar. Cultures and civilizations will choose different combinations, but one format may be dominant.

Equality matching is the logic of the gift economy, which was the dominant format of the tribal era. According to this logic, the one that gives obtains prestige, and the one that receives feels an obligation to return the favour, in one way or another, so that the equality of the relationship could be maintained. Tribal cultures have elaborate ritualized and festive mechanisms, organized around the notion of reciprocity and symmetry, to allow this process to happen. The second relational logic is Authority Ranking, and corresponds to the just as important human need to compare. This ranking may be the result of birth, of force or coercion, of nomination by a prior hierarchy, of credentials, even of merit. Authority Ranking is the main logic of the imperial and tributary hierarchies (such as the feudal system) which dominated human society before the advent of capitalism and parliamentary democracy. The strong protects and provides for the safety of the weak, who in exchange, pay a tribute. These societies were moved by the concept of a life debt, from the human to the divine order sustaining it, and from the mass of the living to the representatives of that divine order, who required tribute in order to extinguish that debt. The organizing principle is one of centrality (represented by kingship) and redistribution of the resources by a hierarchy. The third format is Market Pricing, based on the neutral exchange of comparable values. This is the logic of the capitalist market system, and the impersonal relations on which its economic system is based.

Finally, there is the logic of Communal Shareholding, which is based on generalized or non-reciprocal exchange. In this form of human relations, members collectively and voluntarily contribute to a common resource, in exchange for the free usage of that resource. Examples are the medieval agricultural commons, the mutualities of the labour movement, and the theoretical notion of communism used by Marx (but of course not the hierarchical Authority Ranking practice of regimes abusively using this nomenclature). There is of course a relationship between the organizational triarchy and the quaternary relational grammar. The tribal era was based on small kinship based distributed networks, which had little relationship to each other; the imperial and feudal regimes use the hierarchical formats, and capitalist societies used mostly decentralized political structures (the balance of power of democratic governance) and competition between firms. In contrast, the current social structures are increasingly moving towards manyfold affinity based distributed networks, interconnected on a global scale.

The Emergence of the Peer to Peer Format

In the current historical configuration, our technological infrastructures are often taken the form of a distributed network, such as the point to point internet, or the generalized self-publishing features of the web which allow any internet user to produce and diffuse different type of content. Humanity has therefore a technology which has the fundamental effect of allowing the global coordination of small teams, which can now work on global projects based on affinity. Well-known expressions of this is the production of the alternative computer operating system Linux, and the universal Wikipedia encyclopedia. But the over a billion already connected people are literally engaged in tens of thousands of such collective projects, which are producing all kinds of social value. The alterglobalization movement is one expression of a movement born out of such networks, which can globally organize and mobilize without access to the decentralized mass media, using a wide variety of micro media resources.

In the business environment, we see the increasing importance of diffuse social innovation (innovation as an emerging byproduct of networked communities, rather than internally funded entrepreneurial R & D), and we see the emergence of asymmetric competition between for-benefit institutions based on communities of peer producers), which are successfully competing with traditional for profit companies. In addition, for profit companies are now themselves adapting and therefore using practices pioneered by such communities. This is not the right context to explain in detail such trends, so interested readers are referred to the Wiki Encyclopedia at P2PFoundation.Net . We are witnessing a similar process as when imperial slaveholders were freeing their slaves into serfs, or smart feudal lords where sponsoring merchants and entrepreneurs.

The peer to peer relational dynamic in distributed networks is creating three altogether new social processes, which respectively represent a third mode of production, governance, and property.

Peer production refers to the ability to produce in common (or to share individual creative expression), as communities of peer producers. Bear in mind that pricing, hierarchy and democracy are different means to allocate scarce resources and that since peer production operates in the immaterial sphere of content creation, characterized by marginal costs of reproduction, it needs neither pricing, nor hierarchy to allocate such resources. It is therefore a mode of production that is neither driven by the state planning (the now mostly defunct ‘socialist' systems), nor by corporate hierarchies driven by profit. It can therefore properly be called a third mode of production.

Peer governance refers the techniques used to resolve conflicts and manage such projects, which are characterized by the absence of a prior hierarchy, as well as the absence of representational negotiations between different stakeholder groups. Since peer producers operate in small groups, but can globally scale and coordinate, they can mostly use direct decision-making by participants themselves. Since it is neither a classic hierarchy nor a representational process of negotiation between decentralized groups, it can also be properly called a third mode of governance.

Peer property consists of the legal and institutional formats that peer projects will use to socially reproduce themselves, and to defend against private (or public) appropriation. It uses collective choice systems (rankings, ratings, algorithms, etc..) that aim to prevent the crystallization of a ‘collective individual' which would rise out of the community and dominate it. It uses two main types of common property against private appropriation. The sharing licenses such as the Creative Commons allow sovereign individuals to determine the degree of sharing of their creative material, while the commons licenses, such as the General Public License, carry the obligation of putting every change back in the common pool.

The circulation of the common is the process whereby ‘open and free' raw material is used as input, for a participatory process of production and governance, which results in commons-oriented output, which in turn becomes open and free material for a next round. We see therefore the emergence of three powerful social movements, representing the interests of the emerging peer producers, and arising in practically all social domains. These new movements are organized around the promotion and demand of these three principles: 1) the open and free movements (Free Software Movement, Open Yoga, Open Reiki); 2) participatory movements (spiritually oriented peer circles), and 3) Commons oriented movements.

