On panarchy

n. 1. What there would be if everybody had power; what there is when everybody has power. 2. A system in which power is held broadly by all members of society, in contrast to monarchy (power held by one), oligarchy (power held by few), or anarchy (power held by none). Compare monotheism (one deity), polytheism (many deities), pantheism (a universe full of deities).

Where was I the other day when these ideas came bouncing into my brain? Was I walking down the trail toward Alumni Creek Lake, catching the first glimpse of the choppy water cut by wind and finding its own level? Or was I doing a taiji form in the cavernous space at the Yoga Factory listening to Bobby McFerrin's "Medicine Man"? Maybe it was while reading Zizek's postmodern critiques of pop culture, or was it while filling in text boxes in the performance management process, where goals morph into competencies, which morph into developmental plans, and words turn back on themselves in self-reflexive speech acts? Maybe not. It might have been on the way home from my men's group meeting where we talked about Christmas. Or it could have come out of the drum circle last week when a dozen people sat and banged away for an hour and cooked, then walked out to their cars. I don't remember exactly, maybe it was the combination of all those things - and others.

There's something very appealing about panarchy and its theological cousin pantheism. But are we talking metaphysically, about what is the nature of the universe, or are we talking ideologically/morally about what the social situation should be - are we talking descriptively or prescriptively? And are those really different? Isn't the metaphysical description just a disguised ideological prescription? Aarrgh. I didn't set out to write a paper, but my training is taking over.

When in doubt, quote others. Rev. Susan was talking about the role of imagination in making a holiday happen. One of her examples was the three "wise men" (kings, shamans, sorcerers, traders in metals, incense, and aromatic gum resin) choosing to go in the direction of the extraordinary star they saw, not knowing why or toward what they were traveling. There was much more to her story, and of course I've forgotten most of it. Since the magi (pl. of magus, n. 1. member of priestly class of ancient Medes and Persians, 2. magician) walked the walk, they didn't necessarily have to "believe" or even have a theory, just be open to possibilities and go looking. But I digress.

The other example that stuck with me was the pagan practice of lighting bonfires on the longest, darkest night of the year to encourage the sun to come back. Maybe it's my nordic blood, but I can relate to that. One of the drum circle regulars later told me that she's bringing candles a week from Tuesday to add a bit of light along with our drumming in the solstice.

Where am I going with this? I'm not sure, and the more I write, the more my left brain takes over and I lose the thread that my right brain had found. Here's a clue from the wordy UUs: "The origin of the word 'worship' is in the Old English weorthscippen, meaning to ascribe worth to something... (or) give form or shape to that which we have already found to be of worth."

Panarchists of the world, unite!