The Fi believe everything has a spirit. Not only do individual "objects" have spirits, but groups of things and types of things and types of actions, etc., have spirits, too. The spirit of each thing (whether what we would understand as an "object," or a group of things, or type thing or action) is intimately connected with the true nature and essence, etc., of the thing. The spirits of groups of things and of types of things and actions are something akin to "spirit-gods" of those things. The spirit of an individual thing or "object," on the other hand, is something akin to its soul or "spirit-soul."
The Fi's religious practices involve seeking harmony with the spirit-gods for specific tasks or activities, etc. Often the way to harmony is long and difficult. But it is never taken for granted. If the task is difficult or important, etc., a priest's assistance is usually sought. The priest not only facilitates finding harmony with the spirit-god, but in determining the right spirit-gods with which to harmonize. Fi lore, to be sure, is rife with tales of the vain who dispensed with the rites and practice of harmony and met disaster.
Sometimes individual Fi will also consult a priest to seek harmony with their own spirit-soul. The need to obtain such harmony is called being "out-of-balance." But seeking such harmony is not worship. Of course, a few (such as the ignorant and those highly invested in specific objects, such as soldier-warriors with a cherished shield or sword, etc.) will show devotion that individual object's spirit-soul. But most Fi think this gauche. It is narcissistic and inane, to most Fi, to worship one's own spirit. Even so, it is not unheard of for lovers to make devotions to each other's spirit-soul. Marriage is viewed as a sacred act of finding the immortal spirit-soul that unites a couple.
The Fi also recognize a "universal spirit" called the "Alfa Omega." This is the collected spirit-god of all things. Yet, to the Fi the Alfa Omega is too indistinct to be worthy of devotion or harmony, etc. As the spirit-god of all things, it has no power over anything. Devotion and harmony are best directed to the spirit-gods that can make a difference. Nor can one actually be out-of-harmony with everything, for that "out-of-harmony" is a part of everything.
Interestingly, except for the actual spirit-gods of people, the Fi believe other spirit-gods do not "care" about people. Spirit-gods only "know" of that of which they are the spirit. They may not even "know" of the existence of other spirit-gods or of the things of which other spirit-gods are the spirit, etc. Spirit-gods do not recognize a person speaking to them (unless, of course, the spirit-god is the spirit of speech or prayers, but one would not seek harmony with the spirit-god of prayer unless they needed harmony in prayer itself). And, even if they could, acknowledging people's pleas would be beneath the spirit-gods, for spirit-gods are immortal, unlike lowly mortals.
It is important to note that the Fi do not pray to the gods. They do not ask spirit-gods to grant them anything, to show kindness or goodness or bestow benedictions, etc. They do not to get into the spirit-god's good graces, to encourage the spirit-god to be bountiful or generous, to ask the spirit-god for signs or information or to lead the prayerful to these, or even to hear or even recognize the prayerful, etc.
Likewise, of course, the Fi do not give gifts of money or valuable objects to spirit-gods or make sacrifices to them, etc. Spirit-gods do not need money or valuables or sacrifices, etc., the Fi believe. They have no use for them. Spirit-gods only know about that of which they are the spirit. The spirit-god of fields, e.g., does not have use for golden trinkets. Incantations by the Fi seeking harmony are wordless tones. The only gifts the Fi give are those increasing harmony. Attempting to give a field itself to the spirit-god of fields would, likewise, also not increase harmony as the spirit-god of fields does not need a field. It is already the spirit-god of all the fields. Fertilizing and watering a field, on the other hand, are gifts increasing harmony with the spirit-god of fields.
Devotion, therefore, the Fi believe, consists of coming into harmony with the spirit of a thing, with its patterns and flow, with its senses and rhythms, etc. Again, if one wishes to successfully farm a field, one comes into harmony with the spirit-gods of fields, farming, growing things, seeds, and weather, etc. etc., and, when in harmony with them, one likely may be successful. Failure shows an absence of harmony.
Likewise, traveling down a river involves finding the heart current of the river. Find it and one travels well. Miss it and one ends in the shoals. Thus, one seeks harmony with the spirit of the thing.
The Fi, while prevalent in Pyth, originated with the Alithinoi Anthropoi from their ancient homeland, the Neosho. Sailing was a critical part of that culture. If one wished to embark on a
sailing trip, one came into harmony with the spirit-god of sailing, which, in turn,
involves coming into harmony with the spirit-gods of ships and seas, etc. etc. Only then, is one prepared to sail.
