From: "Dan Skunk" What's wrong with an idealized romanticized animal character or trait?
It might not be a trait the animal actually possesses. It might not be close
to the reality of the situation. But that ideal could be something that is
very important to you and very meaningfull.
If the animal helps you connect with something that is a part of yourself in
a constructive way, should that not be a good thing--even if what you're
projecting on that animal isn't completely true of the animal itself, it is
true of you. The animal is just acting as a metaphor to help you express it.
Like finding beauty in a sunset--beauty means nothing to the sunset, but
that doesn't mean it doesn't have meaning to you.
You don't need to be trying to be that animal out of some mistake belief
about it's nature. You could be trying to be that ideal form you see in it.
In fact, furry characters are never perfect representations of the animal,
they are all anthropormorphized; idealized. Furry is not about rejecting
humanity, it is about becomming more deeply connected with one's humanity.
About connecting with that animal nature that is within us all in the best
way we can. We might not be always right about everything, but we are
trying, learning. We are on a journey towards self realization. It should be
expected that we should sometimes stumble along the way. That is a part of
the learning process.
Humans are animals, and we share a great many things with them, far more
than our differences. It should be no surprise that we should see parts of
ourselves in them, for to a great extent, they are really there. Just as we
learn about ourselves and find our place in the world by watching other
humans, interacting with them, learning from them; we can do the same thing
with animals. They also, by their similarities with us, can teach us much
about ourselves. By emulating them, we can come to understand ourselves
better.
Since everyone has their own unique personality, why not emulate that
particular animal that best represents your personality, your desires. It
should only make sense, that if the goal is to learn about yourself, you
should study others who are similiar to yourself. I wouldn't say you need to
act like them in every way, just in the ways that have meaning to you; like
I said before, we are using idealized versions of them that need not be
perfectly accurate--and shouldn't be because we are not perfectly like any
other animal. Finding things in that animal that you see in yourself and
using that animal as an example to explore those aspects of yourself can
only be a constructive learning experience. You might even look to more than
one animal for guidence seeing different aspects of yourself in different
species. You might move from one animal to another having learned all you
could from the first.
You can treat the animal as a guide on your own life journey, allow it's
example to teach you about the world, about yourself, about how you fit into
the grand scheme of things. (This doesn't sound like a new idea.) It could
be a catalyst to your own spiritual awakening.
In case you're think everything has to be a serious and deep, it doesn't
have to be. Even animals know how to play and have fun sometimes. They do
not sit around pondering the meaning of everything all the time--in fact,
they don't do that at all. Maybe that is the greatest lesson we can learn
from them. To not spend so much time thinking about things, to not take
ourselves too seriously. Animals live much closer to their instincts and
emotions. They live much closer to the natural world and are an inseperable
part of it. They don't fill their world with abstract thoughts, artificial
landscapes, and complex ideologies and societies. They don't have things
like these to fill their minds with and distract them from being in touch
with who they are. I think we could do well to not take our ideas as
seriously as we do. This is not to say we should ignore all our
responsibilities and run around playing and having fun all the time--that
would clearly not work. Animals know what they need to do to survive and do
it when it's necessary, and we need to do the same. I think we could learn
from them though about what really is necessarly. We have a lot of different
ideas about what we "need" that probably aren't really all that needed to
start with and serve only to distract us from finding what we really need.
So don't reject your humanity and act like an animal. Learn from them about
yourself. Listen to your instincts and emotions and allow them to guide to
towards your true needs; use your intelligence to figure out how to do it
best. Integrate your animal nature with your human intelect allowing them to
work together to satisfy your needs and pursue happiness. Your humanity and
your animal nature should not be in conflict with each other, they should be
working together.
From: "Dan Skunk" <_...@rogers.com>
Here's my take on the furry lifestyle:
I see feeling of wanting be be something different to also be a desire to
escape the bonds of social conformity. A desire to be free to be yourself
and follow your animal nature and be true to your heart rather than
oppressing it in order to fit in. The escape the lies and meaningless
pursuits such as wealth and materialism and replace them with something more
natural and wholesome like friendship, community, and love; something that
has real meaning; something with the ability to lift one's heart and lead to
real happiness rather than just take up one's time.
I see it as a desire the escape our mundane existence in this society and
the homogeneity of people and celebrate our differences and our uniqueness.
To wear our differences on our faces even.
I also see our affinity for animals as a desire to live a simpler lifestyle
closer to the natural world around us rather than living apart from it in
our synthetic landscapes void of life and natural beauty. Animals to
complicate their lives with complicated, unnatural, social structures;
ideologies, and philosophies. They don't wonder about the meaning of life
and dispair because they can't understand it. Animals know the meaning of
life and live it every second of their lives.
The meaning of life is not found outside of you somewhere in the universe.
It does not come from some higher power or some scientific theory. It comes
from within. It comes from your heart, from your emotions, from your
instincts. It is your instinct for survival that gives your life a purpose,
it is your need for friendship and love that warms your heart and makes your
life complete. It is your desire to be a part of a community and to help and
care for each other that gives your life a sense of worth.
Animals don't try to seperate themselves from nature and from their own
feelings. While their lives may sometimes be harsh, they are filled with
meaning and purpose.
Sorry for the lenthyness. I went a bit off topic, but to me, everything fits
together into a complete and perfect oneness of existence where nothing is
out of place and everything belongs and it's place in the universe
understood. This is the nature of truth.
Newsgroups: alt.lifestyle.furry
Subject: Re: *cries*
Message-ID: <Mk8Pd.1151$3J.658@fe51.usenetserver.com>
Date: Fri, 11 Feb 2005 15:10:26 -0500
Newsgroups: alt.lifestyle.furry
Subject: Re: As you age, how has your "Furriness" changed?
Date: Fri, 17 Sep 2004 01:16:56 -0400
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