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Re: Activating Passive Forum Members

Posted: Thu Jul 01, 2021 2:00 pm
by Kenazis
My personal reasons for passivity and activity in a nutshell:

Passivity
- I have nothing in mind that I want to speak about here
- This kind of discussion is not my cup of tea (I prefer face to face, one to one/few).
- I am so used to found things out by myself that when seeking information I seek it myself (internet, books)
- there's so much to read here already and so many topics
- many discussions go so fast forwards that it often seems pointless to interrupt others.
- many topics just doesn't interest me at all or I really have nothing to say about them

Activity
- This kind of discussion is not my cup of tea (so it is good and necessary to practice and practice and learn and learn)
- This might be only good forum existing (at least when speaking about esoteric topics), so it must be kept alive and kicking
- There's so many interesting things going on here that can't keep myself silent and passive

Conclusion
- I always try to participate on those topics (at least on some level) I'm interested about
- I try to read almost everything new that comes in here (but in cases the topic doesn't interest my at all and it is very active and lengthy, I don't waste my energy on them, so I have more energy on those I see interesting)

Ps. didn't re-read, so there might be some errors

Re: Activating Passive Forum Members

Posted: Tue Jul 06, 2021 7:32 am
by Polyhymnia
Seferoth wrote: Tue Jun 29, 2021 5:18 pm I personally only register when i am sure to be active in the forum. Take this forum for instance, i have been a lurker for a while, but only lately decided to register as i have delved deeper into the writings of The Star of Azazel and Frater Nefastos, and i would like to give my opinions on many things and i am also in need of some answers. Still, many have their own reasons for registering.
Welcome! Very happy to have you. I have some catching up to do in the threads, but I look forward to reading your contributions.

Re: Activating Passive Forum Members

Posted: Tue Jul 06, 2021 2:38 pm
by Seferoth
Polyhymnia wrote: Tue Jul 06, 2021 7:32 am
Seferoth wrote: Tue Jun 29, 2021 5:18 pm I personally only register when i am sure to be active in the forum. Take this forum for instance, i have been a lurker for a while, but only lately decided to register as i have delved deeper into the writings of The Star of Azazel and Frater Nefastos, and i would like to give my opinions on many things and i am also in need of some answers. Still, many have their own reasons for registering.
Welcome! Very happy to have you. I have some catching up to do in the threads, but I look forward to reading your contributions.
Thank you. Happy to be here.

Re: Activating Passive Forum Members

Posted: Sat Oct 16, 2021 4:44 pm
by Kaiho
Greetings, members of The Star of Azazel and all forum readers alike! After a long time of contemplation and mustering up enough courage to register on the forums, I thought that this topic would be a good place to start.

I’m not sure if by “passive forum members” you also meant those who’ve only been “passively reading without registering”, but this entry would fit in that perspective just fine.

There has already been some talk about “vivification in the form of forum writing” and “artificial effort behind the material”, and I feel like these thoughts struck somewhere deep. I have been lurking this forum quite actively and for a long time in my life there’s been a fear of participation. When reading this topic a few months ago, I then noticed an association appear in my mind: that this fear was not only towards participation in the discussions, nor towards making a more direct contact with the brotherhood’s aura, but also on a whole different level towards participation in the world in general. I let that thought sink in a bit deeper and begun to be more in touch with that fear. I then came to a realization that this too, among many other things in ordinary life, could appear as a practical exercise on the path (more specifically, an example regarding the choice of “participation or withering”) and also as a counterbalance to one-sided and passive consumption of forum discussion. I feel like that fear holds it’s grasp firm and steady, that it’s still a hindrance at the time of writing, but some of it has been overcome. Of course, this is purely my own experience, and there are another reasons for passivity that were discussed earlier too, e.g. performance anxiety, introversion and the feeling of not having anything to add or contribute. Yet I felt like sharing this might give some perspective regarding the topic at hand.

