As someone who has for many years been sounding the alarm about the dangers of right-wing, white supremacist and racist elements in Paganism, particularly American versions of Norse Paganism, and who has continually called on Pagans to completely reject any and all expressions of racism and white supremacy, I am happy to devote this first blog post of the New Year to praising the major American Ásatrú (aka Heathen or Norse Pagan) organization, the Troth, for its increasingly brave stance in these matters. The Troth has always been the most open and tolerant, and to that extent, left-wing Norse Pagan organization in America, but in its intention to serve as an umbrella for as broad a range of American Heathens as possible, it has not always taken the racism issue head-on, not wanting to alienate more right-wing and ethnically-oriented Norse Pagans. However, as the anti-immigrant and white supremacist views of prominent right-wing American Norse Pagans like Stephen McNallen have become increasingly evident, the Troth has been more firmly and directly rejecting and denouncing racist sentiment and white supremacist identity construction, and declaring that racism has no place in the Troth. If one goes to the main Troth web page to see its mission statement, this is what they will find:
"...We welcome all people, whatever
their religious, cultural, or ancestral background, gender or sexual
orientation, who have developed or wish to develop a relationship with
our Gods and Goddesses, and would like to know more about Asatru or
other forms of Heathenry." (updated as of February 1, 2016).
Note, too, that the Troth also takes a firm stand of inclusiveness toward the LBGT population and gender diversity.
In many way, in many places, the Troth has taken steps to stamp out the lingering, smoldering embers of white supremacy and racism that are an unfortunate legacy of the past history of Norse Paganism, with respect to the continuing efforts by Nazis, neo-Nazis and other white supremacists and racists to appropriate Norse Pagan heritage and symbols for their own use. Events like the "Unite the Right" march Charlottesville in August of 2017 have demonstrated that there continue to be disturbing links between white supremacy and a certain segment of
the American Heathen population. Therefore, while I salute the Troth for more and more openly and firmly denouncing racism and white supremacy, the battle is not yet won and perhaps can never be, considering how deeply rooted racism and white supremacy are in American society and history. Indeed, when the right-wingers at Charlottesville declared that they simply wanted to preserve American heritage by protecting statues of Confederate soldiers, they had a point: racism, racial segregation and white supremacy are indeed American traditions of very long standing. Of course, so was slavery, and just because something had a long duration, that does not mean it deserved to exist for the time that it did or that it should continue now. Applying this to Norse Paganism, we might also say that just because it existed in the past, that does not mean that it should exist or be revived now, unless it has something positive to contribute to the world today. If all it has to contribute is a Viking justification for racism, than it does not deserve any respect or support, and we should seeks its demise and disappearance as quickly as possible. The many very spiritual, profound and creative non-racist Norse Pagans I know in Iceland, Norway, Sweden and the USA have reassured me again and again that Norse Paganism can be a worthwhile experiment in blending ancient and modern cultural and religious elements, and I am happy to be in their company, while I reserve the right to walk away from racists and white supremacists.
The thorny issue around which all these discussions revolve is the complex status of modern Norse Paganism, whether we call it Heatheny, Ásatrú, Forn Sið/Sed or by some other term, as a religion rooted in the past history of one particular place and people, that is, the ancient Norse and Germanic peoples of Northern Europe and Iceland, that has now been revived in a world of constantly mixing identities and cultural diversity. It is rather like the English language: it developed among Anglo-Saxons in England but has not become a language spoken worldwide. If tomorrow, the queen of England were to declare that only those residing in England or possessing Angl-Saxon genes wlll henceforth be permitted to speak English, the world would laugh. The gods, myths, texts and traditions of Norse Paganism are no longer exclusively Scandinavian (or Icelandic, or German, or Northern European, etc.) possessions.They have become the common property of mankind across the globe. There may always be those who will take the view that the whole point of Norse Paganism is to block out the diversity and complexity of modern life and take refuge in an imagined "pure" white, Northern European identity. For the rest of us, Norse Paganism is an interesting and inspiring religious and cultural tradition that was, yes, born in the North but now faces in all directions, much like Yggdrasil, the WORLD tree that is so central in Norse mythology.
