Sacred Other

Hello Sweetie,

Yes I know a bit different from my normal greeting.  I'm a fan of Dr. Who and one of my favorite characters is Dr. River Song.  It's her signature greeting, at the most unexpected instances.  She's fearless and always trouble.

Speaking of trouble, this has been a very anxiety provoking week.  Elections here in the USA have never in my memory been this dramatic.  This post will not be about what I think of the winner, (you can guess that by skimming through my Facebook feed) but rather what it has taught me.  For those of you who don't get why some of your friends are so grief stricken I will briefly sum this up.  The president-elect ran a campaign based on fear of the other.  Many of those people fit into that nebulous other category.  I fit in that other category.  I practically am a whole category of other all by my lonesome.  Although you can stop by my category anytime for a visit.

Let's talk about fear.  According to Yoda, "Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, and hate leads to suffering." We are taught to be normal.  Stay within the lines.  Act like the other kids.  This is part of socialization, but we tend to go a little bit overboard with it.  We are not a homogenous society we have many different cultures more or sometimes less represented.  Whenever we don't fit into what is defined as "normal" there is a societal backlash.  Now some things merit that like: serial killers, pedophiles, and people who butter their plates in a buffet line (you know someone has to use their hand to remove that, it won't rinse off you deviant slob)!  Many times we treat any "other" category with that same level of disgust.  (FUCKING PLATE BUTTERERS)!

As I said above I am "other".  Those that have met me know this.  I mean it's all up in my energy field.  From the way I interact, to the way I look at a problem, I'm just not your typical guy.  For this reason people have projected a lot of fear and hatred onto me over the years.  Nothing major mind you, just a few physical assaults, death threats, identity theft, and public humiliation. In my work, the "other" that I am comes in handy.  You could even say sometimes your life could depend on that otherness.  Yet I have tried to tone it down.  I don't want to startle the local inhabitants after all.  I don't want to inspire fear, and indeed there are times where I am the person you call to soothe and brush away fears.  Still after this week I've been thinking I may be soothing too much of my power away.  I am other.  Not only that I am a trickster.  I wasn't quite sure which kind until today.  I am the Sacred Other.  I am the unknown quality, the wildcard, the undefinable who changes from predictable to chaotic when it suits.  In short, I have come to trouble your courts and councils.  I have come to wake you up at night, what's that sound....it's me being different.  Do I frighten you?  Well if I do that's good, and if I don't that's good too.  I can be terrific or I can be terrifying, it just depends on what you're holding.  I am here to shake your paradigm to its core, not by preaching, not by force, but simply by being.  For some I am the beneficent Faery Godfather to others I am the Bogeyman.  The only difference is you.  So I think I am going to stop toning it down and instead pump up the volume so we can all dance.

So what about you?  What secret little "other" bits have you sanded down over the years or set aside? Afraid of scaring the villagers when they see you?  Perhaps you are one of those who I frighten, well take heart you get used to it.  I'm not here to hurt you.  I'm here for you to see something different and learn that it won't hurt you.  I may change you, but everything changes you.  Time, experience, relationships, educations, employment, parenthood, and the list goes on, all of these things change you.  So be you.  Be that Sacred Other that only you can be.  Stand up for the others you encounter.  We must work to gather the others and when we do we'll find that we are together.  I am a trickster, I am the Sacred Other, and maybe you are too.

Peace and Blessings,
Thomas Mooneagle