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On with the philosophy.
Hm. Now that my blood pressure is somewhat more stable, at least for the moment.
This is inspired in response to something that![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
fyrekat posted about, but wasn't directly useful. It's . . . somewhere in the intersection of paradigm, philosophy, and theology.
I tend to look at the world in overlapping dualities, each essential to the other in some ways. (This doesn't map well to dualisms at all, which I find myself ill-equipped to understand; this is arguably why my personal interpretation of the angel/demon division of spirits in common parlance is that angels inspire virtues and demons inspire passions, both of which in excess produce intolerable results.)
In all this mish-mash of dualisms, there's one that I personally find the most important, resonate with the strongest; it's a division I call 'dark' and 'light', and which I'm occasionally thrilled to see someone defining similarly.
I quote that a lot. Like here, which talks about the dark and the light, and whichmarykaykare gave me a rasseff award for, which is how I could find it.
It's something I feel really strongly about.
'Cause I'm one of the dark ones.
Which is one of the reasons that my dominant handle and primary front is called 'Darkhawk'.
And here's where we get into congregations and priests, which is whatfyrekat was talking about. What are the duties of the priest?
To which my first response is: where does the priest fall within that dualism?
A priest of the light, that's someone who looks at the established forms, maintains them in their richness, their truth, upholds that which is known to be real and true, makes sure nobody forgets the names.
A priest in the middle, depending, that's someone who has one foot in each, and learns the balance. I think this is really damn hard, but that's because I'm so much of one and not so much of the other, I suspect; the passions and intuitions run so strong in me that trying to bring them to forms confounds my mind.
The priest of the dark is out there in the wild. The congregation they serve is whoever comes behind, the community they serve is tomorrow's. Or perhaps today's, in the forms of those who are out in the wild where there are no tracks to be kept clear, maintained, and upgraded by the light. The priest of the dark is the trailbreaker, going off somewhere where there aren't forms to be had yet.
I think a faith needs all of these. A community of whatever sort needs all of these; too much of the light, and stagnation comes, too much of the dark, and nothing's stable enough to survive, there's no continuity or cohesion.
And now I've done all this writing about this stuff rather than getting work done.
What was that about displacement activity? :P
This is inspired in response to something that
fyrekat posted about, but wasn't directly useful. It's . . . somewhere in the intersection of paradigm, philosophy, and theology.I tend to look at the world in overlapping dualities, each essential to the other in some ways. (This doesn't map well to dualisms at all, which I find myself ill-equipped to understand; this is arguably why my personal interpretation of the angel/demon division of spirits in common parlance is that angels inspire virtues and demons inspire passions, both of which in excess produce intolerable results.)
In all this mish-mash of dualisms, there's one that I personally find the most important, resonate with the strongest; it's a division I call 'dark' and 'light', and which I'm occasionally thrilled to see someone defining similarly.
- Apollo, the god of light, of reason, of proportion, harmony, number--Apollo blinds those who press too close in worship. Don't look straight at the sun. Go into a dark bar for a bit and have a beer with Dionysios, every now and then. --Ursula K. Le Guin
I quote that a lot. Like here, which talks about the dark and the light, and which
marykaykare gave me a rasseff award for, which is how I could find it.It's something I feel really strongly about.
'Cause I'm one of the dark ones.
Which is one of the reasons that my dominant handle and primary front is called 'Darkhawk'.
And here's where we get into congregations and priests, which is what
fyrekat was talking about. What are the duties of the priest?To which my first response is: where does the priest fall within that dualism?
A priest of the light, that's someone who looks at the established forms, maintains them in their richness, their truth, upholds that which is known to be real and true, makes sure nobody forgets the names.
A priest in the middle, depending, that's someone who has one foot in each, and learns the balance. I think this is really damn hard, but that's because I'm so much of one and not so much of the other, I suspect; the passions and intuitions run so strong in me that trying to bring them to forms confounds my mind.
The priest of the dark is out there in the wild. The congregation they serve is whoever comes behind, the community they serve is tomorrow's. Or perhaps today's, in the forms of those who are out in the wild where there are no tracks to be kept clear, maintained, and upgraded by the light. The priest of the dark is the trailbreaker, going off somewhere where there aren't forms to be had yet.
I think a faith needs all of these. A community of whatever sort needs all of these; too much of the light, and stagnation comes, too much of the dark, and nothing's stable enough to survive, there's no continuity or cohesion.
And now I've done all this writing about this stuff rather than getting work done.
What was that about displacement activity? :P