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Nov. 14th, 2007 08:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
badstarSo one day last week, I was engaged in a discussion on a forum where one of the other folks participating was, or at least seemed to be, insisting that if I worship Apollo that I just couldn't grasp "irrational" things, and that I shouldn't even bother to try. Needless to say, I was fairly irked, on top of being frustrated by some other aspects of the discussion that have no bearing here.
What follows is some of one of my responses (it might seem a little disjointed because it's taken out of the context of the conversation) Some of this I've actually thought about before, obviously. The part that I've bolded though, I find most interesting and I remember typing it, it was one of those moments where my fingers seemed to be acting somewhat independently of or perhaps just well ahead of my brain and while I was somewhat surprised at what had come out, it makes perfect sense to me. As far as I recall, I've never really considered the idea of rationality versus irrationality and the Delphic maxim of "Nothing in excess" before. Others may disagree with me. (And just a minor note of vanity...for raw typing in a moment when I was rather pissed off at the offending individual, I really like how the last paragraph came out. I didn't change anything before I posted it. Usually when I'm typing mad, I have to go back and correct mistakes, grammar, fix wording etc.)
It is my experience (and that of others I've talked to) that to be Apollonian is in fact, not to be to be strictly rational. Apollo has his irrational side, though it is not the face that is most often portrayed, it is there.
You've heard, I'm sure, of the Oracle at Delphi? All modern scientific knowledge aside, she was thought back in the day to have been possessed by Apollo, or to be breathing in his spirit.
You know...I understand what "Apollonian" most commonly indicates. I understand that you don't really know me to know otherwise. I understand that you're not intending to be argumentative, but it feels to me like you're trying to paint me into this uber-narrow-minded, can't-even-fathon-anything-less-than-completely-rational corner.
A majority of my religious experience occurred before I came to be a follower of Apollo. From him, I have gained not strict rationality, but a balance between rational and irrational- I actually tend somewhat towards the irrational and for a long time was afraid of forgoing all emotion in favor of logic by his influence, but once again, what I have gained is not one over the other but how to balance the two. To forgo all irrationality would be to go against the wisdom of Apollo himself, one of the Delphic maxims reminds us "nothing in excess"...to adhere to one and not the other would be a bit excessive, no? It is my personal feeling that a true Apollonian must be able to acknowledge this and have a grip on both the rational and irrational.
What follows is some of one of my responses (it might seem a little disjointed because it's taken out of the context of the conversation) Some of this I've actually thought about before, obviously. The part that I've bolded though, I find most interesting and I remember typing it, it was one of those moments where my fingers seemed to be acting somewhat independently of or perhaps just well ahead of my brain and while I was somewhat surprised at what had come out, it makes perfect sense to me. As far as I recall, I've never really considered the idea of rationality versus irrationality and the Delphic maxim of "Nothing in excess" before. Others may disagree with me. (And just a minor note of vanity...for raw typing in a moment when I was rather pissed off at the offending individual, I really like how the last paragraph came out. I didn't change anything before I posted it. Usually when I'm typing mad, I have to go back and correct mistakes, grammar, fix wording etc.)
It is my experience (and that of others I've talked to) that to be Apollonian is in fact, not to be to be strictly rational. Apollo has his irrational side, though it is not the face that is most often portrayed, it is there.
You've heard, I'm sure, of the Oracle at Delphi? All modern scientific knowledge aside, she was thought back in the day to have been possessed by Apollo, or to be breathing in his spirit.
You know...I understand what "Apollonian" most commonly indicates. I understand that you don't really know me to know otherwise. I understand that you're not intending to be argumentative, but it feels to me like you're trying to paint me into this uber-narrow-minded, can't-even-fathon-anything-less-than-completely-rational corner.
A majority of my religious experience occurred before I came to be a follower of Apollo. From him, I have gained not strict rationality, but a balance between rational and irrational- I actually tend somewhat towards the irrational and for a long time was afraid of forgoing all emotion in favor of logic by his influence, but once again, what I have gained is not one over the other but how to balance the two. To forgo all irrationality would be to go against the wisdom of Apollo himself, one of the Delphic maxims reminds us "nothing in excess"...to adhere to one and not the other would be a bit excessive, no? It is my personal feeling that a true Apollonian must be able to acknowledge this and have a grip on both the rational and irrational.
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no subject
Date: 2007-11-15 04:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-11-15 04:32 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-11-15 05:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-11-15 06:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-11-15 05:35 pm (UTC)There was one oracle, at Argos, where the priestess of Apollon drank bull's blood in order to be inspired - hardly the picture of the god most people have.
no subject
Date: 2007-11-15 05:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-11-15 06:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-11-17 12:19 am (UTC)Pfft.