Showing posts with label Scandinavia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Scandinavia. Show all posts
Sunday, January 7, 2018
Friday, November 23, 2012
Pagan Peace Process: An Open-Source Experiment
Attending the American Academy of Religion conference in Chicago last week, I was treated to the usual amazing buffet of scholarly research and perspectives on all manner of religious traditions, including a number of fine panels dealing with contemporary forms of Paganism. Conversing with some American scholar-friends who have also been involved in various ways and to differing degrees with Norse Paganism, I was inspired to again consider something I have toyed with in the past. This is the prospect of experimenting with creating a new form of modern Norse Paganism that would consciously de-emphasize, if not altogether discard, certain aspects of Asatru-Heathenry as this has developed in America. It will be no surprise to long-time readers of this blog that I am talking about rejecting overmuch concern with military heroism and warrior machismo, on the one hand, and with ethnic identity on the other, which, as has often been discussed, has an unfortunate tendency to mutate or degenerate into racist sentiment, or provide support or cover for such.
If we took out the macho celebration of weapons and war, the old notion of the ultra-violent Viking, and the appeal to Northern European white identity, would there be anything left, or do these two elements really contain the essence of American Asatru and Heathenry? (Notice how I use the word "American" as a qualifier--I think Scandinavian Asatru is actually on a different track and is not constructed on the same foundations and appeals as the American variety). I have no doubt that there are lots of young men who are drawn to Asatru because of the appeal of warrior machismo, who like to imagine themselves mighty Viking warriors, swinging big swords and axes against the enemies of their tribe and then celebrating their heroic victories with big horns of beer. Certainly there are men in prison coping with daily threats of violence and men away in the military or who come back from Iraq, Afghanistan or other battle zones who find it very meaningful to imagine themselves the heirs of the warrior traditions of old.
However, the prison and the battlefield are not the main reality of life for most people in this country or looking further, on this planet, even though the rapid growth of both the US prison system and the US military might make it seem so to many. The prison and the battlefield are dramatic and painful aspects of our world, to be sure, but should we take them as the template for life in general, requiring a recourse to a religion that rationalizes and celebrates war and violence? Is this how we wish to choose to imagine the world for ourselves and generations to come? To use a scholarly term, is this the "imaginary" that we wish to define our hopes and horizons? Crime, punishment, and war? Survival of the most brutal in a land of endless brutality? Is this all we believe that human beings are capable of? Sometimes it seems our popular culture wishes it so, and we, by purchasing and participating in that popular culture with its endless repackaging of warrior-against-the-world scenarios, from Rambo to World of Warcraft, to Grand Theft Auto to The Hunger Games to The Walking Dead, we add to the strength of that imaginary. It starts to seem normal to think that life is nothing but a violent, manly struggle to survive; there is nothing else. We need gods who will help us fight. 24/7 Ragnarok, we're all gonna die, let's go down fighting. Right?
I say, away with that. Done with that. Close the book on that. Anyone who wants to is free to go play those games and watch those movies and shows, but please don't come to our religion and ask us to sanctify your love of violence or work out your personal PTSD for you. (That is a serious problem, no joke by any means, and if you are suffering from that, there is therapy for that and I sincerely hope you take the step to go get it). We want to imagine the world in a different way. A society that struggles for peace and acceptance, not conquest and punishment, that tries to help people deal with their real problems and not offer them phony, fantasy solutions built around bombs and weapons.
Likewise with a focus on "ancestral tradition" that often sounds an awful lot like a plea for white privilege dressed up in medieval drag. You want White Power? Please, go join the Aryan Nations or the Ku Klux Klan. There are also some really basic problems with Americans claiming to be the heir of "Northern European spiritual tradition." America is a land of mixture and diversity. Most "white" people in America are a mixture of assorted European backgrounds that they have largely forgotten. To cling to "Northern European" and hence Asatru or Heathenry as your ancestral tradition is a bit silly when your most immediate ancestors may have had little knowledge of or interest in any particular country or culture of Northern Europe. If you are an American Heathen or Asatruar, you probably became interested in that region and its traditions as a teen or a young adult, and this is fine, but to say this comes from your ancestors speaking through your genes and not from the books or web sites that you recently encountered is not the most direct or straightforward statement of the course of events, but would seem instead to involve a projection into the past of interests that you just recently hit upon. And honestly, how many truly Pagan ancestors do you actually have knowledge of, rather than just imagination of? Is it possible that most of your ancestors, at least the last thousand years' worth, were Christian? Do you really think they are waiting for you in Valhalla? Doing what, chopping up their Bibles and crucifixes with swords and axes?
