|
 The
pollution of air and soil which is the result of our tremendous
technological advance is of course a matter of great concern.
The real calamity however is not so much the dirt, noise and
garbage we have to contend with; the tragedy lies in the unfortunate
fact that human beings as well as animals seem to be able to
adapt to just about everything.
It
is a fact that the effect of any painkilling drug wears off
after a while because the body adjusts to it. and the dose has
to be increased in order to work. Likewise, man is able to adapt
to polluted air, chemical foods and poisoned drinking water,
if the dose is increased little by little, and this even without
realizing it. It is further a fact that the worst is still to
come, for it is only in recent years that pollutants have reached
unsafe levels, and the children who almost from conception have
lived their lives in dirt, pollution and noise are not yet so
old that we can tell how serious the consequences are. For although
it is indisputable that inherent traits are the deciding factors
in forming a human being, the environmental circumstances play
an important role. Unfortunately man is able to adjust to quite
a measure of pollutants -- his with might be dulled and his
growth stunted but he will survive. It is not man as a species
the ecological crisis threatens to destroy, it is the quality
of human life which is endangered.
It
is one of the sacred beliefs of Odinists that life is governed
by forces deeply rooted in Nature and it is our conviction that
man can only tamper with Nature at his own peril; not because
he cannot physically adapt to the results of technological "progress"
but because the mental and emotional part of his being will
be thrown out of balance. ]t is precisely the relationship between
man's nature and his environment which decides the quality of
human life.
Man's
most basic needs are still very much the same as those of his
early ancestors, who lived close to Nature -- yes considered
themselves as part of Nature. They spent all their lives as
hunters, food-gatherers or farmers,and always were they moving
about in a natural environment among trees, rivers, mountains,
plains. The importance of this contact with nature is seen clearly
by the growing passion for camping; this is not merely prompted
by the wish far an inexpensive holiday, but because it satisfies
the yearning for being in contact with fresh air and fertile
soil.
Even
if the poison in air, food and water were eliminated by the
snap of our fingers, it would not change matters a great deal
if, at the same time we would go on covering the earth with
speedways, high-rise and shopping plazas. --- Before man can
live a fulfilled and contended life as a human being, modern
civilization must provide for man the means to
[Page 2]
express his nature, unchanged as inherited from his ancestors.
The
pollution experts are concerned with the physical effects of
the poisoned and mechanical environment of man. --These are
important to be sure, but it is still more urgent to create
an environment in which man is able to choose freely how to
enrich his life and enhance his creative abilities; he must
be able to decide for himself how he can fulfill his potentialities
as a human being. -- This is the all-important issue.
It
is an emotional necessity for man to feel the continuity of
Life, to taste the sweet smell of spring, to experience the
stillness of a forest.It is not just survival we want. We want
conditions where man as a human being can fulfill his role in
the great drama of continuous creation in which man together
with all other living organisms is an integral part.
We
are human beings with a body and a soul,and we want to live
as human beings.
Baldr the Beautiful
Baldr
was one of Odin's beloved sons; he represented all that was
good, just and beautiful.
Once
Baldr had terrible dreams disclosing that his life was in peril.
When he told this to the Gods they were quite disturbed and
immediately held council about what they could do, so that the
dreams would nat come to pass. At the council it was decided
that Frigg should take an oath from all things living and dead,
that they would not harm Baldr. This Frigg did, -- the only
one she did not take an oath from was the mistletoe she passed
it by partly because she thought that, a parasite plant was
of no significance and partly because it was so young.
Now,
there lived among the Asir a man named Loki who was not of their
kin; how he ever came to be accepted among, them nobody knew,
and nobody could understand it either because Loki was crafty,
shrewd and wicked. When he saw that no thing, living or dead
would hurt Baldr he was sorely vexed, for Loki hated everything
good. As a matter of fact, every time he looked at Baldr the
Beautiful Loki grew perfectly furious with hatred and all he
could think was how he could destroy Baldr.
By
devious means he found out about the oath and that the mistle-toe
was the only living thing that was not bound by it. At the first
opportunity he had, he went to the mistletoe and broke off a
branch, out of which he fashioned an arrow.
