|
 No
scientist would bother to study any living organism without
also taking into consideration its functions, why it performs
the way it does. However, when it comes to the mind, it is a
different matter; not until fairly recently have scientists
shown interest in why the mind of man functions the way it does,
how intelligence works -- what makes people tick.
Intelligence
is not something that has descended upon us from nowhere; it
would be reasonable to think that it originally developed as
an answer to vital needs for survival in an unknown world. --
Your eyelids keep dust from getting into your eyes, your intestinal
system breaks down your food, absorbs the necessary, nourishing
part and excretes the rest; man's instincts tell him to seek
shelter from danger and extreme weather; also intelligence has
its specific functions.
Man's
higher intelligence, the ability to learn from experience, to
understand and retain this acquired knowledge, is what has brought
us to our present level of ascendancy. But it probably started
out very slowly with man's reactions to his perception of the
surroundings and his observation of events in nature and the
universe. Little by little he learned to watch the environment
and retain his experiences in the mind. And man's intelligence
told him to take advantage of the materials around him, it urged
him to fashion tools and to utilize events instead of being
a slave of them, to master the elements instead of fearing them.
In
primitive societies, particularly among the nomadic tribes,
the old and sick were a heavy burden on the rest of the group;
they were therefore often killed or left behind to die. But
there were border cases, individuals less valuable than the
strong and healthy members, but still useful for certain simple
tasks; these individuals had to obey the rules set out by the
more intelligent members of the tribe.
When
pressured by need or instinct one of the abilities of intelligence
is to imagine (myth-making), to form beliefs that will benefit
the species; primitive man was surrounded with powers outside
himself so it was not difficult to clothe these mystic forces
of nature and the universe in some form of religious belief
in order to make the less intelligent members of the tribe obey
the leaders out of fear of the unknown and inexplicable. This
became particularly important when man's societies developed
to a stage where he conquered
[Page 2]
other peoples and kept them as slaves.
When
we therefore find similar beliefs among peoples who could not
possibly have had any communication, these beliefs are very
likely coming straight from those fundamental tendencies to
help man stay alive in a cumbersome and fearful world, and that
type of religion is therefore a defensive reaction.
But
to base his life on fear alone does not seem to be enough for
Indo-European man, he must also have hope. Primitive religions
were a precaution against danger; for we must remember that
the sphere of life is essentially ruled by instinct. But the
leader material within each tribe, the genius that brought it
to a higher level of existence needed a twofold effort from
his tribesmen; 1) the adoption of rules and regulations (i..e.
to form traditions) and in this way retain the knowledge and
experience that had been obtained and make full use of them;
and 2) the willingness to change these rules if better ways
were found.
Each
tribe or small society, therefore, developed their specific
traditions, peculiar to them alone; when eventually these customs
were recognized as particularly valuable for the betterment
of the tribe, they were stabilized into laws that had to be
obeyed.
When
we inquire into the religious beliefs of the ancient it should
therefore not surprise us to find some of the same basic ideas
in a number of beliefs. However, the difference between civilized
and non-civilized man lies in the degree to which he has allowed
magic to invade the realm of incipient science and, disregarding
advances in the scientific field, has stuck with his magic to
the point of being against efforts to teach him new and better
ways. Civilized man, on the other hand, has accepted the implications
of science, acted upon them and advanced to get the better of
the magic and mysticism that formerly ruled the greater part
of his religious beliefs. Our Indo-European ancestors early
developed this attitude. A civilized society, therefore, is
one that has the inward urge to lead but also the willingness
to be led. This is a crucial point because man has an instinctive
resistance to change i.e. man is -- in spite of all the talk
about progress -- by nature conservative; he is not likely to
change his ways unless he is prompted by the imagination and
enthusiasm of genius.
Scientific
knowledge today is of course much more extensive than that of
our remote ancestors, but we have at bottom remained much like
they.
Although
our early ancestors at times must have felt just like the animal
who has no other thought than his own survival as an individual
and as member of his species, Indo-European man early developed
the conviction that everything in nature and the universe was
there for his benefit just to give him the opportunity to expand
to pit himself against the elements, to conquer. But as soon
as the individual begins to think about himself in relation
to these powerful forces he feels that he is but a very small
cog in the immenseness of the All.
