Since I just joined, I figured I should tell y'all a little about myself, in hopes of being directed to appropriate topics and sub-topics, as well as to spark conversation with some of the members more knowledgeable than I. So here goes.
I'm 19 years old, a native of a small, artsy port town in Michigan called Bay City. Notable residents include Kevin Cole, the U.S.'s leading George Gershwin interpreter; and Madonna (I'll reserve my opinion of her). I currently live and attend school in St. Paul, MN. I love music, movies, languages, and other cultures. More personal data about me will probably come out in other threads.
As for why I'm here; my spiritual path. Concerning creation, I'm an igtheist and an apatheist. "God" hasn't been defined sufficiently to even be discussed productively, and because of that I won't base my life around any ideas that people claim to have received from any gods. I find it more likely that an alien race created us than any god(s), and most would call me an atheist. I have also called myself variably humanist, freethinker, even anti-theist, but I've changed several times throughout my life in regards to the spiritual/supernatural. I was raised Lutheran, and converted first to the Bahá'i Faith then Buddhism before becoming a deist then an atheist. I've appreciated varying levels of mysticism, particularly during my year (I know, I know...) as a Bahá'i.
After recently coming out of a long-term relationship (for my age, at least -- 2 and 1/2 years), during the start of which I was still a Bahá'i, I realized that I lost the spirituality and groundedness I had while I was single, even though I think I benefited from an increased sense of rationality. So, going back has been exciting for me.
I've been exploring that mystical meeting point between philosophy, psychology, art, and the spirit through the lenses of Jung, Kandinsky, Rimbaud, Scriabin, Dali and other surrealists, dream interpretation (minus the Freud), some Eastern practices, and The Tarot. I just started with the original Waite deck, and I love it -- the imagery, learning the system and using free association -- everything.
If anybody could recommend methods for exploring The Tarot (I'm currently just learning the meanings in my own way, so don't spoil any card meanings!), pieces of art they like, books on philosophy or psychology, etc., that would be wonderful. I mostly like ideas from the end of the Romantic era through Impressionism, Surrealism, Psychedelic Art, etc., to the start of the Digital Age, so from 1870 (maybe 1850) to 1970 (maybe 1980).
As you can tell, my interests are spiritual, historical, artistic, and eclectic. I wouldn't even call them beliefs -- I'm just a seeker.
(If you want to hear my particular reasons for holding store in certain things and not others -- I don't do astrology and am skeptical of numerology -- just ask!)
Alea iacta est!
Alejandro
