Cav's Place

When I said I’ll delete everything and crawl back into a hole if this turns out badly, I was thinking I won’t be able to control myself, spill out once again all the things she knows all too well and run away like the coward that I am… Either that or that she’d react badly to my first messages and lash out at me…
But I needed it to go well so badly I managed to control myself, though I doubt I’ll ever understand how, and when I saw that her first few replies weren’t angry I was actually hoping this will be something to make me stick a little more than just my nose out of that hole again, get more involved in some things, talk to a few more people, get back to using Yahoo! Messenger so we’d be chatting again, since basically chatting through e-mail as I sometimes do now with at least one person is quite tedious. But all that required her to be one of those people I’d be talking to and the main reason I’d log on to Yahoo! Messenger again.

But neither happened. It certainly didn’t go well, but, according to my definition, it didn’t go badly either… She just went silent… Exchanged several e-mails over the first three days, then sent me one more a few days later, then a snappish one-liner, which wasn’t even aimed at me, some days after that, and… It’s been a week since that one.
I have sent her a couple of things since then, when I had something to say. Even wrote that she can choose not to answer if that’s what she wants, but I hope I can still send stuff. She probably didn’t even read these, might even have me blocked now, but I have to try, don’t I? Besides, it’s also the fact that I can do it, I could talk to her, though it was terribly hard, and I can still manage to send her things when I have something to say. I guess I’m thinking that as long as I can do that, as long as I don’t run away, I won’t fail myself for once…
And no, I can’t “just give her time”. If I back away now and don’t send anything for weeks, or even months, I won’t be able to try again later out of the blue. I’ll need another opportunity like the one that made this happen, and if it took a year and a half for it to happen once I don’t have many hopes of it happening again… Besides, if she’s already ignoring me, whether I say anything or not makes little difference anyway.

Yet… All of this is on borrowed time… I don’t know how much longer I’ll be able to cling to the idea that it didn’t turn out as bad as I thought it would since it didn’t turn out well either. Yes, it’s not worse than it was before, but it’s not better either and I can’t just go on like this anymore. Damn it! I can’t do it, ok?
Bottom line… If you’ll come here one day and find the blog gone, along with my OkCupid account and my Materia Magica character, you’ll know why…

This is something I’ve been thinking about for quite some time and I think it’s quite suitable to write about it on Samhain. How can Pagans believe in reincarnation but at the same time say they can get in touch with the spirit of any deceased person or that they expect those spirits to manifest themselves at times such as this? Wouldn’t most of those spirits be a bit busy with their new bodies at the time?

I think souls can choose to stay here in a ghostly form, or end up staying here because they don’t know how to leave, but in such cases they’d always be here, not only get in touch for certain occasions or when they are called upon. So if that is considered a way of explaining it, it’s a flawed one. Not to mention that if so many would stay here there won’t be many left to reincarnate!
One might be likely to assume that the souls they think of have already evolved past the need for reincarnation, that the life they knew them in was their last physical existence and they are therefore able to contact you in spirit form at any time, but that’s usually just wishful thinking. However highly you might think of a person, it’s quite unlikely that they have broken the circle of reincarnation at the end of the lifetime you knew them in. Yes, it is possible that a few of them did, but most didn’t. And even some of those who have evolved past the need to reincarnate may choose to come back anyway, in order to help those of us who are still here.

This might not apply to the souls of recently deceased people, under the assumption that they have not reincarnated yet, but even that is a hard call to make. How can you know when a soul will reincarnate and how do you know how time works for souls anyway? Wouldn’t it be possible for a soul to feel as if hardly any time passed between death and rebirth, regardless of how long it has been for us here, and therefore be unable to communicate with us even during that time?
Also, considering the ever increasing human population, it appears logical that the amount of time between death and rebirth will keep decreasing, if we assume that souls do not travel between planets. Though the number of other animals is decreasing, mostly because of us, and if we assume that at least some of the other animals also have souls, there could be plenty of them to go around without needing to hasten the process noticeably. Still, it’s something worth considering.

But either way it is, how can some call on souls of people who have died centuries ago and expect a proper response? Whether those souls are currently experiencing another physical existence, are in between incarnations or have broken the cycle of reincarnation, a reply is unlikely. Even if they are not currently a bit busy occupying another body, the call uses a name and that name is the name they used during one of their past lives. How do you know they still identify themselves with it?
Even if you do get the reply you expect while doing this, couldn’t it come from another entity that assumes that identity for reasons unknown to us? It could be a passing spirit that desires some conversation, it could be an entity that desires some influence over the physical realm, or it could even be some sort of “astral answering service” designed so such calls won’t bother souls that are currently otherwise occupied. Food for thought…

Yes, there are spirits that contact the living, that’s quite clear. Some of them are those who have stayed behind after the death of their physical shell, others have broken the cycle of reincarnation but still choose to intervene in order to aid those of us who are still here, and yet others could simply be in between incarnations. But there is a big difference between that and saying that every dead person’s spirit can potentially be contacted.
Just think of it logically, what are the odds of a random spirit not currently experiencing another physical existence? And, for the cases where it isn’t, what are the odds of it being able to receive the message, caring about it and being able to send a reply as well? The chances of that happening seem quite low to me, and the fact that plenty of such situations do exist is only explained by the very large number of souls available. After all, even a fraction of one percent of tens of billions is still a very large number.
But when you’re no longer talking about all the souls available, but only about your family and friends, and also perhaps a few historical figures you can think of, keep those percentages in mind, even when you think you got a response. It might not be from who you think it is.

Nothing but some seasonal musings, of course. After all, logic and faith often don’t get along too well… But maybe they should, don’t you think?