Devotion, to the Fi, yields success in the thing. Devotion, however, is not rewarded by spirit-gods. Reward is inherent in harmony. It arises in the devotee finding the heart of the thing. It is not a gift. The Fi say "the spirit does not find you; you find the spirit. The gods do not come to you; you go to the gods." (And the spirit-gods are immortal; they would never stoop to coming to the mere mortal.)
Consulting a priest is often thought essential to come into harmony. For the priest knows the ways of the spirit-god and its thing. Priests for farming know the harmonies of fields and growing things. Priests of rivers know the heart current and when it is advantageous to seek it. Priests for sailing know the harmonies of ships and oceans. And priests know the spells and incantations that increase harmony.
Some Fi priests are highly prized and respected, so much so that they are sought by adherents of other faiths. The cost for these priests can be extraordinarily high (all priests, of course, charge for their services) particularly for non-believers. Such costs include not only the retainer for and time of the priest, but for the various devices, accouterments, and ritual materials, etc., needed by the priest.
(Note that, while some (particularly non-believers) have complained that some of these costs are pointless fluff, it is generally considered best to pay the price or face ostracism, even ruination, etc. Not only will one have alienated a priest in the very area one wishes success, but the Priest of Priests (i.e., the priest of the spirit-god of priests) is thought to be particularly unkind to those who shortchange priests. For, while spirit-gods may not care about the conduct of people or seek them out, priests can and often do.)
It is not uncommon for successful priests to take on acolytes. Such acolytes typically pay for their initial apprenticeships. As they gain experience they may occasionally leave their cloisters, let out by the priest to individuals or groups to assist with harmonization (usually after the priest, of course, has been paid for his or her initial work). This can be of great benefit to those who hired the priest since priests typically charge much less for an acolyte's work than for their own work.
Successful acolytes may someday take the mantle of a priest. Successful priests, in turn, may expand their ken to more spirit-gods, sending work back to other priests in various specialties for referral fees. Success, though, does not always follow this path. Sometimes a successful priest becomes more specialized and also becomes more powerful, more respected, and more expensive, etc.
While the Fi do not engage in prayer or adorations, etc., to spirit-gods, they do keep devotional totems. These remind them of prior harmonization. It is commonplace to have several, and often they are worn as trinkets on necklaces or bracelets. Another common practice is to have a series of several smaller totems that interlock to make a larger one representing a spirit-god that takes in the ken of the smaller totems composing it. These can have many many levels of complexity.
The Fi do not, of course, always believe priests are necessary. Some Fi are more cautious (or more superstitious) than others. And, as referenced supra, some situations are more likely to call for a priest than others. Like many (if not all) religions, there are many possible "levels" to Fi beliefs. These run the gamut from the practices and superstitions of some uneducated laity to the sophisticated intellectualisms of some scholars, etc. On one hand, there are some folk practitioners who treat spirit totems as talismans imbued with magical powers and who may worship additional religions or gods outside of the Fi. On the other hand are some intelligentsia who treat Fi spirit-gods as merely ideational or doubt their material existence, etc.
The Fi priest Sophrosyno asserted the difference between spirit-souls and spirit gods is illusory: all spirit-gods are types of spirit-souls, ad vice versa. She asserted there is no true and natural boundary between things. All "things" are part of the larger whole, and on close inspection the boundaries between them break down. If we look with a powerful enough glass, the edges of things are fuzzy. If there were a "smallest" thing its edges would naturally be fuzzy, and it could still exchange energy with the rest of the world and so would not remain precisely the same thing. Likewise people inhale ad exhale and eat and excrete. We are constantly exchanging ourselves with the world. As we learn things and forget things, we are changing. Our personalities are evolving moment to moment. We are never the same. We are never a precise thing. Who we are is always somewhat fuzzy. Likewise, the coast of the Neosho is rugged and has no certain length because the closer we look the more rugged it gets and the longer it gets. Etc. What we understand to be a "thing" is due to post hoc, if implicit, definitions (useful, even necessary as those are), not a pre-existent inherent state. We can define who we are, the boundaries or conditions of an object, the position of a coast, etc., but those are our after-the-fact definitions. Thus, the spirit-soul of any "thing" is actually the spirit-god of an "arbitrary" grouping.
Perhaps the most renowned of the Fi intelligentsia was Kenzen, a critic who described his criticism as "merely displaying on pins the dead flowers of others." He was particularly judgmental of religions outside the Fi. Of these, he was most critical of the so-called monotheist religions, as well as of the Sy, a religious system also coming from the Neosho.
