Arcadian Philosophy in a Nutshell...

[Pateticus]

I've been reluctant to share my religious beliefs with anyone since I know it's always been one of those things that one has to be careful about. I also know from my research, that my particular beliefs have been viewed with much disdain. So I feel the need to be careful.

But I must also consider that this is a belief system that I would like to make available to others, that in fact, it may help others to know what I've been learning, so I must share what I know.

So now I must find a happy medium between giving you the information that you might want to know, without shaking up or irritating anyone else.

Happy Medium is a good word, you'll hear that a lot from me. Aristotle called it "Mediocritas", and often used it as a metaphor for true happiness. The belief is, that in order to be truly happy and fulfilled, one must have equal parts of all--including everything we as individuals or as a society might view as 'bad'.

In fact, at the center of my belief system, is that there is no such thing as good or bad, right or wrong, since all things have benefits and faults. And it is acknowledging the darkness in the light, the light in the darkness, that leads to the state of mind that gets us through life.

Arcadia was (is) a realm of Greek Mythology. Most people are already familiar with the Olympians--all the big and important gods that the Greeks made sure everyone knew about. For these were beliefs they were proud of: beauty, strength, light. (Aphrodite, Zeus, Apollo, Ares...)

Arcadia, however, was where the Greeks put all of the gods they were ashamed of. Sort of like your Island of Misfit Toys--in the mythological sense. It is where we find such gods as Pan, Dionysus, Hermes, Hephaestus, Eris, Priapus and Ganymede. And where we find the inspirations for philosophers and poets such as Peisistratus, Catallus, Aristotle and Hippias.

The big 'sin' of the Arcadians--the reason the Arcadians were viewed with such disdain--was because the gods of Arcadia lived among their people. Rather than use their immortality to live among the stars with the Olympians, the Arcadian gods remained immortal and chose to enjoy the pleasures of mortals.

Mithraism is the belief that 'god' was actually a social title and not a religious one and that all myth is metaphor for real-life events. It takes anthropromorphism, which is mortals becoming superior beings, and makes it into a process of social acceptance and tribal rank. When this is figured this into Arcadian Lore, things start to make even more sense.

At the top of the Arcadian Family Tree, we have Dionysus--god of theatre and wine. Who was always accompanied by a small army of priests and ministers (Satyrs and Maeneds) who would bring music and joy everywhere they went. These people were described as being unpredictable, creative and wholely spontaneous. As well as feared for their corruptive influence on society, since the entourage would often swarm into small cities and towns and seduce people into a life on the road with their rebelious, anti-societal lifestyle.

Arcadians would show up later on in future myth and folklore as half-humans, shape-shifters, pied-pipers, lotus eaters and djinn.

These people continued to live a tribal lifestyle long after the Greeks had learned to settle down and make cities. For this reason, they were also seen as primitive and simple. During the day, they would minister to others by sharing their music and wine and stories. And at night, they would throw huge parties that would last all night long. In fact, it's said that Satyrs didn't believe in sleep.

Peisistratus, who went down in history as a tyrant for his attempts to establish Dionysianism as a religion, would host festivals that would last for months. He was dethroned 3 times before he succeeded a fourth time, ruling until his death in 528 BC. And this was the last anyone heard of a Dionysian holding a seat of power.

Aristotle's use of Universals implies that all things, good and bad, must be present in the world in order to maintain a state of balance. And that it is, in fact, society's suppression of certain bad habits that leads to a state of disjunction and to further conflict.

While Zeus and the Olympians and those that followed them did their best to maintain civilization and society and law...Dionysus and the Arcadians saw this as dangerously clinging to a singular view of reality. Where law and order can take you only in one direction, chaos and anarchy can take you anywhere, in all directions at once. And their philosophy, at heart, was to keep all the disagreeable things alive as a reminder that, as humans with animal drives, we must sometimes express the darker parts of ourselves in order to stay sane.

For this reason, they would minister during the day and celebrate at night.

Aristotle took this to heart when he put a Dionysian Cult in control of his school, the Lyceum. And reviving his Lyceum has always been my life's dream. For this reason, I have set up my ministry with the same dual nature. Education, Creativity and Comfort of the general public during the day...and Celebration at night.

I can truly say that the closer I get to realizing my dream, the happier I am. And that even though it sometimes brings conflict into my life, I always find myself stronger and healthier as a result of facing that conflict head on.

I think that's enough to give you an idea of how I think and what I've been trying to do. For more information, feel free to write me privately or to post a reply.

I hope no one found this offensive or too controversial.

Take care.