For these reasons, I think the claim of ancestral tradition is not legitimate for most Americans interested in Norse Paganism, including myself. I know I came to it through books, later through travels and studies, and I am not ashamed of it. I do not feel I have to dress it up into something more grandiose and impressive by saying "my ancestors are calling me...my Czech and Lithuanian (are they Northern European? hmmm... some would say Eastern or East-Central European) ancestors are calling me to become a Northern European Heathen and worship Odin." Like hell they are! Some of my recent Czech ancestors were Catholic priests and my Lithuanian grandmother was a particularly anti-semitic Catholic, but I can find no record of any Pagans, and certainly no Norse Pagans,among any ancestors that I have information about. If anything, it is the Thor comics of my youth and the Hilda Ellis Davidson books on Norse Paganism that I encountered in college that nudged me in this direction. What I am doing now with my own spirituality is my own choice and responsibility, with nothing to do with my ancestors. If I were to really follow ancestral tradition, I would have to go back to the Church,as that is the only "ancestral" spiritual path I have any real evidence about. And if I found out that I had some Jewish ancestors, which is possible, would I have to then become Jewish on alternate Saturdays?
I am sorry if what I am writing may be annoying or offensive to those American Asatruar or Heathens who have invested a lot of themselves in the claim of ancestral Northern European identity. You have to determine for yourself if that claim really stands up logically against what you actually know of your ancestry. I encourage you to take the test, and if you come out the other end realizing as I have that you cannot honestly or logically attribute your own spiritual inclinations to anything that was bequeathed to you by any ancestors that you actually have knowledge of ....RELAX. It's not so bad. You have now become an independent agent who can think for him or herself about what you want to do or be in matters of religion and spirituality, and of course in regards to life in general.
Returning to the main theme of this essay, if we jettison warrior machismo, weapon fetishes, and claims of Northern European ancestry, is there anything left of Asatru that we can still make use of and build upon? Yes. In fact, there is plenty.
There is still Scandinavia. We can still look to this region as a special, sacred place that we can visit in pilgrimage, like others visit Jerusalem, Varanasi and Mecca. And, no longer being weapon-bearers, we can more easily appreciate what Scandinavia has become since the Viking age: a region with the greatest shared prosperity of any place on earth, and the least militarism. A society that has turned away from making war to making a good life for its people, which was always the goal of the Vikings, in fact. Violent they were, at times, but never for its own sake. They went in search of plunder and economic opportunity. Scandinavians today have proven you can have a good society without overmuch reliance on violence or warfare.
There is still the Scandinavian literature and mythology. We can still study Old Norse and also modern Scandinavian languages, but with our eyes opened to new possibilities. We will pay more attention to the multiple functions of the gods, and not only focus on warrior aspects. We will see new meaning in how Frey gave up his sword, and how Odin was in most of his myths not a warrior king but a seeker of magical wisdom. We will reflect on the myth of Ragnarok as an epitaph for a "world of warcraft" that could not forestall destruction. We will note that after all the madness of war, nature regenerates, the world is restored, and nature proves mightier than war.
We can still enjoy the Saga tales of warrior heroes as a bit of violent entertainment, but without taking their violence as something paradigmatic or sacred. The Sagas were written first and foremost to entertain, and we have to think more about that. Furthermore, when we take a closer look at a figure like Egil Skallagrimsson, we will be more inclined to note that his main occupation was poet, not warrior. With a de-militarized perspective, other more peaceful elements of the old writings will become more clear to us. We will note for example that the Old Norse sagas describe a failed struggle to create a society of laws, not weapons, with a great deal of space devoted to legal proceedings at the regional Thing councils and the annual Althing. We will ponder the extent to which the tragedy of Icelandic history was that endless feuding,the primacy of weapons over law, crippled the early Republic and left it ripe for colonization, first by Norway then Denmark.
We will note too that Iceland gained its independence not through taking up arms and hying to the sea in longships but through a peaceful process of cultural renovation which helped persuade Iceland's colonial rulers in Denmark that the country did deserve respect and autonomy.
What I am writing here may seem strange to Americans who have grown up in American Asatru and Heathenry, which has been so strongly affected by the tastes and predilections of a generation of military men like Stephen McNallen and Valgard Murray. It would not seem strange however to Asatruar or Heathens in Iceland or Scandinavia, however, where war and weapons are not such a priority. When I have attended rituals in Iceland, Norway or Sweden, I felt a peaceful, spiritual mood that I find gets buried in all the militaristic trappings of the American version.