Our
ancestors, nevertheless, thought of nature mainly as friendly,
therefore an important aspect of the religious attitudes of
our ancestors is love of and respect for nature and her laws;
they developed firm beliefs that if man lived by those laws,
he would be in allegiance with the Gods -- that they would help
him in his efforts to improve, although he realized that there
were evil forces and that frightful calamities might overtake
him. He did not cringe in fear; for he always believed that
the Gods were on his side as long as he did not abuse the laws
of nature.
Beliefs
in the Gods (forces of nature and the universe) urged man to
adhere to the customs of his tribe and any departure from this
was considered immoral and iniquitous; morality and religion,
therefore, are closely related. The beliefs in the same Gods,
and upholding the same traditions and customs also served to
identify members of the tribe, give them a sense of belonging
and to strengthen the feeling of fellowship within the group.
Just
as training and exercise help the warrior to endure the hardships
of battle and give him the confidence he needs in the hour of
combat, so religious concepts tend to provide strength and discipline,
helping man to cope with the problems of life. Therefore various
ceremonies and celebrations are common to most religions.
This
means that there is hardly a religion without some form for
rites, no society without traditions and customs. But even if
we invoke the help of external powers, it does not mean that
we ourselves should do nothing; the religions that seek non-action
have today brought their people down to a level of, not primitivism
but de-
[Page 3]
generacy, the adherents having no initiative,
no wish for betterment, no forward thrust. This is not an attitude
characteristic of Western man; he has always had the urge to
see what is around the next corner or over the far hills.
When
we therefore look back, the minds of our forefathers were not
so different from ours, the dissimilarities are mostly in areas
where they were ignorant of what we now have learned. We might
imagine that we would have reacted in the same way, had we not
the insights we have today. A part of racial characteristics
is no doubt to react in a similar way to similar stimuli, whether
these are feelings of impending danger, or elation over a certain
accomplishment.
What
consequently binds members of a given folk group together more
than anything else is its cultural heritage; our forefathers
were aware of this and developed attitudes towards the folk
that promoted the determination to defend the group and its
possessions against any outsiders, to preserve the accomplishments
of the folk and to tighten the bonds between the individual
members of the clan. Tradition, preserved through the laws of
society, customs hallowed through religious concepts, combined
with adoption and adaptation of new knowledge and insights that
would improve the life conditions of the tribe -- these seem
to be the twofold function of religious concepts -- one promoting
what is considered the moral obligation, the other protecting
territory and possessions.
The
life of the tribe within its own territory, was the most important
aspect of life; the rest of humanity might not be considered
enemies, but held no importance in the eyes of the group.
This
attitude is today not possible; it might not be desirable either
to isolate oneself from communication with others; but it seems
that the stronger and more productive society becomes the loser
in contact with less developed countries. The reason for this
may be that the more diverse a society becomes, the more vulnerable
it also seems to be to all sorts of outlandish schemes and suggestions
of change.
Change
in itself is, as we know, not bad but the change must be for
the better, and this has not always been the case, not by a
long shot. In a complex society such as ours there are many
pitfalls; so much happens and people are, generally speaking,
slow to change their habits; just as they get used to something
new, they find that it is already old hat. This makes them nervous
and restless; they lose the anchorage they earlier had in traditions,
and they too easily fall for a ruse, or they are conned into
something before they realize it and do not wait to investigate
if it is to the good of the folk.
Intelligence,
which from the beginning always was under the surveillance of
instinct went on its own; thus cut loose from its moorings it
has an unfortunate tendency to run wild.
We
have again to let intelligence be kept in line by instinct before
we decide in which direction we want to go, with whom we want
to associate and under which conditions, and which, moral concepts
we want our lives to be governed by.
C.
* * *
NEWGRANGE
Stonehenge,
the gigantic monolithic structure standing so majestically on
the Salisbury Plains in England, has been the subject of many
speculations and calculations. The period in which the construction
took place has now been narrowed down to the three hundred years
between 1900 and 1600 B.C.E. Scientists have found that it was
done in three waves of activities, the first part by Late Stone
Age people, living partly as hunters, partly as farmers; the
second portion was done by the so-called Beaker people and the
final construction by the Wessex people who were a powerful,
rich and commercially active tribe; they had excellent craftsmen
and ingeniously devised tools.
