INTERLUMINISM

Once safe, connected, and in control, we feel the need to explore the world within and around. This is our core human need for self-actualization, the drive to become better than before.

At our cores are an unlimited supply of curiosity and creativity: Curiosity is the fuel, Creativity is the flame. Curiosity makes us want to learn, and Creativity uses that knowledge to create our gifts for the world around us. We're able to unburden ourselves of pain and shame through self-expression.

You don't have to try to be creative, it happens when your self is free.

You can explore this through: Art and Expression (making things to show how we feel and see) Spiritual Development (connecting to a higher power/source of purpose for ourselves) Understanding the Self (who we are, what we need, and why we do the things we do)

The symbol for COMPREHENSION is an upward-facing crescent, the color yellow, and the essence of Kase.

CONTROL is the fiery passion in all of us, it is our agency, our need to be in control and be free. It is not about bossing others or doing things your way or the highway.

Our morality and action is defined by our freedom. An enslaved person lacks CONTROL and, thusly, is crippled in their full potential. Choice and action are a core part of who we are and what we need as humans.

CONTROL is defined by the two virtues of Clarity and Confidence. Clarity means having a clean pair of lenses for the world around us, allowing us to see the truth clearly and without the grime of bias. Confidence, meanwhile, is the trust that you can handle any path forward.

Self-Leadership is the core of CONTROL. The best ways to do this are to start making clear, stark boundaries to protect yourself, your time, and your energy. It also means taking ownership of your choices, past, present, and future, and not blaming anyone. Finally, it means acting as a mirror for your inner self and showing the truth to the parts of you that limit your abilities and skills.

CONTROL is related to passion/transformation, the essence of Pali, the color Red, and the shape of a Triangle.

Humans are social creatures. This is as much a fact of life as death and taxes. We have an inherently socialized brain, meaning we are built to seek bonds with others. No man is an island, we're meant to be an archipelago.

A relationship, in this view, is not always with persons. It's with anyone and anything we see a bond with. Animals and plants may not be our 'human' relatives, but they are a part of us nonetheless. We impact them as much as we do, they.

To satisfy our hunger for CONNECTION, we use Compassion and Connectedness.

Compassion allows us to see the real truth in others without judging them. It allows us to feel that Unconditional Positive Regard, as described by Carl Rogers. Along with this Unconditional Positive Regard, we also need to be able to show Genuineness and Empathy to others.

Genuineness means being real and transparent with another: no mind games, no mind-reading, no deflection or fear. Empathy, of course, is being able to feel and share emotions with another without judgement.

Connectedness is the feeling that we belong to a family or group. When we talk to others and feel understood, we feel a sense of understanding that's hard to express. A limbic resonance. Feeling understood is one of the most valuable and mind-altering experiences we can feel.

These can be with something simple and close, like immediate family and friends. Or more complex relationships: dating, sexual partners, enemies, teachers, peers, students, nieces and nephews, ancestors, our communities, our nations, Mother Nature, the Earth itself, or even the Universe as a whole.

When we feel connected and loved, we find the strength to take charge of our own lives.

At the end of the day, how can we expect growth within ourselves and others if we can't be real and show true love?

In Interluminism, CONNECTION is associated with fluidity/adaptability, the essence of Lada, the color blue, and the shape of a circle with three circles linked in the center.

CONTINUANCE

Survival and safety are the bedrock of our existence, they're our most 'animalistic,' primal needs. Before we're even able to think about making friends, having agency, or understanding what's out there, we need to know how we're going to survive the next minute, hour, day, year.

CONTINUANCE is based on Maslow's "Psychological" and "Safety" Needs, as well as Clayton Alderfer's "Existence" need from ERG theory.

CONTINUANCE isn't only survival and safety. It's also our need to feel healthy, the desire for sex and relaxation, the need to feel like we're going to be okay.

While all the four hungers are important, CONTINUANCE is seen as the most essential because, until it is satisfied, it's near impossible to balance the others. Not totally impossible, but much harder than it should be. When we're limited in our CONTINUANCE needs, it triggers threat responses in our brain that make it impossible to develop and grow.

A plant can only grow high if its roots and soil are safe.

