Life As A Pagan

I've had a lot of thought about Paganism of late. It seems that a lot more people have become aware of Paganism and have joined Wicca or Asatru, or one of the other streams of Wicca, of late. Paganism flares up in the news once in a while, with reports of Pagan police officers receiving dispensation to take time off to attend the eightfold Sabbats.

Of course, the Daily Fail readership and the usual right-wing scumbag papers seem to derive no end of outrage from such "dreadful" news. Not that they should consider it any of their business.

I became a Pagan a long time ago. I first grew interested back at age twelve. After school, I found myself drawn towards Discordianism. Most folks will probably have never heard of Discordianism. Many folks on my f'list here do. Go and look up "Principia Discordia" or "Discordianism" on Google. You really don't have to look far for answers.

Deep down, I call myself Discordian. I follow Taoism, Buddhism, Stoicism and I practice Chaos magic; I have a Fortean's open mind towards the phenomena of the world; but when somebody asks me what I call my "faith," I reply "Discordianism."

And what do I mean by a Pagan life? You don't go by what deities you worship, what you believe or what ceremonies you choose to follow.

You call something yours if you derive joy and meaning from it. Paganism does this for me. I derive a sense of meaning, peace and connection from the practices I follow. And since I follow a pretty unique set of traditions from across the globe, syncretised into one, I can no more imagine proselytising anyone onto following the same faith than I can imagine detaching my left foot and using it as a doorstop.

I also manifest my faith in a different manner, too. I don't generally do the whole robes-and-chanting thing. I don't particularly fancy public displays. I prefer to enjoy the silence, the sounds of birdsong and animal sounds, and the phenomena of Nature. I derive more joy from watching playful sparrows squabbling over a watering hole than from any human activity, next to writing of course.

I can't think of a proper way to wrap up this ramble. I just feel the need to affirm my status as a Pagan, particularly to the newcomers on my f'lists, here and on Facebook.

Life As A Plainclothes Clown

E-Prime comes more and more easily with practice. Let me explain my mission in E-Prime.

Why did I choose clowning as my method? Because clowning derives from the practice of Trickster following. Tricksters employ elements of slapstick, humour and aporia (a sense of deep confusion and loss of sense) to teach the more valuable lessons about life, death and everything in between.

"Sometimes the need to mess with their heads outweighs the millstone of humiliation." - FBI Special Agent Fox Mulder, The X-Files

"Introduce a little anarchy. Upset the established order, and everything becomes Chaos. I'm an agent of Chaos. Oh, and you know the thing about Chaos? It's fair." - The Joker, The Dark Knight (one of many Joker quotes from that movie - I choose this as the most appropriate for the purpose of my post)

Why plainclothes? Allow me to introduce you to a little concept called the "Antinomian Praxis."

You might know this better as "The Left Hand Path."

Googling "antinomian praxis" brings up a delightful website, Docstoc, and a PDF document on that site, "The Technician's Guide to The Left Hand Path." (The things I dig up in my research ...) :)

Through antinomian praxis I seek to change my inner world, and by extension those parts of the outer world within my grasp. I aim to increase the range of my grasp, and the reach of the changes I can enact. Through small changes I bring about larger changes further down the line, minor agitations leading to great shifts in accordance with the Butterfly Effect.

Antinomian praxis therefore becomes a strange attractor, a locus of the chaos permeating the world. A locus centered on myself and my life.

So that means a strange, wonderful life full of rich, bizarre things, encounters with a whole gamut of people whose tastes, creeds, skin colours and sense of personal morality has spanned every range conceivable. I have dined with sinners and prostitutes, entertained a thief, bewildered skeptics, befriended skeptics, befriended religious people, antagonised so many people and generally made a nuisance of myself.

All in the name of evolution through Chaos, evolution's driving force.

And there you have it.