Briefly: On the ‘Universal’

Sometimes I get so caught up in thinking and turning over ideas and doing yet feel I don’t have anything to write about. That’s not true – I have myths I could write, and we just got chickens at the home and I could talk about that, or how stressed I am because I’m supposed to make dinner tonight and am not sure how to handle household responsibilities and that doesn’t reflect well on me, or I could rant. But none of those topics seem very useful, not for this venue (I’ll probably be talking about the chickens on tumblr, because, dude, chickens).

A topic that is more fitting for this venue, however, did wander into my mind. My, admittedly, focused on fluffy little birds that squeak all the time mind.

I don’t think my gods are universal.  Well, correction, I don’t even really think the gods are universal. That isn’t to say I don’t think only certain people can call on them – I don’t think that – but I don’t think that they are universal forces. I always get a little nervous around universalism and universal truths and such. They too easily wipe away and erase key differences and stifle diversity.

Yesterday’s post on community can be tied in to this – I am not looking for a community of sameness. When I go for a more formal community, it’s going to be one with shared bonds, shared goals, and diversity of opinion, belief, and style. That’s possible with a backbone of universalism, but that isn’t something I want. I like recognizing that someone is fundamentally different than I am. That makes it so much more exciting when we find similarities.

My Gods of Love are not another’s Gods of Love – I’m not a big lover of archetypes to begin with, but it’s something even more than that. I believe in connections, but I don’t feel comfortable with archetypes or roles. My Gods of Love are called that because they preside and interact with love and romance (usually by blundering through it), but I don’t think they have an approach or reach that is very universal. I think some people would find these gods to be strange or repulsive, while others may find their lessons and the love they teach to be exactly what they need. They may be multifaceted, but they aren’t universal.

I just don’t understand universal truth, I think.

It could be that I just get more interested in differences and find starting from that place more interesting, and the connections that blossom from that place to be more useful. It could also be that I’m just cranky when it comes to this.