However, the only way to truly see growth and stability is to find the virtues that develop your Continuance. These two are Calmness and Courage.

Calmness allows us to make steady, healthy choices for our bodies without falling into panic, shame, or fear-based absolutist choices.

Meanwhile, Courage acts as our shield. It gives us the strength to protect our boundaries and needs and to face the harsh truths of reality.

In Interluminism, CONTINUANCE is associated with solidity/stability, our essence of SALO, the color green, and the shape of a square.

GREEN: #24AB25

If you've been exploring this blog for a while, you may start to see some repeating phrases/concepts. One of these are a set of four terms:

Continuance, Connection, Control, and Comprehension.

You might ask: What does any of this mean?

Here's the basic idea*:

*I am not a professional psychoanalyst or researcher, these are my own ideas I've developed as an autodidact. Do not take them as gospel or absolute truths.

Humans, at their core, have needs we're always trying to attain and ascertain. Based on Humanistic Psychology and the Internal Family Systems, I've attempted to synthesize a more comprehensive way of viewing these inner needs.

To make a long story short,

Continuance: The hunger to stay alive and feel safe. Connection: The hunger to belong and feel close to others. Control: The hunger to make our own choices and have power over our lives. Comprehension: The hunger to understand ourselves and the world and find a sense of meaning.

"Is the treasure in the chest, or in the decision to dig where no one else has?"

HUNGER: Comprehension

VIRTUE: Curiosity

This quote helps me to see that the journey for a reward is often just as important as the reward itself. Almost a perennial truth, valuing exploration over the end of the road.

I challenge you to do something similar: start to value your route or choices leading to a great reward, instead of the reward itself.

Do you want to buy a treat at the store? Reflect on the sway of your legs or the breeze on your face, the idle chatter of passerby, the beautiful and ever-shifting weather around us, the architecture of the store itself, and the joy the store brings to others.

How do you value the journey over the destination?

"If you set aside your lists of likes and dislikes, what remains of the strangers before you?"

-------------------------------

This quote sticks with me a lot, as I've gotten older.

As a kid, I'd often dismiss others and their opinions for the attributes that I disliked. Even if they were a good friend, if their personality had a trait I didn't like fully, it already started to push us away.

I think this quote helps me see that, while we are all strangers to each other, we should not limit our interactions based on what we deem good and bad.

Left or Right, Minority or Majority, Old or Young. We can't hold these deep-seated biases simply because that's what we've always used.

So, I present this challenge along with this quote:

Think of a friend or acquaintance. List all the things you like about them, and the things you don't. Then, with a blank mind, list what you know about them, as objectively as possible.

Who are you left with?

Created new designs for our icon, The Magpie. Her name is Maisie, say hello!

A gold-billed Magpie with rainbow feathers, and of course our golden four-pointed star.

Did you know the names Maisie, Mae, Mags, Margot, Maggie, and Greta, are all pet names for the Mag in Magpie's name, Margaret? Cool stuff!

She's free to use and share, you may also reinterpret her however you wish :D

I've also developed a flyer variant of our beliefs to print and share with others!

Finally, here's some miscellaneous designs I've made since my last post:

New icon for Interluminism: The Magpie. After reading about Magpies and their messy mythocultural history, I found them absolutely perfect for our beliefs. For many cultures, especially western ones, Magpies are seen as harbingers of doom or thieves, while in Eastern culture they're a sign of good fortune.

I think, as Interluminists, we're able to see the Magpie for what they are: beautiful syncretists and innovators.

These were some photos I took of Magpies at the Chicago Field Museum. Only, like, 5 corvids in this entire hall of birds :(. But look at their beautiful wings and beaks!

Magpies are underappreciated, and exactly the animal figurehead of Interluminism; they are our Doves of Christianity, our Lions of Judea, our Bovids of Hinduism.

I also came up with an Interluminist variant of the "One for Sorrow" rhyme:

Original One for sorrow, Two for joy, Three for a girl, Four for a boy, Five for silver, Six for gold, Seven for a secret never to be told.

You're probably wondering, "how does fate/destiny work in this dipolar view of the cosmos? Do we have free will, as panexperiential elements of the cosmos, or are we constrained by reality due to our inexorable linkage between us and God?"

