Open-source spirituality
Feb. 15th, 2011 02:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pandora_parrotI finally ran into the crazy Feri schism stuff going on. Don't bother looking into it if you don't know what I'm talking about. It's boring and silly and involves a bunch of people arguing about who owns what words. At least, that's what I got out of reading a handful of websites of people arguing about it. I'm not really fully aware of it, and I'm sure I'm mischaracterizing any real issues going on there. But at a cursory glance, it just seems like silliness to me.
Inspired by this silliness, I thought I would post a meditation of my own on my spiritual practice, my life, and everything else that I do.
I don't get this world sometimes. Frankly, I don't think anyone really does. The longer I live, the more I recognize that nobody really knows how to do this "life" thing, and that people are learning what they can, building on past knowledge, and making up the rest as they go.
What it comes down to for me is understanding my Self, and understanding my Universe. Or perhaps more importantly... improving my relationship with Self, as well as my relationship with my Universe.
All I want to do is figure out my way through this universe in a way that works for me. I want to be happy and satisfied with my life. This seems to frequently include helping others find happiness and satisfaction, so that's cool.
I know that I sometimes get embroiled in drama-filled arguments about what certain labels mean or how people should behave or whatever. I know that sometimes, I get stuck on an emotional button that I need to deal with.
But most of the time... I think it would be best to constantly remind myself that my Goal is to improve my relationship with Self and Universe.
I figure that we're all more or less struggling with these same sorts of questions, trying to find our own answers to things. We're building systems of information and knowledge. Behavior and practice. etc. It's really a cool moment when I get to listen to another person share their knowledge, information, and practices with me. When they can tell me about what they've come up with to answering the great questions of the universe. I also absolutely love to share what I've come up with as much as I am able.
In my mind... what better way to improve my ability to relate to and understand Self and Universe than to engage in a community of people that are all openly sharing what they've come up with, and where I can share as well... where we are a community of creators, creating the universe itself around us as we seek to comprehend and define it... A community that constantly welcomes fresh insight and thought... That embraces innovation and creativity.
Let's face it... I'm an open source junkie when it comes to knowledge. Whether it be computers, spirituality, science, art, poetry, whatever. If you see anything in my life that I've created, and want to improve on it, go right ahead. And I'd absolutely love to take anything you share and improve upon it in turn. Maybe by working together we can come up with something even more awesome.
So when it comes to spirituality, religions and religious/spiritual practice of any sort... I am firmly and completely on the side of doing what is going to benefit me the most, and in my mind... that's practicing open sharing of information as much is possible and appropriate. I'm not saying that guarding information is always wrong... just that it is usually less useful than full and open sharing.
If I were to throw a label on myself, I guess I'd say that I'm an open source witch.
Anyone that wants to take issue with that can go right ahead. Haters always gonna hate... Who cares? I'm not in this for them. I'm in this for my Self and my Universe. I'll make my own decisions about what's true or not and folks that disagree can just deal.
Everyone else that wants to talk and build on our mutual experiences, come on over. :)
Inspired by this silliness, I thought I would post a meditation of my own on my spiritual practice, my life, and everything else that I do.
I don't get this world sometimes. Frankly, I don't think anyone really does. The longer I live, the more I recognize that nobody really knows how to do this "life" thing, and that people are learning what they can, building on past knowledge, and making up the rest as they go.
What it comes down to for me is understanding my Self, and understanding my Universe. Or perhaps more importantly... improving my relationship with Self, as well as my relationship with my Universe.
All I want to do is figure out my way through this universe in a way that works for me. I want to be happy and satisfied with my life. This seems to frequently include helping others find happiness and satisfaction, so that's cool.
I know that I sometimes get embroiled in drama-filled arguments about what certain labels mean or how people should behave or whatever. I know that sometimes, I get stuck on an emotional button that I need to deal with.
But most of the time... I think it would be best to constantly remind myself that my Goal is to improve my relationship with Self and Universe.
I figure that we're all more or less struggling with these same sorts of questions, trying to find our own answers to things. We're building systems of information and knowledge. Behavior and practice. etc. It's really a cool moment when I get to listen to another person share their knowledge, information, and practices with me. When they can tell me about what they've come up with to answering the great questions of the universe. I also absolutely love to share what I've come up with as much as I am able.
In my mind... what better way to improve my ability to relate to and understand Self and Universe than to engage in a community of people that are all openly sharing what they've come up with, and where I can share as well... where we are a community of creators, creating the universe itself around us as we seek to comprehend and define it... A community that constantly welcomes fresh insight and thought... That embraces innovation and creativity.
Let's face it... I'm an open source junkie when it comes to knowledge. Whether it be computers, spirituality, science, art, poetry, whatever. If you see anything in my life that I've created, and want to improve on it, go right ahead. And I'd absolutely love to take anything you share and improve upon it in turn. Maybe by working together we can come up with something even more awesome.
Hell, this entire LJ is under a Creative Commons license:
All public works within this journal not otherwise copyrighted or licensed are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
So when it comes to spirituality, religions and religious/spiritual practice of any sort... I am firmly and completely on the side of doing what is going to benefit me the most, and in my mind... that's practicing open sharing of information as much is possible and appropriate. I'm not saying that guarding information is always wrong... just that it is usually less useful than full and open sharing.
If I were to throw a label on myself, I guess I'd say that I'm an open source witch.
Anyone that wants to take issue with that can go right ahead. Haters always gonna hate... Who cares? I'm not in this for them. I'm in this for my Self and my Universe. I'll make my own decisions about what's true or not and folks that disagree can just deal.
Everyone else that wants to talk and build on our mutual experiences, come on over. :)
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2011-02-16 07:30 pm (UTC)I completely disagree. As a for-instance: I've never had a problem getting or keeping a job. I know what to say in my resume and how to present myself. In the past, I've beat out far more qualified people for a position because I know how to sell myself. I know plenty of people who I have looked at how they wrote their resume I know they can't make it past the slush pile. Or, by how they present themselves in an interview, they've undercut themselves. I CAN provide them some guidance and tell them what they need to do. BUT beyond a certain point, I cannot help them even though I know what they need to do. It is a lesson they have to learn for themselves.
I believe that collaboration will lead to greater leaps in understanding. Collaboration of the open source/wiki variety.
Sure. Collaboration is the end goal... But how many people have you encountered who believe they can code vs those who actually code well? I have interviewed dozens of people who thought they were suited to a job who demonstrated to me that they lacked the real skills required. I'm currently in the midst of fixing some really jank code written by a contractor of similar skills. Opensource is egalitarian. The archive maintainer does not keep poorly written code submitted by hacks. If we were to apply looser standards to our minds, we'd all be Scientologists by now. :/
no subject
Date: 2011-02-17 02:54 am (UTC)I figure that comes down to me deciding for myself what I believe vs. what I don't. I welcome even the "stupid" people to share their thoughts on things. But if they're not terribly enlightening for me, I'll just walk away. :)
Collaboration with others doesn't mean that I have to accept or believe everything they believe. It just means I'm open to listening and judging on my own terms.
As for stumbling around in the dark... We've all figured some things or other to some degree in our own lives. That's why sharing that info is so damned useful, sometimes.