Culture of Make Believe

I'm so like totally into the spiritual-thing !

I'm not religious.
I'm not a rationalist either.
I'm certainly not a spiritual seeker.

I suppose am an agnostic,
but not a nihilist.
Still, this doesn't describe much, just rules some things out.

I'm an Animist.

Not a tree-worshiper,
not a mystic.

I'm an Animist who believes in the importance of the World and the community of life.

The World has intrinsic value beyond its use to human beings.
Why we are here is not important ... what's important is that the world is .
I don't ponder the ultimate purpose of the universe.
I am comfortable with the nature of my situation.

We're here by virtue of random chance.     So be it.
Does that make the world any less beautiful or enjoyable?
If the World were the product of design, then it would be mere manufactured goods, in essence no different from a cellular phone or a frozen pizza, a product.
Few of us spend great time and fortune pondering the ultimate purpose of frozen pizza.

To be alive in this world, to be part of the community of life is an amazing thing!
The universe is far too impressive to be a mere widget.

If the world was not made, then the world was not made for man.
The world does not belong to Man, Man belongs to the world.

This throws much of Spiritualism and Rationalism a curve!
Though adherents to both of these worldviews would strenuously deny this, both Spiritualism and Ratiolalism depend heavily on the idea of the transcendence of Man.

For the Spiritualist, the Soul separates him from his neighbors in the community of life.
For the Rationalist, the intellect is the evidence of transcendence.

There's certainly room for reason in Animism There's certainly room for science.
These are valuable tools toward understanding the world, something humans seem to be very interested in doing.

Spirituality, however, has no place in Animism,
at least the type of spirituality that seeks an elevated or transcendent state.
The whole point of Animism is to live fully in this world.
To believe that this world, this plane of existence, is just a waystation on the road to a "better place" leads to regarding this world (the only one we have) as disposable.

How sad that so many miss experiencing and enjoying the world they're in while they concentrate their energies on getting to one which may not even exist.

What does the world of Spirituality have to say about pain? About disease and misfortune?
Is it Karma?
Are we being tested or punished by God?
Do we create our own reality?
If so, then, that hypertension, that glaucoma, that clinical depression that the sufferer experiences is the result of divine forces, a past sin from a past life, a manifestation of your own in this life, or an experiment performed by a capricious God.

For the Animist who suffers, there is no more hope for relief from suffering than anyone else, but at least the Animist is blameless.

Different aesthetics can inform and influence different ethics, giving rise to Environmentalists and Technologists.
If these disparate sensibilities are both informed by the Animist ethic of " The World does not belong to Man, Man belongs to the World" There is no reason to believe that we would have to resort to being Luddites in order to live harmlessly in this world, the only one we have.


By live harmlessly I mean to live in the world without consuming it. If We were certain that our place in the world was not as master of it, but as a member of it, then our Aesthetic and Ethical sensibilities would be offended by the idea of doing irreparable damage to our only home.

So I'm an Animist. I believe that I'm a part of the community of life, not one of the masters of it.

I believe that this is the only World, the only chance we all get. Any attempt to elevate myself above my place in this community would be arrogant, and offend my Aesthetic and Ethical sensibilities.