In Interluminism, we hold a core belief that life isn't just something that happens to you, nor is it already planned ahead. Instead, we see that each and every one of us has a Lode.

Taken from "Lodestones" or "Lodestars," Lode is our guide and windsock for existence.

Try to picture yourself on the ocean; you're on a tiny skipper floating on the vast sea. The wind tousles your hair and splashes against your skin, while the waters below shift and shake the hull.

In the traditional Fate/Destiny model, your path is, and always has been, set. You can't choose your destination as much as you can choose the wind's angles.

Using Lode, we see two forces that help us navigate: the wind and our rudder. The wind represents the past, the things we cannot change. They're our blood, our bones, the actions of others; they push you a certain direction without you realizing it.

Meanwhile, your rudder is your own human volition. Even though you can't control where the wind blows, you can shift and adjust the rudder to keep the ship upright and to where you need to go.

You can set your sails to use the wind and head toward beauty and peace, instead of just letting it crash you into the rocks of the shores ahead.

Lode is also how we see the brain's choices: your mind is a prediction machine that always tries to guess what'll happen next based on what it's already know. Sometimes it suggests a choice because of what your parents said, how you previously reacted, how you think another would act; these are examples of the stress and pain that impacts our thinking.

But! Just because an idea is on our brain's menu, that doesn't mean we have to stick with it. As humans, we're capable of vetoing our inhibitions. We can notice and react to a habit and willfully say "No." By saying no to old, painful patterns, we actively repair our own mind and cleanse our minds for the coming days.

Lode teaches us that we are not victims of circumstance, nor do none of our decisions matter. We must respect the bedrock of the past that lead us down our path, but we are responsible for where we lead ourselves.

"Your future hasn't been written yet. No one's has. Your future is whatever you make it, so make it a good one."

Not trying to sound hateful or sceptical, just curious what this blog is:)

Hi! Thank you for your question!

To answer your first question: This whole thing is my attempt to develop my own cohesive belief system. It's based on my own ideas of the world, universe, and our place in it.

To be very, very clear, this is NOT an attempt at a cult or self-help pyramid scheme. I am not proclaiming to have the ultimate truth of the universe, uncovering some perennial truth that only I can see.

These are my beliefs and I just want to share them with the world. After growing up Catholic, I've known how insidious and malicious dogmatic religions can be, so this is my attempt to say "believe what you will, share with those who get it."

Interluminism is my attempt to be an 'open-source spirituality': I've developed the basic core ideas, and others can use and adapt however they wish.

I've always been fascinated by religion and spirituality, and over the past few years I've been trying to take and piece together various influences of ideas that inspire me and make sense to me.

Some of which include:

Stoicism

Shintoism

Zen/Chan Buddhism

Internal Family Systems

Aboriginal Everywhen (Dreamtime)

Mesoamerican natural reciprocity

Panexperientialism (Everything experiences something, not Animism)

Panentheism (God is beyond the universe but also imminent within it)

Process Philosophy/Theology (Dipolar Godhood)

Neoplatonism/Monad

Humanism/Freethought

Quakerism (A lot of 'Inner Light' ideas and themes)

and some Gnostic ideas from Christianity (especially the Gospel of Thomas)

This isn't meant to be a literal 'we came from this and I can prove it,' but more of a way of seeing the world. There will be no attempt at revising history for the sake of it.

And I think seeing the world as a part of god, and that we have god within is, is a great motivator to feel things aren't so miserable. Plus, it's a much more conquerable idea to see that we're good people, obscured by harmful events and trauma, who just need to see the goodness again.

I hope this answered your question! Thank you for your inquiry!

Here's the current edition of the Interluminist Zine for laypeople to read and learn more.

Print! Share! Show others what makes Interluminism so fascinating! I'd love to see some reiteration and redesign from other Luminaries!

New prompts to use for one's own self-refection; no clear answers are needed, just questions to let your mind stew in throughout a day.

LMR. (Luminar) James

CONTINUANCE VIRTUES

COURAGE

If the mountain does not move for the wind, why does the heart tremble for a whisper?