In a de-militarized, de-racialized Norse Paganism, we will still have the Pagan sacredness of nature. We can have renewed appreciation for all the mystery of nature that is upheld in the Eddas and elsewhere. All hail to the World Tree Yggdrasil, the foundation of all life and the living link between all realms of existence. All hail to the ocean, the realm of Njord! All hail to the earth, the mother of Thor!
We will still have rituals like sumbel/symbel and blot, but we will remove the weapons and warrior decorations. We can deck the halls with art that represents the sacredness of nature and the spiritual quest for higher realities. More runes, less rifles, so to speak!
We will still have the love of Norse-Germanic tradition, but without making silly or poorly grounded claims that we love this stuff because it is flowing in our veins,in our bones, our genes, our DNA. Cutting out the "blood and soil," quasi-racist crap will free us to make Asatru truly open to ANYONE who wants to participate, who finds the gods, myths, poems and other aspects of Norse-Germanic culture attractive or inspirational. It will no longer be possible to claim that Asatru-Heathenry is a cover or support for racism, and Asatru-Heathenry will have an easier time standing up against the racist thugs who like to use Norse-Germanic symbolism and folklore for Nazi-istic purposes.
Now is where YOU come in. I would like to ask readers to submit their ideas for rituals and other activities that would draw on Norse-Germanic tradition, but steer clear of racial and military overtones in order to glorify peaceful human existence and the sacredness of nature. Let's experiment. Send in your thoughts, speculations and experiences, and we can put together a rough guide to a non-racist, non-militarist Asatru.
We will probably need a new name for this, as well, to not cause confusion with existing forms of Asatru or Heathenry in America that we are trying to distinguish ourselves from. With my friends at AAR, we proposed Peaceful Tru, or more humorously, Wimp-a-tru, to underline our disinterest in military machismo. Perhaps Tree-Tru with reference to the World Tree as a symbol of nature and the interconnectedness of all life? How about The Great Northern Peace, to be symbolized by that Northern Lights?
Here are some opening suggestions. Imagine a ritual gathering around a fire. We could pass a drinking horn in the manner of a sumbel, but modify the sumbel to have one round of the horn dedicated to participants stating their concerns and intentions for social betterment, world peace, environmental preservation, and other positive goals of this sort. As a sacrifice, we could burn a mock-sword or maybe a mock-bomb made of a flammable substance like paper, cardboard or wood on which we each would have inscribed our wishes for an end to war and a turning away from violence and aggression, including our personal problems with cruelty, aggression and force.
I know there are those who will find this project ridiculous or sacrilegious. That is fine; to each their own. There is room for everyone to develop their own approaches and sensibilities. After all, there is no Asatru Pope, no central authority enforcing orthodox dogma last time I checked. If what I am proposing here doesn't suit you, feel free to ridicule or reject these ideas and stick with what works for you. Those who do see something of worth here are invited to think on these matters and participate as they see fit. As Bob Dylan sang in 1966, "Time will tell/Just who has fell/And who's been left behind/When you go your way/And I go mine." Above all, Let OUR way be a good and productive way!
If we took out the macho celebration of weapons and war, the old notion of the ultra-violent Viking, and the appeal to Northern European white identity, would there be anything left, or do these two elements really contain the essence of American Asatru and Heathenry? (Notice how I use the word "American" as a qualifier--I think Scandinavian Asatru is actually on a different track and is not constructed on the same foundations and appeals as the American variety). I have no doubt that there are lots of young men who are drawn to Asatru because of the appeal of warrior machismo, who like to imagine themselves mighty Viking warriors, swinging big swords and axes against the enemies of their tribe and then celebrating their heroic victories with big horns of beer. Certainly there are men in prison coping with daily threats of violence and men away in the military or who come back from Iraq, Afghanistan or other battle zones who find it very meaningful to imagine themselves the heirs of the warrior traditions of old.