I read an essay a while ago on The Witches’ Voice and meant to write my answers to the questions included in it right then, but I didn’t get around to it. Then, while thinking about what I should include in this series of posts about my beliefs, I remembered it and eventually put the link in drafts. And then I started my last post with freedom of religion, which, combined with the time of the year, got me in the right frame of mind to actually write it, so here it is.

Before I begin, I should explain something once again, though I have done so a few times before, even recently. Some of these questions are being asked as if by a person requiring such clear labels, and therefore require specifying a religion clearly. I will use the term Wicca/Wiccan in those cases in order to satisfy that need for labels, but I must once again point out that it’d be a real stretch to even consider me an Eclectic Wiccan. Yes, there is a Wiccan “skeleton” in my belief system, but the rest of it is made up of ideas from other religions as well, scientific theories, theories about the paranormal and some ideas of my own. There are also even core Wiccan concepts that I don’t believe in, for example the Threefold Law. Yes, I believe that whatever you do will come back to you, sooner or later, but not tripled. Any action has an equal and opposite reaction, right? Therefore, the reaction can’t be three times as strong as the action that caused it!
That said, let’s see how I can answer these, because some of them are quite interesting to think about, though it starts with basics.

1. What is Neo-Paganism?
An umbrella term for modern religions with pre-Christian roots. The term “roots” should be taken in a very vague sense, since the ancient beliefs they refer to were obviously very different from what is now practiced. Some things were lost, many were intentionally changed, either to adapt the practices to modern times or to correct what were believed to have been mistakes made back in the day, and plenty of others were added.
But do your own research, it’s easy to find a place to start. However, I want to say I don’t agree with the idea that Reconstructionists are Neopagans, since they generally try to bring the ancient religions back to life and not “update” those beliefs and find ways to incorporate them into modern practices.

2. What is Wicca?
The best known Neopagan religion, founded around 1950 in England by Gerald Gardner and snowballing from there.
I personally don’t put any stock into his claims that it reflects a belief system that has been preserved since pre-Christian times, but instead think that even his original version was made up of various beliefs and practices, some old and some new. And considering the fast pace it developed at after that point, I will say with very little fear of being challenged that, in its presently most common form, namely Eclectic Wicca, it’s by far the most modern Neopagan belief system.
Past that, do your own research, I’ll only offer the usual starting point. And you could also take a look at the Principles of Wiccan Belief, since they have a great general relevance despite initially being written specifically for American Wiccans.

3. How and why did you get involved in your religion?
It’s pretty much the typical story you’ll get from most Wiccans, but here goes… I was raised by my grandparents and my grandmother is very religious, so religion was an important part of my life from the beginning. However, I quickly saw flaws in Christianity and started trying to figure out what really is out there.
I was 13 when I got Internet access, and one of the things I did early on was look into various other religions. One night, while reading articles on The Mystica, I stumbled upon Wicca and something just clicked into place, I knew I had the foundation to start building my belief system on.
What followed was the natural “fluffy” phase, lots of dreams but little actual research and (thankfully, considering the silly ideas I had back then) even less practice. A couple of years later I tried some things that were supposed to have tangible results and, to my complete surprise, I got exactly what I asked for, which was of course quite different from what I meant to ask for. I learned my lesson, but also got scared out of my wits and decided to put it on the back burner.
That situation lasted until around the time I turned 19, when I met a woman that used Reiki, meditation techniques and various forms of alternative medicine for healing. She was a rather devout Catholic, but the talks we had during the sessions rang true from a Wiccan perspective, so my interest was back in force. I tried bringing the topic up, but she wouldn’t hear of it.
Then something interesting happened. As I was letting the idea of Wicca swim around in my head one night, I picked a random person on DC++ and looked through their shared files. To my surprise, I found a folder named “Wicca & Witchcraft” with lots of files in it. Most were typical “fluff”, but some were quite interesting and the coincidence got me thinking. Shortly afterwards (I think it might have been the very next day), I was bored, turned on the TV and found myself catching The Craft from the very beginning, it was just starting on the first station I switched to. No, I didn’t know of it until then, but I just sat and watched and got more and more annoyed as it went along. By the end I was fuming at that outrageous portrayal of Wiccans…
I took that as one coincidence too many for it not to be some sort of message, so I started researching again and trying to make belief systems work together, while at the same time turning things around to see everything that woman was saying and doing while I still went to her from a Wiccan perspective. This “integration process” went on for another year…
And then Andra left and… The only good thing about having a ton of bricks fall on your head is that it shakes off anything you had been carrying around simply because you couldn’t be bothered to shake it loose before. So I left behind all the Christian practices I was still performing simply because I didn’t get to ridding myself of them and set both feet firmly on the path I knew for so long as being right for me.

4. What generated your interest in your religion?
I think I answered this already, above… It simply felt, and feels, right. Not completely right, of course, but by far the best “foundation” I found. It makes sense and answers more questions than any other religion I looked into, at least from my point of view.

5. What benefit do you get from being Wiccan?
What benefit does anyone get from the religion of their choice? (And that’s the key part, “of their choice”, not one that they are following blindly.) Some answers and way more questions, comfort alternating with loneliness, empowerment entwined with the knowledge of how insignificant you are in the grand scheme of things…

6. Who or what do you worship?
On occasion I can be more specific, but in the general sense I send my prayers and my thanks to any being higher than myself on the spiritual scale that cares for us lesser mortals and at least occasionally grants us what we request, when the request is deemed worthy and granting it would not cause unjustified harm to another. Also specify that those beings must not themselves cause unjustified harm to another and that they should neither demand nor expect for answering prayers anything more than simple, though perhaps long lasting, gratitude and perhaps the right to use the energy left unspent from the prayers or rituals they’ve answered.
I do use the terms Goddess and God, among others, but I’m not sure whether I believe Them to be two deities that are more powerful than the rest, at least where us humans are concerned, or calling those names is actually short for “this is for whatever deity I should be calling to right now, because I don’t know how to be more specific”.