The
fascinating element in the construction of Stonehenge is the
unique arrangement of the giant stones so that at Summer Solstice
the sun will rise exactly over the so-called heel stone; also,
the other giant stones are aligned in such a fashion that they
correspond to certain positions of the sun and moon. In fact,
it has been found that Stonehenge is a rather brilliantly conceived
astronomical observatory.
It
is, however, not so widely known that other structures of similar
ingenuity have been found on the British Isles. Such is the
case at Newgrange, only 30 miles north of Dublin. It is a burial
mound of the type known as a `passage grave,' where a long tunnel
(80 ft.) leads to the actual burial
[Page 4]
chamber. What makes it interesting is that
the builders were as skillful astronomers as the people who
planned Stonehenge.
At
Newgrange you will find that each Winter Solstice the rays of
the sunshine through a slot over the door, along the passage
way and into the burial chamber exactly at sunrise.
Since
these ancient builders have left no written records, we do not
know the significance of this; that it must have had a special
meaning in relation to their religious beliefs is obvious, but
what these beliefs were we can only ponder.
Many
other fascinating facts were discovered at Newgrange. The construction
has been carbon dated to as far back as 3100 B.C.E.; this corresponds
in time to the building of the pyramids in Egypt, and puts it
well over a thousand years earlier than Stonehenge. It is built
of large megalithic stone slabs and, even though they are not
of the same giant size as those at Stonehenge, it was certainly
no mean job to move them; the slabs range in size from two to
fourteen tons and they had to be brought from the River Boyne
about a mile away.
Professor
M. J. O'Kelly, who for years has been involved with the excavations,
gives a very convincing explanation of how this transportation
was carried out; says he -- you take your stone axe and cut
down some trees with long straight sections, split the trunks
in halves{still with your stone axe) and lay them down as a
railway along which you move the slabs, using heavy branches
as levers (there is nothing to it - just do it!) It must have
been a slow process, but it can be done. Professor O'Kelly even
proved his point by asking local quarrymen to help rebuild part
of the grave; with no power equipment two or three of these
skilled workers managed to edge, rock and slide some large stone
slabs in place.
The
technical skill of the builders is truly fantastic; the intricate
way the roof of the burial chamber was formed clearly shows
this; 'they,' whoever they were, started with a wide circle
of large flat stones; for each layer added, the circumference
was made a little smaller, the new stones inwardly overlapping
the previous layer with each round of stones firmly anchored
on the outside.
Professor
O'Kelly has by deduction arrived at the opinion that the grave
must have been built by an agricultural society; no hunting
tribe would have stayed in the same area long enough for such
a tremendous task; he also maintains that the society would
have to be well-organized, for a job like this was no spur-of-the-moment
undertaking, but well planned and energetically executed. Another
thing Professor O'Kelly points out is that there must have been
a strong motivation; he compares it to building a cathedral
and says that you must have a rather fierce conviction to put
up a place like this.
In
Northern European societies Winter Solstice was an important
event; it was the beginning of the year, celebrated in various
ways, but the religious significance for a people, particularly
a farming society, was, of course, the return of the sun; this
happening was eagerly looked forward to, and when finally the
shortest day arrived, the people rejoiced, for now there was
the promise of Spring, the awakening of nature after the dark
season, the victory of life over death. There was also a practical
side to this; it is necessary for a farmer to know when to start
the various farm activities, and if you do not have any dependable
'farm calendar,' you might be fooled by a spell of warm weather.
But the religious part was absolutely the more important, for
had the purpose been only to know when to start sowing, it could
have been marked a lot simpler, a few stones
would have sufficed.
There
is no doubt that Newgrange was a grave; archaeologists found
the remains of six bodies that first had been cremated, and
then the burned bones were pulverized; but the most interesting
is that the six people were not buried at the same time, some
of the remains were of a much later date (as much as 300 years)
than others. -- It is natural to speculate on who these people
might have been, -- which were the criteria for being buried
under so special circumstances? Since it is estimated that the
community consisted of several thousand people, they must have
been VIPs.
For
several reasons Professor O'Kelly does not believe they were
kings or other royalty; he suggests that they might have been
individuals, believed to possess supernatural powers. It is
a reasonable idea; but whether this was the case or not, we
may never know.