However, the prison and the battlefield are not the main reality of life for most people in this country or looking further, on this planet, even though the rapid growth of both the US prison system and the US military might make it seem so to many. The prison and the battlefield are dramatic and painful aspects of our world, to be sure, but should we take them as the template for life in general, requiring a recourse to a religion that rationalizes and celebrates war and violence? Is this how we wish to choose to imagine the world for ourselves and generations to come? To use a scholarly term, is this the "imaginary" that we wish to define our hopes and horizons? Crime, punishment, and war? Survival of the most brutal in a land of endless brutality? Is this all we believe that human beings are capable of? Sometimes it seems our popular culture wishes it so, and we, by purchasing and participating in that popular culture with its endless repackaging of warrior-against-the-world scenarios, from Rambo to World of Warcraft, to Grand Theft Auto to The Hunger Games to The Walking Dead, we add to the strength of that imaginary. It starts to seem normal to think that life is nothing but a violent, manly struggle to survive; there is nothing else. We need gods who will help us fight. 24/7 Ragnarok, we're all gonna die, let's go down fighting. Right?
I say, away with that. Done with that. Close the book on that. Anyone who wants to is free to go play those games and watch those movies and shows, but please don't come to our religion and ask us to sanctify your love of violence or work out your personal PTSD for you. (That is a serious problem, no joke by any means, and if you are suffering from that, there is therapy for that and I sincerely hope you take the step to go get it). We want to imagine the world in a different way. A society that struggles for peace and acceptance, not conquest and punishment, that tries to help people deal with their real problems and not offer them phony, fantasy solutions built around bombs and weapons.
Likewise with a focus on "ancestral tradition" that often sounds an awful lot like a plea for white privilege dressed up in medieval drag. You want White Power? Please, go join the Aryan Nations or the Ku Klux Klan. There are also some really basic problems with Americans claiming to be the heir of "Northern European spiritual tradition." America is a land of mixture and diversity. Most "white" people in America are a mixture of assorted European backgrounds that they have largely forgotten. To cling to "Northern European" and hence Asatru or Heathenry as your ancestral tradition is a bit silly when your most immediate ancestors may have had little knowledge of or interest in any particular country or culture of Northern Europe. If you are an American Heathen or Asatruar, you probably became interested in that region and its traditions as a teen or a young adult, and this is fine, but to say this comes from your ancestors speaking through your genes and not from the books or web sites that you recently encountered is not the most direct or straightforward statement of the course of events, but would seem instead to involve a projection into the past of interests that you just recently hit upon. And honestly, how many truly Pagan ancestors do you actually have knowledge of, rather than just imagination of? Is it possible that most of your ancestors, at least the last thousand years' worth, were Christian? Do you really think they are waiting for you in Valhalla? Doing what, chopping up their Bibles and crucifixes with swords and axes?
For these reasons, I think the claim of ancestral tradition is not legitimate for most Americans interested in Norse Paganism, including myself. I know I came to it through books, later through travels and studies, and I am not ashamed of it. I do not feel I have to dress it up into something more grandiose and impressive by saying "my ancestors are calling me...my Czech and Lithuanian (are they Northern European? hmmm... some would say Eastern or East-Central European) ancestors are calling me to become a Northern European Heathen and worship Odin." Like hell they are! Some of my recent Czech ancestors were Catholic priests and my Lithuanian grandmother was a particularly anti-semitic Catholic, but I can find no record of any Pagans, and certainly no Norse Pagans,among any ancestors that I have information about. If anything, it is the Thor comics of my youth and the Hilda Ellis Davidson books on Norse Paganism that I encountered in college that nudged me in this direction. What I am doing now with my own spirituality is my own choice and responsibility, with nothing to do with my ancestors. If I were to really follow ancestral tradition, I would have to go back to the Church,as that is the only "ancestral" spiritual path I have any real evidence about. And if I found out that I had some Jewish ancestors, which is possible, would I have to then become Jewish on alternate Saturdays?
I am sorry if what I am writing may be annoying or offensive to those American Asatruar or Heathens who have invested a lot of themselves in the claim of ancestral Northern European identity. You have to determine for yourself if that claim really stands up logically against what you actually know of your ancestry. I encourage you to take the test, and if you come out the other end realizing as I have that you cannot honestly or logically attribute your own spiritual inclinations to anything that was bequeathed to you by any ancestors that you actually have knowledge of ....RELAX. It's not so bad. You have now become an independent agent who can think for him or herself about what you want to do or be in matters of religion and spirituality, and of course in regards to life in general.
Returning to the main theme of this essay, if we jettison warrior machismo, weapon fetishes, and claims of Northern European ancestry, is there anything left of Asatru that we can still make use of and build upon? Yes. In fact, there is plenty.
