About Me and This Blog
My name is Wayne Martin Mellinger, Ph.D and I am interested in developing a religious orientation I call "Dionysian Naturalism". While I attend a Unitarian Universalist (UU) congregation in Santa Barbara and largely accept the progressive humanism espoused there, I also am passionate about elements of spirituality that are more Dionysian. UUs can sometimes be terribly Apollonian--good at the rational pronouncement of abstract ideas, skilled in crafting logical arguments that build a systematic theology and passionate relating intellectual scholarship to theological currents. They are less good at the Dionysian--those spiritual elements that are ecstatic, mystical, corporeal, based in emotion, intuition and instinct.
Nietzsche might have been the first modern self-proclaimed Dionysian Naturalist and his thinking greatly inspired me as I sought to create my own personal theology. Some of the articles found here appeared in Noozhawk--Santa Barbara's premiere online news source. Others appeared in Naturalistic Paganism, a blog existing at the edges of the Pagan and Religious Naturalist blogosphere. One appeared in the neopagan socialist blog Gods&Radicals.
I am a Religious Naturalist (RN) a religious orientation which overlaps largely with UU. Most UU are RN and many RNs are UU. As a RN I reject the supernatural as mere fantasy. Everything that exists exists in Nature. There is no realm "Supernature". Science is not the only way to know Nature but it is a damn good one and when combined with critical thinking and skepticism is worthy of using to sort through competing truth-claims. Sacredness exists and it exists in Nature. These are the core ideas of RN. As noted, I find that much existing RN is a bit too Apollonian (just like UUs, who are mostly RN).
Dionysian Naturalism (DN) is an emerging religion of nature ground in a scientific worldview (thus naturalist) but with a decidedly Pagan ethos which includes the use of psychedelic sacraments to achieve mystical states (thus Dionysian). Dionysian Naturalism is a form of Religious Naturalism that returns to the shamanic roots of all religion,. It attempts to balance both Apollonian concerns for reason, logic and order with the Dionysian concerns for ecstasy, passion and madness.
Shamans are tribal healers with vast knowledge of the flora and fauna of their bioregions, including what plants are hallucinogenic. They are the technicians of the sacred to use techniques of ecstasy to perform acts of healing. Shamanism is often entheogenic spirituality--based on the use of hallucinogenic plants to achieve an altered state of consciousness. In these deep spiritual states shamans "journey" to the Otherworld.
Entheogen-based mystical experiences allow modern psychonauts to "wake up" to their "true nature", gaining liberation and freedom from the limitations of ordinary life. Researchers at Johns Hopkins University reported that a full third of the volunteers in their 2006 psilocybin study said their experiences were one of the five most important spiritual experiences in their lives. And 38 percent stated they were the single most significant spiritual experience. These types of mystical experiences are central to DN.
Shamanism may have been the "ur-religion"--the primal spiritual orientation out of which all later religions emerged. As a student of the Western Esoteric Tradition, I see how the "sacred journey" of archaic shamanism was "re-articulated" in the Pagan Mystery traditions, Alchemy, Hermeticism and Magikal traditions.
I place Dionysian Naturalism in the line of the Western Esoteric Traditions and embrace the "Sacred Journey" as a central spiritual practice. I am still working on this orientation and have many more topics to explore including: its link to Unitarian Universalism, its embrace of entheogenic spirituality, the "Epic of Evolution" as a central cosmic myth.
Feel free to contact me at waynemellinger@gmail.com. I am interested in your thoughts and feedback.
My name is Wayne Martin Mellinger, Ph.D and I am interested in developing a religious orientation I call "Dionysian Naturalism". While I attend a Unitarian Universalist (UU) congregation in Santa Barbara and largely accept the progressive humanism espoused there, I also am passionate about elements of spirituality that are more Dionysian. UUs can sometimes be terribly Apollonian--good at the rational pronouncement of abstract ideas, skilled in crafting logical arguments that build a systematic theology and passionate relating intellectual scholarship to theological currents. They are less good at the Dionysian--those spiritual elements that are ecstatic, mystical, corporeal, based in emotion, intuition and instinct.
Nietzsche might have been the first modern self-proclaimed Dionysian Naturalist and his thinking greatly inspired me as I sought to create my own personal theology. Some of the articles found here appeared in Noozhawk--Santa Barbara's premiere online news source. Others appeared in Naturalistic Paganism, a blog existing at the edges of the Pagan and Religious Naturalist blogosphere. One appeared in the neopagan socialist blog Gods&Radicals.
I am a Religious Naturalist (RN) a religious orientation which overlaps largely with UU. Most UU are RN and many RNs are UU. As a RN I reject the supernatural as mere fantasy. Everything that exists exists in Nature. There is no realm "Supernature". Science is not the only way to know Nature but it is a damn good one and when combined with critical thinking and skepticism is worthy of using to sort through competing truth-claims. Sacredness exists and it exists in Nature. These are the core ideas of RN. As noted, I find that much existing RN is a bit too Apollonian (just like UUs, who are mostly RN).
Dionysian Naturalism (DN) is an emerging religion of nature ground in a scientific worldview (thus naturalist) but with a decidedly Pagan ethos which includes the use of psychedelic sacraments to achieve mystical states (thus Dionysian). Dionysian Naturalism is a form of Religious Naturalism that returns to the shamanic roots of all religion,. It attempts to balance both Apollonian concerns for reason, logic and order with the Dionysian concerns for ecstasy, passion and madness.
Shamans are tribal healers with vast knowledge of the flora and fauna of their bioregions, including what plants are hallucinogenic. They are the technicians of the sacred to use techniques of ecstasy to perform acts of healing. Shamanism is often entheogenic spirituality--based on the use of hallucinogenic plants to achieve an altered state of consciousness. In these deep spiritual states shamans "journey" to the Otherworld.
Entheogen-based mystical experiences allow modern psychonauts to "wake up" to their "true nature", gaining liberation and freedom from the limitations of ordinary life. Researchers at Johns Hopkins University reported that a full third of the volunteers in their 2006 psilocybin study said their experiences were one of the five most important spiritual experiences in their lives. And 38 percent stated they were the single most significant spiritual experience. These types of mystical experiences are central to DN.
Shamanism may have been the "ur-religion"--the primal spiritual orientation out of which all later religions emerged. As a student of the Western Esoteric Tradition, I see how the "sacred journey" of archaic shamanism was "re-articulated" in the Pagan Mystery traditions, Alchemy, Hermeticism and Magikal traditions.
I place Dionysian Naturalism in the line of the Western Esoteric Traditions and embrace the "Sacred Journey" as a central spiritual practice. I am still working on this orientation and have many more topics to explore including: its link to Unitarian Universalism, its embrace of entheogenic spirituality, the "Epic of Evolution" as a central cosmic myth.
I believe that we need to "re-wild spirituality". I have crafted this theology for the Anthropocene to help us attain the sustainability revolution or Great Turning. Entheogens flatten egos and increase our awareness of our environment--just the antidote needed for our climate crisis. I am developing myths, liturgies and rituals also.
(Wayne Mellinger with Baroness Leni Fe Bland in about 2007,)
Feel free to contact me at waynemellinger@gmail.com. I am interested in your thoughts and feedback.
<a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Wayne-Mellinger">Wayne Martin Mellinger on ResearchGate</a>
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