Question
I was reading Lupa's book (yes, I've been reading it all day and she's made me think of lots of things. Sign of a good book :P)
Anyways, I was thinking about certain otherkin that strike me as insane. People who use Otherkin beliefs to validate mental disorders. Quite honestly, I suspect that a considerable amount, perhaps even most people who say they are Otherkin are actually compensating for some mental issue.
Let me start with an example. If you don't want to read the example, I'll mark it.
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I knew an Otherkin very well, once. I'll not give too many details since s/he might be recognized. But this otherkin believed hirself to be half angel, half demon. Believed s/he was placed in this world as punishment for past deeds.
At first, because the nature of Otherkin inherently virtually requires face-value acceptance, I simply let it be, and put my misgivings aside. As time passed, s/he found balance, decided that wasn't hir fate, and decided that s/he wasn't a demon/angel mix after all. Decided s/he was something else, not relevant to this point.
Fact is, this person was actually having conflict with hir nature, dealing with the inherent conflict between good and evil that goes on within all of us. Claiming that angelic/demonic heritage simply validated hir, making hir believe that there could be no conclusion to this battle, since it was hir nature. Choosing to believe that s/he was otherkin actually slowed hir mental and emotional healing process. If I had not been faced with the normal, "What an otherkin says goes, say anything to the contrary, and OBVIOUSLY you're discriminating against otherkin in general" attitude, I might have pointed out that possibility, might have assisted this person in personal healing. Now that the transition is over, and the verdict is in, it's possible to use as an example.
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So, that example being presented: what do you think? Do you think that the majority of claimed-otherkin are actually using the belief and community to validate their sense of self-identity, to deny a mental problem? Do you think that some otherkin, who actually are Other, exaggerate their nature (a normal spirit walk-in, feeling insecure, making claims about extreme power etc) to enhance their sense of worth, to compensate for the inherent difficulties presented by the transition? A person who's actually X-type kin, adding in another type that's not actually real, but added in because of mental issues, easy to translate since the person already knows they're not human?
Those basic questions being asked, what do you think can or should be done? Should we continue to hold the idea of, whatever a 'kin says goes? We don't need to believe everything, of course... but it's currently Only acceptable to not challenge their belief systems. I've gotten fussed at for asking too many suspicious questions, "How dare you question my nature"-etc type things.
Being as I'm wanting to go into psychology, I'd love to understand this better. But it's a difficult balance. People are usually (relatively) willing to address mental issues if that's the only possible reality, but Not willing to change a belief system entirely in order to address an issue. Thus the little psych joke, they're not paranoid if they're right.
Anyways, I was thinking about certain otherkin that strike me as insane. People who use Otherkin beliefs to validate mental disorders. Quite honestly, I suspect that a considerable amount, perhaps even most people who say they are Otherkin are actually compensating for some mental issue.
Let me start with an example. If you don't want to read the example, I'll mark it.
~~~~
I knew an Otherkin very well, once. I'll not give too many details since s/he might be recognized. But this otherkin believed hirself to be half angel, half demon. Believed s/he was placed in this world as punishment for past deeds.
At first, because the nature of Otherkin inherently virtually requires face-value acceptance, I simply let it be, and put my misgivings aside. As time passed, s/he found balance, decided that wasn't hir fate, and decided that s/he wasn't a demon/angel mix after all. Decided s/he was something else, not relevant to this point.
Fact is, this person was actually having conflict with hir nature, dealing with the inherent conflict between good and evil that goes on within all of us. Claiming that angelic/demonic heritage simply validated hir, making hir believe that there could be no conclusion to this battle, since it was hir nature. Choosing to believe that s/he was otherkin actually slowed hir mental and emotional healing process. If I had not been faced with the normal, "What an otherkin says goes, say anything to the contrary, and OBVIOUSLY you're discriminating against otherkin in general" attitude, I might have pointed out that possibility, might have assisted this person in personal healing. Now that the transition is over, and the verdict is in, it's possible to use as an example.
~~~~
So, that example being presented: what do you think? Do you think that the majority of claimed-otherkin are actually using the belief and community to validate their sense of self-identity, to deny a mental problem? Do you think that some otherkin, who actually are Other, exaggerate their nature (a normal spirit walk-in, feeling insecure, making claims about extreme power etc) to enhance their sense of worth, to compensate for the inherent difficulties presented by the transition? A person who's actually X-type kin, adding in another type that's not actually real, but added in because of mental issues, easy to translate since the person already knows they're not human?
Those basic questions being asked, what do you think can or should be done? Should we continue to hold the idea of, whatever a 'kin says goes? We don't need to believe everything, of course... but it's currently Only acceptable to not challenge their belief systems. I've gotten fussed at for asking too many suspicious questions, "How dare you question my nature"-etc type things.
Being as I'm wanting to go into psychology, I'd love to understand this better. But it's a difficult balance. People are usually (relatively) willing to address mental issues if that's the only possible reality, but Not willing to change a belief system entirely in order to address an issue. Thus the little psych joke, they're not paranoid if they're right.