(no subject)
This is another post that probably won't make any sense, but in a different way.
Now, it's not something I talk about on teh intarwebs much, but I am firmly not Christian. Not to go off on a tangent, but while there are some great ideas there, I cannot get behind the religion as a whole. And the parts I like are the "be excellent to each other" parts, which, honestly, are not that hard to find elsewhere. But anyway.
I'm usually some sort of agnostic-y pagan thing. Which is mostly me being kind of 'meh' about doing my research. I'm just not in a hurry, you know? And this is also a weird enough time in one's life (the transitioning to adulthood/collegiate type stuff), that I don't feel bad putting this other (potentially) highly confusing and/or stressing bit off. But I also procrastinate with everything else, so eh. So anyway, I tend to go through periods of not thinking about it much and just doing my thing. There are even times where I actively don't want to hear/talk about religious stuff. There are other times, however, where I have some level of interest and poke around a bit until I get bored or frustrated and quit for a while. Since I'm talking about this at all, you can probably guess where I am at the moment. :P
So, I think I had a bit of a "!" moment recently. This is where I'm gonna get weirdness all over you, so bear with me. In my sociology class, we spent a couple of class meetings talking about deviance. Definition time: deviance is the violation of a norm, resulting in a negative sanction. Deviance is largely defined by reactions to it/the action. It is also defined in my notes as probabilistic, subjective, relative, and universal (that is, deviance exists in all cultures). (Info courtesy of my sociology notes. thx Dr. Parker!) And at some point, Dr. Parker said something that really struck a chord. He referred to deviance as a mirror held up to the rest of society. And I can't remember now if he's the one that said this next part, or if it's what I extrapolated, but either way I came away with a sense of deviance as a reflection in the sense of "this is what you're like/how society is; can you deal with that?" and... I had a "!" moment.
That probably doesn't look that exciting. It looks less exciting on the screen than it is in my head for that matter. But (and this will come as no surprise if we've ever talked about my pagan-y leanings at all, lol) the parts of mythology, deities, etc. that interest me most are the, well, deviant ones. I'm always drawn to the troublemakers in pantheons. And one of the ideas I've seen floating around in regards to the troublemakers (I think it was in an essay about Set, but I'm not sure) is that (among other things) they function as reflections of the rest of society. That "hey, this is you. Sure that's a good thing?/Y'all need some change" thing again.
My train of thought is getting all, uh, nonexistant, but I'll try to keep going. (This is fun, right? Anyone still reading? Lol)
This whole on the outside looking in ---> outside perspective for those on inside ---> change (potentially) really resonates with me. I've always always always been drawn to/been on "the outside." It... I dunno. I'm at the point where this is personal enough that I can't articulate it well at all.
But yeah. Um. There you are. Or here I am, wherever that is. Thoughts? I'm sure a lot of this is poorly/strangely worded, so feel free to ask me to clarify something. Discussion is welcome; in fact, I'm kind of hoping for some. Feel free to teal deer back at me. It would be nice. Derp derp derp, I'm making no sense, and I don't think it's going to get any better, so I'll stop now. (I'm also not proofreading this bitch of a post, because I should probably stop looking at it, so plz excuse my typos and grammatical nonsense.)
Now, it's not something I talk about on teh intarwebs much, but I am firmly not Christian. Not to go off on a tangent, but while there are some great ideas there, I cannot get behind the religion as a whole. And the parts I like are the "be excellent to each other" parts, which, honestly, are not that hard to find elsewhere. But anyway.
I'm usually some sort of agnostic-y pagan thing. Which is mostly me being kind of 'meh' about doing my research. I'm just not in a hurry, you know? And this is also a weird enough time in one's life (the transitioning to adulthood/collegiate type stuff), that I don't feel bad putting this other (potentially) highly confusing and/or stressing bit off. But I also procrastinate with everything else, so eh. So anyway, I tend to go through periods of not thinking about it much and just doing my thing. There are even times where I actively don't want to hear/talk about religious stuff. There are other times, however, where I have some level of interest and poke around a bit until I get bored or frustrated and quit for a while. Since I'm talking about this at all, you can probably guess where I am at the moment. :P
So, I think I had a bit of a "!" moment recently. This is where I'm gonna get weirdness all over you, so bear with me. In my sociology class, we spent a couple of class meetings talking about deviance. Definition time: deviance is the violation of a norm, resulting in a negative sanction. Deviance is largely defined by reactions to it/the action. It is also defined in my notes as probabilistic, subjective, relative, and universal (that is, deviance exists in all cultures). (Info courtesy of my sociology notes. thx Dr. Parker!) And at some point, Dr. Parker said something that really struck a chord. He referred to deviance as a mirror held up to the rest of society. And I can't remember now if he's the one that said this next part, or if it's what I extrapolated, but either way I came away with a sense of deviance as a reflection in the sense of "this is what you're like/how society is; can you deal with that?" and... I had a "!" moment.
That probably doesn't look that exciting. It looks less exciting on the screen than it is in my head for that matter. But (and this will come as no surprise if we've ever talked about my pagan-y leanings at all, lol) the parts of mythology, deities, etc. that interest me most are the, well, deviant ones. I'm always drawn to the troublemakers in pantheons. And one of the ideas I've seen floating around in regards to the troublemakers (I think it was in an essay about Set, but I'm not sure) is that (among other things) they function as reflections of the rest of society. That "hey, this is you. Sure that's a good thing?/Y'all need some change" thing again.
My train of thought is getting all, uh, nonexistant, but I'll try to keep going. (This is fun, right? Anyone still reading? Lol)
This whole on the outside looking in ---> outside perspective for those on inside ---> change (potentially) really resonates with me. I've always always always been drawn to/been on "the outside." It... I dunno. I'm at the point where this is personal enough that I can't articulate it well at all.
But yeah. Um. There you are. Or here I am, wherever that is. Thoughts? I'm sure a lot of this is poorly/strangely worded, so feel free to ask me to clarify something. Discussion is welcome; in fact, I'm kind of hoping for some. Feel free to teal deer back at me. It would be nice. Derp derp derp, I'm making no sense, and I don't think it's going to get any better, so I'll stop now. (I'm also not proofreading this bitch of a post, because I should probably stop looking at it, so plz excuse my typos and grammatical nonsense.)