Cosmic Odyssey

This was the third UnScruz I attended. Since the surveys had been interesting at Burning Man I decided to have a go at it here at the smaller, more intimate Santa Cruz Regional Burn. I had some qualms about the first question, not wanting to offend anyone who might be very devoted to their religious beliefs and might be rankled by the suggestion that harm is done by religion, possibly more good than harm, but maybe not. Not so many ready answers for this one, there was a lot of considering. The consideration about religion supporting the formation of civilizations came up quite a bit. Also the bad stuff, intolerance, exclusion, religious wars and such. Charitable works. Support of malignant leaders and politicians, providing sanctuary and refuge, building of community. Well, there were good conversations. I had questioned one of the visitors at Waking Dreams and he remembered the questions, had found the session to be memorable. That was heartening. I decided again to keep asking. There were more female than male journal keepers, from a pretty small sample size. What does keeping a journal mean? Does a couple dated entries per month count? This surveyor says yes. What about four times per year, quarterly? That's a bit of a stretch. I don't know if that came up. Mostly it was a simple yes or no. I had a conversation with a group sitting around Global Warming about my binary data collection, i.e. M and F, and how I was making the call. Trying to keep it simple, but recognizing my bias. A non-binary person asked if they could decide which side, and it dawned on me, of course. In fact, I've still kept it binary in the field, but the "other" option is provided here with the online answering tool. Maybe at Axis Mundi I'll change the protocol.

What I Found

There was zero hostility engendered by discussions of the religion question, but a lot of thoughtful discourse. Journals are fun to talk about, so many pastimes include journaling. Garden journals, bird journals, exercise journals. Journals about self realization, lovemaking, health care. Journals about unanswered questions, burning questions. I'm glad I asked this question, it got me to start journaling again.