Other
valuable facts have come to light. For example, in the Newgrange
area more graves were found, forming a regular pattern; if a
line is drawn through these graves, Newgrange included, it points
to the position of sunrise at Equinox. Similar discoveries have
been made elsewhere, so coincidence is ruled out, which means
that
[Page 5]
taken together with the structure at Stonehenge,
another important one at Carnac and several others, we are presented
with the imposing fact that Neolithic man, living in Northern
Europe five thousand years ago,
had an astonishing knowledge of astronomical phenomena at his
disposal. Further,one might speculate on how Neolithic man was
able, not only to gather this information, but to retain and
add to it over many generations, without the help of any written
records.
That
the people living in Northern Europe at that time were crude
and uncouth barbarians is nonsense; they had rather amazing
skills such as a keen sense of observation, a considerable ability
for organization, a surprising capacity for passing on acquired
knowledge and an incredible persistency in executing great tasks.
We
will have to admit that in our day and age we could not have
accomplished such stupendous work without the help of computers,
heavy construction equipment, etc. etc. But they could!
-- Without in any way looking down on the technology, knowledge
and other insights we today command, we cannot but admire the
imposing achievements of Northern Europeans of five thousand
years ago!
Bjarne.
* * *
INDUSTRIAL DEMOCRACY
Marxist
socialism comprises, as you know, the theories that individualism
is bad, that free enterprise is exploitation, that government
knows best what is good for you, and that the production apparatus
should be publicly owned.
Even
if we allow that some socialists mean well and honestly want
everybody to have his share of the wealth of the country, this
economic program is unattainable nonsense. The 'public' is anybody
and nobody in particular -- it is a nondescript mass of people
who cannot 'own' anything jointly. (Do I own even a tiny piece
of the Royal Canadian Mail? I certainly do not, and where do
you think I would end up, if I maintained that I did?)
We
have in the West seen more and more 'nationalization' which,
of course, means state ownership. At the same time more and
more functions have been taken over by government. Education,
welfare, health, transportation, news media, law and order (!)
are being run, in some cases, entirely by government -- the
individual citizen being powerless in decisions on how these
agencies -- HIS agencies, for he pays for them, should work.
In all but name this is socialism. As a matter of fact, it seems
that every little aspect of life in general is directed, supervised
or controlled by some government agency. Government tells you
how much you have to pay for goods and services, how much of
your pay check you may keep, what you should eat, what you should
see and hear of news and entertainment (and what not), how much
money you shall give to purposes opposed to your political or
spiritual concepts and what your attitude should be to this
or that social issue. -- This is generally known as 'central
planning' but is in reality rule by one strong-man (dictatorship),
or by a small group of powerful persons (oligarchy), and the
individual. is lost `in the public.'
Instead
of socialism a la Marx, the wealth of a country should not be
owned and controlled by the state or a few self-selected overlords,
but by the individual citizens who created the wealth in the
first place -- that is the only possible form of 'public ownership'
(but that is not what the socialists mean); and these individual
owners should be able to do things for themselves the way they
want it, not having bureaucrats, following foreign principles,
do it for them (but that is not what the socialists mean either).
How
can this be accomplished without a violent, full scale revolution?
For we are not labouring under the misconception that government
will help reach this target.
In
our industrialized, materialistic society it would seem logical
to start with industry; as a matter of fact, it has already
started. For some time now, workers in some European countries,
mainly Sweden, Germany and England, but also Canada, have initiated
what they term `industrial democracy.' Since it is practiced
in different countries, there are,of course, variations; but
.it sounds good and seems to be the kind of working economy
Odinists should look into and promote in some form or another,
letting the various countries adopt the main idea, gearing it
to their specific circumstances.
The
idea of' `industrial democracy' is, in effect, a quiet industrial
revolution that is changing relationships between workers and
management and attracting a lot of attention. It means that
the workers participate in the decision-making, governing body
of the plant in which they work. It has
[Page 6]
already shown extremely favourable results
and is simply the demand of working people to be consulted about
working conditions, levels of pay, expansion policies of their
place of work, etc.
But
we are still left with the question HOW? -- How can we create
a climate in which it would be possible for the worker to own
shares in the company in which he works(or any other, if he
so desires), and to initiate `industrial democracy,' without
encroaching upon the rights of those already in business? For
we do not want to steal from the present owners, even if we
feel that they, in many instances, grossly have overstepped
the limits of a reasonable code of business ethics.