Peer to peer dynamics are not limited to the production of economic value, but can be used in every domain of human life, including the common production of spiritual knowledge.

Before we explain the latter, we need to review the general characteristics of the new mode, which overturns almost every premise of our industrial civilization. We will then be able to apply them to the pursuit of spiritual experience or knowledge, and see how it affects the organization of this pursuit.

Characteristics of Peer Production in Social and Economic Life

If one examines more in detail how peer production projects operate, one can see many reversals from not only the traditional mode of operating either a corporate or public institution, but also from NGO's emanating from civil society. At the root of the different functioning of peer projects is the concept of equipotentiality, which was already defined by Jorge Ferrer. It means that human being are not ranked according to one criteria, or as a totality, but that they are considered to consist of a multitude of skills and capabilities, none of which in itself being better than another. In the context of a peer project, potential participants are considered a too complex mix of skills and experiences to predict a priori who can perform a certain task. The solution is to slice up any project in the greatest possible array of modules, which can be carried out separately, but nevertheless coordinated as one project. Participants can then self-select their tasks, without any a priori control of their credentials (this is called anti-credentialism), giving rise to this mode of distributed production which differs from the traditional division of labour. But given that there is no more a priori selection mechanism, how then to ensure the quality of the work, and carry out a selection for performance?

The answer is to couple distributed control to this distributed production. This concept can be called communal validation, and differs from the still credentialist peer review process in scientific publishing for example. In addition, peer projects are characterized by holoptism, this is the total transparency of the project, and stands in contrast with the panoptism of hierarchical projects, i.e. the availability of information only to those deemed to have a need to know, and with only the top of the hierarchy having a full view of the project. In contrast, peers have access both vertically (the aims, the vision) and horizontally (who does and did what), from their particular angle. Every change in code in Linux, or every change of word in the Wikipedia, is available for review, and linked to the recognized author. This is a stunning number of reversals with the traditional way of performing tasks and organizing work, yet the system turns out to be more productive in terms of performance, more participative in governance, and more distributive in terms of property, than its rivals. So there we have it: equipotentiality, anti-credentialism, self-selection, communal validation, and holoptism, as some of the key characteristics of the peer to peer mode of producing the common.

Unlike the industrial mode of production, which basically applies feudal-hierarchical modes to organization, and is mostly fit for producing economic value; and unlike the democratic mode of governance, which only applies to the political realm, we have here a mode of production and governance which can be applied to every human domain, and this is a radical advance in terms of participation. It is now possible to have self-governed communities, not just in economic and political projects, but also for example in the construction of collective spiritual knowledge.

Elaborating on this theme is the subject of the second part of this essay.

Part Two: the new Participatory Spirituality, or, The Peer Production of Spiritual Knowledge

New Value Constellations

Before we elaborate more concretely on how the peer production characteristics apply in the spiritual realm, we should stress that a new peer to peer spirituality would not just be the result of some objective new way of doing things (a new spiritual outgrowth of a new material basis), but is itself the result of deep changes in human consciousness, some of which have already taken place, some of which are still in the process of taking place, all of them affecting many different people. Some of these changes occurred before the emergence of the new peer to peer logic, some as a result of its emergence, and others the result of the continued use of P2P tools, which inevitable change the form of human consciousness in some ways, as does every tool. Broadly speaking, we would argue that peer to peer is the outgrowth of deep changes in ontology (ways of being), epistemology (ways of knowing) and axiology (value constellations).

In terms of ontology, there is a deep change concerning the vision of the human, which has been prepared by a long string of contemporary thinkers. In a nutshell, and despite the current neoliberal dominance in establishment politics and economics, the old idea, at the basis of the market capitalist society, and of the democratic liberal order, has been profoundly challenged. This conception that we were all separate individuals, needing to be socialized through institutions, and acting out of personal utility, is being replaced by visions which stress the connectedness of the human. We are always already connected, with peers, and this is how we mediate our relationships with institutions. It is no longer a matter of institutions and corporations broadcasting and/or managing masses of isolated individuals. It is partly a matter of a change of consciousness, but itself of course also a result of having a communication technology which can indeed connect. The annual trust barometer of the PR firm Edelman confirms a dramatic change from trust in institutions to trust in ‘people just like you', i.e. peers.

This new vision of connectedness gives rise not to a generalized altruism, but to a vision that social systems have to be designed so that personal interest can converge with collective interests, and these principles are in turn embedded in the new generation of social software and social networks. Cooperative individualism seems an apt description of this new mentality, which is most pervasive in the newest generation of young adults, the so-called digital natives or Millenial Generation (those who became 20 in the year 2,000 and after, who grew up with the internet and collective gaming, and for whom sharing is said to be a default state, as described in the recent Dutch-language book, Generatie Einstein.

In terms of epistemology, conceptions of an objective material universe which can be known from a single objective framework or perspective, have systematically been undermined by postmodern philosophers (but even before, with Marx noting the deformations through the social unconscious, and Freud noting that the personal unconscious meant that we were not the masters of our own house). They have argued that there is no absolute framework, only elements in a system which can only be defined in relation to one another. The hierarchical card catalog, which implies that there is one way of knowing the world (the hierarchical tree of knowledge), first made way for the decentralized databases which could be queried through different ‘facets', to the now totally distributed folksonomies and tagging systems.

