drive-by rant
I'm finding the OTO very thought-provoking, as an institution, in large part because it seems to work.
The electoral college just met in my town, and I was at some attendant social functions because I date someone who was involved in some of the proceedings. And it was so much a blissful gathering of old friends from start to finish that it wasn't until a good 24 hours after everyone went back home that I really thought about how far the whole thing was from any other example of government (corporate, political, or religious) I've ever seen or heard about.
It certainly was not that they had no real work to do. They had some issues going I have heard distant rumours of for some time, and no doubt plenty of stuff I've heard no whisper of at all, and these thelemites do tend to be highly opinionated folks. But they seem to have all come out of it happy. I can't in retrospect recall any sense of discord at any point in anything I saw. Mind you I only saw them out of session, I was mercifully asleep long after they went into session on Saturday morning. But I was at the parties before and after, and they all seemed even more happy going out than coming in.
It's certainly a striking counterpoint to the evening news, as far as models of government go.
It has to help that it's a voluntary organization. But there are lots of catty evil voluntary organizations out there.
There are a lot of voluntary organizations around, the SCA springs first to mind, but there are also numerous other neo-magical societies, LARP clubs, sci-fi conventions, furries, lotsa folks are experimenting with their tribal life in one way or another. Also NGOs recognized internationally like the Red Cross and that ilk. The AARP, and much other alphabet soup. Also I have begun to realize how many have been there for generations and more, under the radar to greater or lesser degrees. I certainly don't get the impression offhand that initiatory orders are as a rule less contentious than other groups. Or more, for that matter.
And I certainly do not know much at all about most of them. But this one continues to surprise me in happy ways, I'm all for that.
The electoral college just met in my town, and I was at some attendant social functions because I date someone who was involved in some of the proceedings. And it was so much a blissful gathering of old friends from start to finish that it wasn't until a good 24 hours after everyone went back home that I really thought about how far the whole thing was from any other example of government (corporate, political, or religious) I've ever seen or heard about.
It certainly was not that they had no real work to do. They had some issues going I have heard distant rumours of for some time, and no doubt plenty of stuff I've heard no whisper of at all, and these thelemites do tend to be highly opinionated folks. But they seem to have all come out of it happy. I can't in retrospect recall any sense of discord at any point in anything I saw. Mind you I only saw them out of session, I was mercifully asleep long after they went into session on Saturday morning. But I was at the parties before and after, and they all seemed even more happy going out than coming in.
It's certainly a striking counterpoint to the evening news, as far as models of government go.
It has to help that it's a voluntary organization. But there are lots of catty evil voluntary organizations out there.
There are a lot of voluntary organizations around, the SCA springs first to mind, but there are also numerous other neo-magical societies, LARP clubs, sci-fi conventions, furries, lotsa folks are experimenting with their tribal life in one way or another. Also NGOs recognized internationally like the Red Cross and that ilk. The AARP, and much other alphabet soup. Also I have begun to realize how many have been there for generations and more, under the radar to greater or lesser degrees. I certainly don't get the impression offhand that initiatory orders are as a rule less contentious than other groups. Or more, for that matter.
And I certainly do not know much at all about most of them. But this one continues to surprise me in happy ways, I'm all for that.