PS. Since this is my first post, I must also share my most warmhearted thanks for all the time and energy that has been given to discussions on the forum (and also the brotherhood’s literature/publications). Most certainly it has all been of a great help!

Re: Activating Passive Forum Members

Posted: Sat Oct 16, 2021 8:11 pm
by Nefastos
Kaiho wrote: Sat Oct 16, 2021 4:44 pma fear of participation. When reading this topic a few months ago, I then noticed an association appear in my mind: that this fear was not only towards participation in the discussions, nor towards making a more direct contact with the brotherhood’s aura, but also on a whole different level towards participation in the world in general. I let that thought sink in a bit deeper and begun to be more in touch with that fear.

Thank you for bringing this up. It has quite a substantial meaning, especially when brought up by someone with your history (seeming non-history!) here. The fear of participation is something that is present in all ages of humankind, but it must be most prominently pressing and anguishingly present in today's society of instant meetings, instant endings, instant judgments, polished facades that are made to impress and not to last. On such a basis, it is frightening to open for deeper discussion. Of course, many people would be very willing to discuss things in a comfortably intimate group. But the problem is, there cannot be comfortably intimate groups in case there are no non-intimate groups to establish them; and even after that, people often have very different needs and ideas about what those intimate groups would precisely be and how should they act. It is very familiar challenge for almost any kind of brotherhood that it tends to become too womb-like, a shelter for very few individuals. This has always been one of the things we try to fight against in the Star of Azazel: one of the reasons why its constitution is about joining things. Joining is an act of openness and trust.

Kaiho wrote: Sat Oct 16, 2021 4:44 pmSince this is my first post, I must also share my most warmhearted thanks for all the time and energy that has been given to discussions on the forum (and also the brotherhood’s literature/publications). Most certainly it has all been of a great help!

This is great to hear. Warm welcome to you Kaiho!

It hasn't been so many days since someone or some source just reminded that there's this word "kaiho" in Finnish language, which is not found exactly from English. Something akin to longing nostalgy, but with a perhaps more serene tone. At least in its modern use, when the word has become quite poetic.

Re: Activating Passive Forum Members

Posted: Sun Oct 17, 2021 6:16 am
by Polyhymnia
Greetings to you, Kaiho, and welcome to the forums! It is great to hear that though you still feel a bit of that fear, it has alleviated just enough for you to write the first post. I am always so charmed when people have been hanging out from a distance for awhile and then decide to register because it is pretty much the exact opposite of my temperament (which is usually to charge head first into things, usually without thinking too much about them) and it's wonderful to see all the different temperaments come together in one place for meaningful discussion.

Glad to have you here!

Re: Activating Passive Forum Members

Posted: Tue Oct 19, 2021 3:22 pm
by Kaiho
Thank you both for the welcome!

How lovely that you mentioned the union of opposites in your messages. That surely is a solid foundation and supposedly it couldn’t even be any other way, considering how deeply it is tied to the brotherhood’s philosophy (and how it pierces through so many different levels). The idea of “joining hands” is one of the things I’ve felt really drawn into. Beautiful ideal, beyond words for me to describe.
Nefastos wrote: Sat Oct 16, 2021 8:11 pm The fear of participation is something that is present in all ages of humankind, but it must be most prominently pressing and anguishingly present in today's society...
A lot of this sounds quite familiar and it is indeed frightening. Tearing through one’s own glamoured characters often might not even feel like an option when the pressure of judgement and misunderstandings seem to follow all around. But without that challenge and the chance of overcoming it, there wouldn’t be any development either.

I feel that openness flows both ways, and that you as a brotherhood have done a great deal in making the Star of Azazel “non-womb-like” and “accessible” by having publications and this discussion forum open for everyone to read, for example. At least in my opinion, that leaves a lot of room for the outsider individuals to make their part.