Kenzen had three primary arguments against non-Fi beliefs. First, he argued against religions that have a "personal god," which (in summary) he called "merely belief in an imaginary friend." Second, he argued against religions that have a "gift giving god," which (in summary) he called a "childish fantasy." And, third, he argued against religions having anthropomorphic gods, which (in summary) he called "an absurd projection onto the devine of mortal needs." While detailed discussion of Kenzen's work requires expert analysis beyond this article (but see, e.g., the author's Kenzen: Sage of the Grey Elven Fi (Library of Pyth)), a brief review of his insights is valuable.
Kenzen uses the phrase "personal god" to mean an unseen being who a devotee believes they can have conversations with (or at least directly talk to), etc., or who is personally watching over a devotee (or cares specifically for them), etc., or who has a special understanding of the "ins and outs" of a devotee's life, etc. To Kenzen this is no different from a devotee claiming that they have an imaginary friend. Fantasizing about an imaginary friend may be comforting, but comfort does not bring that imaginary friend into actual existence. If a person believes an imaginary friend actually exists, and the person is not a child, then we understand they are insane. They are not less insane for calling their imaginary friend "a god." After dispensing with the notion of a "personal god," Kenzen then expresses the Fi dogmas that eternal gods are too important to warrant ties to individual people and that the spirits have a different focus: that of which they are the spirit.
Secondly, Kenzen attacks the notion of a "gift giving god," among other things, comparing it to the beloved children's tale of Papa Claws. As we are reminded, Papa Claws is the huge magical bear who roams the world every year during its longest night (the winter solstice) searching for his lost cubs. As he does, if he finds good children, he leaves them gifts. But if he finds bad children, he might eat them. (Or so parents claim. And they claim that, to Papa Claws, bad children taste like sugar cookies.) Kenzen says gullible venal children might believe this tale, but adults should know that there are not powerful magical creatures roaming the world handing out gifts. (That is why the parents actually leave the gifts "from Papa Claws" and eat the sugar cookies left out to either welcome or confuse the bear.) Yet, the devotees of some religions pray and pray and pray to their gods for gifts. They pray for all sorts of gifts, even gifts against the interests of other devotees praying to the same gods, etc. The difference is that children actually get concrete gifts. Kenzen distinguishes the beliefs of the Fi, where one does not pray for gifts and spirit-gods do not give them, but the reward, when it occurs, is inherent in harmony, etc.
Finally, of his significant criticisms, Kenzen disparages the notion of the anthropomorphic god. An "anthropomorphic god" is one that looks like, acts like, or has the needs of a person, etc. To Kenzen this is preposterous since the gods are supposedly devine, may be eternal, and are at least immortal. "Do their bodies fall apart like people?" Kenzen asks. He harps on religions with a sole all powerful 'humanoid" male god. ("Why does he have a penis?" "Who does he have sex with?" "Does he make baby gods? If then, how is he the only god?" "How is a 'perfect god' with a useless penis perfect?" Etc.) Kenzen derides the idea that gods might value people's money ("Where do they spend it? "If they needed money, wouldn't they have better 'god-money?"' Why do they even need money?") or food ("Why would immortals need mortals' meagre foods ... or any food?). He is particularly harsh about sacrifices to a god ("Why would a good god, if it is indeed good, want its followers to suffer?") To the Fi, he says, what a spirit looks like has no relevance. Spirits are not people. They are gods of specific things unable to even communicate with people. One does not seek to communicate with them but to come into harmony with them.
More than 100 years ago the beliefs of the Fi spread beyond the shores of the Neosho, beyond the culture of Alithinoi Anthropoi, and even beyond the people of the Grey Elves. It has found followers among all types of hominids.
There was never any reason to prevent this but the (now fading) hesitation of Grey Elf priests to help non Grey Elves. Certainly, the Fi should not think their spirit-gods care who or what seeks harmony with them. In Pyth the Fi priests have proven successful in drawing followers, albeit predominantly in rural and poorer regions, etc. Their prejudices also quickly fell aside when they realized the money to be earned by broadening their base. Among the wealthy and powerful of Pyth there are now a substantial number of Fi priests, indeed, one might say an over-representation of Fi priests when compared with the Pythian census numbers of overall religious followers.
Prepared by M. Eliade
Office of Religious and Cultural Affairs
No comments:
Post a Comment