7. What needs do you feel your religion meets in your life?
See what I said about what benefits I get from it… Seems like the same thing to me…

8. How do you know Wicca is the right religion for you?
Who said I do? I think anybody who says they’re certain one religion is the right one for them has a problem. All anyone can say is that they’ve found one that appears to make more sense and give more reasonable answers than any of the others they have studied. That doesn’t mean they won’t stumble upon something that will seem to be even better, nor does it mean that the questions can’t change at some later point, making these currently reasonable answers quite irrelevant.
That’s how it is for me… It makes more sense and seems to give more reasonable answers than any other religion I looked into, plus that it simply “feels” right. Of course, I made my belief system work as time passed, making changes and additions as I went along. Since each person is different, I don’t think anybody can take a ready-made belief system and really think it’s right for them without tailoring it for their own needs first.

9. How do you define truth, or know what is true?
Good one… I think there are quite few absolute truths. For everything else we just rely on theories and assumptions. Those that can be proven correct repeatedly are considered to be true and those that are proven wrong are considered to be false, but that doesn’t mean there can’t be situations where that could be reversed.
As for truth in the religious sense… Here everything is assumption! Don’t say you have “The Truth” because I’ll ask for proof and you won’t be able to provide it. That’s why it’s called “belief”, because we believe something to be right without hard evidence, which means the only thing we can be sure of is that we can’t be sure of anything in this aspect and should let each other believe whatever we want to believe as long as we don’t harm another by it and don’t try to force our beliefs on others.

10. Why did you decide your religion was truer than Christianity?
This seems repetitive… It makes more sense and offers more reasonable answers, plus that it gives its followers the freedom to correct any problems they think they notice. Plus that it encourages each person to establish their own direct contact with the higher powers, without priests, churches and so on.

11. What would convince you Christianity is “The One Way”?
Ha! Nothing could convince me that any religion is the only way, simply because you can’t prove that something does not exist. Even if you would somehow prove beyond any doubt the existence of one religion’s central deity, which would require nothing short of Their appearance and willingness to have a really long chat during which They’d explain everything, that won’t prove that others don’t exist.
It can, of course, be one of the ways. But it’d need a few changes to really convince me of that, starting with tolerating those who believe differently and not assuming that everyone who is baptized automatically becomes Christian, only counting as followers those who have willingly made that choice at a time when they were able to make such a judgment for themselves.

12. What do you define as evil?
Unjustified harm brought to another. And by “another” I don’t mean only another human, but another animal or the planet itself just as well. And “harm” means whatever that other considers to be harmful, not what you or the lawmakers think is bad for them. However, just revenge isn’t evil at all from my point of view, it’s fully justified harm. Sometimes karma needs a helping hand…

13. What happens to you after you die?
I’d like to believe I’ll get the choice to stick around as a ghost or another such form, visit those I care about and watch over them for a long time… But eventually, since I highly doubt I’ll evolve enough by then not to need to reincarnate (whether here or on another world that holds intelligent creatures is open for debate), my soul will end up connected to a newly born body again and go through another life to learn a few more things.
After I’ll no longer need to reincarnate I guess I’ll just continue to learn and grow spiritually, just without a physical body. After all, it makes perfect sense to me to consider all the physical lives as nothing but the soul’s childhood.

14. Do the Gods love their followers?
Using human concepts to judge non-human entities is likely to fail. So I don’t know whether “love” is the best term, but They’re interested, and that probably is both because They really care and because They need the energy we send their way with our prayers and rituals.

15. Why do you believe in unspecified Gods as Creators of the world, as opposed to the singular Creator proposed by the Bible?
I don’t believe in any “Creators of the world”, Earth and life on it was created the way science proved it was created. The only question is how was the universe created in the first place, where did that initial concentration of mass and energy come from.
My theory about that is that one entity wielding tremendous power, but not one of the most powerful, attempted to do something that required far more power than they had in order to control, so that initial explosion was the result and Nature took over from that moment on. And for such an entity to exist it’s necessary to have more entities that we would consider to be Gods…

16. Are the Gods immanent only, or immanent and transcendent?
Most are immanent, but They’re connected to the universe, not just to our planet and certainly not only to certain areas of it. And we are all connected to the universe and therefore to each other, these connections forming what is generally referred to as The All.
However, it makes sense to believe that some might have transcended. But there is also the possibility that the “oops” moment that created our universe killed all beings that we could see as transcedent Gods and that the others didn’t get to that level since then, either because They weren’t able to or because They decided there are too many risks involved.