In
our society where we are under the influence of the growth syndrome
(we shall here refrain from discussing whether this is good
or bad), big business gets all kinds of tax breaks for expansion.
One of the ways business raises money is to borrow, using the
production apparatus as collateral; these machines, tools or
what have you, earn money and will therefore pay themselves
out in x number of years, if properly managed; this is the way
big business gets bigger; also, each year the big companies
will issue new shares to finance expansion.
If
it were made possible for the worker in these big businesses
to get the same tax breaks as the company he works for, if he
wanted to invest, he would be able to buy, on insured credit,
some of the shares his company issues to finance its growth.
And, presto, we would have a whole lot of workers who would
be genuinely interested in the economic health of the company,
because they now also were shareholders. Any increase in production,
any cut down on waste, or improvement in quality of the manufactured
goods, would mean higher yield to the shareholders, part of
whom would be the workers themselves.
The
workers would be on the Board as shareholders, but because they
also operate the plant they would know exactly what they are
taking about when plans for the future are discussed -- 'public'
ownership and `industrial democracy' in action!'
This
way of financing growth is nothing exceptional; it means giving
the wealth-producing workers their fair share of the profit,
created as a result of their labour. For tools, equipment, buildings
etc. are in themselves not worth much, they are only a means
to producing the needed goods and services; they do not become
valuable until there is an input of labour in all its varied
forms, from the innovating scientist through the manufacturing
process up to the delivery of the goods into the hands of the
consumer.
Already
in some places the workers share in the profit over and above
their regular wages. For example, a factory in Scarborough (Metro
Toronto) made in 1974 a profit of $930,000 which amount was
split between the plant's 300 workers. And don't you believe
they slog it out 10 hours a day either; no, they decided on
a 4 day/36 hour week at $180.00 which at that time was the highest
in their line of work.
All
businesses now following this plan report higher productivity,
higher profits and higher job satisfaction; they also have less
waste, less disputes over working conditions, and no strikes.
Instead
of the socialist "to each according to need" we would
have "to each according to input;" people would receive
what they truly had earned, they would be able to use these
earnings as they saw fit, and they would retain their independence
and dignity, something we Odinists prize very highly; this would
result in a much healthier society instead of the present where
government makes far too many decisions for you, as if you were
incapable of making your own.
This
combination of insured credit buying and industrial democracy
would yield the biggest industrial profits we yet have seen,
but I am sure it would also show that the Western worker is
a mature person who would realize his responsibility to society
and initiate and enforce rules and regulations for the proper
use of raw materials, the necessity of pollution control, safety
on construction sites etc. etc. as has already been shown in
many places.
An
economy like that would lower taxes because individuals would
become independent of government to look after their every need,
but would instead support themselves through sensible planning.
Because of the lower government spending those people who really,
for some reason or other, were unable to look after themselves
and needed help, could then get a decent support, and not the
pittance they at present are forced to live on.
You
probably think that it is too fantastic to be true; but it is
not anything out of this world; the mechanics of such a change
must, of course, be planned properly by people who are familiar
with these things, we do not here want to go into de-
[Page 7]
tails, but it would certainly be feasible.
The people who would object most stringently would firstly be
the bureaucrats; they like the power they have over our lives
and would not give that up voluntarily but there would be peaceful
ways to persuade them, I am sure; many of them would probably
be absorbed by industry and instead of living off the taxpayers
in non-productive make-work projects, they would know the pleasure
of pointing to some product and proudly say "I took part
in making it."
Secondly,
the internationalists would oppose such a scheme, and here we
would no doubt run into great problems (but not any worse than
when we oppose their other notions), for a satisfied, self-reliant
and independent working force would mean an extremely effective
resistance to any international take-over.
The
participation in such a plan should of course not be mandatory,
but I do not think many workers would reject. A problem that
would have to be prepared for, would arise at the point in time
when the market would be saturated with the needed goods; production
might then be reduced and people would have more leisure time
on their hands, for some, more than they would know what to
do with. For this situation there would have to be a reasonably
planned program. But I have great confidence in my kinsmen of
the West; I am sure they would know how to enrich their lives
when first the burden of economic slavery was lifted from their
shoulders and they would have time and opportunity to pursue
some other interests, whether it be traveling, studying, or
growing roses.