The
following day when the Asir amused themselves by shooting arrows
at Baldr who could not be hurt by them, Loki sneaked up to Hodir,
Baldr's blind twin-brother, and with pretended innocence asked
him why he wasn't shooting arrows at his brother. "I cannot
see" answered Hodir. After a bit of talk back and forth
Loki helpfully offered to guide Hodir so that he also could
join in the fun, deftly Loki put the mistletoe arrow on Hodir's
bow, aimed and let Hodir shoot it off.
And
as always, when blind people listen to a wicked Loki, calamity
struck -- Baldr the Beautiful was killed. To be sure, never
did any man or god witness a more dastard deed than this!
The
Asir looked with despair at their dead friend and brother; they
found it hard to understand that anybody so good and just was
slain; but Baldr had to go to the underworld and live in the
Abode of the Dead.
The
Gods went to great efforts to get him back but to no avail;
Baldr had to stay in Helheim and remain there right up to the
time of Ragnarok.
And
this is why no Odinist will listen to Loki's sweet talk, nor
will he ever have a mistletoe in his house.
THE ODINIST is published quarter-yearly by
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request.
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should be made payable to:
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Canada. |
To
be an Odinist means to have a reverence for Life and Nature
that touches your soul each and every day.
It
is a religious feeling; yet it is not churchy, just deep and
serene.
Stop,
and consider the beauty of Nature and you will feel that this
too is part of God.
[Page 3]
WHAT PRICE CHRISTIANITY?
In
a TV program Cardinal Leger of Montreal was shown in the midst
of his African flock with whom he has worked for the past four
years, pouring millions of dollars into institutions to care
for polio-stricken and retarded children and those pitiful outcasts
of humanity, the lepers.
The
Cardinal's work presents what is generally regarded as charity
in the traditional "Christian spirit". But the implications
beneath the surface, alas, are also unchanged. Leger's statement
that his missionary work is "one of giving without asking
to receive" immediately became suspect when he pointed
out that Africans responded easily to conversion efforts because
they are a religious people. They see a spirit behind every
tree and bush and have a deep respect for nature; they bury
their dead close to their abode to continue dialogue with their
spirits.
Then
why cut the bonds now existing with nature? Why take away their
gods? For it is not true of course that the work done here is
"giving without asking to receive". Is there a greater
price any man can pay than to surrender his soul to an alien
god? And the spirits of the dead, still on earth to these Africans,
will they now be confined to heaven or hell, out of reach for
the living? What, really, is the motive of the Church in thus
gaining control over the minds and souls of Black Africa?
We
have cause to wonder. For we watch this newest missionary conquest
from a two-thousand-year experience. -- And we speak not only
on our behalf. When today's North American Indians lament the
banishment of their gods with whom went the Indian way of life;
when American Blacks demand to know why they should worship
a "white" Christ, they demonstrate the end-effect
of the Cardinal's mission: self-demeanment and loss of identity
through Christianization. It is
a realization that is gaining momentum and is marked by a newly
wakened reverence for gods long abolished or the rebirth of
their image in new concepts, ideas or ideals. Its rational support
comes from the knowledge that all primal gods are tribal images
whose worth defies intellectual evaluation. They are concepts
of the highest order, coordinating all intangible qualities
and possessions of the tribe, harmonizing the unknown with the
known, the finite with the infinite. Of course the images differ
depending on the insight and the standard of knowledge attained
by the individual tribe. But a change to a higher level of religious
concepts, whether this involves idols or ideas, emanating from
new standards of insight and knowledge, must proceed from natural
inner growth processes, if they are to lead to greater fulfillment.
Injecting an alien theology into an organically grown social
order, imposing a god from without, cannot but lead to conflict
with long established hereditary soul-mind reflexes, corrupting
inborn moral values through misinterpretation, thus resulting
in cultural anarchy.
It
is impossible therefore to qualify gods objectively. They "make
sense" and "operate" as a regulatory force of
life for the identity and survival of the tribe only so long
as they remain alive and active within tribal consciousness.
Thus
tribal gods are "owned" by a tribe no less than are
its material possessions, though transcending these. For it
is through the "spirits of the gods" that all real
property -- land -- home -- chattel -- become "sanctified
reality". -- To take away a tribe's gods is, therefore
in the true sense of the word, an act of robbery. It can be
and generally is, far more fatal than the taking away of a piece
of land. For it strikes at the root of body-soul-mind tribal
identity and shatters cohesion. To extract god-figures from
an intricately woven pattern of life possibly thousands of years
in the making, is to destroy the very theme of life itself.