17. Is it possible to reconcile Christianity with a Pagan path?
It is possible to accept Christianity from a Pagan perspective, but it would require fundamental changes in Christianity in order to make it accept Paganism.
I’m saying it’s possible for Pagans to accept Christianity because there is certainly no problem with accepting the possibility of Yahweh existing when you believe there are many Gods. It is also possible that said God gave humans certain advice that was really good at the time and likely that some humans in positions of authority later changed some of that advice to suit their own needs, but that others refuse to update those principles to suit modern realities. Or it could be that it was aliens in the first place, as Pagans certainly don’t reject their existence.
The idea of Heaven and Hell also can be explained from a Pagan perspective. You have the Summerlands, where you end up when you no longer need to reincarnate, which could be taken as Heaven, while the need to reincarnate and go through all the problems life throws at you once again can be seen as Hell. After all, we’ve certainly made our own Hell here on Earth… Or there is another thing I personally consider to be possible, namely that if you dedicate yourself to a certain deity you could end up having an afterlife according to said deity’s rules, so those who dedicate themselves to the Christian God could be split between Heaven and Hell in the afterlife and lose the chance of coming back and continuing their spiritual progress.
And Satan can also be explained simply by saying that Yahweh was caught in a bitter struggle with another such powerful entity at the time, so He needed all the help He could get. It is also possible that the entity referred to as Satan was trying to harm humans, but whether that was simply to remove Yahweh’s supporters or it was a goal in itself, who can say? As for the idea that worshipping any other deity is actually worshipping Satan, it can be explained by Yahweh not knowing exactly who was allied with His arch enemy and playing it safe. As I said, lots of things can be reconciled once you allow for multiple Gods.
And all miracles can, of course, be explained as magic, and for Pagans that’s a fact of life.
But for Christians to accept Pagans, they’d first need to accept the existence of multiple Gods and get rid of the idea that worshipping anything other than the Christian God actually means worshipping Satan, then to accept magic as a part of life and to stop considering it as being evil in itself, and then to update their principles to reflect the modern times and the needs of modern people and accept those different from them. Some of them have already adjusted their personal belief system to do this, but it seems a very tall order for Christianity as a whole.

18. What happens to non-Pagans after death?
See what I said above about Heaven and Hell from a Pagan perspective. There certainly is no punishment for believing differently, if that’s the question… Most likely they’d either reincarnate or evolve past the level of needing a physical body, but I’ll say again that it could be possible for those who have dedicated themselves to other Gods to be judged by Their rules and therefore have a different kind of afterlife.
And yes, it’s certainly possible to evolve past the level of needing a physical body by believing differently. All paths reach the same destination, it’s just that some are easier and others harder, some are shorter and others longer, some are more suitable for some people and others for others and so on. The day all religions will understand this will be a happy day for the world.

19. What happens to people who have done bad things after death?
They’ll likely be shown their worst flaws and then sent back to correct them in their next life. Of course they can choose not to correct them, but they’ll just keep coming back until either they do correct them or they’re no longer considered flaws.

20. What does honor mean, and how do you live an honorable life?
This question would be more suitable for a follower of the Norse pantheon, but… Always be honest and fair, even when it hurts you, always keep any promises you make and don’t cause unjustified harm to others in order to get what you want.

21. How do the Gods control natural phenomena outside of the country in which their worship originated? (For example: Why does a Heathen in the US believe that if they pray to Thor to change the weather He can do that, when He was originally worshipped in Scandinavia?)
This question is wrong from start to end… For one, Gods don’t change the weather. Not that They couldn’t, but it takes a lot of energy and it matters too little on an universal scale for it to be worth so much trouble. Humans can change it on their own if they truly wish it. And then I said Gods are connected to the universe as a whole, not just to our planet and certainly not only to certain areas of it, so it doesn’t matter where you are…

22. Do you believe that the Christian God Yahweh exists?
I think the odds of an entity that we could potentially recognize by that name to exist are quite high. Whether it really existed back then or the tremendous amount of energy focused by Christians during all this time reached the tipping point and became self-aware is a matter for debate. And whether or not said entity is still in any way involved with Earth is another matter entirely.

23. Do you believe every religion has truth in it? If so, how do you reconcile your religion as truthful with others that contradict it?
“Every” is a big word, but I think the vast majority of them do, even if in some cases it’s completely unintentional. And why couldn’t they be reconciled? If they have some truth in them it doesn’t mean everything they say is true, so the contradictions may arise in areas where one is true and the other isn’t or where both are wrong. And two opposite statements can both be true, it depends on specifics and the situation each applies to. Plus that you’ll find lots of things in common if you look at various religions with an open mind, they’re just worded differently.

24. Do you believe we evolved, or that there is Intelligent Design?
Come on! Evolution is proven fact, period! Of course, that doesn’t eliminate the possibility of some sort of intervention at some point, but in such a case I’d look more towards advanced aliens than towards Gods.

25. Are the Gods real entities, faces of a single God and Goddess, or merely symbols through which you focus magical energies?
Real entities, one way or another… I mean either They already existed when humans started worshipping Them or the energy focused by so many people worshipping certain entities for so long reached a tipping point and became self-aware, creating those entities from that moment forward. I certainly don’t believe the idea of faces of a single entity, unless you’re talking about how we’re all connected.

26. If the Gods love you, why didn’t They die for you like Jesus did?
This is insulting for all concerned… You have a God and a prophet, Yahweh and Jesus, respectively. With that in mind, many prophets and clerics have died for their Gods throughout history. And then there’s the other problem, namely that Pagans believe that humans are not inherently sinners and that you’re the only one responsible for your own actions and your own spiritual evolution. We don’t need to be “saved” by another, and actually we couldn’t be, we can only “save” ourselves.

There, I think I handled this well enough, considering everything…

While the issues I will write about here are more specific than those mentioned in the previous post, dealing only with certain aspects of life, that doesn’t make them less important.