E.
* * *
Even an ass has a rudimentary sense
of proportion between miles walked and carrots achieved.
C. H. Douglas |
* * *
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|
BYLAW
Did
you ever wonder where the word 'by-law' came from? Maybe not,
but if you did you might have thought that this or that regulation
was established 'by law' and that the two words later were combined
into one. Not so.
When
the Vikings came to England they naturally spoke their own language
and many of their words were in the course of time adopted by
the English. The Danish word for town or city is 'by,' which
we still have in place names like Grimsby, Whitby or Appleby.
A law enforced within the city limit is, of course, a town law,
or a 'bylaw.'
A CHANGE -- NOT REPLACEMENT
We
do not just want a replacement for Christianity in the sense
that we put Odin in Christ's place and carry on 'business as
usual.' We want a completely changed attitude.
Of
course we realize that when a person has been weighed down by
fear and guilt, and then this burden suddenly is lifted, it
may be a frightening experience. He may feel lost because he
is not used to think as a freeman and it may even take some
time before he can adjust to this new strange situation of being
able to breathe deeply and again carry his head high, to take
pride in his own skill and talents, and to feel elated by the
accomplishments of his people.
However,
if a person is not prepared to take up the challenge of being
a freeman and the consequences thereof, he had better stay in
his Christian leg irons and not move around among those who
dare follow the call of the future.
We
are now in a transition period; we are the conquerors of the
old and founders of a new religious epoch. Therefore we carry
a heavy responsibility, for it is our destiny to preserve the
great of the past, discard what is not in keeping with the spirit
of the future, and formulate the new principles.
To
destroy is easy; that can be done by any two bits revolutionary.
But to build something exciting and glorious without burning
anything but the bridges left behind takes foresight, as well
as both boldness and restraint.
We
hope that we, together with other comrades of similar persuasion,
will I be able to meet this challenge and eventually arrive
at our planned destination.
A. R.
[Page 8]
LOVE AND THE ODINIST
Our
readers might, understandably, sometimes wonder if Odinists
live in ivory towers. Nothing in THE ODINIST reveals personal
experiences in reaction to existing social conditions except
as they relate to kinship and country. Feelings and thoughts
reflect an overall philosophy concerned with these larger entities
that at times may take on the appearance of an abstraction in
which real-life personal experiences have no place.
This,
or course, is not so. An Odinist, by the very nature of his
involvement, responds with acute sensitivity to all experiences,
whether these root in the collective problems of the kinship
or his own, and they are therefore very much a personal experience
of joy and hope or pain and despair. His concern is, after all,
the LIFE of his people whose existence as a species is threatened.
But, dedicated to a cause that reaches far beyond the bounds
of his own life, he sees the latter in the context of the whole.
This does not render his own problems impersonal. On the contrary.
The cause to which he is committed pulls him like a magnet.
Every fibre of his existence is affected by it. As his life
is lived as part or the larger entities of kinship and country,
so are these part of his personal life. One cannot be torn from
the other. His own life is therefore bound up with the ideals
to which he is dedicated. And these are not an abstraction but
the reality or a higher consciousness, as much a part or his
mind and soul as are the physical organs basic to the existence
or his body. Therefore, he is at all times aware of the dissonance
between his life and those that do not share his ideals. This
can create problems or great complexity and, often, excruciating
pain for him personally.
It
begins with the fact that, while an Odinist does not live in
an ivory tower, he does live in the future or a New Order based
on ideals of a New Vision.
This
sets him apart, makes him a stranger in his own land, among
his own people. He knows, of course, that it is not he who is
the stranger but that a multitude of alien thought-controls
have so estranged his people from their own identity that it
is difficult, sometimes impossible to communicate with them.
Their minds are suspended in a no-man's land of mental fog.
His
own mind sees through this fog and operates in a state of crystal
awareness. It reaches to the very roots of his existence and
extends to the infinitude of the Godhood. His concepts are therefore
all-embracing and clearly defined; their components are instinct,
intuition, study, research, and often years of keen observation
supporting his knowledge which in turn is confirmed by natural
law and the newest insights of science. He knows who and what
he is. He has a code to live by, rooting in the past and radiating
the light of his New Vision.