"Thou
shalt have no false gods before me," Jehovah commanded
the Jews, and he knew whereof he spoke. For in being true to
their god, the Hebrews remained true to themselves, even when
they had no land to call their own.
In
this sense, then, Christ, too, is a false god taken out of the
context of his Hebrew homeland and history, however "superior"
or "true" his doctrines may have ranged within that
context.
In the conversion deal under consideration, no doubt a great
many concessions are thrown in for the Blacks. Ceremonial cults
shown on TV were an exhibition of native animation: Bodies be-
[Page 4]
decked in colorful array, dancing and gyrating in African
rhythm to the beat of drums. In time these Blacks may even be
allowed to pray to a "black" Christ.
But
that will be no loss at all to Europeans or their descendants
elsewhere. On the contrary. They, in gross misunderstanding
of the facts, today stand accused as the religious imperialists
who have foisted their "white" god upon other races.
The
truth is that, whether Christ was "white" or not,
as the son of Jehovah he had as little to do with Odin or Zeus
or any Roman gad as he had with the Indians' Thunderbird or
the sun gods Ramses or Montezuma. Ingesting a religion that
according to Jack Dymont ("Jews, God and History")
was made "for export" was an experience of excruciating
spiritual and physical agony far the entire European continent,
the effects from which it has by no means recovered."Bringing
Christianity to Europe" was no less a disjunction of a
natural cultural development than it may have been for other
parts of the world. While still in its simple beginnings in
the North, this culture had reached the pinnacle of human thought
and creative achievement in the South centuries before Christ.
What was later known as a "Christian" culture was
in truth the outcry of the soul of all Europe finding release
in the only outlet granted -- the arts -- transcending and beautifying
an alien garb.
Obviously,
the African farm of Christianity will differ vastly from its
European counterpart, and well may we ponder the question, "How
will this Christianity serve the Church, and will it
affect us?".
But
aside from all these considerations,the institutions bestowed
upon the African Blacks in its conversion deal by the Church
are not the products of Christianity, but those of Western science,
developed not with but against the sanction of the Church, solidly
resting on the foundation laid by the Greeks in the "light
ages" of European history. Were this not so, the Church
would still have nothing to offer against the diseases in Black
Africa than prayers, possibly less effective than the magic
of the local medicine man. A modern illustration of the effects
of religion isolated from science came in a report of an outbreak
of smallpox in Europe.It was caused by contaminated holy water
brought to Yugoslavia by a Moslem from the Holy City of Mecca.
Tolerance
One
of Western man's most prominent characteristics is the willingness
to respect the opinions and beliefs of others. At the same time
he naturally expects to have these rights extended to him. Western
man is by nature tolerant and the so called Christian inspiration
to "do to others what you want them to do to you"
was ingrained onto Western man's soul long before the Bible
was composed.
However,
in order for such tolerance to make sense, it must be paid back
with similar sanctions from others; if tolerance is only one-sided,
it is no longer tolerance but weakness and reluctance to stand
up for one's ideas. In other words it is a question about having
the courage of one's convictions. If a person has lost his self-respect
and human dignity,it usually follows that he is loath to assert
himself, and this is what has happened to Western man. He has
yielded to the hypnotic influence of the mass media which for
years has drummed into the mind of any person with European
ancestry, that he is mean, sinful and wicked.
I
suggest to you kinsmen, that our adversaries have outlived our
tolerance. I am not telling you to go out and behave like the
creeps who demonstrate, scream, yell and use violence against
anybody who dare speak up against them and their left-wing ideas.
No, we should not degrade ourselves by resorting to repugnant
tactics; rather we should behave in the manner of our valiant
ancestors who manfully demanded their rights and stood up for
their beliefs and their principles.
It
is a paradox that those extremists who want to disrupt and destroy
everything sacred to a Westerner, should be the first ones apprehended
by the governments they extol as the only commendable form for
administration. These misguided individuals have not realized
that the communistic dictatorships do not allow any citizens
to express personal opinions which do not conform to the system,
let alone publicly ventilate any dissent to the communistic
version of The Truth.