Pateticus
_________________
Here's to burning one down with god.
Don't forget to look behind you every once in awhile
and always exhale with a grin.


http://members.cox.net/pateticus/

[Echo]

Thank you for your contribution Pateticus.
Going back in time when I was a humanist student I remember having great simpathy for Arcadia. It has inspired many poets and a school of thought in Italy (my country of origin) through the centuries.

How can it ever make me blush.
Work hard by day, enjoy the pleasures at night.

Keep on writing about it. Thank you.
_________________

[HvyFuel]

Very interesting, thanks. The first question that springs to mind though, if during the day they play music, share stories and wine and at night everyone's partying, who makes the wine? Bacchus used to be my favourite but I don't indulge anymore. Was there a god of cannabis in Arcadia?

Please do keep writing, it's a good read.

peace
_________________
http://www.cannabisassembly.org

[Urbanhog]

[Urbanhog]

[Pateticus]

Thank you, everyone, for your kind responses.

The replies I saw asked me to clarify a few things, so I thought I'd put my findings/assumptions in one post to make everything easier...if it's better for me to make a whole new thread, please let me know.

Anthropromorphism is the phenomenon found in most mythologies (not just Greek) in which a human becomes a god. Anthro meaning 'man', pro meaning 'to advance' and 'morphism' meaning 'to change'. ie, it is the growing or advancing from a human to something seen as more superior.

Now...if you consider the traditional (not Mithraic) definition of god as someone who is a superior being sitting up above the clouds, pulling strings on all the mortals and controlling everything within their individual scope (beauty, war, conflict, light, knowledge, etc. etc. etc.) this means that these beings, physically and socially, had somehow achieved a state of 'immortality', living forever and having special, magical powers.

Which, no matter how you look at it, is unrealistic...for if these people existed now, would we not be more aware of them? Especially if they're the malicious, controlling types of people that the Greeks made them out to be?

Mithraism suggests what I feel to be a more viable alternative, and when you take the evidence from the myths a little more literally, one can also see how it fits.

To become the god of the lyre, Apollo had only to steal the idea of coiling sinew around a tortoise shell. To become the god of fire, Zeus had only to learn to make and control fire.

Mithraism suggests, as most anthropromorphised figures in mythology and folklore, that 'god-hood' is a matter of invention--doing something new.

Applying the same logic, Edison would be a god of electricity, Einstein would be a god of atom-splitting and Tim Berners-Lee would be a god of the internet.

One must remember that these were simple people, with simple minds, speaking in figurative terms. And that for much of our existence, many of us didn't even have the technology or the know-how to read and write.

If you knew something that no one else knew, the only way to pass it on to others was to get people to live with you. The only way to learn what you wanted to learn, was to find this 'god' and somehow become a follower so that you could learn it.

This is what made the power of a god--you controlled who knew what you knew. You had absolute power and control over the people you lived with and the knowledge you had. You might have even had the power and authority to end a life or to expel someone from the tribe.

To the simple beings that were writing the myths...this kind of political power over a tribe could be perceived as god-like.

We must remember, too, that the greeks associated invention and history with immortality. That you gained immortality by having your story known to other people and throughout time. That these people had done 'something' to make themselves known to the whole world throughout time--they did something no one had seen before and therefore were immortal in the eyes of time, the universe and history as they had perceived it.

In this regard, immortality and 'god-hood', was actually very easy, something that you or I or anyone else could do.

If you consider, now, that Dionysus was the 'god' of wine--the inventor of wine. He had mastered the process of making it and was passing it on to others in his tribe. He decided who knew it and who didn't, and in order to learn it you had to live with him.

If we consider the harshness of tribal life...a bunch of people with their own individual talents, surviving across multiple environments and against the elements. We would have those that were adept at making wine, those that would be adept at selling it, and perhaps even those that wanted to do nothing but drink it.

When did they have time to make wine? Probably just like you and I would do if we were living in a tribe...we'd take the ones that were best at it and make it their 'job'.

By learning how to make wine and passing their knowledge onto others, they were justifying their worth to the tribe. They had found their place, as it were. Just like any marketable skill within a tribe of beings. You would have your place, your skill, and as chieftain or 'god' of the tribe, you would have the power to delegate who used it, who knew it and how it was passed on.

Cannibis exists in nature, and we know that nature has existed long before mankind. If the Greeks didn't know about it, I'm almost positive that some other culture might have. So if the Greeks *had* a god of Cannibis use, he would more than likely be among the Arcadians. But we know for a fact that tribes out of South America and Polynesia have smoked Cannibis for generations.