Yet
he cannot isolate himself from his environment. He cannot, in
other words, live in an ivory tower. He must reach out to people
around him. How then does he, living in the future of a New
Order, relate to a world that lives NOW only and on the borderline
of nihilism? How is he affected in his relationships with kinfolk,
friends and, above all, in that most intimate area of life,
the male-female relationship of love -- when ideals cannot be
shared? How does he react, in his own personal life, not through
thought only but through action, to the modern forms of love,
marriage and divorce when he meets these head-on in individuals
that enter his life?
We
have been made aware of a true life story by one of our associates
that illustrates vividly the I-you relationship of two worlds
that should be one, yet are divided. It may be of interest to
our readers for that reason but also because of the insights
brought to light through powerful forces of personal suffering
applied to the strength of living ideals.
The
story belongs to the genre of tales told of one DON JUAN, except
that in this case the Don is not of Spanish but of Nordic origin.
This is the element that makes it an Odinist-story, and we have
permission to tell it:
When
Carin met Eric, it was love at first sight. Here was an ideal
specimen of the race and, so it seemed, the man she had waited
for all her life. Surely, his descent ran in a straight line
back to the Vikings. And beyond this obvious fact, there was
intelligence, proven ability, and an endearing charm.
But
as to his personal life, Eric was secretive, evasive. It was
not until Carin had become totally captive that he told her
of marital ties still being maintained
[Page 9]
by him. Carin was thrown into a state of emotional
shock. How could he do this -- to his wife and to her? Her own
marriage had collapsed largely because of infidelity. Treachery
of any kind, in her eyes, was one of the most unworthy acts
a human being could commit. But love and reason were, as always
when there is doubt, unable to resolve the conflict at once.
Was it possible so reason asked, that there was a plausible
excuse? Could there be deceit so craven in a man who was so
true a specimen of the race?
So
began what was to become a slow process of the breaking of a
heart in a constant interplay of separation and hopeful reconciliation,
of rejection and attraction. Where was the truth -- in the outer
appearance or in the inner nature as it gradually began to emerge?
The
two could not be reconciled, and the conflict became all-pervading.
On one occasion Eric said, "There is something related
between us," and Carin knew it was the subconscious awareness
of a joint heredity translated into a powerful personal experience.
But there was also, in Eric, a total lack of identity and an
intellect directed by alien thought.
At
times he appeared puzzled himself. Now and then he searched,
but in the wrong places: T-meetings, sensitivity meetings, occult
meetings. Would he never listen to reason? But why search in
the past? It was done with, dead! He did not know what it was!
Freedom? Ah, yes, to be free, but no responsibilities! Life?
It had one purpose only: to have as much fun as possible!
Carin
knew that this added up to hedonism, the creed of the libertarian
and the diseases with which the entire West is infected today.
Eric was no exception. But surely, one day' she would ignite
a spark that would awaken the underlying, true self. Now and
then there was a promise, but as often a disappointment. Was
there in fact a counterpart here, not only to DON JUAN, but
to the WANDERING JEW? Again and again Carin broke away from
Eric but he would not release her, abridging even long periods
of estrangement. Was this attachment then a mark of the loyalty,
celebrated as the most precious virtue in the legends of the
race? But years of misplaced faith and hope finally brought
forth the bitter truth.
Eric
was loyal only to his own perverted nature. When the anchorage
of his marriage was dissolved, he intensified his search for
pleasure. A number of erotic entanglements surfaced at once.
No longer was there any need to carefully conceal them. And
there was an adjustment in his outer appearance. The marks on
his face were the marks of a man who in pursuing his pleasures
does not realize that he is really pursuing death. Desperately
trying to 'live it up', had this man ever known what LIVING
means?
Now
at last Carin understood. His choice had been made, irrevocably,
long before he had met Carin. His charm had deceived her as
skillful as her love had invented excuses. She had labored over
a shell seeking to project her own ideals into a hollowness
that resounded only with the noises of the pleasure-places he
haunted.
Where
lay her mistake? Had she been too gullible? Had she been so
enamoured with the race that against all better judgment she
refused to see in a specimen named Eric the baseness of soul
that can develop from a combination of circumstance, personal
weakness and selfishness, unfavorable background and lack of
identity both in awareness and education? Rather than having
helped the man, did she share in his guilt?