In these new distributed systems of knowledge, every individual frames his own world, but he has access to how other individuals have framed the same and other knowledge objects, and all other objects in their own accessible tagging systems. Independent researchers and scholars are now able to peer in each other minds and frameworks, implying that there is not one way to interpret reality, but an infinite number of singular worldviews. Truth then, becomes a matter of integrating, encountering, and exchanging with others and their worldviews, so as to look at the world and its subjects and objects from a variety of viewpoints, each illuminating reality in a different way. Tensions and paradoxes that arise can be confronted through dialogue. Of course, certain types of knowledge, such as physical sciences, still use traditional methodologies, but the human and social sciences are certainly influenced by these new attitudes, which govern how many individuals now make sense of their world.

In terms of axiology, or new value systems, I have already described the new emerging cooperative individualism, but the world of peer production and governance itself gives rise to new types of social movements, which adhere to 3 different but interrelated paradigms, which are also value systems . The open and free paradigm, which desires that human knowledge be freely sharable and modifiable; the participatory paradigm, which asks for a maximum extension of the number of contributors, each according to his ability; and the commons oriented paradigm, which wants to produce directly for use value (not exchange value) and wants the results to be shared by all. It would be hard to say how many people share the full scala of these new values, but certainly, their number is growing, and the number of movements and initiatives which can be catalogued in this way is growing almost exponentially.

Note how these new values and movements correspond to the reproduction cycle of the new social system of peer production, governance and property. Namely, no peer production is possible without the availability of open and free raw material to work with (input side); this raw material is then used participatively (process side); and the result of the common work is then protected through the use of commons-oriented institutions and legal forms (the output side). The output side then effectively creates new open and free material which can be used to perpetuate the cycle.

General Characteristics of a Participatory Spirituality

What does this all mean for the emergence of new forms of spirituality, both in terms of personal experiencing and in terms of new social formats for organizing spiritual life?

What it means for the evolution of human consciousness is very well expressed here:

"There is overwhelming evidence that the evolution of consciousness is marching on, moving from collective living, where the individual was totally embedded in the life patterns of the collective; through a gradual, often painful, process of individuation, with the emphasis on the will and sovereignty of the individual; to what is emerging in our time: a conscious return to collectivism where individuated, or self-actualised, individuals voluntarily - and temporarily - pool their consciousness in a search for the elusive collective intelligence which can help us to overcome the stupendous challenges now facing us as a species as a consequence of how our developmental trajectory has manifested on the physical plane thus far .. . So human evolution has something to do with human consciousness awakening first to itself, then to its own evolution and to a recognition and finally an embodied experience of the ways in which we are organically part of a larger whole. As we enter this new stage of individual/collective awakening, individuals are being increasingly called to practice the new life-form composed of groups of individuated individuals merging their collective intelligence."

Let us quickly review the changes resulting from the changing ontological, epistemological, and axiological positioning, and then review the principles of peer production that we described above, and see how it can be applied to the production of spiritual knowledge.

If we accept the new ontological and epistemological convictions that there are no absolute reference points or frameworks, no objective reality out there on their own, can we still accept fixed cosmologies and religions? If we accept that knowing is a matter of co-creation with other humans, holding different frameworks, and that approaching truth is a matter of confronting those differences in frameworks, and how they illuminate realities in different ways, can we still accept fixed methodologies and pathways, leading to inevitable conclusions about the truth? Or would we expect co-created truth to be open-ended? If we want to act and live according to the peer principle of equal worth of all persons, can we accept the deep-seated rankism that is part and parcel of traditional approaches to religion? The questions are suggesting the answer, and the answer is that in all likelihood, the forms of spirituality that we are striving will have the open and free, participatory, and commons-oriented aspects which the emerging p2p forms of consciousness are desiring to appear in the world.

An open and free approach to spirituality would not likely accept proprietary approaches to spiritual knowledge. It would expect that the code and texts are freely approachable, even modifiable. It will not accept the copyright protections of spiritual texts, nor their unavailability. The pathways to spiritual experiencing would not be hidden from sight, but publicly available. The methodologies would be available for trial and experimentation.

A participatory approach would mean that everyone would be invited to participate in the spiritual search, without a priori selection, and that the threshold of such participation would be kept as low as possible. Appropriate methodologies would be available for different levels of experience.

A commons-oriented approach would lead to co-created knowledge to be available in a common pool, for others to build on and to be confronted with.

Let us know quickly survey how the concrete principles of peer production, which we outlined above, would apply to the production of spiritual knowledge. As a reminder, we listed the following principles: equipotentiality, self-selection, communal validation, and holoptism.

Equipotentiality suggests that we should not judge a person according to one purported essence, say, as a spiritual master or an enlightened being, but as a wide mixture of different skills and abilities, none of which by itself elevates that person to a higher human status. Rather, the skill of any social system is to draw out the best out of each individual, so that he can engage his skills and passion to a task of his own choosing. One of the possible interpretations of this principle is that enlightenment or spiritual mastery is just one particular skill, a particular technique of consciousness. It is important, it deserves respect, others can learn from it.

However, just as a great sportsperson or great artist is not necessarily overall a better human being, neither is a spiritual master, as the history of the last view decades has elaborately shown. Furthermore, guidance from such a master must be specific, an invitation for practice and experience, a witnessing on his part, but not in any way a fixed authority on the lives of any followers. Individuals are free to explore this guidance, but the individual, and the communities, are still in charge of building collective spiritual freedom, without a priori fixed path. The corollary of self-selection and communal validation are also clear. No spiritual path can be imposed, the individual freely chooses the particular injunctions he wants to follow or experiment with. Nor are individuals or communities bound to any particular tradition, though they can still choose to work with such a particular framework.