I believe in freedom of religion, as long as you don’t attempt to force your beliefs upon others. That means everybody should be able to follow any religion or none at all and be free to put their beliefs into practice however they see fit, as long as their actions do not affect those who do not share their beliefs and as long as they do not actively try to gain more converts. Saying that, I think I should say a few things about what shouldn’t be done.
Considering children as members of a certain faith before they could make that choice for themselves should be illegal, as should raising them to believe in a certain way. The only right thing to do is to present multiple viewpoints to them, answer questions to the best of your abilities and let them make their own choices when they are ready. For that purpose, rituals that make a small child a member of a certain religion should be outlawed, and before anybody assumes I’m only talking about baptism, I’ll say I’m talking about wiccanings where patron deities are chosen or any other such events just as well. But it’s certainly not about children: Any attempt to convert another to your religion without them asking you to, as well as any open judging of another based on religious views that they don’t share, should be outlawed.
Wearing certain items that state your beliefs should be allowed in all circumstances unless they go against reasonable rules. However, when rules that apply to all forbid the use of such items, nobody should start saying they’re discriminated against when in fact they’re judged exactly like everyone else. For example, a hijab that covers your face is not ok to wear where your identity must be checked, nor is a ritual weapon ok to carry around in places where weapons of its kind are not allowed.
Perhaps most importantly, in order to ensure equality for all, no religion may have a role in state politics. Individual policymakers can, of course, practice their chosen religion like everyone else, but it must not directly interfere with the laws and regulations they pass. There should be no official state religion and no governmental decisions should be justified by the teachings of any one religion. There should also be no government support for strictly religious projects, but also no laws restricting the activities people can do in the name of religion as long as only those who share that belief are affected.

I believe people don’t all need to be social creatures, at least not in the way the term is currently understood. I’m seeing all sorts of advice everywhere at the start of every school year about how it’s normal for some children to be unwilling to be part of the community school forces them into but listing methods to make them adapt to it nevertheless. If it’s normal, why must they reject their own normality and substitute it with another?
If many people like being around others, interacting with others and so on, good for them, but what about those who don’t? Or what about the times when a person that usually desires social interaction would simply rather be left alone? Shouldn’t there be a way to have a life without the need for direct interaction?
We have the Internet to communicate with each other, and I see nothing wrong in using it. There is no problem with talking on-line, shopping on-line, playing on-line or any other such things! Besides, it allows you to interact with many more people than you could otherwise, eliminating distances. So, no, people shouldn’t be herded towards interacting with each other in person simply because somebody assumed at some point that it’s the most desirable means of interaction in all situations. That assumption was quite logical at that point, since these other means weren’t yet available, but things change. And it’s rare that they change for the better, so let’s not pass up such an opportunity!
I don’t know about you, but I’d much rather live in a world where people would only meet other people that they wish to meet and be able to get everything done from home. Tense situations and unpleasant moments can often be better managed in front of a computer screen, away from distractions and safe from potential violent outbursts. Not to mention that getting rid of the need to travel to and from school or work each day would save time, reduce stress, clear the traffic and improve the environment, as well as give people who work better alone the chance to make the most of their potential. And all of that translates into having more time to spend with your friends and loved ones in person and being in a better mood when you do so…

I believe school should allow each child to develop the abilities they choose to develop, not treat them all the same. I also think homeschooling should be far more widespread. In fact, I think there should be an option to have no formal education of any kind, just needing to take some tests to prove you have certain basic knowledge that everybody should have. Past that, each should choose the subjects they’re interested in and their preferred method of study.
There are a lot of things a person can be good at, and that should be reflected in their studies. I don’t agree with the idea I keep hearing from education officials, that the purpose of the educational system is to offer everyone an average level of understanding in all the fields that are considered to be important and some additional help in the direction of their choice, leaving further development to happen on the person’s own time. For one, there are plenty of fields that are presently considered to be important that really aren’t, and others that are but aren’t given enough attention, or even none at all. And then, I think each person should focus on what they’re interested in, not need to waste their time on things they’ll most likely never need!
There are actually a lot of things I’d say about the educational system, but I’ll leave those for another time. What I need to mention here now is that nobody should judge another by their level of formal education. Having a piece of paper saying what you should know how to do shouldn’t offer you any advantage and not having it shouldn’t be a disadvantage. What should be taken into account is only what you really know and what you’re actually able to do in the given situation, and that’s something the current educational system doesn’t prepare people for anyway, seeing as it usually focuses on theory over practice.
And there’s one last thing I’ll say here. The educational system should try to encourage creativity in all areas, while right now its purpose seems to be to erase any trace of it. It should encourage people to look at things from new perspectives, imagine potential new developments, try new things! I read a quote a while ago: “An inventor is a person that didn’t take their teachers too seriously.” That should change! Teachers should do everything they can to create thinkers, inventors, idealists and reformists, encourage their students to take the world forward, solve problems, create new things, see things that others haven’t noticed before…

I believe people shouldn’t need to work all the time to support themselves, and that the world actually doesn’t need everybody to work, as the unemployment rates prove. But keep in mind that these unemployment rates exist despite efforts to always create new jobs, which actually reduce productivity and make everyone earn less. Not to mention that developments in robotics could drastically reduce the need for humans to work in many sectors.
I know we could come up with a job rotation system where people would earn enough to live the whole year, if they’re reasonably careful with their expenses, by working, say, four months. Perhaps it could be even better than that, but I was just giving an example. Imagine having eight months of vacation instead of one. Wouldn’t everybody be happier?
It can be done. We only need to first implement as many automatic systems as possible, keeping human supervisors for all, of course, and then reduce the number of jobs available for humans to only what’s absolutely necessary. That way we would have the best productivity with the lowest number of workers, thus the companies will be able to pay each of their workers way more than they currently do, therefore allowing said workers to have a reasonable standard of living without working all the time. Of course there are a lot of specifics, but I won’t talk at length about it here.
There should also be a limit on the time any person can spend doing work-related activities, not only on the actual working hours. That should include the time actually spent at work plus any breaks where you can’t do anything you please for various reasons, any time spent on the road while going to work and getting back, any time spent doing work-related activities at home and so on. I think this is absolutely necessary in order to reduce stress levels, and I’d set said limit at 50 hours per week split among at most five days.

