The Island Journal

Remember when comic book nerds (that’s me) went to conventions and people thought it was weird? Now it’s a slice of Americana and an accepted subculture. Remember the sci-fi or anime conventions and the SCA and remember when these groups were looked on with some distain? I remember my mom saying the SCA was a cult when I was 15 but when I joined in college, it was fine. Tech geeks (me again) were once ridiculed but now we’re revered and why? What has changed about the world? What is it that has molded the universal American conservative view and squished the misconceptions of days gone by?

I was watching an episode of CSI several years ago about “Furries” and found the psychology interesting and the concept baffling as it was portrayed. I did some research and found that CSI got it wrong. “Furries” are not inherently sexual. Yiff doesn’t mean what they said it meant. A “furpile” is not a orgy. Nonetheless I bought into the misinformation machine. Through my research I have found that they’re not all that different from SCA members… many of them are less intense individuals. There isn’t really a psychology behind it all but rather, just a good natured and expensive hobby.

Don’t get me wrong… there are some weirdos out there. Plushies are people who like plush animals but the word “plushie” also refers to people who like to have “sex” with stuffed animals. Yes…. You read that right. Furry or anthropomorphic porn is also fairly prevalent though bestiality is not really part of it. See, these are not seen as animals in the strictest sense. At least they’re no more animals than Mickey mouse or Bugs bunny. The film industry coined a term, “Funny Animal” to separate upright walking, talking and clothes wearing animals from their lesser counterparts. It’s the difference between Dippy Dog (AKA Goofy) and Mickey’s pet Pluto. Both of them are dogs but Goofy is “funny” because he’s anthropomorphic. The sexual deviance is a discussion for another day and I’m just as guilty of getting hung up on the most bizarre aspects as every one else is. We’ll leave that for a later discussion as it’s not relevant here.

Alright, where am I going with all this? Well, aside from being a hobbiest writer and anthropologist and poet, and philosopher, psychologist, and etc. etc. I am also very crafty. I have looked at web sites about creating “Fursuits”, the full body costumes worn by some furries (most prefer partial suits or even just ears and tails) at furry conventions. Recently, Christina and I were discussing how best to make a realistic, person sized, self balancing cat tail for her Halloween costume and in researching that, I came again upon furry sites which proved very useful for our purposes. Anyway, I’ve decided to try my hand and make a bear head… mask… thing. I doubt I’ll ever make a full suit because they seem to be pretty difficult, but I’ve always wanted to try my hand at soft sculpture and I’ve never worked with fur so it seems like it might be an interesting project. I could do a whole series. And it all came from not understanding something, researching it, and finding it’s not as odd as I thought.

I guess the point of all of this is that you can’t believe everything you see on television, though I think we all knew that already. The problem is we do… at least a little. I believed these people were sex crazed bestiality fetishists at first and then I just thought maybe they were just a little off. Once I considered that I’d worn a kilt for a good portion of my career in the SCA and that I have been to a comic convention and I’ve considered cosplay at an anime convention… well, it’s not that strange now.

Don’t judge…. Even if the media say it’s alright.

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Tags: culture, furries, halloween, philosophy
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I was reading 2 Corinthians (don’t look at me like that, I do read the bible) and I came to the realization, Paul was goading the Corinthians in several passages including the old gem, “For ye suffer fools gladly, seeing ye yourselves are wise.” In modern speech, it would read something like, “You should suffer fools gladly because you’re so wise.” As with all forms of text communications, words must be carefully chosen to illicit the desired results and Paul was aware of this. I can picture Paul as a man in tan robes standing on a little hill, bearded and dancing wildly from one leg to the other wiggling jazz-hands and spouting insults like “Ooooo, look at you! You’re so much better than everyone else!”

Why do this? Why, as a good Jewish follower of the Christ who got a lot of support from Corinth and actually liked the city to a degree, would Paul do this? Remember, he was basically the early church version of a Pope… that’s not very popeish now is it? Well, taken out of context, it’s not. But what he was trying to do is knock them down peg so they would listen to time tested wisdom. Pride can blind people, but it can also make us deaf. I can be said to be guilty of this sin as I am sure most of you are too. Pride is primal, like fear. It can drive us to achieve but it can also drop us off a cliff.

In a nut shell, this easter while chomping on chocolate bunnies and multicolored eggs or attending religious services, don’t just sit there and go through the motions of a holiday many people no longer understand. Get up, go out, and observe people in their lives and remember that regardless of breeding, money, color, sex, religion, age, clique, or anything else that separates us, we’re all basically idiots dancing precariously on a fragile pinhead floating in a deadly vacuum. Feel small in the grandeur of it. Let it effect you and your sense of wonder. Listen to Paul’s sarcasm. “For ye suffer fools gladly, seeing ye yourselves are wise.” If you’re so wise, why do you have to look down on others? If you’re so great, why not show that greatness with the smallest kind word or gesture.

Life is to short and we are to insignificant to be mean to each other.

Tags: easter, holiday, philosophy
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I always seem to turn to a particular book for comfort in times of disappointment, awakening, or triumph. I find that there is wisdom and solace to be had in the pages of the Hagakure, a book I read when I was 14. I have owned several dozen copies of this book over the years both in hardback and paperback and I never seem to be able to hang on to them. The text is simple and describes the substance of the way of the Samurai in an era before they were outlawed.

I am picking up another copy tonight from Borders here in Saint Louis and I thought I would share some of the quotes I’ve found most enlightening over the years. I hope you glean as much from them as I have.

In the words of the ancients,
one should make his decision within the space of seven breaths.
It is a matter of being determined and having the spirit
to break through to the other side.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Our bodies are given life from the midst of nothingness.
Existing where there is nothing is the meaning of the phrase,
“form is emptiness.”
That all things are provided for by nothingness is the meaning of the
phrase,
“Emptiness is form.”
One should not think that these are two separate things.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Among the maxims on Lord Naoshige’s wall, there was this one:
“Matters of great concern should be treated lightly.”
Master Ittei commented,
“Matters of small concern should be treated seriously.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the Kamigata area, they have a sort of tiered lunchbox
they use for a single day when flower viewing.
Upon returning, they throw them away, trampling them underfoot.
The end is important in all things.

Tags: book, bushido, philosophy, samurai
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I was listening to the book A Briefer History of Time, a paired down audio version of A Brief History of Time by Steven Hawking the other day and I started to think about how life and energy collide to make reality. It’s been proven that when we observe a situation, we alter it simply by observing. The book The Secret says basically the same thing; that in a nut shell, thought alters the universe. There are many examples of people altering perception to attain a goal. Look at athletes who push past the human physical “limits” and become greater than they should be able to become. Look at tiny housewives lifting cars off infants. Look at people who overcome physical or mental malady on a daily basis and you’ll understand what I mean.

I put this thought to a friend who then said, “That’s a very Buddhist way of looking at things… very zen…”. That got me thinking further. It seems to me that the majority of philosophies are trying to unravel not the meaning of existence, but existence as a whole. It’s like a kid pulling at a loose string on a sweater. Now I’m not saying people should give up trying to analyze existence. It’s my favorite pass time. I’m just getting an image in my head of a stoic philosopher standing on a hill beneath a tree with half a dozen or more students sitting in a haphazard semicircle at his feet. A student raises his hand and utters a calm, simple and perfect view of the point the philosopher is trying to make. He then stands and, wildly flailing his arms, eyes wide asks, “Did I get it right!?” Isn’t that kind of missing the point?

Tags: 42, books, philosophy, physics
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