Can the seed find the strength to break the earth without first trusting the dark?

Does the river apologize to the stone for the paths it must carve?

Who is the master of the storm: the sky that shouts or the root that holds?

How does the winter branch remember the spring while the ice is still heavy?

If you stopped trying to outrun the shadow, what light would you find in the center of the woods?

Is the bird brave because it flies, or because it lets go of the branch?

Can a fire burn bright if it is afraid of the wood that feeds it?

Does the moon hide its face because the night is vast and cold?

How does the stone endure the tide without ever raising a hand?

If the clay refuses the heat, how will it ever hold the rain?

Does the wolf hunt for praise, or because the necessity is true?

Can you stand as straight as the cedar when the winds of the past blow against your leaves?

What truth would the ocean tell if it weren't trying to drown the shore?

Is the sprout weak for being small, or strong for being alive?

Why does the eagle trust the air that it cannot see or touch?

Can you look at the sun without blinking and see the shadow you leave behind?

Does the rain ask the parched earth for permission before it falls?

How much of the mountain is made of the grit that refused to wash away?

If you are the sailor, why do you spend your days arguing with the waves?

CALMNESS

If the mind is like a mirror, can it truly reflect the sky while it is being constantly shaken?

Does the stone in the center of the rapid stream ask the water to slow down?

When you set down your phone and the room is finally still, where does all that noise in your head actually go?

If the tree does not tremble at the arrival of winter, why do you live in dread of a season that has not yet come?

How can a single leaf fall with such grace if it is afraid of where the wind might carry it?

If you stopped fighting the flow of traffic, would you find that the peace you seek is already sitting beside you?

Is the ocean less calm during a storm, or is the tranquility simply resting in the weight of the deep?

When the world is full of shouting voices, can you find the silence that exists between two words?

Can you walk through a crowded station and remain as spacious as the sky above the city?

If the sun is never late to rise, why do you live as if you are always running out of time?

Does the moon hide its face because the night is vast, or is it simply at rest in the cold?

If you let the mud of a busy day settle, how long would it take for the water of your mind to become clear?

When the world is loud, can you be like a steady rock that lets the noise flow around you without being moved?

Does the mountain feel smaller when the clouds move across its peak to hide the view?

If the wind cannot be caught in a net, why do you try so hard to hold on to a moment that has already passed?

Is the slow growth of the grass a failure, or is it simply moving at the pace of life?

If your peace is a wide-open field, why do you spend your days building walls to hide behind?

Can you listen to the roar of the city until it sounds no different than the falling rain?

If you let go of the results of your work, what is left of the simple joy of the doing?

How much of the weight you carry at the end of the day belongs to a tomorrow that hasn't arrived?

CONNECTION VIRTUES

CONNECTEDNESS

If the same air passes through the lungs of the wolf and the city-dweller, where does the boundary between them truly begin?

Does the tree in your garden stop being yourself just because you cannot feel the sap rising in its bark?

When you send a message across the globe in a second, are you moving closer to the world or realizing you were never apart?

If every drop of water in the ocean has touched every shore, how can any wave claim to be a stranger to the sand?

Does the electric light in your room forget it was once the fire of a distant, ancient sun?

When you look into the eyes of a stranger on the train, are you seeing a new person or just another version of the one looking back?

If the iron in your blood was forged in the heart of a dying star, how can you feel small in the face of the night sky?

Can the leaf be proud of its unique shade of green while ignoring the root that feeds the whole forest?

If your phone links you to a billion minds, why does the silence of a single bird feel like a more honest conversation?

Does the river apologize to the mountain for carrying its stone to the sea, or is the journey simply the way they remain one?

If the breath you just took was once the exhale of a cedar tree, who is really breathing whom?

Can you find a single thread in your clothing that does not lead back to the soil, the sun, and a stranger's hand?

If the world is a city without walls, why do we spend our days building fences in our own minds?

Does the moon hide its face from the Earth because it is lonely, or because it is resting in the gravity of its partner?

When you walk upon the ground, do you feel the ancestors beneath your feet supporting the weight of your next step?

If the same rhythm that moves the tides also moves your heart, why do you try to dance to a different tune?

