avery
Volpeon ExtraI think it's time for me to stop clinging to the therian community and related ones. There are too many differences between how I approach this topic vs. how these communities work.
The old therian community and the few places keeping it alive are centered around experiences I don't share. I don't have shifts. I don't have instincts making me want to behave like an animal and eat random pigeons off the street. I don't have memories of a past live. There was never a grand awakening, and it feels weird to me to turn something as mundane as "learned about therianthropy" into a spiritual epiphany.
The new communities are more focused on what it means to be part of the community rather than what it means to desire an existence as an animal. They're about symbols, labels and accessories, intended to signalize to other members that you're one of them. Very few go beyond the surface level.
And no matter what flavor I choose, these communities fundamentally reaffirm our existence as humans. An animal wouldn't need to insist that it is an animal. It wouldn't have to find contrived ways to claim "I am an animal". It wouldn't use symbols to signalize just how animal it is to other animals. All of these acts highlight that there's a fundamental difference between "being an animal" and "being a therian".
I don't want to make these reminders of my humanity a central part of my life, and that's why I always kept some distance from it all. I seek an environment where I can suspend the knowledge that I'm a human so I can get as close to "being" an animal as realistically possible. I use my imagination to dive into a different life and started to draw as a way to give my visions and feelings a tangible form. This the path I follow.
Despite all of these issues, I couldn't help but feel drawn to therianthropy. After all, where else could I talk about wanting to be an animal and find people who could relate? Who wouldn't consider me a lunatic? I tried to participate in a few places where I felt comfortable, but with this lack of connection it never really worked out. At some point, you have to realize when something is futile, and for me that time is now.
#volpeonWrites
The old therian community and the few places keeping it alive are centered around experiences I don't share. I don't have shifts. I don't have instincts making me want to behave like an animal and eat random pigeons off the street. I don't have memories of a past live. There was never a grand awakening, and it feels weird to me to turn something as mundane as "learned about therianthropy" into a spiritual epiphany.
The new communities are more focused on what it means to be part of the community rather than what it means to desire an existence as an animal. They're about symbols, labels and accessories, intended to signalize to other members that you're one of them. Very few go beyond the surface level.
And no matter what flavor I choose, these communities fundamentally reaffirm our existence as humans. An animal wouldn't need to insist that it is an animal. It wouldn't have to find contrived ways to claim "I am an animal". It wouldn't use symbols to signalize just how animal it is to other animals. All of these acts highlight that there's a fundamental difference between "being an animal" and "being a therian".
I don't want to make these reminders of my humanity a central part of my life, and that's why I always kept some distance from it all. I seek an environment where I can suspend the knowledge that I'm a human so I can get as close to "being" an animal as realistically possible. I use my imagination to dive into a different life and started to draw as a way to give my visions and feelings a tangible form. This the path I follow.
Despite all of these issues, I couldn't help but feel drawn to therianthropy. After all, where else could I talk about wanting to be an animal and find people who could relate? Who wouldn't consider me a lunatic? I tried to participate in a few places where I felt comfortable, but with this lack of connection it never really worked out. At some point, you have to realize when something is futile, and for me that time is now.
#volpeonWrites
Fellwing🇪🇺