It may take us away from Arcadian Myth to find these gods or beings which applied the use of Cannibis as a sacrament, but the same logic applies: That if you knew about cannibis, you knew how to use it and had the power to pass it onto others.

All we would really have to do, then, is find some kind of mythological or folklore that suggested the growing and smoking of cannibis. The first tribal member to smoke and use it would, according to Mithraic logic, be the 'god' of cannibis.

My opinion is that if there was a 'god' that used cannibis, it would more than likely have been Hermes--the psychopomp. Who would travel from village to village (god of travel) spreading immortality (knowledge, god of communication) by sharing his tales and stories with everyone, and giving people pleasent dreams and nightmares (hallucinations)--sometimes even leaving death, disease and addiction in his wake (power over life and death).

But that's all supposition, mind you...without actually going back in time there's no way to really know any of this for sure.

How's that?
_________________
Here's to burning one down with god.
Don't forget to look behind you every once in awhile
and always exhale with a grin.


http://members.cox.net/pateticus/

[Echo]

I would love to move to Arcadia, the place where all is possible and if you manage an art can be a god. I myself would be the goddes of planning, my man the god of chaos . We woud be happy together in Arcadia, in touch with nature and guided by our natural instincts.

By the way, the god of life NOBEL laureate Francis Crick died last Thursday (July 29th 2004). He discovered the codes of DNA in 1953. His findings years later brought other gods to decode the human genome.

Would I qualify to live in Arcadia, or does it require leangthy burocratic procedures?

How would Greek mythology explain the death of a god? Or was it a taboo?
_________________

[Pateticus]

The Arcadians seemed to pride themselves on collecting all the people and gods that were unwanted by the rest of the world...

I think the only requirement for Arcadians was that the rest of the world, for one reason or another, found them in disfavor.

I think it's what Dionysus meant by society clinging dangerously to a singular view of reality---they were so busy weeding out all the 'undesirables' that they didn't realize how pious and judgemental they were becoming...hence the problems we've got now.

(BTW, they comment on this phenomenon in the bible as well in the book of John and the book of Genesis)

"Behold, thou shalt bear a son and thou shalt call him Ishmael, because the lord hath heard thy affliction. He will be a wild man, an devery man's hand will be against him. And he shall dwell in the presence of his brethren." GEN 16:11-13

"Ishmael, I have heard thee. Behold, I have blessed him and will multiply him exceedingly. 12 princes will he beget and I will make him a great nation." GEN 17:20

"The world will not accept the paraclete (the bringers of comfort) because it neither sees him or accepts him." John 14:15-17

St. Francis talked a lot about this as well. "Do not talk ill of those above us, for we are here to shame them into excellence."

Which is why I took the ordination of Friar.


_________________
Here's to burning one down with god.
Don't forget to look behind you every once in awhile
and always exhale with a grin.


http://members.cox.net/pateticus/

[Pateticus]

As to the death of a god...


If I'm correct in my suppositions...the mythology was written upon their death, hence, ensuring their immortality.

The myths left behind are their epitaphs. It was therefore considered honorable to be spoken of after passing on.

ie, always speak well of the dead



Pateticus
_________________
Here's to burning one down with god.
Don't forget to look behind you every once in awhile
and always exhale with a grin.


http://members.cox.net/pateticus/

[The GCW]

It sounds like:


Anthropromorphism in relevant terms may be experienced in the progression,

*Praying through Jesus Christ.

*Praying with Jesus Christ.

*Praying as a Jesus Christ.

We can do the works of Jesus Christ and more, as the Bible says.

Anthropromorphism will be the progression that makes it happen.

Full circle progression. The Spirit of Truth requires Jesus Christ, which requires You.

And Me.

See also: Anthropomorphism?

The Green Collar Worker

[Urbanhog]

Whoa!!!

Thanks heaps for your reply and sharing your views with us!

In your first post, you said at the end of your first post here:

[Urbanhog]

Whoa!!!

Thanks heaps for your reply and sharing your views with us!

In your first post, you said at the end of your first post here:

[sibannac]

Thank you i enjoyed that thread to the max.
_________________
http://www.cannabis-assembly.co.uk

[Pateticus]

As of writing this, I have finished my first 'official' day as THC-Minister. I've picked out a quiet place in a nearby park and have been handing out coffee, bagels and oatmeal for donations every morning at sunrise. I've been doing my best to self-promote, and am hoping to attract some street-artists and drummers.

In September, I hope to start a sunset service as well.

Even though it was a quiet morning for my first day out on the Landing, I had a great time enjoying the sunrise and hope to enjoy many more in the future.

Maybe some of you will find your way out there to join me some day.