I believe there shouldn’t be censorship and that nobody should be responsible for being a role model to others. Remember what I said about each being fully responsible for their own actions. If a person plays a violent game or watches a violent movie and then goes on a killing spree, the producers are not to blame. If a person learns that their favorite singer uses drugs and destroys themselves by doing the same, it’s not the singer’s fault. See where I’m going with this?
Considering that, I think there should be no restrictions on what kind of content can be shown, used or sold, though warning labels are a good idea. Warn people about the contents of the “package”, whether it is a music album, computer game, TV show or anything else, and let them make their own choice. I also think parents shouldn’t restrict their children’s right to watch, play or listen a certain thing, but instead be there to explain everything to them and ensure that they know what is reality and what is not.
To a reasonably sane person with a decent sense of morality, a violent game can be a good way to release anger in a safe manner, thus not ending up breaking items or actually attacking another. That same person may take a song with violent lyrics as proof that somebody else understands what they’re going through, grounding them and helping them focus on finding a solution. And that same person will see a star’s drug use as nothing other than that star’s personal choice, then make their own choice on the matter after analyzing the facts for themselves.
These are of course only a few examples, but I think I made my point clear enough. Entertainment is just that, entertainment. If somebody takes it as being something else, the entertainer is not responsible. And any person’s personal life is their own, so they are free to live it as they wish and they shouldn’t be told to think of those that might take them as role models.

I could talk about what I believe for a long time, but I think these 12 things are enough for now, so I’ll end this series of posts here. Remember that this was just a brief overview of each and that many details were left unsaid.

Stumbled upon this survey in somebody’s journal on OkCupid and meant to fill it out and send it as a message, but of course it turned out to be way too long, considering their limit of 10000 characters per message. So I wondered what to do with it for a couple of days and eventually decided to post it here, though I’m quite sure it’s a bad idea to do so now…

I. Basics:

1. First Name?
– Robert
2. Age?
– 23
3. Location?
– Bucharest, Romania
4. Profession?
– None…
5. Reason for being on OkCupid?
– Tests, friends, match questions, figuring out how it works…

II. Education:

1. Highest level of schooling completed (high school, associate’s degree, etc.)?
– Dropped out in tenth grade…
2. What is your area of interest (what did you major in, what was your favorite subject, etc.)?
– Environmentalism and IT. No major, obviously, and environmentalism has nothing to do with school subjects unfortunately…
3. Do you plan on going any further with your education?
– In an “organized” manner, no way! On a personal level, always learning new stuff.

III. Goals:

1. What do you hope to accomplish by the end of 2007?
– Either to just talk with her again, catch up and see what happens afterwards, or to crawl under a rock and die. Depends on what I find out…
2. What do you hope to accomplish in the next five years?
– Be with her again, preferably in a four-way, so they won’t break up but there would be another girl as well, interested in both me and him, so it’ll be fair for everyone. Live together in a nice place without others bothering us. Preferably have at most two of us (assuming the four-way) working, but make enough for all four to have a reasonable standard of living as long as expenses will be kept in check, while the others will take care of things around the house, and I’d really rather be among these “others”. Actually, ideally him and the other girl (or just one of them if they’d have one that’d pay enough, or none if we’d somehow have what we need anyway) would have jobs while me and her will handle housework. As for what I’d like to do myself outside the relationship, some volunteer work for environmental projects, certainly, but just the “behind the scenes” things like planning and gathering information, stuff I can do from home and on my own schedule.
3. Would you like to get married? / Are you married?
– No way! I firmly believe that anyone who needs papers/ceremonies/rings/etc. feels that their commitment alone isn’t enough, which is a problem that no papers/ceremonies/rings/etc. can solve, as the divorce rates prove. Though… If we’d get back together, she’d want to stay there and it’d be the only way for me to gain citizenship, I guess I’ll have to consider it. Of course, she’d have to obtain hers first, and then divorce him, unless they’d legalize three-way marriages in the UK by then…
4. Would you like to have/adopt children?
– FUCK NO!!! Overpopulation is my main concern and it’s a worldwide problem, no country can say “oh, we don’t have an overpopulation problem, others do”. The world is extremely overpopulated and all countries are part of the world, period. Now if you had kids some ten years ago I’ll frown but say things weren’t so well known then and let it be, but I consider having kids these days as the worst crime possible and I’ll treat anyone committing it accordingly! This is the one thing that isn’t and never will be negotiable with me under any circumstances! Same goes for adoption, since knowing the possibility exists might make some more likely to have kids even if they don’t intend to raise them.
5. What is the one thing you’d like to do before you die?
– Make a difference, do something that’d make the world a better place for the future… But make sure the world doesn’t know it was me who did it, let them enjoy the effects and let me keep living my life as before.
6. What is one thing you’d like to learn before you die?
– How to make people truly love and care…
7. Have you ever given up on a major goal? If so, what?
– Can’t say that I have…
8. Have you accomplished any of your major life goals? If so, what?
– Well, being in a successful relationship is one of my major life goals, so for three years it was accomplished, but then it became unaccomplished, so… No, not anymore… And the others are too far fetched…
9. Are you where you were hoping to be five years ago?
– Certainly not…

IV. Fears:

1. What is the one thing you fear most?
– Being alone in a crowd… Not only in the literal sense…
2. Do you have any phobias? If so, what?
– Absolutely terrified of people. Gets even worse if we’re talking about doctors or anything having to do with school. Assume it’d be the same with a workplace, but was never the case. Luckily that doesn’t apply on-line, here I can be who I truly am, act the way I want to act, express what I’m feeling, say what I’m thinking, but if I’m to actually meet with anyone that I don’t already feel really close to I’ll paralyze at best, and usually turn on my heels and run, literally. Oh yah, also stray dogs, but that has lessened in the past few years.
3. Have you ever experienced deep down, bone-chilling fear? If so, when? What happened?
– Hmm, let’s see, I’m terrified of people, what do you think? As for what happened, depends. Freezing and just standing there mute, turning on my heels and running away, shouting and kicking and screaming at anyone and anything around, and anything in between…