Western
man is presently sandwiched in between the left-wing ideologies
as belched out by the Marxist socialists and the more subtle
but no less insidious influence from the top through
[Page 5]
TOLERANCE
government decisions which are difficult to fight, even if
they clearly are detrimental to the interests of the population
and against the wishes of the citizens.
Odinists
certainly also want to change away from the present type of
misgovernment.But we want a change for the better we want a
change in thought pattern, a different moral outlook, an intellectual
attitude in keeping with Western man's mental and emotional
characteristics.
It
is to be hoped that Western man soon, very soon, will wake up
and shake off the yoke of an alien ideology, thus returning
to power a sane, honest and realistic leadership.
Those
persons who are living within the borders of the West and who
do not agree with our way of life can, as far as we are concerned
- to use one of the expressions of the Canadian PM - like it
or lump it!
THE VIKING DISCOVERY OF AMERICA
by Dr. Herman Gauch
in
the eighth and ninth century King Gudroed (Godfred) was the
clever and courageous ruler of Denmark, the southern part of
Sweden and most of Norway. He disapproved greatly of the ways
of the powerful King of the Francs, Charlemagne who had become
a Christian and wanted to conquer all of Europe for Rome.
The
Vikings, the Scandinavian/Germanic fighters of the Odinist Faith
wanted no part of Christianity and fought courageously against
the compulsory import of this new cruel faith.
In
782 Charlemagne by betraying their trust decapitated 4500 pagan
Saxons after they had surrendered their weapons, and King Gudroed
declared war against the King of the Francs. In the beginning
the war was launched exclusively against the Christian centres,
such as Lindisfarne (792) a small island off the coast of Northumberland;
Ireland, which had been christianized, was conquered about 800.
By
defeating Christianity and Charlemagne, King Gudroed also had
in mind to gain the throne in Aachen whereby he hoped to unite
all the Germanic peoples under one ruler. In 810 however, Gudroed
was assassinated which put an end to the fight against Christianity.
The
Vikings possessed great courage, constant readiness for death,
talent for organization and amazing nautical and geographical
knowledge which qualified them as settlers and discoverers.
As it is now well-known they traveled to America long before
Columbus and founded small settlements. About year 1000 a pioneer
of this territory was Leif Eirikson son of Eirik the Red, who
after having discovered Iceland and colonized Greenland sailed
to the Eastern territories of Canada and the United States;
he gave the names Helluland, Markland and Vinland to some of
, the coast areas and on the shores of Charles River near Cambridge
in Massachusetts he founded Leif-budir i.e. Leif's abode; in
Newfoundland he founded L'anse-au-Meadow and at the Bay of Babock
a colony was established.
Less
known is the fact that even Central America and the Peruvian
coast of the Pacific Ocean was settled by the Vikings before
Columbus and Cortes. One of the great Kings of the Toltecs was
Quetzalcoatl,
who was also known as Huiracacha i.e. Huitagoda (the White God)
who lived about 900; but even as early as 300 before. our reckoning
a White God came to Tiahuanaco; another name used for the white
God was Ollin Tonatiut which most likely is connected with the
German/ Danish Odin, Donar, Tiu. The Aztec and Inka
dynasties also knew the White God, The Inkas being descendants
of Ing or Ingling (Ynglinge),
the name of the earliest dynasty of the Royal descendants of
Odin. The original name of the Inka emperor is translated as
Hrodgar (compare Hrothgar of the Beowulf Saga). In one of the
legends about the White God Quetzalcoatl-Huiracocha
it is said that he and his companions came from Huitamannaland
in the far North where already at that time the Vikings had
formed small settlements.
Proof
that the Vikings traveled throughout America is also provided
by the Runestones they left behind. The authenticity of the
Kensington Stone at Red River in Minnesota has long been established;
less known are the four rune stones in Oklahoma: The Tulsa stone,
the Poteau stone and the two Heavener stones declared authentic
by authorities in the field.
The
Vikings and their culture thus still live in monuments and legends
on the American continent.
[Page 6]
It
is highly paradoxical that those who refer to man as an animal
refute his ancestral share in the laws , that structure animal
existence, so complex and beautiful that they are viewed with
wonder rather than with understanding. Indeed, there is about
the ways of animal life a dignity, superior in many respects
to those of man. The reason is simple: the animal is still part
of the universal order of natural law and bonded to it by instinct.
