To Hear in New and Old Symbols
To all adults interested in philosophy and/or magic, theistic or nontheistic, this article is for you.
When you can’t tell the difference between the inside of a gutter-downspout and the inside of a subway-station, then that is the art and architecture of modernity. Brutalism, postmodernism, and the language of the contemporary corporate. Today’s technocratic civilization keeps us trapped in cans, cages, and conduits that crush the soul with banality and puritanical austerity. Thus we must struggle to regain our humanity, our connection with the natural world and its divinity in all things—the loving embrace of the ancient ways can help us create a better present, and build for a future that better represents our needs.
Do you hear the primordial call? Do you hear the summoning of a new path? They call you to have hope always, and take up the good from wherever you come. Follow your own path yet protect the old ways.
There are monumental positives to rebuilding the ancient polytheistic traditions, but there also is infinite goodness to be gained from forming eclectic personal practices of spirituality. Mature hearts and minds can benefit from embracing the obscure folkways and ethnic mythology. Let everyone walk in peace towards Nirvana. May ripe souls find radiant bliss with Apollo, Isis, and Mithras. May men and women dance with Dionysus and Pan. May rebirth arrive with the regenerative protection of Osiris, Attis, and Persephone.
There is a sacred duality happening in this mystic process. Those grown-up who hear the ancient call are tasked with honoring and redeeming one’s Manes and Lares, with protecting the history and identities of their respective cultures and tribes, and with passing the good on as noble kin or protectors or parents to the future. While humankind must not allow the ancient traditions of the ancestors to be forgotten, and ideally each of us should obey our parents as well, human beings inherently aspire to build something new. We create new definitions as each individual decides for themselves what is good, however there will always be cosmic inspiration from what has been left behind by the divine and the departed. Some follow the Fates and some defy Destiny. But as we dutifully venerate the old symbols, so too must we form new ones—this is the natural, cyclic shape of individuality and heritage.
Living is for the present.
Life is too short to be ruled by desire, overthinking, complication, blame, worry, struggle, and living in the past; yet sometimes the only way to spark aesthetic evolution is to seek the passion and wisdom of Nature and history. At your own peril, you decide for yourself how to interpret these contradictions: this is what it is to be human in this life of absurdity.
I wish you happiness and peace, my dear readers.