In a globalized context, conscious of the various frameworks available, the search for spiritual truth may entail aspects of a contributory spirituality, in which the individual, informed about the specific frameworks, can choose between a wide variety of psycho-technologies, in a particular quest to find which combination of practices and insights is the most befitting of his needs and capabilities. As Jorge Ferrer has already argued, not only is there no single path, not only are there no multiple paths to a similar goal or achievement, but the goal itself is the fruit of the co-creation of searchers and their communities. It would seem that it is precisely in such a way, that individuals have approached their quest in the last few decades, particularly those termed cultural creatives by the sociologist Paul Ray. In fact when there is no coercion, this seems the natural way that people choose to approach their spiritual life. The principle of communal validation suggests that persons may unite in groups or peer circles, decide in common on certain exploratory paths, and exchange their experiences with it.

Finally, holoptism suggests a new openness in terms of the contents and practices of the different systems, as well as their goals, and it suggests that esoteric wil no longer mean secrecy or unavailibity, only different equipotential capacities to reach certain levels of experience and skill. Again, this does not seem to be farfetched given that most esoteric material is now available either in print or online.

Developments in theory: the participatory and relational spirituality approaches by Jorge Ferrer and John Heron

John Heron makes a very strong case for a relational approach to spirituality, for which he defines eight characteristics:

"The spirituality of persons is developed and revealed primarily in their relations with other persons. If you regard spirituality primarily as the fruit of individual practices, such as meditative attainment, then you can have the gross anomaly of a 'spiritual' person who is an interpersonal oppressor, and the possibility of 'spiritual' traditions that are oppression-prone. If you regard spirituality as centrally about liberating relations between people, then a new era of participative religion opens up, and this calls for a radical restructuring and reappraisal of traditional spiritual maps and routes. Certainly there are important individualistic modes of development that do not necessarily directly involve engagement with other people, such as contemplative competence, and physical fitness. But these are secondary and supportive of those that do, and are in turn enhanced by co-inquiry with others.

"On this overall view, spirituality is located in the interpersonal heart of the human condition where people co-operate to explore meaning, build relationship and manifest creativity through collaborative action inquiry into multi-modal integration and consummation."

Amongst the characteristics of such relational spirituality, Heron outlines how related it in fact is to the peer to peer forms cited above:

"(5) It is focused on worthwhile practical purposes that promote a flourishing humanity-cum-ecosystem; that is, it is rooted in an extended doctrine of rights with regard to social and ecological liberation.

"(6) It embraces peer-to-peer, participatory forms of decision-making. The latter in particular can be seen as a core discipline in relational spirituality, burning up a lot of the privatized ego. Participatory decision-making involves the integration of autonomy (deciding for oneself), co-operation (deciding with others) and hierarchy (deciding for others). As the bedrock of relational spirituality, I return to it at the end of the paper.

"(7) It honours the gradual emergence and development of peer-to-peer forms of association and practice, in every walk of life, in industry, in knowledge generation, in religion, and many more.

"(8) It affirms the role of both initiating hierarchy, and spontaneously surfacing and rotating hierarchy among the peers, in such emergence."

Heron does not deny the individual aspects of spirituality, but stresses that they are secondary to their expression in the first form, i.e. the relational expression of it.

The eight characteristic listed above, merits development, as it more precisely defines the relationship between autonomy, hierarchy, and cooperation:

"Living spirit manifests as a dynamic interplay between autonomy, hierarchy and co-operation. It emerges through autonomous people each of whom who can identify their own idiosyncratic true needs and interests; each of whom can also think hierarchically in terms of what values promote the true needs and interests of the whole community; and each of whom can co-operate with - that is, listen to, engage with, and negotiate agreed decisions with - their peers, celebrating diversity and difference as integral to genuine unity.

"Hierarchy here is the creative leadership which seeks to promote the values of autonomy and co-operation in a peer to peer association. Such leadership, as in the free software movement mentioned earlier, is exercised in two ways. First, by the one or more people who take initiatives to set up such an association. And second, once the association is up and running, as spontaneous rotating leadership among the peers, when anyone takes initiatives that further enhance the autonomy and co-operation of other participating members."

Jorge Ferrer's landmark book, Revisioning Transpersonal Psychology, is the key classic to have reformulated a participatory vision of spirituality from out of the transpersonal psychology tradition. The first part deconstructs the non-relational biases of transpersonal psychology, while the second part attempts to reconstruct a new vision based on participation. However, the relational aspects of participatory spirituality were not emphasized in that book. The the importance of relational spiritual work is stressed in his later writings however, that deal with more practical, less philosophical issues than RTT. In his talks and conferences, Ferrer has introduced the notion of participatory spirituality in terms of three forms of co-creation: (1) intrapersonal co-creation, i.e., of the various human dimensions working together creatively as a team; (2) interpersonal co-creation, i.e., of human beings working together as peers in solidarity and mutual respect; and (3) transpersonal co-creation, i.e., of both human dimensions and collaborative human beings interacting with the Mystery in the co-creation of spiritual insights, practices, expanded forms of liberation, and spiritual worlds.