"May I ask what is your "dream" ? and Why does it bring conflicts in your life?"

I find, most of the time, that the way that I think and the way I like to do things conflicts with people like bosses, police and other authority figures. (such as, 'just doing' something before seeking permission).

Also, the beliefs themselves are deeply rooted in anarchist and anti-societal behavior.

My dream is to revive Aristotle's Lyceum...and Aristotle's Lyceum ended when he was because of sexual involvement with his students. The lesson plan and the way of life that I describe has been associated with wrongness for the last 2000 years.

Maybe I am making a big thing out of nothing...or maybe I finally found a solution to some problems by going back to something that was always thought of as wrong.

Like it or not, everything I'm doing now represents a usurping of the dominant paradigm. It's also a form of escape.

I have to be weary, now, of my motivations for doing things--especially my services to the community. Because I bring those motivations with me when I act on behalf of others and on behalf of god(s).

I have to make sure my motives are pure.

"I liked your opinion but pardon my ingorance what is "the psychopomp" ??"

A psychopomp is a variation on a shaman. Where a shaman was a spiritual leader who stayed with the tribe and passed on the knowledge and of the tribe that existed for generations.

A psychopomp is a traveller. A shaman who travels from the tribe and brings back the wisdom and knowledge from other parts of the world.

If you look at the top of the Arcadian Trinity, you have Hermes, Dionysus and Pan. Equal to Pan in rank, but not always at his side, was Eris--the Goddess of Discord.

Dionysus was the Chieftain. He controlled where the entourage went and what it did. He was responsible for making sure the tribe was always supplied with food and a place to sleep.

Hermes was the Psychopomp. He travelled from the entourage to the rest of the world, bringing back knowledge of other ways of life and, therefore, other pleasures to the tribe. As well as future places to go and information from other parts of the world.

Pan was the Shaman. He was the offspring of Hermes, raised by Dionysus. He was responsible, specifically, for the leadership of the Satyrs both in and out of the tribe. If Dionysus were the pope, Pan would've been a bishop.

Pan was responsible for the rearing of all the male children after the age of 6, the Satyrs. They both operated as a combination between psychopomp/chieftain and shaman. Giving the youngsters leadership, guidence and periodic independence from the entourage.

I have a theory that Eris--the Goddess of Discord--was either a deviant member (if there was such a thing) of the Entourage or a secret one. Since the children of the entourage had to be raised by someone, and with the reputation that Eris had for causing discord everywhere she went through her children (which is likely, given the lifestyle of the entourage). This would imply that Eris operated as a combination of psychopomp and teacher--taking the children with her everywhere she went outside of the entourage for purposes of education and care. And at a suitable time, were introduced back to the entourage in the best manner that would suit them.

Anther half-human that's common to Arcadian belief is Chiron, the Centaur. Who was responsible for things like horsemanship and battle.

But there's not enough information available to me on either of these deities to be sure.

I can be sure, though, that Dionysus, Pan and Hermes were 'in control' of the Entourage since it was still a patriarchal society at the time...but even 'control' is too strict a word to describe their method of leadership. They believed in establishing an environment of least restriction rather than one with rules and policies. Another reason why discerning the ranks within the Entourage is so difficult. Not a lot was documented--they were avid party throwers and anti-societals. I'm sure most of their history was passed on verbally, if not strictly kept within the Entourage. Most of what I've found is in footnotes by second-hand observers and by 'reading between the lines' of other mythologies and folklores.

It was a way of life centered on 'at the very least, we need you to do this' instead of 'do this, don't do this'. No one was really obligated to anything beyond the bare minimum of exactly what they were capable of.

The role of the Shaman, the Psychopomp and the Chieftain was the placement of each individual member of the entourage. Were you better at gardening, hunting, shelter building, protecting, music, art, brewing...? It was their job to know and make sure you found the guidence you needed.

Because if you weren't working for the best of the entourage, you were a liability. Of prime concern to Dionysus was his ability to move his entourage from place to place and survive when they got there.

The only way to keep money, food and supplies coming into the entourage, and to keep the entourage free to move and mobile, was to maintain good relations with surrounding communities by keeping them entertained and distracted (perhaps, even addicted). Good behavior during the day kept everyone out of trouble, knowing that they'd have the night to do pretty much anything they wanted. Which is also why I think this kind of a model is best for children with attitude problems.

Every member of the entourage had a minimum common goal--to share, entertain and educate. Nothing else really seemed to matter.

Pateticus
_________________
Here's to burning one down with god.
Don't forget to look behind you every once in awhile
and always exhale with a grin.


http://members.cox.net/pateticus/