About Darren and Sandy
Darren: Multiple Gemini, guitarist, writer, teacher,
computer dilettante, philosopher, mystic, student of world
religions and deeply romantic. I am an incorrigible freethinker,
and love to philosophize and joke. Seriousness and silliness
are seldom far apart in my mind.
My primary leisure activities are ATB biking, flower
gardening, cooking, writing and reading (& creating
web sites). I am fluent in Spanish, with special interest
in the works of Julio Cortázar, Jorge Luis Borges &
Rubén Darío. I am also a medievalist by education--something
which contrasts a bit with my cybernetic interests.
Sandy: Pisces w/ Virgo rising, Retirement Plan Administrator,
Drummer, Goddess, Artist, Gardener, Mystic, Kitchen Witch,
Romantic.
My primary leisure activities are domestic aesthetics,
ATB biking, perennial flower and herb cultivation, flower
arrangements, painting "tarot-cotta" pots, cooking
and reading. I speak and read some Spanish.
More on us:
Sandy and I share many philosophical, political and spiritual
ideas. A superficial summary of our political interests
is found on our politics page.
She is less talkative on the Internet, so I have to qualify
these remarks as my own, though I assume she agrees with
most of it. So, with that introduction, I would
like to comment a bit on our interest in
alternative spirituality, in order to explain the
mildly controversial links collections I maintain here.
I'm certain she would never bother to maintain such a
large thematic links collection, so if you don't like
it, blame me. ;)
But, on the following points, Sandy and I agree to a
great extent. My interest in mysticism and religions
has drawn me close to the various traditions and new movements
in what is often called "occultism." My
personal interests in the "occult" have more
to do with critical/aesthetic movements within literature
and art such as romanticism, symbolism, dada, surrealism,
"avant garde," and so forth. I am
interested in the traditions of Chinese body work, Tai
Chi in particular. I am also interested in
the possibility that a philosophical or conceptual system,
religious or otherwise, can be intentionally assimilated,
and thus have profound effects on various dimensions of
our experience. The interesting thing about this
last area is that it can have very profound implications
for society and environment--both negative and positive.
For more on this, see my essay on the Evils
of Apocalypse.
Lastly, I have always been fascinated by comparative
religions, both for the purpose of teaching tolerance,
and for the sake of learning the valuable lessons that
each tradition has to offer me for use in developing my
own personal, syncretist, eclectic spiritual path. We
are very open-minded agnostic-eclectics who believe in
the power of the human spirit. Neither Sandy nor I
believe in a personal god such as is seen in the
Judeo-Christian-Muslim tradition. That does not
preclude the existence of "trans-scientific"
phenomena related to any religious belief
whatsoever. [Click
here for an account of revolutionary, agnostic esoteric
thought.]
I have found that some of the most interesting transformative
work in these areas occurs in an interesting "autonomous
zone" where all of these converge near the domain
of esoteric religion and ecstatic experience. Many
people call this "occultism." I think
it is a highly misleading and over-simplistic term.
The terms occult & esoteric both refer to something
that is secret or hidden. As a result of the widespread
marketing of these teachings, there is almost nothing
hidden or secret in any of these religions. In fact,
most of these religions are working hard to "mainstream"
their beliefs. I prefer the expression "alternative
spirituality," not because it is PC, or anything
like that. Rather, it is the only thing I can find
to describe the wide variety of manifestations of human
spirit you will find there. In most of these spiritual
paths, there is an experiential and/or supernatural dimension
that is rejected by mainstream religions. There
are mystical and even magical versions of Christianity,
Judaism and Islam. I have included them also.
It is my opinion that the fear we see directed against
alternative spirituality by the mainstream, monotheistic
religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam) is a dangerous
force in our society simply because, carried to its logical
conclusion, it means the death of human autonomy by killing
it at its roots: the human spirit. It also could
mean the repetition of the massacre of good human beings
because of their spirituality. The upsurge in
literalist, anti-modern and militant and political religions
all over the planet is a disturbing and, in my opinion,
rather surprising trait of the 21st Century. Pious
fascism is just as evident in Pat Robertson and the
anti-American mullahs of Iran. The main difference
is economic and military (and the two are intimately
intertwined now). I saw a bumper sticker that
expressed the situation succinctly: War is Terrorism with
a higher budget. Those who support the dropping of
innumerable bombs from a high tech jet aircraft and
criticize the "asymmetric
warfare" techniques of the "insurgents"
reveal their socioeconomic status and assumptions. The
Aethyr X collection is one more small protest against
those who would suppress our freedom of speech and
faith.
So, that should pretty effectively explain the political
and educational motivation behind our occult links collection.
We really encourage you to explore Aethyr
X: Alternative Spirituality. We would love to
hear from you if you find it interesting or useful.
Contact Darren & Sandy
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