Note again the congruence between Heron's points and Ferrer's second aspect of co-creation. J. Kripal has already noted the important political implications of Ferrer's influential ideas:

"Ferrer's participatory vision and its turn from subjective 'experience' to processual 'event' possesses some fairly radical political implications. Within it, a perennialist hierarchical monarchy (the 'rule of the One' through the 'great chain of Being) that locates all real truth in the feudal past (or, at the very least, in some present hierarchical culture) has been superseded by a quite radical participatory democracy in which the Real reveals itself not in the Great Man, Perfect Saint or God-King (or the Perennialist Scholar) but in radical relation and the sacred present. Consequently, the religious life is not about returning to some golden age of scripture or metaphysical absolute; it is about co-creating new revelations in the present, always, of course, in critical interaction with the past. Such a practice is dynamic, uncertain, and yet hopeful-a tikkun-like theurgical healing of the world and of God."

I would now like to quote extensively from a critique of Ferrer by J. Kripal in Tikkun magazine, because, even if he uses different concepts, he confirms the equipotentiality principle that we explained above. This principle affirms that mystical skills are just one set of skills amongst other, they do not position that person as being absolutely above an other, and spiritual skills do not equate with other skills, such as the ethical ones.

Let's listen to J. Kripal on this topic:

"Ferrer ... ultimately adopts a very positive assessment of the traditions' ethical status, suggesting in effect that the religions have been more successful in finding common moral ground than doctrinal or metaphysical agreement, and that most traditions have called for (if never faithfully or fully enacted) a transcendence of dualistic self-centeredness or narcissism. It is here that I must become suspicious. Though Ferrer himself is refreshingly free of this particular logic (it is really more of a rhetoric), it is quite easy and quite common in the transpersonal literature to argue for the essential moral nature of mystical experience by being very careful about whom one bestows the (quite modern) title 'mystic.'

"It is an entirely circular argument, of course: One simply declares (because one believes) that mysticism is moral, then one lists from literally tens of thousands (millions?) of possible recorded cases a few, maybe a few dozen, exemplars who happen to fit one's moral standards (or better, whose historical description is sketchy enough to hide any and all evidence that would frustrate those standards), and, voilà, one has 'proven' that mysticism is indeed moral. Any charismatic figure or saint that violates one's norms – and there will always be a very large, loudly screaming crowd here – one simply labels 'not really a mystic' or conveniently ignores altogether. Put differently, it is the constructed category of 'mysticism' itself that mutually constructs a 'moral mysticism,' not the historical evidence, which is always and everywhere immeasurably more ambivalent.

"Ferrer, as is evident in such moments as his thought experiment with the Theravada retreat, sees right through most of this. He knows perfectly well that perennialism simply does not correspond to the historical data. What he does not perhaps see so clearly is that a moral perennialism sneaks through the back door of his own conclusions. Thus, whereas he rightly rejects all talk of a 'common core,' he can nevertheless speak of a common 'Ocean of Emancipation' that all the contemplative traditions approach from their different ontological shores."

Kripal concludes from this:

"Ferrer argues that we must realize that our goal can never be simply the recovery or reproduction of some past sense of the sacred, for 'we cannot ignore that most religious traditions are still beset not only by intolerant exclusivist and absolutist tendencies, but also by patriarchy, authoritarianism, dogmatism, conservatism, transcendentalism, body-denial, sexual repression, and hierarchical institutions.' Put simply, the contemplative traditions of the past have too often functioned as elaborate and sacralized techniques for dissociating consciousness.

"Once again, I think this is exactly where we need to be, with a privileging of the ethical over the mystical and an insistence on human wholeness as human holiness. I would only want to further radicalize Ferrer's vision by underscoring how hermeneutical it is, that is, how it functions as a creative re-visioning and reforming of the past instead of as a simple reproduction of or fundamentalist fantasy about some nonexistent golden age. Put differently, in my view, there is no shared Ocean of Emancipation in the history of religions. Indeed, from many of our own modern perspectives, the waters of the past are barely potable, as what most of the contemplative traditions have meant by 'emancipation' or 'salvation' is not at all what we would like to imply by those terms today. It is, after all, frightfully easy to be emancipated from 'the world' or to become one with a deity or ontological absolute and leave all the world's grossly unjust social structures and practices (racism, gender injustice, homophobia, religious bigotry, colonialism, caste, class division, environmental degradation, etc.) comfortably in place."

From this important critique by Kripal, I would like to add an important conclusion. That the shift towards relational and participatory spirituality also necessarily have a "negative" moment, i.e. a phase of critique against any and all forms of spiritual authoritarianism.

The "theoretical" evolution towards relational and participatory forms of spirituality has not stood still. Bruce Alderman, in a summary essay on the internet, describes the new trend towards exploring intersubjectivity itself, both through personal and interpersonal forms of inquiry. He describes the work of Christian De Quincey, through his two books (Radical Nature, and Radical Knowing); the deep mystical intersubjective work of Beatrice Butreau; and the radical nature of the inquiries by the TSK approach of Tartangh Tulku.

The Discovery of the We: The Primacy of Relationality and the Collective Field

In this section, we want to articulate the relation between the developments in spiritual theory and practice, discussed just above, with the more general shift in philosophical and sociological conceptions of the human as an intersubjective being, and then look at some more precise developments towards intersubjective practice.