Daily we learn more about a world that is without intellect,
-- yet lives by more intelligence than man.
But
man is not an animal. He is that evolutionary end which stepped
beyond the range of the order perfected by nature now known
as ecology.With him a new farm of will became manifest in the
order of things: a will tarn away from the security of instinct-knowledge,
a will groping for self-realization and world-knowledge, daring
to challenge the gods and be free rather than safe.
But
do not contemplate this step, the most dramatic in all evolutionary
history, with a modern definition of freedom in mind. Realize
that today the will of individual man and that of whole nations
is caught up in a constellation of massive will powers in a
world that has lost the wisdom of its earlier days. Contemplate
this step rather against a vast expanse of life that knew no
free will and could not have one in a perfect design for survival.
But, seeing man emerge from this stage of existence, reaching
the summit of genius, see if even at this' level, there is not
something related to the animal still: creativity, arrested
there - as in the building of a nest; -- set free here, as documented
in monumental works of genius, and yet -- both equally far removed
from rational understanding. our sense of wander directed to
the same source.
That,
however, means contemplating also the will that willed man to
be free, and all the whys and wherefores of man's incredible
fallibilities together with his incredible capacities.
For
the step man took toward freedom was not for better only. It
could lead to glory, but also to doom. Indeed, releasing the
will from the dominance of instinct was the initial step toward
the creation of a specifically HUMAN being; it was the necessary
pre-requisite for the development within human existence of
reason and its transcendence, the formation of ethical concepts
and moral laws as HUMAN realities, but also the dangers of error
and failure.
Thus,
then, was created a new category of life: MAN. Cast in a new
mould, raised up-right, walking with head held high, this creature
learned not only to survey all things with new sight, but with
insight; to explore not only the earth in its visible form but
the unseen vastness of mind and soul which reflect the universe
and from, such awareness shape an image of God.
And
yet this new creature was the continuity of life from a single-cell
body through countless complexities, spread over billions of
years whose heritage formed the spring-board for his existence.
Those who would declare man to be an animal yet would deny that
his biological and social life forms are rooted in pre-human
existence; they would discover the absurdity of their claims
by examining relevant scientific data. Were it not for laws
existent prior to the birth of man, especially those of heredity,
there would be no life at all; for man, there would be no culture.
Striving for form was the organization of life, maintaining
it required order based on laws.
As
in plant and animal, so in man did life strive for variety of
kind finding physical expression for all the rhythmic responses
to the call of creation that thus formulated distinct personality
types. For we cannot with any certainty claim that the body
was the foremost factor in the creation of the different kinds
that comprise man. It is more reasonable to assume that the
will towards a specific form was the central force, together
with the intelligence and emotional factors it was able to engage
in its growth aiming far harmonious interaction between all
levels of consciousness processed from the functional agents
confined within a body of flesh and blood.
In
primitive societies the laws that are embedded in bodies of
flesh and blood comprising tribes or nations, are known intuitively,
and revered as a heritage derived from living forces beyond
[Page 7]
those of man's will. Modern, so-called civilized societies
have raised the intellect to so lofty a rank that all things
natural or primitive have come to be regarded outdated, to be
discarded or reformed by man. Taken out of the context of nature,
man himself has become an abstract image, easily manipulated
by social and economic "ideas" that disregard bonds
in no wise part of his free will, and project him into an utterly
unreal, soulless world of speculative intellect, in destructive
counteraction to subconscious wisdom accumulated in ages past.
Slowly,
painfully, however, we have begun to retrace our steps, we retrieve
our lost relationship with nature. And if ever again we find
the meaning of man and his destiny, then it will be due in no
small measure to our study of the life that preceded his making:
the animal.
But
-- to repeat -- man is not an animal. From studies or animal
life so popular in today's concern with preservation of all
things living, we can learn to what extent man is related to
the animal, and what benefits and responsibilities he derives.
from close association with nature. But we also see with indisputable
clarity how man differs from the animal, why he must seek, and
at least sometimes attains goals no animal was destined to reach
for. And while he is kin to every creature of the earth, only
as man can he enter also into kinship with the gods. Thus does
he give evidence of the truth that freedom is the essence of
the being of Man.
