An Orientation, Not a Definition

The Scavenger Church of the Overlooked treats curiosity as a spiritual practice, and treats non-coercion and non-domination as necessary conditions for it. You can't force attention; you can only make room for it.

This page isn't meant to be exhaustive. A belief in not knowing is one of our core principles, so leaving space unfilled is part of how we mean it.

We call that practice Unknowing: looking directly at what you don't know, and noticing the different textures it can have. (More in the Book of Unknowing.)

We suspect people of all kinds of beliefs already do a version of this, in their own way.

Unknowing and curiosity seeming universal…

As scavengers are not all of one species, we are not all of one belief. This is a supplemental practice of attention to come together around, not a system you have to sign onto.

There's a particular SCO gesture: you crouch a little, tilt your head, and ask, what's going on in the corner of the picture? Not to be contrarian, but because the edges often tell a truth the center forgets.

SCO is partly defined by you being here. Your attention becomes part of its shape.