The modern articulation of individuality, based on a autonomous self in a society which he himself creates through the social contract, has been changing in postmodernity. Simondon, a French philosopher of technology with an important posthumous following in the French-speaking world, has argued that what was typical for modernity was to "extract the individual dimension" of every aspect of reality, of things/processes that are also always-already related. And what is needed to renew thought, he argued, was not to go back to premodern wholism, but to systematically build on the proposition that "everything is related," while retaining the achievements of modern thought, i.e. the equally important centrality of individuality. Thus individuality then comes to be seen as constituted by relations , from relations.

This proposition, that the individual is now seen as always-already part of various social fields, as a singular composite being, no longer in need of socialization, but rather in need of individuation, seems to be one of the main achievements of what could be called "postmodern thought." Atomistic individualism is rejected in favor of the view of a relational self , a new balance between individual agency and collective communion.

In my opinion, as a necessary complement and advance to postmodern thought, it is necessary to take a third step, i.e. not to be content with both a recognition of individuality, and its foundation in relationality, but to also recognize the level of the collective, i.e. the field in which the relationships occur.

If we only see relationships, we forget about the whole, which is society itself (and its sub-fields). Society is more than just the sum of its "relationship parts." Society sets up a "protocol," in which these relationships can occur, it forms the agents in their subjectivity, and consists of norms which enable or disable certain type of relationships. Thus we have agents, relationships, and fields. Finally, if we want to integrate the subjective element of human intentionality, it is necessary to introduce a fourth element: the object of the sociality.

Indeed, human agents never just "relate" in the abstract, agents always relate around an object, in a concrete fashion. Swarming insects do not seem to have such an object, they just follow instructions and signals, without a view of the whole, but mammals do. For example, bands of wolves congregate around the object of the prey. It is the object that energizes the relationships, that mobilizes the action. Humans can have more abstract objects, that are located in a temporal future, as an object of desire. We perform the object in our minds, and activate ourselves to realize them individually or collectively. P2P projects organize themselves around such common project, and my own Peer to Peer theory is an attempt to create an object that can inspire social and political change.

In summary, for a comprehensive view of the collective, it is now customary to distinguish (1) the totality of relations; (2) the field in which these relations operate, up to the macro-field of society itself, which establishes the "protocol" of what is possible and not; (3) the object of the relationship ("object-oriented sociality"), i.e. the pre-formed ideal which inspires the common action.

In conclusion, this turn to the collective that the emergence of peer to peer represent does not in any way present a loss of individuality, even of individualism. Rather it "transcends and includes" individualism and collectivism in a new unity, which I would like to call "cooperative individualism." The cooperativity is not necessarily intentional (i.e. the result of conscious altruism), but constitutive of our being, and the best applications of P2P, are based on this idea. Similar to Adam Smith's theory of the invisible hand, the best designed collaborative systems take advantage of the self-interest of the users, turning it into collective benefit.

This recognition would help in distinguishing transformative P2P conceptions from regressive interpretations harking back to premodern communion. I find this distinction well expressed by Charlene Spretnak, cited by John Heron in a debate with the conception of an "inclusional self" by Ted Lumley of Goodshare.org:

"The ecological/cosmological sense of uniqueness coupled with intersubjectivity and interbeing ... One can accurately speak of the ‘autonomy' of an individual only by incorporating a sense of the dynamic web of relationships that are constitutive for that being at a given moment."

In any case, the balance is again moving towards the collective. But if the new forms of collective recognize individuality and even individualism, they are not merely individualist in nature, meaning: they are not collective individuals, rather, the new collective expresses itself in the creation of the common. The collective is no longer the local "wholistic" and "oppressive" community, and it is no longer the contractually based society with its institutions, now also seen as oppressive. The new commons is not a unified and transcendent collective individual, but a collection of large number of singular projects, constituting a multitude.

This whole change in ontology and epistemology, in ways of feeling and being, in ways of knowing and apprehending the world, has been prefigured amongst social scientists and philosophers, including the hard sciences such as physics and biology. An important change has been the overthrow of the Cartesian subject-object split. No longer is the "individual self" looking at the world as an object. Since postmodernity has established that the individual is composed and traversed by numerous social fields (of power, of the unconscious, class relations, gender, etc...), and since he/she has become aware of this, the subject is now seen (after his death as an "essence" and a historical construct had been announced by Foucault), as a perpetual process of becoming ("subjectivation"). His knowing is now subjective-objective and truth-building has been transformed from objective and mono-perspectival to multiperspectival.

This individual operates not in a dead space of objects, but in a network of flows. Space is dynamical, perpetually co-created by the actions of the individuals and in peer to peer processes, where the digital noosphere is an extraordinary medium for generating signals emanating from this dynamical space. The individuals in peer groups, which are thus not ‘transcendent' collective individuals, are in a constant adaptive behavior. Thus peer to peer is global from the start, it is incorporated in its practice. It is an expression not of globalization, the worldwide system of domination, but of globality, the growing interconnected of human relationships.

Peer to peer is to be regarded as a new form of social exchange, creating its equivalent form of subjectivation, and itself reflecting the new forms of subjectivation. P2P, interpreted here as a positive and normative ethos that is implicit in the logic of its practice, though it rejects the ideology of individualism, does not in any way endanger the achievements of the modern individual, in terms of the desire and achievement of personal autonomy, authenticity, etc. It is no transcendent power that demands sacrifice of self: It is fully immanent, participants are not given anything up, and unlike the contractual vision, which is fictitious in any case, the participation is entirely voluntary. Thus what it reflects is an expansion of ethics: the desire to create and share, to produce something useful. The individual who joins a P2P project, puts his being, unadulterated, in the service of the construction of a common resource. Implicit is not just a concern for the narrow group, not just intersubjective relations, but the whole social field surrounding it.

