Path Through Wild Woods – A Photograph by List Maddie of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Whenever I discuss this particular project with close friends and loved ones, the most common response I get is that I have combined so many already obscure and narrow subjects, that I cannot hope to reach anyone else in a meaningful way. They suggest that I am effectively creating content for an audience of one. It is possible that they are right, but I suspect otherwise.
I have chosen the word “intersection” in the banner for this site for a very important and deliberate reason. An intersection is a place where multiple roads, paths, or streams come together, like a crossroads without the implication that a choice must be made. It is a place between places, between destinations, between groups or communities, between ideologies. It is an opportunity to get a little distance from the usual patterns, habits, and categories and to give ourselves the space to look at other ideas, other paths or directions, and other opportunities. Intersections unite travelers from different places, even if for just a moment.
A proverb within the tradition of Sufism states: “There are as many paths to God as there are souls on earth.” I personally think this is true in several ways. For our purposes here, it is sufficient to say that we each walk our own path of discovery and growth in life. No one can walk that path for us. We may align ourselves with one specific religious or spiritual tradition, but even though we may wholly identify with that particular group or sect, the way that we experience that tradition is deeply personal. We understand it and practice it in our own way. We cannot help but bring something of ourselves with us into that tradition, and by nature of that alone, it becomes our own unique and personal journey.
So whatever happens to have brought you here, we find ourselves, you and I, at an intersection. Our paths have met for one purpose or another, and I think that is worth acknowledging. It may be that you depart after a brief moment, never to return. That is okay. You may decide to walk beside me for a while. Hopefully, you take the opportunity to read my explanation about AniMagicka and Furry Spirituality so you can see where I am coming from. I leave you with a thought from novelist and essayist Tom Robbins:
Our similarities bring us to a common ground; Our differences allow us to be fascinated by each other.
Blessings.