Can a single note in a song exist without the silence that came before it and the harmony that surrounds it?

If the rain falls on the rich man and the poor man alike, why does the heart distinguish between their thirst?

Does the bird singing at dawn know it is waking the world, or is the song just the world waking itself?

If you are a drop in the ocean, does the ocean become less itself if you decide to stand apart?

COMPASSION

How would you treat the broken branches of your own spirit if you saw them as a small child who just needed a hug?

If the rain does not choose which flower to water, why do we pick whose thirst is worthy of our mercy?

When a neighbor’s grocery bag breaks, are you seeing a nuisance or the weight of a shared humanity that a kind heart could lift?

Can you look at your own mistakes with the same compassion the forest shows the fallen logs that eventually nourish the soil?

If you understood that everyone’s suffering is linked to yours, whose hand would you want to reach for first?

Does the sun ask the frost for a reason before it offers the warmth needed to melt the morning ice?

If your spirit is a garden, are you pulling the weeds of anger to punish the ground or to give the flowers of peace room to grow?

How would you listen to a friend's story if you could feel their breath inside your own lungs?

Can a single kind word to a tired stranger be the small seed that grows into a great forest of hope?

If you saw the "villain" in your day as a wounded part that was never given the safety it needed to heal, what would you offer them?

Does the earth refuse the compost of the past, or does it transform the garbage of a difficult season into the beauty of the bloom?

If you are the river, do you blame the stone for its hardness, or do you simply flow around it to keep the path wet?

When you see a stray dog in the city, do you see an animal or the same deep hunger for connection that lives in us all?

How would you treat your own exhaustion if you respected it as a sacred signal from a vessel that has given all it could?

If the sky can hold both the storm and the clearing, why do we think we must hide our tears before we can show our kindness?

Can you give a gift to a stranger today that treats them as they would want to be treated, without needing a reason why?

If you understood that every person you pass is carrying a burden they never received help for, would you find their silence so heavy?

Does the tree feel regret for shedding its leaves to nourish the very life that will one day grow beneath it?

If you looked at your deepest shame and saw not a defect, but a part that has been hidden away and is finally ready to be heard, would you still try to bury it?

How can we call our days successful if they maximize our own comfort but leave the suffering of another exactly as we found it?

CONTROL VIRTUES

CLARITY

If you wipe the dust from your windshield, do the mountains ahead actually change, or just your ability to see them?

When the fog lifts from the valley, does the forest appear for the first time, or was it simply waiting for your eyes?

Can you look at a bare fact on a screen without letting the story your mind tells rewrite the truth?

If the lake is still, does it need a name for the moon it reflects?

Why do you search the horizon for a lighthouse when the light is already behind your own eyes?

Does the eagle see the wind, or does it simply know the path because it has stopped arguing with the air?

If you set aside your list of likes and dislikes, what remains of the stranger standing before you?

When you look at your reflection in a dark window, are you seeing the glass or the world that lies beyond it?

Does a lens have a color of its own, or must it be clear to show the flower as it truly is?

If the silence is the canvas, why are you so concerned with the noise of the brush?

Can you watch a flame without naming the heat, and simply see the light that consumes the dark?

If the past mind cannot be held and the future is not yet born, what is the weight of the shadow you carry now?

Does the mirror feel pride when it shows the sun, or is its only virtue the absence of itself?

When you strip the labels from the jars in your cupboard, does the salt lose its saltiness?

If the clouds are just guests of the sky, why do you treat the storm as if it were the host?

Can you perceive the oak tree without the word "tree" and find the life that has no name?

If you stopped explaining your life to yourself, what truth would the silence finally tell?

Is the path hidden by the darkness, or by the map you refuse to set down?

When the camera focuses on the grain of a leaf, does the rest of the world disappear or simply wait its turn?

If you look at your face before the world gave you a role, who is the one looking back?

CONFIDENCE

Does the sunflower ask the sky for permission before it decides to follow the light?

If the towering oak waits for the forest to applaud, will it ever find the strength to grow a single leaf?

Why do you ask the wind for directions when your own roots already know the depth of the soil?