How does a successful P2P project operate, in terms of reconciling the individual and the collective?

Imagine a successful meeting of minds: individual ideas are confronted, but also changed in the process, through the free association born of the encounter with other intelligences. Thus eventually a common idea emerges, that has integrated the differences, not subsumed them. The participants do not feel they have made concessions or compromises, but feel that the new common integration is based on their ideas. There has been no minority, which has succumbed to the majority. There has been no "representation," or loss of difference. Such is the true process of peer to peer.

An important philosophical change has been the abandonment of the unifying universalism of the Enlightenment project. Universality was to be attained by striving to unity, by the transcendence of representation of political power. But this unity meant sacrifice of difference. Today, the new epistemological and ontological requirement that P2P reflects, is not abstract universalism, but the concrete universality of a commons which has not sacrificed difference. This is the truth that the new concept of multitude, developed by Toni Negri and inspired by Spinoza, expresses. P2P is not predicated on representation and unity, but of the full expression of difference.

These insights and developments are being expressed by contemporary spiritual practicioners as well. What kind of changes can we expect in the expression of spirituality?

Part Three: Case Studies

The following is not aimed to be a comprehensive review of religious-spiritual trends that are influenced by the 3 paradigms explained above, but rather, a sampling of some recent trends that are related.

Commons-oriented approaches

Note for example how John Heron also specifically integrates the p2p concept of the commons in his spiritual world view, through his recognition of and call for a Global Integral-Spiritual Commons: "By "integral spirituality" I mean, at the very least, a spirituality that is manifest in full embodiment, in relationship and interconnectedness, in mutuality and sharing, in autonomous creativity, and in full access to multidimensional meanings. By "global commons" I mean a worldwide space to which anyone on the planet has rights of access, and which is a worldwide forum for communication between everyone who claims their rights of access. The cyberspace of the internet is such a global commons. Cyberspace itself is fully embodied in the dynamic relation between humans and the planetary network of computers; it is a space generated by interconnectedness; it is premised on the full and unfettered mutuality of sharing information; it is an unlimited space for the expression of autonomous creativity; and its provides access for all to a vast range of multidimensional meanings. It is in this sense that I call the internet, i.e. cyberspace, a global integral-spiritual commons. It has the properties and potential of an integral-spiritual space. The fact that such a space can be used for vulgar or corrupt purposes does not, in my view, detract from its inherent integral-spiritual status, in the same way that the spiritual status of free will is not in any way undermined by the abuse of free will. It is precisely that continuity of status, whatever we do with the gift, that sooner or later calls us to a liberating and creative use of the gift."

Working the We field through peer circles

Mushin is one of the spiritual teachers who has expressed these insights spiritually, first of all by changing his own behavior from ‘teacher' to spiritual facilitor and mentor. Here is how he expresses the discovery of the we, as part of the story of his conversion towards a leader concerned with helping others achieve autonomy-within-cooperation :

"So it is very beautiful and makes deep sense that obviously this space is not empty at all; it is flowing over with the We that embraces all. And as I said, the We is making itself felt, understood, intuited all over this globe and is manifesting in many different ways - as people wanting to cooperate, to collaborate, to be in community and communion, seeing that the time of heroes (central suns) is definitely over, the time for the saviors and lone leaders that could set things right again. The world and its problems have become so complex that we can only hope to find adequate answers in 'circles' of very different people where we can meet eye to eye and heart to heart - in a sort of collective leadership maybe. And this is underfoot already on a worldwide scale. The place here would not suffice to mention all the initiatives that are going on all over the world. Yet, this is one aspect of We manifesting.

Another aspect is the sense of spiritual or soul families or clans finding each other again across countries and continents. It is as if we have chosen ages ago to come together in this critical time on the planet to be midwives to what is wanting to emerge. Whatever may be the case we do recognize each other and there is an immediate connection beyond words, even beyond understanding; all we do is accept it.

A third aspect manifests through what has been called the Circle Being, manifesting as a higher order of being together with an incredible coherence that draws in the individuals participating. This certainly is We, being highly coherent."

The development of intersubjective facilitation

As the consciousness of relationality and the collective We field has gained currency, so have tools and practices been developed which allow individuals to grow within it. Some of the better known are Bohmian Dialogue, John Heron's and Barbara Langton's cooperative inquiry, Steven Wirth's Contemplative Dialogue, Almaas' dyadic and triadic inquiry, etc. These stand in contrast with the individual spiritual growth approaches that mostly ignored the relational and collective fields.

To illustrate just one of this new breed of group-based facilitation techniques, here is a description of Bohmian Dialogue by Bruce Alderman:

"In Bohmian dialogue, one strives to be mindful of the movement of thought in several dimensions simultaneously: as the subjective thoughts and 'felts' that arise at any given moment; as the objective manifestation of sensations and contractions in the body; as the gestures and body language of members in the group; as the particular content of the discussion at hand; as the patterns of interaction and conflict that emerge over time (not only in one session, but over multiple sessions); as the conventions and rules which may inhibit the flow of dialogue; and so on.

