I Stand Corrected

This is an example of waveforms for AC current over the frequencies of 50 hertz and 60 hertz that one would see on an oscilloscope. I spend many bored hours looking at waves on these devices, which to the normal average person means nothing. The only time it would really mean anything to anyone is if you travel to a different country and you can’t plug your laptop into the outlet or plug in your hair dryer. Then, it makes a BIG difference because your power plug will not work. Waveforms over different frequencies are a good example of paradigms. Do you notice how sometimes the waveforms on not completely synchronized, that is, there are points in the waves where one curve is ascending upward (positive) and another is ascending downward (negative)?

I don't hold to the same sense of values as other people. Sometimes I confuse my paradigms and it becomes ever so tempting to switch. This is an internal struggle of mine, which I have every intention to stay true to my Will. It’s difficult though when so many people I love maintain the other paradigm. It may be correct for them but not for me.

All of this paradigm analysis is timely in that I have been thinking about my position and value within the local pagan community. In the general community my thoughts and opinions hold a large amount of value, not so much in the local pagan community. Most people in the local community are unaware of my blog. The reason for this undervalue is I do not provide a service to the local population. What is valued within the community are adepts, healers, divinators, seamstresses, bakers and candlestick makers, not a lowly engineer, which has created an interesting dynamic. I believe a similar paradigm exists for physical beauty but I will not address it for this post.

Another situation that has spurred my self analysis of these paradigms has been recent accusations within the community that I am not of the "Light", an implication that either my morality or spiritual development is stunted... or both. I am not certain which one.

Before I get a ton of angry email and knee jerk reactions let me explain the dynamic. A good example of this paradigm: a soldier would have a different set of morals, then, say a stay at home parent. This is not to say that a stay at home parent never has to make decisions over moral dilemmas or that a well trained soldier is constantly making grey-colored decisions that shape their environment (sometimes, they JUST follow orders). However, when a component set of spirituality attributes is applied to either the stay at home mom or the soldier, they MAY be at the same level. Both a stay at home mom and a soldier can be a witch, magician or sorcerer...why is this? This implies that morality and spirituality are possibly independent of each other, like the diagram above, of different frequencies, yet sometimes synchronized. I am of the opinion that it depends on how well the person switches their paradigm. In the example of the soldier, how well does she exhibit compassion and in the case of the stay at home parent, how well does he exhibit martiality? A stay at home parent is expected to exhibit kindness to their small children, it kinda goes with the territory but kindness, in and of itself is not a clear-cut attribute of spirituality. A soldier is expected to exhibit war-like behaviour but how often does a soldier exhibit compassion? I may be talking out my ass about this issue but this is a much of a work in progress as my own ego.

This confusion over morality and spiritual development is one reason why most of us have problems with the fundies. In the eyes of a fundamentalist, occultists are neither moral nor spiritual. We are evil and as one fundie pointed out, "not of God".

Frater L recently disagreed with me on my list of attributes for a magickal person and he gave me an example of someone who is celebrated for his contributions, yet an absolute and utter DICK, Aleister Crowley. I STAND CORRECTED. This was an epiphany to me because I needed to create an assignment of value to my experiences despite the fact that the local community does not value my experiences, an assignment independent to the issue of paradigm. A morally reprehensible person would be of little value to a small community, just like an engineer, but still be of great value and resource to the greater community. I need to work more on my list of attributes.