V. Sexuality:

1. On a scale of 1 to 10, how interested in sex are you usually?
– Probably 8 or 9, in the right circumstances. There are more important things, but my jokes are usually sexual, it’s the topic I often fall back to when the conversation with a friend is stalling, but I can also talk extremely seriously about it (been moderator on a sex-ed forum for three years). Also quite interested in the sex lives of people I care about, and the more I care about you, the more details I want to know, and will also share mine freely with them. As for doing, with her I was (and am, but…) very interested of course, but the exact extent depends on how much I’ve been lacking it. If I wasn’t getting nearly enough, yeah, I wanted to just do it all the time. If the purely physical urge was reasonably satisfied over the past few days then I was more interested in just talking and cuddling, though if that developed into more it was the best, taking it really slowly and all. As for anyone else, well, I can occasionally fantasize, but I’d never do it without her being involved in some way or another.
2. What usually sparks your sexual interest in someone?
– Feeling really close to them. Yeah, sure, a good looking person can get me aroused for a moment, but it’ll be all out of my mind the next. For me sex is the ultimate connection between people and, actually… The way I determine whether I truly trust somebody (helps that I only get along with girls) is by asking myself if there’s any situation in which I’m certain I’d have sex with that person. I have answered “yes” to that question very few times so far, three certainly, possibly four but wasn’t exactly sure. Doesn’t have to happen, obviously, but if I would do it, it means I trust that person fully. So I guess that level of closeness and trust is what makes me really desire someone sexually. It’s not something that you just notice from the first moment, it takes weeks or, more likely, months, and very rarely happens at all even so…
3. How many people have you had sex with?
– One…
4. Do you regret any sexual encounters?
– No way!
5. How often do you initiate sex in general?
– Unless she was initiating it, which was rare, or she made it obvious she wasn’t at all interested that day, though I even ignored that sometimes, I was trying just about daily. If it had either been quite some time since the last time we did it, or I knew we won’t be able to do it again too soon (especially true early on, with the distance and all), and she appeared willing, then sometimes I’d initiate it twice in a day too. Of course, there were long periods when I kept failing in making much of anything happen… But if you mean how often is/was sex initiated by me out of all the times I’ve had sex, well, I just said she was initiating it rarely, so most of the time…
6. Do you prefer to sleep with men, women, or both?
– Just women, thank you very much! Of course, one can’t say “never”, just that it’d take some VERY exceptional circumstances to make me try anything with a guy! Especially since I neither drink alcohol nor do drugs… No issues with a threesome where the third person would be another guy though.
7. How willing would you say you are when it comes to the idea of having a threesome or group sex?
– Threesome, very. Foursome, in the sense of two couples doing it at the same time but also interacting with each other, perhaps even more so. (However, the three-on-one idea doesn’t have any appeal to me, either way it goes.) Five or six people could be ok, rarely, when a foursome invites one or two others to join them for a very special occasion. More than that, or other situations, no thanks. (Though, again, not saying “never”.) I’m strongly supporting polyamorous relationships, so go figure. Yeah, I think it should stay one-on-one most of the time even in such relationships because of the level of intimacy that brings, but having everyone involved about, say, a quarter of the time seems like a pretty nice idea to me.
8. When did you experience your first orgasm?
– I was five, believe it or not. Discovered that touching a certain area in a certain way felt nice, so I did it and kept doing it for about two years, until I lost interest. Regained interest when I was 12, but it wasn’t until I was 13 that I found out what it was I was doing. Until then I thought it was something I alone had discovered…
9. Do you masturbate? If so, how often?
– Well, I play, lately more than once per day, but the last time I had an orgasm through masturbation was in February 2006. It’s just… Not without her…
10. What is your favorite sexual position? Why?
– Woman on top, lying on top of me, sort of reverse missionary if you will. Well, not really for those who say missionary is with him holding his weight on his arms, being a bit away from her, not bodies pressed together. I’m talking about bodies pressed together, locked in an embrace. Why? Her on top because I like not to be the one controlling things (usually, though I have my moments) and the rest because of the intimacy full-body contact offers and because being able to kiss and look your partner in the eyes while doing it is crucial, in my book at least.
11. What are your feelings on pornography? Is it okay for your partner to look at pornography / read erotica?
– The vast majority of “professional” porn is gross crap, though there are a few exceptions. But there are some great amateur movies out there. It’s nice to watch regular people have sex playfully and absolutely wonderful to watch them actually making love, expressing their feelings by it. Erotica can be nice if written well, but I’d much rather watch. And of course it’s ok for my partner to watch/read such things! Why wouldn’t it be?
12. Has someone ever actually “rocked” your “world”?
– I think the difference in maximum potential intensity between the male and the female orgasm makes it so no guy can answer “yes” to that.
13. Do you have any fetishes?
– Not that I’m aware of…
14. Finally, what is your favorite fantasy?
– Oh boy… There are a few, the favorite one can change according to mood and recent events… Want me to write erotica now? I could, and I have, but…

VI. Secrets:

1. Are you good at keeping secrets, your own or someone else’s?
– I don’t keep secrets of my own. As for someone else’s, well… My general rule is that I can tell people that don’t personally know the person I’m talking about, but I can keep completely quiet if I’m specifically told not to tell anybody a certain thing, as long as we’re only talking about a couple of very specific things. However, I won’t hold back information that will help someone I’m close to if revealed, not even at the request of another person I’m close to.
2. Is there anything you wish you could tell someone but are afraid to do so?
– Well, just to tell her once again how I feel, what I wish and hope for and how I see it working… But it’d be pointless anyway, she knows all too well…
3. Who do you tell your secrets to?
– I don’t have secrets! Things that people might consider as private I just tell to anybody I have no reason to distrust, or even post them publicly. Got fucked over a few times, but that won’t change me.