Re: Activating Passive Forum Members

Posted: Fri Nov 05, 2021 7:57 pm
by Nahumatarah
Kaiho wrote: Tue Oct 19, 2021 3:22 pmI feel that openness flows both ways, and that you as a brotherhood have done a great deal in making the Star of Azazel “non-womb-like” and “accessible”
I think someone already said something along the lines of what i'm about to say but:

I too think that the Star of Azazel is pretty accessible, but then again when thinking back at the time when i first stumbled on this website and looked at the amount of publications, articles on the websites and posts on the forum et cetera i remember thinking "it's gonna take me a long time to to really soak in all of this stuff." Then again i am a person who needs to be constantly doing something in order to feel relaxed so it was at the same time nice to stumble onto something that really offers a challenge this way. Where i am getting at with this is i think there is a downside to the fact that there is a lot of information available. It may be contributing to the idea some people have that you absolutely must go through all of that to be welcome to participate.

As for myself I try to keep actively posting in the English side of the forum now on because i am a member of a lodge that "seeks to serve the need for the international presence and make the brotherhood’s principles known", so posting questions and engaging there is probably one of the most immediate, and low-effort ways to work towards these goals while doing other things. Now, what exactly is serving someone or something? Cambridge dictionary states to serve is "to provide with something that is needed", "to help achieve something or to be useful as something". If we continue along these lines and think about someone who is a servant, often but not always we think about someone doing something that other people don't want to do, agreed? Maybe it is something a bit demeaning, or something a bit ungrateful. Yet, for now I am just a neophyte, a beginner and a servant , "scrubbing the temple floors". How would i know where to go from here without asking those silly questions and paying attention to the answers that are given? I have had to work on my social insecurities a lot, and that work is far from over so i very well know what this "fear of participation" might sometimes be. So, at the risk of sounding pretentious and being the neophyte that I am if I am to serve the need for the international prescence of the Star of Azazel maybe it is my duty to ask those questions others don't have the courage to do. I also try to think this forum activity as a practice I am doing for myself so as to come a bit more out of my shell in search of a greater balance.

Re: Activating Passive Forum Members

Posted: Mon Nov 08, 2021 8:47 pm
by Benemal
I used to visit the forum every day, for years. Keeping up with many topics, and participating. Now I might not visit for weeks (though when I have internet, like now, I might look at the forum every day, during the temporary state of being online) Weird imbalance has happened, that I might have been able to analyze before, but can't anymore. I can't sit at the laptop and try to form a three sentence post, for an hour (it was always difficult, because I never wrote anything, before being on this forum), but on the other hand, impulsive and humorous posts have also been occurring more rarely. Let's just call it the most boring word in the world, depression. I denied any of it had anything to do with the pandemic, but I was wrong, and I also underestimated the effect the external crisis on other members. Everyone was hit.

Re: Activating Passive Forum Members

Posted: Tue Nov 09, 2021 12:59 pm
by Nefastos
Nahumatarah wrote: Fri Nov 05, 2021 7:57 pmAs for myself I try to keep actively posting in the English side of the forum now on because i am a member of a lodge that "seeks to serve the need for the international presence and make the brotherhood’s principles known", so posting questions and engaging there is probably one of the most immediate, and low-effort ways to work towards these goals while doing other things. Now, what exactly is serving someone or something? Cambridge dictionary states to serve is "to provide with something that is needed", "to help achieve something or to be useful as something". If we continue along these lines and think about someone who is a servant, often but not always we think about someone doing something that other people don't want to do, agreed? Maybe it is something a bit demeaning, or something a bit ungrateful. Yet, for now I am just a neophyte, a beginner and a servant , "scrubbing the temple floors".

Thank you kindly for this, dear brother. Of course there are multitude of ways how one may do that work, but this forum is one very good way of putting the said idea into action. This is also how I interpret the old teaching:

Matthew 23:11 wrote:But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant.

The most demanding kind of work is usually that which seems to be most humble, or at least that humble work belongs as a part to the work of the master. Not to mention how beneficent it is as for one's inner practice, and linking to the inner instead of outer powers that be. (By "the inner powers" I mean the central lodge, which works through inspiration in abscondito and gives no outer rewards directly.)