Lord Andrei's Blog

I’ve been very active with my religion over the past year. I think it’s one of the things that’s kept me over the last year from going absolutely insane at my worst times.

Tonight, our West San Fernando Valley chapter will be sponsoring “The Rite of Luna” one of A.C.’s “Rites of Eleusis”

The rite is at 8pm this evening at Raven’s Flight Bookstore near the Studio City / North Hollywood border.

I’ll be one of the guys running a video camera tonight. The rite I’ll be sponsoring isn’t until later in the year.

I have also in the past 6 months become an ordained Deacon in the EGC.

I have been performing masses regularly and will be appearing for the first time at the WSFV’s mass this month.

This week I also began my official study towards the priesthood. I’m working with our chief priestess from the East SFV chapter. I have also spoken to a Bishop in the area who has agreed to monitor me and take me on as a student in the priesthood.

My current goal is the March/April time frame.

This is made more complicated by the fact that I am sponsoring a 4 class lecture series on performing basic rituals.
Our two SFV chapters will be tag-teaming a series of classes that they call 101 in February. (See calendars for the WSFV chapter (LVX) and the ESFV chapter (Blue Horizon) for more details)

It’s interesting to me that I’ve offered to sponsor (and teach) material that I was very hesitant to do on my own for the longest time. Perhaps at some point I’ll be introspective on that topic.

And that’s some free floating news from around the apt.

Firstoff, this post is marked friends only.
EDIT 02003.02.11:This entry was posted “Friends” only. It is now public.

It’s going to be a while until I think I will be comfortable talking completely openly about everything that had pushed me away from LiveJournal. Not just LiveJournal. Alot of what was around me.

2002 Was one of the most difficult years that I’ve faced. Which is saying a lot for everything I accomplished. My past sins came back to haunt me and got right into my face. I began to truly get a grip on who I was as an individual and fought a horrendously, badly-fought battle to stay true to who that person was. I discovered not that my world views typically don’t mesh with others… I discovered that this is okay.

I’ve had many friends along the way try to teach me this lesson. And I’ve often commented, that just because I take the final step alone; there’s no way I could have gotten to the final step without those that walked with me…and at other times pushed me. And even those that led me away when in fact, it was just to help re-enforce the direction that helps me grow.

My life came to a head this Wednesday when I sat in on a philosophy class sponsored by my church. The class really just talked about the “Will” what it is, how to recognize it, and how to follow it.

Now, for those who neither understand nor follow my philosophy; this statement is so easy to read much horror into. Cultism, ego-centricism, heresy, sacrilege, etc.

i’m going to put down my views of this for me. Read them if you Will, ignore them if you wish. But they are my thoughts for me.

Will, is the act of being the best you the universe hopes you can be. trying to excel in what you are good at. Avoiding that which slows that progress. Admitting to your demons. Doing what you can to grow in a self-enriching way… every day. The True Will, is the Perfect Me.

What does this mean to others? If I am on the path of being the perfect me, I CAN NOT get in the way of the path of someone working to their own perfect them. Any obstruction I become in someone else’s path is meant in some way (that neither I nor they may understand) to help one or both of us, get further down the path.

I am. I can take responsibility for no one other than me. This does not mean that I can not take responsibilities. But I must learn when I am taking a responsibility; and when I am stealing one from another. Because in that offer and action…that is when I have done the most damage.

I must be true an honest to who I am. Because if I am… then no one should be able to say I am being self-destructive. I will only be self-constructive. (How’s that for a term you NEVER hear.)

This is admittedly just rambling. But the truth of the matter is. I’ve been screwing up a lot my entire life. I look back and think “None of my screwing up was intentional” And the scariest response to that is that I am very much not as proud on reflection on that I think I should be. (You can work that out later)

Sure, I could be proud and think, “I’ve never intended to screw up.” And most will be ready to chime in and say, “You’re damn right you have no right to be proud. You think your intentions were so damned pure.”

But my lack of pride comes not from whether my intentions were good or not. My lack of pride comes from always trying to identify what I perceived to be the least offensive response. My overly analytical mind tried to find the quickest cleanest fix at the time. No evaluation whatsoever of the long range. Of what my temporary fix would do for the long term.

Well… Theory and practice being what it’s worth…. That’s just a bunch of me sitting in my apartment clumping away on a box.

Where do I go from here?

I find a way to monitor myself. I look deeper inside to identify when I’m lying to myself. Yes, lying to myself. Forcing myself to believe at the deepest levels that I’m being honest about something I don’t agree with is still just lying to myself.

I buckle down. I notch up. Maybe I stay distant from involved relationships for a while.

I sit back and realize that my past stupidity has chased people that were friends; completely out of my life for ever.

I think I’m growing. I think I’ve learned a lot in 2003. I think I have still more to fix and grow on.

But I honestly like myself. (I smirk as I realize the expression on my face really doesn’t reenforce that thought.)

I’ll be trying to post the good, the bad, and the ugly as they occur and some of the past in the journal. I’ve been looking at stock-market-like trend-lines of my posting frequency. I’m out of shape, so to speak. I’m below my 200, 100, 50, and even 5 day average. So the restart may be a bit slow. Or it may explode out of the gate and then falter after the first turn.

But it’s going to be me. I hope. Because, I’m the only one who really knows what’s going on in my world. And I gotta at least be honest to me.