Canonical Creekmasons Pieces: Who We Are
One-off adventures and sitcom hijinks are fun, but don’t multi-episode arcs get you just a little extra pumped?
Update: The “Holiday Hiatus” episodes of Nodes in the Net are out now as well, so if you want to listen to any of the essays listed below read aloud by the author (along with a little extra commentary), here’s a link to all of those episodes.
One-off adventures and sitcom hijinks are fun, but don’t multi-episode arcs get you just a little extra pumped?
They do for me. Always have. I can locate the fluttery origins of this feeling to kindergarten me munching dry Froot Loops ten inches away from a CRT TV playing the Aladdin series’ back-to-back to-be-continued chapters. It continues to the present day. Despite the characters belligerently breaking the fourth wall with chagrined dissatisfaction every time one airs, my favorite Rick and Morty episodes are often the ones that develop the serialized plot of the show.
I also watch shows that aren’t cartoons, I promise.
Point is, I’ve begun to notice that there are a subset of essays on the Creekmasons blog that might be considered Canonical—in the goofy, self-effacing way Rick says it, rather than some pretension toward biblical levels of cultishness.
The first such essay follows below, titled Who We Are. It’s a repost from the old Creekmasons blog that I feel is important to bring to Substack given we’re almost at six months and 100 subscribers and not everyone here knows the origin story of the name Creekmasons.
Who We Are
SEE BELOW
The next is A Big Welcome to jt. It explores the expansion of the Creekmasons, containing additional reflections of our creek of origin and the Thrones that were built there as well as the announcement of
joining the ranks of “Adeptus Makers” who participate in Governance and contribute their own unique Arts and Services.The third in the series is I’m a Creep. Described by more than one Creekmason as “self-eviscerating,” this essay tackles the question of whether alienation is a permanent feature of a liminal disposition. Can a Liminal Trickster Mystic ever belong? Probably not amongst the popular kids, but it seems there’s even difficulty for us in feeling oneness with a group like the Creekmasons, which is, itself, kinda full of weirdos.
A fourth (update: now published) will be titled Reifying the Liminal and Seeking “Fine,” inspired by the lyrics of the Indigo Girl’s Closer to Fine. (“There’s more than one answer to these questions / and the less I seek my source from some definitive / the closer I am to fine”) That essay will expand on the Creep essay’s question of what it means to build something in the liminal. On how important it is as we transition into the Aquarian Aeon to cultivate our own silly little sanghas of creative, householder seekers.
We’ve inducted another Adeptus Maker into the Creekmasons! The essay that introduces
is entitled Christ-like Suffering and in addition to a short myth that I believe is central to the Creekmason project’s driving directive, it includes a remarkable vulnerable, raw, introspective and deeply alchemical look at Colin’s personal trauma and the ways in which his healing from the horrors he’s endured promotes growth and greater harmony for The Creekmasons, and for us all.
When it comes to any one of these essays I’ve just listed, I’ve purposefully pursued the role of figurehead. Rather than unilaterally author the vibe of our group, I try to synthesize and give voice to currents that I see as already present.
You’ll get the sense through these Canonical Creekmasons Pieces of how the idea of what the Creekmasons are has evolved since the word was coined over a decade ago. There are some other documents out there that describe the Decentralized Content Collective the Creekmasons is beginning to become and the Liminal Trickster Mystic subculture to which I believe we belong... But I don’t consider those “Canonical.”
There has to be an element of personal essay style narrative to the post for it to qualify. A balance of vulnerable introspection and exploration of Creekmason and cultural trends, as if more can be learned about either by studying the other.
Still, since I’m going to pin this to the top of the blog for now, I’m not going to miss the chance to link those other pieces. Hah!
In the same vein, I’d like to use this opportunity to share the best articulation we’ve arrived at of our mission. This comes from a heavily commented Google Doc that the Creekmasons have been collaborating on over on Discord.
The Creekmason Content Collective aspires to produce, publish and promote anything related to: deconstructing assumptions that lead to stagnancy and despair; alchemizing our collective and individual trauma, horror and shadow; developing individual self-determination, self-trust and agency that is balanced with acknowledgement of, accountability to, and unity with The All; and thereby manifesting an age of both self- and universal Love.
Creating content, that is, that puts words center stage. Podcasts. Books. Blogs. Vlogs.
That’s who we are now. Let’s take a look at how it started.
Who We Are
Barely off the beaten path,
I built myself a seat:
A chair composed of stones
I found lying in the creek.
Now it’s become a kingly Throne
From which I oversee
The realm of pseudo-nature;
My favorite place to be.
I didn’t take kingship seriously. I didn’t even stop at a single article of Flintstones furniture; I ended up building a seat for my best friend next. Then, addicted to rolling boulders the size of a full grown human gone fetal, I added a three-seat couch to complete a socially optimal circle that made passing the chillum easier.
“The Thrones” will probably outlast me.
I started to think I might have built something cool when I came down to move rocks one day and there was a different group of stoners lounging at the spot and passing around a footlong bong.
That was a decade ago. I moved back to that suburb recently and decided to check on the “realm of pseudo-nature.” It turned out someone else is now maintaining them—even making improvements.
That’s what being a Creekmason is about: finding a small, disregarded corner of the world, making it a little better and yielding ownership to whoever needs a place of escape next. It’s about finding a liminal space amidst attitudes exemplified by sober, domesticated, suburban lawns and experiencing a moment of disconnection from what Douglass Rushkoff calls “the machine.”
A moment of peace.
Look for moments of connection with the others who use the spot, both with you and while you aren’t there. Others who you’ve made a hair more comfortable by moving a stone.
And that’s all it takes to become initiated into the Creekmasons: you have to move one rock with the intention to improve your surroundings.
If you don’t have a creek handy, your rock can be anything. Maybe you pre-bus your plates at a restaurant by stacking them at the end of the table. You might push not just your cart to its corral, but another curbed thoughtlessly in the grocery store parking lot. You could simply contribute to an atmosphere of compassion and acceptance in an online space drifting toward vitriol.
This is your home if you’re feeling disenfranchised, disillusioned and despairing while watching the culture war from the sidelines.
Do you feel like the only one who sees how we all fit together?
You’re welcome here if you’re someone interested in an idealistic Big Picture but turned off by your allies’ demonization of your supposed ideological opponents.
You belong here if you’re hungry to discuss relationships, religion, politics, societal issues and current events without being shouted down for displaying compassion toward the elements of every side that represent a good faith grievance with the status quo. Every Creekmason knows the keen sting of loneliness that comes from embodying a polygnostic mindset defined as believing, simultaneously, that every view, belief and person has value.
The Creekmason ethos dictates that it matters less what you believe, and more how you interact with others who exhibit differences in opinion. The writing here is for people from all directions on all spectrums, but, sort of like Al-Anon, it seeks to fill a need for a “support group” for those who’ve lost a loved one to addictive algorithm-driven radicalization and is meant to be a place where true radical inclusion can thrive.
Accordingly, the extent of my personal mission is simple: to make at least one person feel a little less alone.
Lift up anything heavy; find a way to make a stranger more comfortable.
Let’s build something better, together.
Do you feel like the only one who sees how we all fit together? . . .is meant to be a place where true radical inclusion can thrive. Fabulous!!!