VII. Desires:

1. Is there any material thing that you want desperately right now?
– Not including the necessities like decent food, water, reasonable shelter, etc., the only material thing I want is a kick-ass computer that I’d replace every three years or so. And yes, I desperately want that right now since this one’s five and a half years old, it’s crawling and has issues!
2. Is there anyone you want (and not just in a sexual sense) desperately right now? If so, who?
– Andra, of course. Why? Because I’m madly in love with her and always will be…
3. Food wise, what are you craving?
– Hm, I’m a bit hungry right now actually, but not craving anything specifically. I get food cravings extremely rarely and almost always ignore them even when that happens. Would never say no to a good pizza though. And found myself wanting some popcorn now and then for the past year or so, probably because I haven’t had any in about two years…
4. If you could make just one wish come true, what would you wish for?
– If it’s not already obvious from what I’ve written so far, being with Andra again. Actually, if I’m allowed a complex wish, having now what I said I hope I’ll have five years from now. Or, even better, what I wrote below as favorite non-sexual fantasy.
5. Sexually, what are you craving?
– Erm, sex? It’s been over two years, so the details matter less, as long as it’d be with her. Or as long as she’d be at least somehow involved, which could probably go all the way down to me doing it with a hypotethical other girl and filming it while they’re also filming themselves doing it and then swap movies. Not like any of it is possible, so it doesn’t matter… Do have ideas about how I’d like it to be in each case, but I’d be writing erotica again…
6. What’s your dream job?
– Something where I’d be using computers and the Internet while working for environmental projects. As I said before, the “behind the scenes” part, planning and gathering information. Has to be something I can do from home, without contact with others except on-line, and have no schedule, let me decide when to do each thing and certainly not require even a trace of my presence in the mornings, mornings are for sleep! Whoever said humans are diurnal animals anyway? Oh yah, and it should not be for money at all. If it’d also pay, ok, but the financial aspect must not matter at all.

VIII. Beliefs:

1. What is your religion? If you associate yourself with a specific religion, what are your beliefs when it comes to the creation of the world, etc.?
– Tough one… (Neo-)Pagan (a Wiccan “skeleton”, more specifically) with lots of other concepts, some from other religions, some scientific, some from theories dealing with the paranormal and some of my own. Changes can happen whenever I find something else that fits in well or something that explains things better than my current theories do. As for the creation of the world, I think science and evolution have explained that really well. The question that remains is how was the universe created in the first place.
2. What is your political stance? Why?
– Was actually thinking I’d need to coin a term for that, because as it is it’d be something along the lines of a “progressive green libertarian” ideology in a “meritocratic constitutional republic” as political system, with plenty of specifics. Basically the environment comes first, past that everybody’s free to do whatever they want as long as it doesn’t harm another, though there are a few specifics. Business should be tightly regulated, but due to environmental concerns, not social or economic issues.
3. What is your honest opinion of President Bush?
– A pompous, self-righteous moron… But he did have the guts to get rid of Saddam and of the Talibans in Afganistan, and seems likely to strike out at Iran now. Those are all legitimate targets in my book and somebody should have struck sooner, my problem with it is that he’s doing it for the wrong reasons and managing the situation all wrong after the initial strike.
4. What kinds of issues do you feel strongly about? What are they and why?
– Overpopulation, relationships and the environment are my top causes. Ok, overpopulation falls under environment, but I set it aside because of how strongly I feel about it. But I care a lot about a lot of major topics, politics, religion, human and animal rights, you name it.

IX. Favorites:

1. Food:
– Certain kinds of pizza I guess. But there are a few things I like for emotional reasons, if you will, things she liked to make, and I learned to make a couple of them too while there.
2. Color:
– Blue.
3. Person:
– If you’re asking about an idol, don’t have any. On a personal level, it should be quite obvious already.
4. Item of clothing:
– Huh? As long as it’s simple and comfortable and it keeps me warm when it’s cold or covers me from rain and sun when I go out (or just covers me because for some weird reason I won’t understand people don’t like nakedness), I don’t really care…
5. Beverage:
– Tea I guess…
6. Quote:
– Oh boy, have a lot… But I had “When you fall off a mountain you might as well try to fly, you’ve got nothing to lose…” as my signature for nine and a half years now, so I guess I could put that.
7. Location:
– Wooded mountain areas. Lots of nature, hopefully few people, hiking…
8. Non-sexual fantasy:
– Eh, take what I said I’d like five years from now, but say we’d be living in a small house with all amenities and a decent yard space at the edge of a mountain town. Forest and mountains all around, growing as much of our own stuff as possible, but also have the town nearby to be connected to anything and to be able to go and buy what we need when we need it.
9. Hobby:
– Doing stuff on-line I guess…
10. Day of the week:
– They’re all pretty much the same to me…
11. Book:
– Oh boy… I’ll say The Lord of the Rings because of what it did, basically created the genre of high-fantasy, but otherwise there are lots…
12. Band:
– Hmm… Like several, but there are only two that I actually care about, the rest I just listen to. Those two are Nightwish and Antichrisis. If I have to pick just one, despite how much I relate to Antichrisis’ lyrics, I think I’ll say Nightwish.
13. Cheese:
– Huh? Well, there are some kinds that I like more than others and others that I don’t like at all, but couldn’t be specific…