Just a little introduction

I recently joined and thought I’d give a bit of an introduction after lurking a little. My friend Glasswalker suggested this forum to me. I’m a little new to all of this, but here to learn.

I’ve been pursuing knowledge and understanding throughout my whole life, and I studied philosophy formally in a university. (I focused on nonhuman animal cognition, philosophy of art and ontology, primarily.) And ever since I was a kid, I was obsessed with encountering different spiritual ideas and perspectives from different religions and cultures, finding patterns and fascinating divergences. I've also always been very interested in philosophical exegesis of these.

Shortly after school, I had a setback in my spiritual growth for a few years of my life because of hardships, and I stepped away from spirituality. But I came back to it a number of years ago. I come here with an open mind and a desire to learn new things.

It also doesn’t exactly help that my native being/thinking is very out of place with words and language, and this experience of words is very new to me with regard to entering into this human life. This makes it difficult to navigate. I’m a nonhuman, but not a vampire, just a different sort of being. There isn’t a great word I’ve found for what I am. Ultimately, I appreciate all the different beings that make up the larger ecosystem of existence.

As far as my own spiritual views, the closest word I have is “animist”, but I do not particularly like this word because of the problematic history of it in anthropology which has largely framed this as a “primitive Otherness” to the major monotheistic religions. (Long story short, “Animism” was one of anthropology’s earliest terms, and it was used under a metanarrative of history that, “religions advanced from a ‘primitive form of spirituality’ and culminated in Christianity as a progressive evolution.” This was always extremely derogatory towards non-“Western” and indigenous spiritualities who were beset by assimilation and suppression already, and the narrative has been thoroughly criticized, especially with indigenous voices speaking out about anthropological biases.) I am most interested in nonhumanist and posthumanist philosophies.

For me, encountering a different nature or being is to encounter another world, one that might overlap some with mine or diverge in surprising ways from each other. I find existence to be worlds filled with worlds. I think we grow from encountering difference, finding how we relate to other beings and viewpoints.

Welcome to the forum and community. I hope that you enjoy your time around.

Personally I see nothing primitive about animistic perspectives and spirituality, finding animism perfectly aligned with some modern and advanced "religious" views, although the word religion often carries a negative stigma as well, but I understand what you're saying from an anthropological perspective.

Thank you, Jonathan, and it is nice to meet you.

I agree with you. Animism is/was not primitive in my viewpoint. Part of it is embodiment and being with the living world, entangled and emerging relations between beings, a focus on immanent spiritual experience learned from the living world, and such. There's knowledge that "Western" philosophy has simply ignored or even suppressed out of chauvinism. It was a source of frustration way back when I was in the university.

Ultimately, just because something is old, does not mean that it is "primitive" either. (What does the word "primitive" even mean underneath its commonplace usage?/what does it assume about the world?/are those assumptions sound?/does it perhaps impose a kind of rigid dualism between primitive versus modern?/is that dualism sound?/what kinds of assumptions do people have when they define and categorize primitive versus modern?/are those perhaps biased?...and other such questions...)

(Ohh, also not meaning those questions to be directed at your usage of the words modern/advanced. I mean more like those words too carry a lot of underlying assumptions depending on who is speaking, so I mean those questions in the sense of "how do different people frame these contrasts, and what does that say about these ideas?")

Welcome =)

Greetings Lynskha, and thank you for the welcome!

Oh don't worry I very much agree with what you have said.

Do you have any background or knowledge in Asetian studies or its magick?

Hello and welcome... I think your use of language, though, is better than most people... but I might sympathize with your view overall...

Jonathan wrote:Oh don't worry I very much agree with what you have said.

Do you have any background or knowledge in Asetian studies or its magick?

I would say that my understanding of Asetian philosophy, beliefs and practices is very vague and limited at best at the moment, largely acquired second hand from being introduced to it by my friend. This is really my first experience communicating with others about it and starting to explore it more. I do know of the publicly available publications. They’re on my reading list alongside various antique Egyptian spiritual texts. I am always open to suggestions for readings or resources as well, as long as it isn’t too much trouble, and, of course, not as a substitute for doing the research and experimentation myself.

MysticLightShinethForth wrote:Hello and welcome... I think your use of language, though, is better than most people... but I might sympathize with your view overall...

I appreciate that. It's difficult to explain. I've had to work very hard to be able to write like this, and it doesn't come naturally to me. My usage is constantly translating wordless thoughts into words, and it has to be deliberate or else I don't know what to say, so the process is slow, and it takes awhile to say something. I really appreciate a medium like a forum because it gives me time to translate. It's something that becomes more noticeable the longer an individual has known me, or if someone chats live, and it always takes a great deal of effort regardless.