Can a river be lost when its only purpose is to follow the gravity of its own nature?

When you stand in your own skin, do you need a stranger to tell you that you are finally home?

If your heart is an island, why do you wait for a passing ship to tell you that the ground beneath you is solid?

Does the hawk apologize to the valley for the shadow its wings cast upon the grass?

If a seed required proof of the spring before it broke the earth, would the world ever see the color green?

Can the towering cliff be diminished by the morning mist that temporarily hides its height from the commuters below?

When you close your eyes, do you need a census to confirm that your inner light is still burning?

Why do you treat your own deep knowing as a rumor while treating the shouts of the crowd as law?

Does the ocean tide ask the shore if it is the right moment to claim its space?

If you were the only person left in the city, whose opinion would you be wearing as your clothes?

Does the hunting cat doubt its own grace simply because the mouse does not stop to admire it?

Does the fire seek a permit from the wood before it decides to provide its own heat?

If your worth is a fortress, why have you left the gate keys in the hands of people who are only passing by?

Can the wild rose be shamed by the thorns for being the only thing on the hill that knows its own name?

When the earthquake rumbles, does the cornerstone ask the foundation if it has the right to remain immovable?

Why do you look for your own face in a mirror that has been clouded by the dust of someone else's judgment?

If you are the sailor of your own journey, why are you waiting for the dock to tell you that the vessel is already moving?

COMPREHENSION VIRTUES

CURIOSITY

How does the honeybee know to seek the blossom it has never seen?

If you deleted every answer you ever memorized, what questions would finally have room to breathe?

Why does the sprout push through the dark soil if it doesn’t yet know the sun exists?

If the map were perfect, would there be any reason left to take the walk?

Can you look at your oldest habit as if it were a strange animal you just discovered in the woods?

Does the telescope change the stars, or does it change the one who looks through the glass?

If you stopped searching for a destination, would you notice the patterns in the dust beneath your feet?

Is the treasure in the chest, or in the decision to dig where no one else thought to look?

Can a tree grow taller if its roots are afraid of what they might find in the deep earth?

If you closed your eyes and just listened, how many voices of the world would you hear for the first time?

Why do we search for signals on a screen while the wind is writing messages in the grass?

Is the river's path determined by the mountain, or by the water's desire to see what lies around the next bend?

When was the last time you looked at a simple stone until it became a mystery again?

If you expect the unexpected, does the storm become a threat or a teacher?

Can you listen to a clock tick and hear the rhythm of your life instead of the passing of time?

Why does the child ask "why" until the parent runs out of words, and where did that child go inside of you?

If the truth has two wings, are you flying with both or just hopping on the one you already believe?

Does the scent of the rain tell you where it came from, or where it invites you to go?

If you already had all the answers, would there be any space left in your soul to grow?

Can you look at a stranger on the street and see not a face, but a library of stories you have yet to read?

CREATIVITY

If the artist is a reed, is the music made by the flute or the wind passing through it?

Does the morning frost plan the intricate patterns it leaves upon your windowpane?

If your life is a blank canvas, why do you spend your days tracing the lines someone else drew?

How does the spider know to weave a new web when the old one is swept away by the broom?

Can the river find a new path without first breaking the banks of its own history?

If the song of the bird is never repeated exactly, is it because the bird is talented or because the morning is new?

Does the potter shape the clay, or does the clay teach the hands how to move?

If you stopped trying to follow the recipe, what flavor would your own hunger discover?

Can a garden grow beautiful if every flower is required to be a rose?

How much of the mountain was carved by the rain that didn't know it was an artist?

If the stars are the ink, who is the one writing the story of the night?

Does the lightning ask for a permit before it illuminates the dark?

If your work is a mirror, are you showing the world as it is or how it could become?

Can a single seed imagine the forest it will one day support?

Why do we search for a "muse" in the clouds when the spark is already in our own fingertips?

Is the waterfall falling, or is it simply creating a new way to reach the bottom?

If you let the broken pieces of a difficult day settle, what mosaic of wisdom could you build?

Does the fire seek a reason to dance, or is the heat itself the celebration?

Can a child build a castle of sand without first trusting that the tide will eventually return?