A Golden Earring
Our
ancestors believed that when people died they would go to the
Abode of the Dead. The Greek branch of our fore-bears called
this place Hades after the God of the Dead, and to get there
you had to cross a wide river. If you died on land you were
all right for your relatives would surely send you off with
enough valuables to pay for your passage. But the Greeks were
a seafaring nation, and it was likely that you might meet your
death on the High Seas, and then you would be in trouble. It
therefore became a custom for sailors to have the one ear pierced
and wear a gold earring, thereby ensuring they always had enough
to pay the ferryman, Charon, to take them to the other side.
Nationalism
In
the past centuries ruled by Rationalism and Materialism, a nation
meant a piece of land, a geographic territory and the people
living within its borders. However, with the move of thousands
of people into new locations, with better and faster communication
facilities, -- where practically the whole world is brought
right up to your doorstep or into your living room and with
the population of all countries mixed to a degree never experienced
before, this old concept can no longer be applied to the nation-idea.
The 20th century meaning of a nation is "A people containing
a Cultural Idea". To the West this is a new concept; in
contrast thereto the Jewish nation has, ever since the Diaspora,
adhered to this viewpoint.
It
is inherent in Man to wish to protect his family and property,
to guard the customary way of life against intruders and to
preserve his cultural heritage. These natural feelings gave
rise to a strong nationalism, which at times became exaggerated
to the point where even your cousin next door was considered
a barbarian and a sinister enemy.
The
vital force of patriotism was not only used by the rulers of
the Western countries in the past.For some years now we have
been able to watch China use nationalism as her primary weapon
of the East against the West. And although Marx preached internationalism
it is a fact that Soviet Russia employed the love for Mother
Russia as a mighty appeal to her citizens during and after the
revolution to do their utmost and to strengthen their morale
and determination. The many new Afro states also are using these
same powerful sentiments, all of them stressing nationalism.
It
is a paradox that while communistic internationalism has freely
exploited the nationalistic feelings of its citizens, the rulers
of the West have deliberately downgraded every natural feeling
of pride, belonging to and love for country and flag. Patriotism
has in the West been stigmatized to a degree where people are
almost afraid to show respect for the flag and express any regard
for their country, lest they be ridiculed, smeared, framed etc.
etc.
The
emotional and self-glorious type of nationalism as well as narrow
and fanatic chauvinism have, however, come to the end of the
line. No longer will the
[Page 7]
West allow itself to be divided and conquered. Never again
will we let ourselves be goaded into civil wars. The West is
partitioned into many sections of regional groupings; each section
naturally and commendably takes pride in its specific achievements,
its peculiar history and its distinctive characteristics which
set each apart from kinsmen in other regions.But to us in this
century a nation means a people expressing A Cultural Idea;
the geographical location is of little significance; "the
West is where people adhere to the same Western intellectual
culture, where they are part of the same ancestral heritage,
where they share the same spiritual outlook.
The
West consists of many varied peoples and the creative and vital
feeling of pride and attachment to the place of origin is fundamental,
but taken as a whole the West is but one entity - - the West
is wherever Western man lives.
And much it grieved my heart
to think what Man
has made of Man.
Wordsworth.
|
THIS WORLD OR THE NEXT?
by Rod
This
world or the afterlife? Which one has more importance to the
religious thinking individual?
Is
the sole reason for our existence here on earth merely some
kind of test or trial, a brief seventy or so year stay' in which
as long as we accept the divinity of some god we can mark time
until we go to our reward in the great beyond? Are we to believe
that the acceptance of a particular god, (and his rituals) --
and being nice to everyone is our sole duty here on earth?
You
could say, perhaps, that this depends on the religion, (or denomination/
branch of a religion), that a person adheres to. That it depends
on the importance this particular religion gives to the earthly
existence vis-a-vis the ultimate heavenly existence. But does
it? It is me belief that it does not. It is my belief that regardless
of their religious outlook all people have a duty and a responsibility
to protect and support their family, their society and their
particular culture; and they can only opt-out at their own peril.
