Maebius Musings

It is sometimes a mistake to climb, it is always a mistake never even to make the attempt.
-Dream, in SANDMAN: “Fear of Falling”

A poet once penned a rather famous line about seeing the world in a grain of sand. Well, mountains are piles and piles of sand and rock..so it begs the question of how much more awe-inspiring, yet less subtle is a mountain? What part of human psyche attaches such reverence to things bigger than normal existence?

Granted, things bigger than we humans are inherently ‘different’ and perhaps more powerful as a natural result of their size. And it is a fact of human nature, that power and status are important to almost every culture around the world, whether that power is from financial stability, mystic wisdom, or who gets to hold the cola bottle found along the path.

But what I find extremely interesting is that both the big and the small, all serve as metaphors to something ‘else’ in certain contexts. Not only are the seas, mountains, the heavens, and such hugeness used to draw our minds eye ‘elsewhere’, but the same has been done with the minutiae in the world.

And perhaps that’s a key to some esoteric and mystic Truth. That this concept of “elsewhere” does exist, both above and below our every day experience, if you only look beyond or more closely than your average everyday eyes perceive most of the time.

Mr Neil Gaiman put this quite well in a recent blog post on 05/18 (See link to his journal in my blogroll to the right of this page). So I will not repeat such things here.

But it seems this current of thought has become more pronounced lately in society….or at least, I am more aware of such connotations floating around other places. Perhaps it is reactionary to a sort of spiritual lethargy in the modern culture. Perhaps it is an increasing awareness of our role in ecological stewardship, and an off-shoot of the “green” initiatives appearing everywhere. (Which I may comment on “Super-Greening” in a future blog post)

Regardless, lately, there have been a number of major Hollywood films that have been/are being made which touch at least somehow on alternate worlds. Most visibly, I think the almost overwhelming glut of Comicbook movies. Spiderman, Hulk, Fantastic 4, X-men, the list goes on. While movies at their heart are somewhat escapist, and all but the true documentaries try to take us outside mundane life into an artful world, these types appear to show a world where normal life is also interspersed with “extra-ordinary-ness”. Where things happen that are bigger than ourselves.

Additionally, the whole genre of Fantasy/Sci-Fi seems to have exploded into the over-corporate market lately. Lord of the Rings, Eragon, Stardust, Golden Compass, Dark is Rising…to name a few recent and soon-to-be-released movies in this style.

And the fact that these types of movies are being budgeted hundreds of millions of dollars, and raking in exceedingly larger profit-margins, shows something of our need…or want…to be taken “elsewhere”.

I’m not sure of the cause, but I agree with the results. The virus is spreading.

And for those looking for the goldan Compass, Here is the trailer:
http://www.goldencompassmovie.com/

And here’s my Daemon: http://www.goldencompassmovie.com/?111052

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I understand on some level the idea that Trash is an unavoidable part of life in today’s world. Regardless of how crunchy/hippy/green we are, there are going to be times when things simply must be disposed of.

However, during the last few months I’ve been trying to figure out ways to minimize our own trash footprint. And consider the ramifications of what the society-at-large is doing in it’s consumerized excess. There are hundreds of topics that can be discussed here. Thousands of alternative uses, processing, and procedural shifts that might impact local production and disposal flows. But that’s not what this musing is about. Continue Reading »

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As the summer draws near, and vacation plans must be ..well.. planned, I am struggling with two frames of mind.

On the one hand, we would love to go to various events that would be lots of fun and spiritually rewarding. Things like the S.H.A.R.E. fest this weekend. Things like Starwood. And things like all manner of similar festivals and gatherings of the pagan and otherwise open-minded variety.

On the other hand, weekends are the perfect time to get things done around the house and work on much more practical and results-driven enterprises. Things like renting a BobCat and clearing out the over two years built-up poop in the barn. Things like finally getting the rest of the railroad ties and building a new (and much nicer) retaining wall where the old stone one is dangerously crumbling.

However, both types of activity are valid, in their own way. Continue Reading »

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Lately, we have been working outside to get the garden all tilled up, planted, and the usual springtime stuff. Unfortunately, the weather lately has either been a comfortable warmness, or more recently, a BLAZING INFERNO of heat. I mean, it is early May, and the temperature the last two days was hovering around 85 F.

Too hot indeed.

Nothing much else esoteric going on to muse about. Time musing is spent lately on World of Warcraft in the evenings, and another round of hectic projects at work.

I promise more musings in the near future.

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In the spirit if my good friend Nettle’s Blog, who posts her monthly goals and then does a followup at the end to describe the actual results of the practice…Here goes my new monthly posting.

Goals for May:

Earth Path: At least once each week spend fifteen minutes or more in direct contact with the natural world. Read at least one books on the natural history of the area. Make one change in your lifestyle in order to take less from the Earth and give more back. Plant at least one tree.

Plan on (and have been) spending part of my lunch at work just sitting outside behind the office and semi-meditating. Not on anything in particular, just sitting with my eyes closed/open and watching the world go by. Nice brain-drain to reset after the morning rush. Continue Reading »

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Maebius here, just posting a random post to say “Happy MayDay” / Blessed Bealtine / Joyous Spring-time, and whatever else you happen to celebrate this time of year.

What? You don’t celebrate anything around this time, except Mothers Day? Well, here’s your excuse to party! Happy Spring. Go smell some flowers, get outside and enjoy the warming weather, and have fun! Winter’s gone in the northern hemisphere!

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