Stalker

I don't spend much time watching movies at home, I find I'd rather spend that time reading or working on a project, so I use my cardio time at the gym to watch things. Today it's Tarkovsky's "Stalker" which is right up my alley (but definitely not for everyone). This has been on my to-watch list for quite some time now, but a recent Gornahoor blog post compelled me to bump it up the list.

Currently reading

 

Lunchtime, the beginning of a new book, and my favorite warm beverage of late: Ayurvedic spiced milk with Ashwagandha root, velvet bean seed, Shatavari root, Burdock root, cinnamon bark, cardamom seed, and Haritaki with a touch of maple sugar- very nourishing and grounding, especially for anyone with an imbalance in Vata.

Thoughts on hierarchy and hunting

Most people will admit that hierarchy exists. 

In our world today, it's become a dirty word- hierarchy = bad, oppressive, with a proposed solution, or better way, being egalitarianism (a very modern notion, which can only be truly realized if we bring everything down to the lowest common denominator).

But many have not gone so far as to consider that hierarchy is not just a human thing, but characteristic of the cosmos Itself, as natural law, or in Sanskrit what would be called dharma. According to the teachings of antiquity (held by isolated cultures across the globe, not just some 'imperial' group), far from being evil, hierarchy is actually right behavior. In hierarchy, we can find order, and even the detachment from desire that allows for liberation. 

The caste system is a more modern degeneration of the varna system of old. It's important to understand the difference between the two: in a caste system, your physical birth and the the family you're born into are the basis for your judgment and place in society, so if you're born into a farming family, a farmer you shall remain. Often in a caste system, people at the lower levels are barely granted any sort of human rights. But in a varna system, an individual is placed moreso based on their individual nature. To understand this better, it's helpful to understand the three gunas of the Vedas: Tamas, Rajas, and Sattva. (Gunas can translate as qualities or attributes of a person especially to describe more subtle aspects of them, so speaking more of their beingness or spirit than the color of their hair or how loud they talk, though there is a relationship here, but that would be a digression). So the three gunas are:

Tamas - the qualities of laziness, ignorance, lethargy, heaviness; associated color would be black

Rajas - qualities of passion, ambition, active intellect, busy; associated color would be red

Sattva - qualities of clarity, serenity, wisdom, balance, lightness, associated color would be white

Each person contains all of the gunas, but in different proportions- some of us are almost entirely weighed down by tamas while others are primarily sattvic. 

The varna system divided individuals based on these qualities of their unique individual nature: Brahmins (deep thought, wisdom; priests, teachers, philosophers), Ksatriyas (courage with intellect; warriors), Vaishyas (intelligent but more focused on basic/simple needs of life; farmers, merchants), and Sudras (ignorant, driven by sense organs, undisciplined; no specific talents so acted as laborers and aids to other classes). 

So, in a nutshell, the main difference between caste and varna is that you are born into your caste and have very little wiggle room if any, while your varna is dictated by the qualities of who you are. Within the varna system, these classes weren't necessarily viewed as higher or lower, but as each having a part to play for the order of society. 

Hierarchy must not imply oppression as the contemporary narrative would have us believe.

___________

This all applies to something I've been thinking on lately after making the decision to hunt. 

There is a common notion today, especially in the super-grocery-West, that hunting is bad.

But most people are okay with killing some living thing, right? Be it a snake, a spider, a wasp, a possum... yet those same people will be against deer hunting, turkey hunting, etc. And those same people will argue that hierarchy does not exist, that all should be [somehow] equal. Yet their very actions and tendencies prove otherwise and only serve to highlight that an innate hierarchy very much does exist, naturally. 

This should be considered when proclaiming it is immoral to hunt. And that's not to mention the death that is caused from mass-scale so-called 'vegetarian' food production, so to ever think you are somehow living without anything dying for you to live, should really be allowed more thought before forming an opinion or speaking on the matter.

Hierarchy is imposed on us by natural law, not just locally here on Earth, but cosmologically. Fulfilling our human predator/prey role is not only not 'bad', but unavoidable. Our need to eat must be met, and because if you are reading this you are human, and not a blade of grass, you have specific requirements for this particular incarnation. 

That said- frequent consumption of animal meat is not ideal due to its Tamasic nature. The degree to which a person requires it has to do with their individual constitution and karmic load. 

I think its best not to judge what another person eats, but whether or not they go about obtaining it in a principled way (assuming you feel the need to judge these things at all). Of course, that requires first sorting out ones principles... which means turning the focus back toward yourself.

A new hat

My first foray into cabling. This Calder Beanie is a pattern by ROWAN, using their pure wool superwash worsted. Heaps of thanks to Fruity Knitting for the clear instruction.

Who should 'fix' the West? Men or women?

In response to the right's narrative that women have caused the demise of modern society and therefore it's up to them to fix it:

I'll begin by saying I understand the frustration men have with modern women- their lack of commitment, their promiscuity, their choosing of degenerate partners, and so forth. 

But lessons of antiquity can offer us a helpful perspective if we really want to shine light on the origin of these problems.

Men are the solar principle, women the lunar; we reflect the light of men (and therefore the lack of light).  As a visual: the stone pillar of the bridge (Shiva) must be stable enough to handle the thrashing water (Shakti).

I would argue that in these times, while it's true that women hardly ever bring a real feminine principle to relationships, neither are men possessing a true masculine spirit. When men do, women will reflect that light. 

In the Vedic literature it is mentioned that a sign of degeneration was when women began to breed with men of lower caste (sidenote: I prefer the varna perspective, which I understand to be like caste but earned, rather than merely born into as the modern caste system operates). But we have to ask: how had the solar principle degenerated to lead to this?

Either way, I do not expect any large-scale changes in men or in women in modern times, especially in the West. Because of this, as a female, I choose to develop the solar principle within myself as much as possible, while making sure to also nourish and keep it balanced with the lunar principle inherent to my nature. It is similar to the idea of self-initiation in a time when truly holy and divine gurus and spiritual teachers cannot be found. So, we take on more of the work ourselves, as individuals. Does this have an inherent disability? Yes. But it's the Kali Yuga and we adapt and do what we must. There are forces at play, and those of us who are qualified to identify, absorb, and transform them should do so.