Desire and the Inner Quest

[yezida]

[More from my ongoing project]

People write to me periodically about the problems in their communities with people wanting initiation into this or that, and there not being enough initiates to go around. I wrote a whole article for Thorn Magazine (no relation!) on this subject regarding the opening of the Mystery in all of its variety and glory.

Comments

[psy]

A couple years of my life and a lot of money went into grad school. And in the year and a half since I've finished, I can truly say that the benefits I have received that I can directly track back to that experience have paid for it several times over. Not just the degree. Not just the validation. But the experience itself. It was deeply satisfying and pushed me. I'm pondering more school... I don't care much about the validation at this point. But I also wouldn't turn it down

[yezida]

I'd be interested to hear what you think about my article in Thorn magazine...

Am stuck in an airport right now. Will see if I have the internal bandwidth to tackle your question later. It is complex.

Ins and Outs

[psy]

What is initiation? I think there's more than one way to consider it. Most of the conversation seems oriented towards a ritual - a culminating ceremony by which a community recognizes an individual as "one of us"... and so they do act as "Credentials." Take the typical graduation ceremony. It's an "outer" thing, and it has a place in communities. It says that the individual is bound to a set of expectations, a contract if you will - purporting that those initiated share a common body of knowledge

[chemalfait]

here's what it is, here's what it means:
http://yezida.livejournal.com/216363.html
Initiation isn't like a degree or certificate, it's about a commitment.
Pure and simple it is a statement of will and intent. It is a personal commitment made to oneself before the gods, ancestors, and initiator.
It should be more than just a blip, or a blurb.
Thorns poem illustrates it beautifully.

[yezida]

I know what it means to me, and you are right - that poem conveys some of the essence. For me, it was not a degree, but for some that is a large part of it.

Note I wrote:
"There are many reasons to want an initiation. What I’m thinking of today is one facet that crops up over and over again: a wish for external validation."

[chemalfait]

yes I know it was one facet you were discussing.
I was giving Psy an answer to the question about what it is other than external validation, or what it should be.
At least how I see it.
An answer which they said is never really given.
Yet it would seem the answer that is usually given is one that leads one to consider initiation as no more than an external validation.

[yezida]

check!