Outer Form, Inner Form

This is something I wrote in my blog, but if I posted it up in my journal no one would comment. It is a bit wordy, I apologize. Critique it, critize it, comment it, agree disagree. Eventually it will be improved upon.

Introduction

One of the many discoveries that I have enjoyed realizing is that of the concept of Outer Form, Inner Form. As I am re-discovering my Celtic & Druid heritage, besides pursuing the tradition I currently follow, I am come to find that there is a presentation of one side, one mask. You can see what is there to see, but you cannot look beyond the simplest form of it. In the sense of understanding ONA, all its MSS, generally starting out, you do not see the depth of it. With the Druids they had a system where everyone can learn it’s Outer Form, but the Inner Form was reserved for Initiates.

Outer Form

Most people present a certain Outer Form to the world. It can be a mask, it can be armor, a weapon. Or the Outer Form can also be who are you, but not the depth of who you are. It’s generally easy to just glance over someone’s Outer Form and think that is who they are. Even with the mysteries of certain paths is only perceived as an Outer Form. Though often mundanes let others choose for them what they think of a path’s Outer Form. I can look at my mother for example, my sister is interested in an alternative path that is not Christianity and my mother was freaked out. I decided to mess with my mother and got her a book of Buddhism, this will hopefully plant more seeds of acceptance in her. My mother was disturbed about Buddhism at first too.

However, many people today present an outer form. It can be described as a mark, or even armor. There is someone who I know, whose mask is that of a funny crazy guy. It is just the way he presents himself. My friend does not like the guy, but he does not see past this guy’s Outer Form like I can. My friend just see’s this crazy outer appearance and so dropped this guy of the radar. What my friend failed to see, is the sinister nature behind this guy. This guy is someone who has followed the Dark Path for many years and now is trying to assume part of a numinous nature with following The Numinous Way, or at least similar to it. Appearances deceive and clearly people forget this. There are people who make themselves appear homeless, to gain donations from people though they are not. That smile may hide sinister intent or a deep sorrow. That’s the nature of Outer Forms.

Paths, or religions, have Outer Forms per se. The Outer Forms are the basic you generally get to know. They may provide free material for you, feed your mind, see if your are curious. With traditional covens, one is supposed to wait a year and a day before being “initiated.” This gives the person a time to learn the basic knowledge, as well as convenient preview if the person to be initiated can working within the group. This is the stage of the Neophyte. They are generally not the receiving end of the inner most teachings of the mythos and mysteries of a path. Books cannot teach you what following a path means to follow. Recently I picked up an old book on Wicca, one I read forever ago and as I was re-reading it, it really opened my eyes. This is generally why the Neophyte does not need the inner most teachings of a path.

Titles and names are Outer Forms. We often let ourselves be dictated by certain parts of our lives. When you are customer service you do not swear. If you are someone who is a salesman you do not curse away. You dress a certain way, behave a certain way. Clothes are an Outer Form too. That person who is dressed as a homeless may not be really homeless. Just because they are homeless does not mean you understand the circumstances that brought them there. Think what you will, but Outer Forms are just a glance, a surface of the ocean. In the middle of the Atlantic, we see only the vary top of the layer, we do not see the abyss all the way below. That person in vanilla clothes could be a goth, that Nurse?

The Outer Form of any path is a lure as well as an armor/weapon. It is a lure for those who it should resonate with. It is an armor and a weapon for those who should not be part of that path. No path is perfect for everyone. The path one follows should resonate within oneself. There are those who are not meant to follow such paths. Therefore, like ONA, there is a form like a snake waiting to bite those who are unworthy. Or maybe it should be the other way around, where the snake is tricksey and you cannot catch it, but it is smart and infect only those of it’s kind who can handle such sweet poison.

Inner Form

The discovery of an Inner Form is stripping away all pretenses. This does not mean we can ever fully understand each other as we are constantly evolving, well some of us are. When you push past the mask, all that armor, you discover a Truth about the person. In an Outer Form they may be all bluster, but their Inner Form will reveal if they are weak, strong, if they walk the walk, or they are just talk, if they are fake, or real. Strip their clothes off and they are naked, they cannot hide their scars.

Sometimes the problem with Outer Forms we lose touch with the Inner Form. Being out of touch with the Inner Form creates imbalance and strike. There is a general symptom of feeling unhappy. The Outer Form though can be so well on that we forget and the only feeling we’ll get from it too, is that something is out of place. We don’t feel the depth of our being. We think that what is on the surface is all there is to us. Often we disguise our Inner Form with our jobs, our social groups, our clothes…They are still part of us, but they are not necessarily part of the Inner Form that we all have. Inner Forms do change but they are the sum of us, our experiences, thought, words, emotions, actions, and ethics. They reflect our Character, which is what we should be judged on, not the silly Outer Forms that we front. Our Character changes over a casual time of accumulation. As we add in experience, of knowledge, actions, and emotions, it builds the Character (Inner Form) of someone. Just like a house is not made up of one brick, one piece of wood, so it is for our Character.

Religions, or “paths” as I like to call them, is a tool to build the Character, an Inner Form. They provide us tools (MSS, meditation, tasks, community, etc) to begin an inner alchemy to achieve a change within ourselves. The inner teachings of such pathways are important, but not necessary for someone who is a neophyte. Do you teach calculus to a 5 year old? Not unless they are a very brilliant 5 year old and those are rather rare. I remember reading this one book, I did not understand it when I was 13 years old. I went back recently to read it, as I am using it to help teach my sister, and I am picking up little tidbits of information I never realized about it. It’s easy when one is just an initiate to mistake certain teachings, wisdom, as foolishness, or to pass over and not think of it. The beginner cannot grasp often the “advanced” teachings especially when they have not facilitated an inner alchemy. We begin with the basics and build up upon it, that is the nature of how we all learn. All the science and knowledge we hold dearly in our society, is built upon discovery by discovery. I am sure to such Ancients, or even people from 100 years ago could not imagine the life and wealth of knowledge hold in the palm of our hands. The internet is such an abused example of knowledge at our fingertips.

Some Synthesis

However, an Inner Form and Outer Form can be interesting enough inter-changeable, because they are both us. I am an unfriendly person, but I am also a friendly person. I am nice, I am cruel, and I can be cruel with my kindness. Just because we may put a constant mask of one appearance, does not mean the inner form changes. I am generally a quiet person, but do not let my quietness deceive you. I can be incredibly loud when I desire to, I can be the life of the party if I so desire. This is interchangeable for me, but generally I like to be quiet, over-looked. Outer Forms is like a many-sided dice that gamers use, you know those with 20 some sides? People are rather complex and often we only see a couple sides of them. That whole dice though is the entirey of themselves, with a “core” in the middle.

Outer Forms can serve a purpose, as a mask. They can be insight roles that are informative. Pretend to be a Christian. Pretend to be a Homeless person. You have to really apply the mask to believe it. The lessons you learn from these Outer Forms are interesting, one’s in which is necessary and only learned by those who do such insight roles. Outer Forms are important like this, especially when you can deceive so easily. I often think of the Outer Forms I use as various “selves” that I have. I have spent a lot of time destroying and ripping them down in a matter, of trying to understand who I am and what I am capable of. I find another “Self” I destroy it. It is a brutal process but has been much rewarding and eventually I will arise like a pheonix from all the ashes. So I keep my Outer Forms, keep a smile on my face, but people don’t understand how amoral I am.

Reads well so far. Can't read it all at the moment, but when I get back I look forward to finishing it.