There is still Scandinavia. We can still look to this region as a special, sacred place that we can visit in pilgrimage, like others visit Jerusalem, Varanasi and Mecca. And, no longer being weapon-bearers, we can more easily appreciate what Scandinavia has become since the Viking age: a region with the greatest shared prosperity of any place on earth, and the least militarism. A society that has turned away from making war to making a good life for its people, which was always the goal of the Vikings, in fact. Violent they were, at times, but never for its own sake. They went in search of plunder and economic opportunity. Scandinavians today have proven you can have a good society without overmuch reliance on violence or warfare.
There is still the Scandinavian literature and mythology. We can still study Old Norse and also modern Scandinavian languages, but with our eyes opened to new possibilities. We will pay more attention to the multiple functions of the gods, and not only focus on warrior aspects. We will see new meaning in how Frey gave up his sword, and how Odin was in most of his myths not a warrior king but a seeker of magical wisdom. We will reflect on the myth of Ragnarok as an epitaph for a "world of warcraft" that could not forestall destruction. We will note that after all the madness of war, nature regenerates, the world is restored, and nature proves mightier than war.
We can still enjoy the Saga tales of warrior heroes as a bit of violent entertainment, but without taking their violence as something paradigmatic or sacred. The Sagas were written first and foremost to entertain, and we have to think more about that. Furthermore, when we take a closer look at a figure like Egil Skallagrimsson, we will be more inclined to note that his main occupation was poet, not warrior. With a de-militarized perspective, other more peaceful elements of the old writings will become more clear to us. We will note for example that the Old Norse sagas describe a failed struggle to create a society of laws, not weapons, with a great deal of space devoted to legal proceedings at the regional Thing councils and the annual Althing. We will ponder the extent to which the tragedy of Icelandic history was that endless feuding,the primacy of weapons over law, crippled the early Republic and left it ripe for colonization, first by Norway then Denmark.
We will note too that Iceland gained its independence not through taking up arms and hying to the sea in longships but through a peaceful process of cultural renovation which helped persuade Iceland's colonial rulers in Denmark that the country did deserve respect and autonomy.
What I am writing here may seem strange to Americans who have grown up in American Asatru and Heathenry, which has been so strongly affected by the tastes and predilections of a generation of military men like Stephen McNallen and Valgard Murray. It would not seem strange however to Asatruar or Heathens in Iceland or Scandinavia, however, where war and weapons are not such a priority. When I have attended rituals in Iceland, Norway or Sweden, I felt a peaceful, spiritual mood that I find gets buried in all the militaristic trappings of the American version.
In a de-militarized, de-racialized Norse Paganism, we will still have the Pagan sacredness of nature. We can have renewed appreciation for all the mystery of nature that is upheld in the Eddas and elsewhere. All hail to the World Tree Yggdrasil, the foundation of all life and the living link between all realms of existence. All hail to the ocean, the realm of Njord! All hail to the earth, the mother of Thor!
We will still have rituals like sumbel/symbel and blot, but we will remove the weapons and warrior decorations. We can deck the halls with art that represents the sacredness of nature and the spiritual quest for higher realities. More runes, less rifles, so to speak!
We will still have the love of Norse-Germanic tradition, but without making silly or poorly grounded claims that we love this stuff because it is flowing in our veins,in our bones, our genes, our DNA. Cutting out the "blood and soil," quasi-racist crap will free us to make Asatru truly open to ANYONE who wants to participate, who finds the gods, myths, poems and other aspects of Norse-Germanic culture attractive or inspirational. It will no longer be possible to claim that Asatru-Heathenry is a cover or support for racism, and Asatru-Heathenry will have an easier time standing up against the racist thugs who like to use Norse-Germanic symbolism and folklore for Nazi-istic purposes.
Now is where YOU come in. I would like to ask readers to submit their ideas for rituals and other activities that would draw on Norse-Germanic tradition, but steer clear of racial and military overtones in order to glorify peaceful human existence and the sacredness of nature. Let's experiment. Send in your thoughts, speculations and experiences, and we can put together a rough guide to a non-racist, non-militarist Asatru.
