Bird droppings

I 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.

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. :)

I'm particularly interested in how pagans celebrate the upcoming holidays. Thanksgiving and Christmas are two very big holidays in America. Mabon and Yule are the pagan equivalents. Do you celebrate the pagan holidays? The "mainstream" ones? Both? How do you celebrate them? This poll was created to try to divine the answers. Mostly... Since moving out here and becoming separated from my extended family, I haven't had the opportunity to really celebrate the holidays... and since they used to be a big deal for me, I want to learn how folks celebrate such things and start to build my own traditions and such. :)

[Poll #1059206]