Punk rockers look better dark but that’s just my opinion. Ah, favour visual appearance keeping with music style? I think a granny would be well suited to do death metal if she had the stamina for it.

Ozzie is a grandpa, I think, and he’s still cool. He is. He has gotten mellower in his old age, but was never the terror people imagined him to be. His lyrics have never really been that bad.

I never was into metal as a kid, but I like it now. This is a good start to today’s topic. Today, we are talking about the profane. I will cover how the profane is a force that serves the role of entropy in the perception of the sacred, how when balanced it can serve overall well-being instead of poison it, and how one can orient themselves in relationship to the profane and maybe get it into balance in their lives.

But first off, I will start by asking, What does the word profane mean to you?

Offensive.

Against natural laws.

Not sacred.

Mostly whatever will have the ability to shake/unsettle the perceiver.

I think of profanity as stuff that you aren’t supposed to say in polite society, censorship maybe.

For my purposes, I will define the profane as the process or dynamic by which things held sacred tend to fall out of favor. One example would be the hunt. At one point, it was viewed as the spiritual embodiment of proper order in the world. Now, it is a much more crass “sport” that seems to mostly serve to reinforce peoples sense of entitlement in the face of nature.

Organized religion? Ah, indeed. Many old faiths have fallen into what others might consider the profane, and even the currently dominant organized religions have fallen into being little more than organizations with socio-economic and political agendas.

The gravity of the profane has been in our world for a very long time. With the fall of any old ideal or regime, there has almost always been a destructive impulse that leads to the clearing away of the old symbols and works that suggested the old belief system. It happened repeatedly in Egypt and China. Really, there is no where it hasn’t happened. Any belief that becomes intensely fossilized will lead to a gradual upswing in profanity.

Trading old ways for new. Isn’t that called progress? It’s why humans are so curious to know things. Some do call that progress, yes. To my view, profanity as a pure tendency is not itself evil or wrong or out of order in any way.

Funny how people who don’t like “bad words” tend to say the most awful hateful things. Indeed, abstaining from profanity doesn’t purge ones heart of hate. It is possible that it does the opposite.

I find it interesting how different cultures use different profanity. For example, the French use religious terms, another culture uses animal terms, etc. Americans use implied references to sexuality. Hmmm… Animals, sex, and religion, can you think of any profanity that doesn’t have its roots in something people actually value?

Though I can’t say why, swearing only annoys me when it’s over done. I admire it when it’s well-used. Swearing can be done for empty attention getting purposes rather than self-expression.

Your thoughts are welcome. Be well friends.

Travis Saunders
Dragon Intuitive
~science,mysticism,spirituality~