Can
you imagine a society where almost everyone adhered to a fundamental
religion that taught people to abstain from any organized secular
action, taught them to abstain from fighting or defending anything
with physical violence? How long do you think such a society
would last before it would either be taken over by inner traitors,
or overrun from without? Or for that matter, how long would
even their pacifist religion last, since they can have the freedom
to practice it and pass it on to their children only as long
as there are enough non-believers left to defend their freedoms,
religious as well as secular.
Life,
or if you prefer, the basic nature of man, will not allow a
political vacuum to exist for very long. Some group will soon
fill it; and usually they will make sure that those who caused
the vacuum in the first place will not be allowed to do so again.
The
above example is,of course, an extreme one; but the principle
remains. -- There are many religious people in the world today
who tend to ignore their responsibilities to their earthly society
and think seriously only of the after-life, (which mayor may
not exist). These people not only harm their secular society
by their apathy, but do damage to the base of their faith as
well. For all organized religions can only survive as long as
the nations in which they exist, are strong enough to defend
both the secular and religious freedoms of their citizens.
|
Every creature has a built-in
im-
pulse to provide for the perpetua-
tion of the species of which it is
a momentary living representative.
Toynbee
If I had money enough I'd buy
more backbone for the Western guy.
He who has not the courage
to be the hammer,
must be content to play
the part of the anvil.
Spengler |
TASTEFUL CHRISTIANITY
After
Charlemagne finally succeeded in conquering the Saxons and forced
them to accept Christianity, he still had the problem of ingraining
the Christian teachings. Our forefathers only outwardly accepted
Christianity and still clung to the pagan beliefs and ideas.
Since
the religion of the slave-rabble of decadent and dying Rome
could never replace the noble and courageous religious attitudes
of our ancestors, Christianity had to be blended with pagan
ideas and poetic forms in order to render it acceptable or "tasteful".
A
good example is the old Saxon Messianic poem "The Heliand".
It tells about the life and teachings of Christ, but to make
it more agreeable to the intended audience, the religious scenes
and characters were portrayed in the fashion of the Germanic
heroic epic, the Germanic code of Ethics was drawn into the
motivation for various sentiments; also language and verse-form
were Germanic. The whole poem is an anachronism, a blend of
"Christian" teachings set against a pagan background,
so that the Messianic message would be favourably received by
a population which in its heart had remained pagan, in spite
of the outer acceptance of Christianity.
Even
up until the 15th century, Christian scenes were painted as
if they occurred in the Europe -- often Italy -- of that day.
Mary was shown as a highborn Italian lady of the period. But
as the years went by, the "blend" grew more and more
Christian, the paintings showed Middle East settings for their
Christian scenes. Thus the landscape of a foreign, dead and
fossilized Arabian Culture became the "Holy Land"
of the Christian West.
Studies
have been conducted to compare the ethical and moral beliefs
of different times and places. Dante was taken to reflect the
views of his days when Christianity was perhaps the most powerful
and the least "blended". The "good" Christian
of Dante's days considered lust and sexual indecency a far lesser
sin than pride, which was a major vice. This was also the Christianity
that had non-believers. burned at the stake in the name of love.
The concept of hell, in itself perhaps more terrible than burning,
persisted even after this practice "burnt out" so
to speak.Then one no longer burned a person to death to save
his soul, one let the devil torment the "sinner" for
all eternity.
The
older version of Christianity was identified with the West and
supported its spiritual slavery. Modern Christianity is a universal
religion of brotherly love and peace in genuine marxist fashion.
The
Pope gives audience to Communists and is embarrassed when an
anti-communist churchman of high rank escapes to the West from
behind the iron curtain where he had been buried alive for many
years. On the protestant side of the Christian coin, large church
coalitions send aide to Communist North Vietnam, or back the
United Nations UNICEF "charity" which makes donations
to communist countries.
But currying favours with the leftist elements only drives away
those to whom communistic dictatorship is repulsive. At long
last it seems that Christianity is growing so perverse that
the people it has misled for centuries, now reject it.
The
result of modern Christianity's failure to bridge the credibility
gap will bring more and more people to realize that to be in
harmony with ourselves we must again adopt the religious attitudes
of our early Indo-European ancestors, in concord with today's
standards of knowledge.