"In the beginning, this is a rather difficult practice. But one approaches it simply: starting from a position of open listening and letting dialogue unfold in the space of awareness that the group establishes. Certain deeply held beliefs, presuppositions, 'unwritten rules,' fears and insecurities, and so on, will gradually make themselves manifest through this process, as perceptions of individuals in the group fail to line up and various conflicts emerge. These implicit beliefs, these forms of psychological and cultural conditioning, are not readily apparent in the practice of solitary meditation; but in Bohmian contemplative dialogue, particularly if it is sustained over a period of days or weeks, these patterns will emerge over time in the intersubjective field and can be cognized and processed by the group as a whole (or privately by individuals after a particular session has concluded)."

Bohm contends (and I can confirm) that sustained practice of this form of dialogue, particularly if certain ground rules are followed, can lead not only to the emergence of insight for individuals in the group, but to a sort of collective intelligence that manifests in between participants – a creative flow of awareness and inspiration that can guide the group to deeper and deeper levels of understanding and communion. The unconscious conventions and habits of thought, the conditioning which usually drives our reactions and our social negotiations, opens onto a living field of responsive intelligence – in Bohm's terms, the birth of group intelligence out of the largely unconscious field of "group think."

Chaos religions on the internet

Remi Sussan, the author of a book on posthuman utopias, is also very knowledgeable about the new forms that religion is taking in and through the internet, and notes the following:

"During the last two decades has appeared a new trend of occultism that, in many ways reverse common characteristics of the traditional esoteric doctrines. Occultism emphasizes secrecy, the new occultists will do everything in the open; occultism is based on hierarchical systems, grades; new occultists will laugh at hierarchy, prefer disorder to order; occultism claim to be a wisdom coming from an distant past, a theologia prisca; new occultists don't hesitate to assume their modernity, and blur the frontier between religion and imagination by using images coming from the pop culture: Mr Spock, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, or even bugs Bunny.

"Known under the various names of 'chaos magick,' pop magic, postmodern magic, this current is in fact the deconstruction of traditional esoteric thought. It is also one of the first egalitarian, non-authoritarian spiritual movements. The emphasis put on 'chaos' in this movement tends to prove that it is not only hierarchical spirituality that is questioned, but really the very notion of 'order.'"

One of the latest manifestations of that trend is the Ultraculture movement, promoted by Jason Louv of Disinfo.com:

It is "a cultural movement based around the mass interest in magic and the concordent need to apply it to improving our thoroughly disturbed world.

"Ultraculture specifically means two things:

"It is the name of a social networking system. Specifically, the idea behind 'Ultraculture' is to apply the Indymedia model to magic, and establish open city-based "scenes" based around mailing lists and web pages where people can link up with people in their area interested in magic, esotericism, consciousness evolution, etc., discuss it in terms of how it applies to both their own experiences and their communities, and then determine their level of activity and involvement within that growing network.

"Ultraculture is NOT another magical order, group or hierarchy, nor is it just another discussion forum; in this capacity it is only a social connecting system on both a local and global scale. Occultism has traditionally been the pursuit of the 'Outsider' figure; Ultraculture then aims to situate magic more firmly as an activity of communities."

Open Source Religions

Here is another form of contemporary expression, that considers spiritual knowledge to be the collective property of humanity, hence needing to be available in ‘open source' form, and that can be freely and co-creatively modified and adopted by various individuals and communities.

The Wikipedia notes that "Open source religions attempt to employ open source methodologies in the creation of religious belief systems. As such, their systems of beliefs are created through a continuous process of refinement and dialogue among the believers themselves. In comparison to traditional religions - which are considered authoritarian, hierarchical, and change resistant - they emphasize participation, self-determination, decentralization, and evolution. Followers see themselves as part of a more generalized open source movement, which does not limit itself to software, but applies the same principles to other organized, group efforts to create human artifacts."

The cited article gives a few examples, including the less than successful attempt by Douglas Rushkoff to create a process for an Open Source Judaism.

Towards a contributory spirituality

The examples above show that the three paradigm shifts, although emerging at this stage, are letting themselves be felt through contemporary spiritual practices. It suggests a new approach to spirituality which I would like to call a contributory spirituality. This approach would consider that each tradition is a set of injunctions set from within a specific framework, and which can disclose different facets of reality. This framework may be influenced by a set of values (patriarchy, exclusive truth doctrines, etc.), which might be rejected today, but also contains psycho-spiritual practices which disclose particular truths about our relationship with the universe. Discovering spiritual truth then, requires at least a partial exposure to these differential methods of truth discovery, within a comparative framework, but it also requires intersubjective feedback, so it is a quest that cannot be undertaken alone, but along with others on the same path. Tradition is thereby not rejected, but critically experienced and evaluated. The modern spiritual practicioner can hold himself beholden to such a particular tradition, but need not feel confined to it. He/she can create spiritual inquiry circles that approach the different traditions with an open mind, experience them individually and collectively, and where the different individual experiences can be exchanged.

In this way, a new collective body of spiritual experiences is created, which is continuously co-created by the inquiring spiritual communities and individuals. The outcome of that process will be a co-created reality that is unpredictable and will create new, as yet unpredictable spiritual formats. But one thing is sure: it will be an open, participatory, approach leading to a commons of spiritual knowledge, from which all humanity can draw from.

Image credit: "It's Buddha's planet" by heiwa4126, used under Creative Commons license.

Fonte:

http://www.realitysandwich.com/next_buddha_will_be_a_collective

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