The Power of Failure

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 20:26:39 GMT

Posted by: child_of_the_fae

(x posted to my journal and otherkin community)

In my work towards self discovery and understanding few things have been as rewarding as failing. I imagine that this could be considered a controversial topic, but it is something I've found very rarely discussed and to at least myself to be exceptionally important.

When I first started awakening I explored a large number of different communities, tried on different roles/ideas. Other times I would explore a brand new concept of how to work with energy, or try to mix and match various ideas to see which stuck to the wall. This was an overwhelmingly chaotic time in my life as a result that spanned nearly a decade.

The vast majority of the things that I tried were not right for me, and in many cases were just plain wrong or incorrect. The important part of this is that even though I made all these mistakes, I made a point to learn from them. In fact most of my spirituality can be summed up with a simplified form of the scientific method.

1) Collect data
2) Form Hypothesis
3) Test hypothesis
4) Review

This methodology served as an overall guide to finding what was not a fit for me. As a result this also helped me work closer to what IS a fit. The downside to this method is that I have crashed and burned. A LOT. In fact enough times that I have completely ruined friendships and connections with various communities. At the same time I am a significantly more balanced individual as a result of everything I went through and learned.

However had situations been different and the people that I was interacting with understood the process being worked through I likely would have caused much less damage than I did. It's important that we all keep in mind as a community that the process of individuation is a highly chaotic one. It is also a process that requires exceptional levels of compassion as people figure out something that can come across as obnoxious, obvious, or frustrating.

What I recommend for the community is that as we see various people going through these stages that we make a point to approach them with an educated and compassionate mindset. We have each experienced our own process and were not born adults with full understanding of this world. It can be frustrating to see someone struggle to learn, but its important and something that we should all take time to understand better.

Remember those awakening today will be helping make our community of tomorrow.

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Challenge: The Experiential Other

Sun, 01 May 2011 09:09:48 GMT

Posted by: burningbright

On otherkin forums and websites, I've seen a lot of writing about what it means to be demon-kin, detailed descriptions of various elven homeworlds and histories, and explanations of angelic rank and battle. I've heard much theorizing about why and how otherkin exist. I've seen descriptions of and comparisons between different types of dragons.

All of this is often quite interesting, but what I'm eager to see is what it's like to be dragon: here, now, in a human body. I want to know how elfness manifests in this life. I want to understand, just a little, the tactile, emotional, day-to-day experiences of angel-kin.

I see such writings often in the therianthropy community: vivid experiential accounts, like this piece on animal and fear by Quil, or this depiction of a shift towards an insect by Earwig, or my own vignette of a hike with a feline-girl and a changeling-boy. I almost never see anything similar from the broader otherkin community. And I want to.

Is your otherness more than memory? Does it affect how you see the world, your mental states, morals, behaviors, thought-patterns? Do you ever have sensory, immediate, present experiences of being other?

Here is my challenge to you: Share a taste of your experiential reality.

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Otherkin Writings

The Power of Failure

Challenge: The Experiential Other