Agonizing
sorrow in facing up to these realities brought the final climax,
but led also to insights that lifted Carin out of and beyond
her bondage and set her free. In her farewell letter to Eric
she writes:
"The
experience has been one of intense suffering, but one of learning
as well .One of the insights I have gained is that the modern
interpretation of love as lived in our Western society today,
is one of the major causes of the downfall of the West. We are
by nature (and our history, especially our early history, bears
this out) a monogamous race, that is, we express love and loyalty
to mate and family in the single-partner marriage system. Whatever
faults this may have as a human institution, it is our way of
life. But we are, far too extensively, now living a polygamous
way of life, that is, in a multi-partner cohabitation system.
Whereas Orientals and Africans are by nature polygamous and
have organized their social structure into a lawful order based
on this nature, we have not, nor can we create one that will
function as an order because it conflicts with our hereditary
instincts and our traditional cultural values. Instead we have
'Women's Lib' and chaos. The result: more unhappiness and suffering
rather than the
[Page 10]
happiness we thought might come with liberation
from our own true inner selves. Our emotional, our sexual life,
demands, like every other area of life, a certain personal discipline
which is expressed in moral codes. These are not subject to
fashion but to error. If we mature properly, that can become
more meaningful and errors will be corrected only from a deeper
insight into ourselves, and exclude our spiritual as well as
our physical needs,and our responsibilities to mate, family
and nation.What we have done in an unbridled attempt to attain
total freedom, is to dissipate and destroy all moral codes.
So we have a life in which love is no longer understood and
has been displaced by sexual diversion. And what life is without
love we can see all around us today -- in our environment no
less than our society."
And
so ended Carin's encounter with an "ideal" love by
reaching out into that part of the kinship gone astray through
alien thought control. But, while hers may have been a particularly
bitter experience, are not all of us daily confronted with the
woesome realization that our kin of blood and bone walks in
the enemy camp, alien to us in mind and mores: in schools, in
clubs, in our place of work? And is, there a greater tragedy
that brother and brother being unable to share a common fate
because they are unable to reach out to each other in understanding
and love when, on the one hand, truth cannot speak out loud
enough and, on the other, it is not perceived?
Helgar
* * *
100%
Before
we can convince anybody about the truth of our beliefs and the
sincerity of our efforts, we ourselves have to know exactly
what our goals are. We have to define our priorities and actively
follow our own decisions.
Wishing,
or praying as Christians have been wont to do, does not seem
to get us very far. We have to aim at 100% effectiveness. This
will not be easy to achieve but half measures just won't do.
We can only have ONE PURPOSE, and everything else must take
second place.
I
know, it is a lot more comfortable to sit at home and say --
tomorrow, for sure, I'll write that letter, phone this fellow,
or talk to these people. But tomorrow is not good enough.
If
we want to succeed we have to pay attention to every aspect,
use every angle and pursue these to the best of our abilities.
Our most sincere efforts are not too good, when the future of
our folk is at stake and our cultural and biological heritage
is in the balance.
We
who know, have the obligation to make that extra effort to walk
that extra mile; that is our destiny -- and may the Wisdom of
Odin and the Strength of Thor be ours!
* * *
"To ride, shoot straight
and speak the truth --
This was the ancient
law of youth.
Old times are past,
Old days are gone:
But the law runs true,
o, little son!"
Charles T. Davis |
THE VIKING
We
have a follow-up on the article 'Viking Boats' in THE ODINIST
no. 14. An Odinist from Chicago, tells that the replica of.
the Gokstad boat, THE VIKING, is still in that city. After being
shown at the exhibition in 1893, the once proud "VIKING"
now rests in the bird section of the Lincoln Park Zoo; it has
become the roosting spot for many birds and is buried under
tons of bird droppings.
One
should think the Zoo authorities could have found a better place
for it; but it is typical of the way our present "leaders"
treat our cultural heritage so we are not surprised.
Our
Odinist friend reports that the boat is still in good condition
and if it were cleaned up and moved to a better spot it would
make a very good exhibit. It is indeed a disgraceful ending
for such a glorious beginning. How about it, Odinists in the
Chicago region, can you do something about it? It would be a
truly worthwhile project!
Bjarne.
|
15
at
the Battle of Cowpens, S. Carolina, 1781