[Vilturj] Working with extinct animals
Dec. 19th, 2007 08:37 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
moonvoiceI work with Thylacoleo. I couldn't tell you exactly what species I work with, and nor could I tell you exactly what the Thylacoleo I work with would look like in real life. They've been extinct for a good 30,000 years after all.
Some people bemoan the fact that they work with, or are, or have a totem that is extinct. It's understandable really. You can't just go and literally observe the animal. You can't necessarily verify anything in your head as fact, unless there isn't some obscure (or less obscure) scientific paper speculating about it first. And mostly it throws up the whole issue of trusting yourself.
It's healthy to have a skepticism bone, and to exercise it. But sometimes we use it to trap ourselves from finding new knowledge. After all, we can't 'prove' our UPG experiences in the Otherworlds, but what we can prove is the growth and transformation that can potentially occur because of them, if we choose to believe. Love is not something you can lay down on paper. If scientists knew exactly what chemicals caused love and why, they'd generate it for the terminally lonely. But we choose to believe in love firstly because of a commonality of experience (other people experience and believe in it, which gives us 'permission' to do the same), and secondly because we can actually experience it ourselves and it can lead to growth and transformation (and of course pain, bitterness and cynicism depending on where you want to take it).
Call me a fool - I don't mind - but UPG and journeying is the same to me. There is firstly a commonality of experience, shamanists worldwide share surprisingly similarities of experience and purpose, in amongst their differences. And secondly there is my own experience of it, that has lead to growth and transformation.
For this reason I choose to believe in the way Thylacoleo has shown himself to me. I choose to believe that when I invited Thylacoleo into my body to experience his animal energy, my experiences were valid. I do certainly believe that those experiences were heavily biased, because I am a human, because my human brain likes to rush to make assumptions, and because we always like to have ways to explain things to ourselves. I also had my skeptical bone, so I dissected the experience too, chose to research Thylacoleo further, and also to look at where my assumptions might be letting me down and preventing me from further wisdom.
The one thing I did not do, was bemoan the fact that Thylacoleo was extinct in the first place. I've seen it happen, online and in person, where people complain how they can never truly 'know' if their totem / animal-ness / guide / spirit helper is that species, or if they're seeing it right or correctly.
I think: Why does it matter?
At some point, there are gaps in scientific research that cannot give you the answers you need. And even people who work with 'real' animals that they can observe are let down by the research. At some point, you simply have to accept that you cannot know, and either choose to let go of the whole situation because your skepticism prevents acceptance of the unknown; or choose to take the situation into your hands anyway and see what positive forms of growth you can get out of it.
I choose to believe in many things I cannot see or prove beyond my experience, because one of the things that is a priority in my life is not scientific 'fact' (which I respect, though I am not scientist and I'll be the first to admit it), but personal growth and transformation. Which means that if there is no science available to help me out, no list of species, illustrations and even skeletons to choose from with Thylacoleo to have some point of focus, I will have to do the hard work and find a point of focus within myself.
Choosing to trust in my own UPG experiences has, and continues to be rewarding. Yes, I have let myself down. I have had the odd experience which is almost completely informed by the ego and not designed to be rewarding to the spirit at all! Hasn't everyone? Heh. But the wealth of my experiences shows me that this path I'm on is a healthy one.
Thylacoleo, my perevrnji, my spirit helper, shows himself to me however he wants. It may not be factually accurate, but it doesn't stop him from teaching me strength, courage and perseverance.
I choose to believe.
x-posted to my fancy new 'spirituality only' wordpress blog. And probably to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
the_animist too.
Some people bemoan the fact that they work with, or are, or have a totem that is extinct. It's understandable really. You can't just go and literally observe the animal. You can't necessarily verify anything in your head as fact, unless there isn't some obscure (or less obscure) scientific paper speculating about it first. And mostly it throws up the whole issue of trusting yourself.
It's healthy to have a skepticism bone, and to exercise it. But sometimes we use it to trap ourselves from finding new knowledge. After all, we can't 'prove' our UPG experiences in the Otherworlds, but what we can prove is the growth and transformation that can potentially occur because of them, if we choose to believe. Love is not something you can lay down on paper. If scientists knew exactly what chemicals caused love and why, they'd generate it for the terminally lonely. But we choose to believe in love firstly because of a commonality of experience (other people experience and believe in it, which gives us 'permission' to do the same), and secondly because we can actually experience it ourselves and it can lead to growth and transformation (and of course pain, bitterness and cynicism depending on where you want to take it).
Call me a fool - I don't mind - but UPG and journeying is the same to me. There is firstly a commonality of experience, shamanists worldwide share surprisingly similarities of experience and purpose, in amongst their differences. And secondly there is my own experience of it, that has lead to growth and transformation.
For this reason I choose to believe in the way Thylacoleo has shown himself to me. I choose to believe that when I invited Thylacoleo into my body to experience his animal energy, my experiences were valid. I do certainly believe that those experiences were heavily biased, because I am a human, because my human brain likes to rush to make assumptions, and because we always like to have ways to explain things to ourselves. I also had my skeptical bone, so I dissected the experience too, chose to research Thylacoleo further, and also to look at where my assumptions might be letting me down and preventing me from further wisdom.
The one thing I did not do, was bemoan the fact that Thylacoleo was extinct in the first place. I've seen it happen, online and in person, where people complain how they can never truly 'know' if their totem / animal-ness / guide / spirit helper is that species, or if they're seeing it right or correctly.
I think: Why does it matter?
At some point, there are gaps in scientific research that cannot give you the answers you need. And even people who work with 'real' animals that they can observe are let down by the research. At some point, you simply have to accept that you cannot know, and either choose to let go of the whole situation because your skepticism prevents acceptance of the unknown; or choose to take the situation into your hands anyway and see what positive forms of growth you can get out of it.
I choose to believe in many things I cannot see or prove beyond my experience, because one of the things that is a priority in my life is not scientific 'fact' (which I respect, though I am not scientist and I'll be the first to admit it), but personal growth and transformation. Which means that if there is no science available to help me out, no list of species, illustrations and even skeletons to choose from with Thylacoleo to have some point of focus, I will have to do the hard work and find a point of focus within myself.
Choosing to trust in my own UPG experiences has, and continues to be rewarding. Yes, I have let myself down. I have had the odd experience which is almost completely informed by the ego and not designed to be rewarding to the spirit at all! Hasn't everyone? Heh. But the wealth of my experiences shows me that this path I'm on is a healthy one.
Thylacoleo, my perevrnji, my spirit helper, shows himself to me however he wants. It may not be factually accurate, but it doesn't stop him from teaching me strength, courage and perseverance.
I choose to believe.
x-posted to my fancy new 'spirituality only' wordpress blog. And probably to
the_animist too.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2007-12-19 02:19 am (UTC)And I do feel a little connection with those old bones that I work so carefully over. I wonder about her (I've decided she's female) and her life, and wince every time the scribe nicks a little spot on her huge neckbone and I touch her stony arches with respect and reverence.
I don't know how many have such a strong connection to the ancient past, but I think it's interesting that you feel such a connection to Thylacoleo.
no subject
Date: 2007-12-19 04:49 am (UTC)I have never worked with bones that much myself (i.e. finding fossils and such) but it must be such a profound feeling sometimes, I imagine, to work with something so intimately, come to know it and discover it, in many cases before anyone else.
That would be quite something.