From:
DICTATORSHIP BY TAXATION
by Major C. H. DOUGLAS
----- I would emphasize the immense advantage possessed by small
and comparatively mobile communities in obtaining control over
their own policy, and urge you to resist any suggestion which
would diminish that advantage. It is the settled policy of international
finance to diminish local sovereignty, and it should be your
policy to increase it.
----- You cannot fight a system, you can only fight the people
who put a system into operation. You cannot fight robbery, you
can only fight robbers. You cannot fight malaria, you can only
destroy mosquitoes.
[Page 10]
The
Irminsul, in the imagination of our forebears, was the powerful
pillar on which rested the universe. It is stylized in the form
of a tree whose top is divided into two massive branches so
as to lend its sacred protection to the entire world underneath
its cover. Thus are bound heaven to earth, Midgard to Asgard
the abode of men to the site of the gods. The realm of the middle
was thought of as the place for mortals to live in; the roots
reached far down into the underworld of the Giants. These were
felt to be the primal forces of life, sometimes knowing and
wise on all things to come (wherefore the gods went to them
for advice); mostly, however,they were regarded as the destructive
forces that rebelled against a set order, though having neither
ethics nor code of law to justify such action, and seeking only
to explode the gigantic primal powers residing uncontrolled
within them. (This eventually led to the battle of the Asir
against the Giants).
On
high, in the heavens, till the end of the world there throne
the gods. An eagle holds watch, gazing far out into the world;
two swift-winged ravens come each evening to bring tales of
all that happens back to the Asir. Forces of envy and greed
gnaw at the beautiful tree; a dragon of evil and falsehood winds
itself around the roots, where the norns are seated weaving
their threads of fate.
The
tree symbolizes life itself, being the cosmic movement inherent
in all things living. But at the same time it suggests that
the structure of the Universe is an ethical composition created
in accordance with the will of the mightiest (whom we call gods),
-- this realm of order and glory, however, to exist only so
long as the gods remain true to themselves. But even in the
time or woe when came the twilight of the gads, the beautiful
tree remained up-right; it wavered, but did not break, for life
itself is eternal and without end.
One
of the most ancient symbols of Western man, the Irminsul was
the carrier or a religious concept that was child-like in its
simplicity but universal in scope. It involved man and his gods,
the earth and the heavens, good and evil; it knew not only of
the finite existence of man but that of his gods as well, making
death and rebirth a part of the eternal tidal movements of life.
The meaning of the beautiful symbol of the Yggdrasil was an
accepted concept not only among the Norsemen, it was held sacred
too by the Celts and Slavs (Indogermanic cousins of the Norse),
and like many other symbols and festivals of these peoples found
its way into Christian churches, where its meaning was reduced
to that of an ornament, hailed as an omen of good luck.
If
today the Irminsul again speaks to us, it is not only because
of its significance as a revered symbol of our past. It is because
throughout two thousand years of Christianity it has not lost
its meaning. Its truths, so simply told, are mare relevant today
than they have ever been. Science, in elaborate detail, has
only made more manifest the oneness of the universe in all its
complexity; an all-inclusive modern philosophy can only confirm
the wisdom of our forebears And thus, after the twilight of
the gods foretold by the Ancients, and the long dark night that
follows, a new dawn may be seen breaking at last, in which the
spirit of the gods of old will be born anew as truly as its
heritage dwells still in the hearts and souls of the children
of Odin, the Wise One.
Summer Solstice
About
June 21 when the sun reaches the highest point in it's declination
north, our forefathers felt that it was time to celebrate and
pay tribute to the:wondrous celestial body without which there
would be no plants, no animals, no people, no life.
This
was the beginning of the summer season, when the flowers were
a delight to behold, when the berries and vegetables brought
a welcome addition to the menu, and when the crops gave promise
of a plentiful harvest with grain and fruits to be stored for
use during bleak winter months.
Indeed,
our ancestors realized how important the sun was. No wonder
they wanted to celebrate the wonderful, warm sun. And as a tribute
they built fires, big, warm and bright like the sun itself;
then they sat around the bonfires, sang the old songs and told
the old sagas, or they feasted and danced all night, the young
dreamt about love and a home of their own, or they talked about
bold deeds and great adventures.
Yes,
at Summer Solstice there were always great festivities in honor
of the Goddess of the Sky.
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4
at
the Battle of Cowpens, S. Carolina, 1781