We will probably need a new name for this, as well, to not cause confusion with existing forms of Asatru or Heathenry in America that we are trying to distinguish ourselves from. With my friends at AAR, we proposed Peaceful Tru, or more humorously, Wimp-a-tru, to underline our disinterest in military machismo. Perhaps Tree-Tru with reference to the World Tree as a symbol of nature and the interconnectedness of all life? How about The Great Northern Peace, to be symbolized by that Northern Lights?
Here are some opening suggestions. Imagine a ritual gathering around a fire. We could pass a drinking horn in the manner of a sumbel, but modify the sumbel to have one round of the horn dedicated to participants stating their concerns and intentions for social betterment, world peace, environmental preservation, and other positive goals of this sort. As a sacrifice, we could burn a mock-sword or maybe a mock-bomb made of a flammable substance like paper, cardboard or wood on which we each would have inscribed our wishes for an end to war and a turning away from violence and aggression, including our personal problems with cruelty, aggression and force.
I know there are those who will find this project ridiculous or sacrilegious. That is fine; to each their own. There is room for everyone to develop their own approaches and sensibilities. After all, there is no Asatru Pope, no central authority enforcing orthodox dogma last time I checked. If what I am proposing here doesn't suit you, feel free to ridicule or reject these ideas and stick with what works for you. Those who do see something of worth here are invited to think on these matters and participate as they see fit. As Bob Dylan sang in 1966, "Time will tell/Just who has fell/And who's been left behind/When you go your way/And I go mine." Above all, Let OUR way be a good and productive way!
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Terrorism and Tribalism
The recent near-terrorist incident involving the bungled attempt by Nigerian student Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab to cause an explosion on the Christmas flight from Amsterdam to Detroit, following the horrific shooting spree by the American soldier Nidal Malik Hassan at Fort Hood, Texas in November, have brought forth responses in the media, the public and our politicians that again illustrate a general American inability to respond to these difficult situations with anything more thoughtful and probing than a knee-jerk reaction of seeking to punish the perpetrators of these actions and to blame those who did not stop these situations from progressing to where they nearly caused, or in the case of Nidal Hassan, actually did cause harm and tragedy. There is also the infantile desire for government to provide a guarantee of 100% security to all Americans at all times. This writer will concede that more could perhaps have been done to prevent these incidents from unfolding as they did--or nearly did--but what he finds sadly lacking from the discussion is any serious consideration of WHY these Muslim individuals are so willing to take up the cause of violence against the USA and/or the West, even at the cost of their own lives. The general discussion seems to assume that these "bad guys," as labeled by former President Bush, are beyond understanding. They are simply "bad." Or maybe crazy. Or maybe misled by bad, crazy ideology. Or all of the above.
Rarely will you hear any discussion of how the Islamic world in general has been suffering a long-burning sense of humiliation, frustration and anger since being unsettled, disabled, carved up into pieces and then rearranged this way and that by Western colonial powers from the British to the French to the Russians to us for the last several hundred years. The post-WW II creation of the state of Israel by non-Islamic powers from outside the Middle East is one particularly grating example of events that have often taken place against the will of Islamic countries and without their consultation or any serious consideration of their interests or sensitivities. To put it bluntly, the Muslims are tired of being pushed around. Americans may recall we had a similar feeling toward the British in our colonial days, a feeling which prompted us to undertake a certain war of independence. To our British rulers in that period, Americans seeking to break away from the British Empire must have seemed like crazy, evil terrorists, "the worst of the worst."
So, when Islamic radicals take up arms against American forces occupying their lands, their actions, however regrettable or horrific, are not really all that crazy or irrational, nor are they so impossible to understand. What is needed is to seriously and thoughtfully consider their own point of view--which is not the same thing as agreeing with it--and not simply condemn it as evil or insane. These radicals are responding to what they see as unfair American domination of their world, an "American empire," if you will, and this is their attempt to make it end, or die trying.
I would argue that we will never succeed in stopping these repeated attempts at destabilizing our world through terrorist violence until we seriously consider how past and present actions of America and other Western countries have destabilized others' worlds, particularly those of Islamic peoples who once lived in proud, powerful Islamic states that boasted an advanced sophisticated civilization. We tend to assume that the rest of the world should accept American dominance, including allowing our military forces to freely operate in or near their territories--though we would never allow others to bring their military forces onto American soil--and merrily join in with our economic system and form of government.
Consider how we would feel in the reverse situation. If Saudi Arabia used its oil wealth to construct a huge military and then, after some perceived humiliation of some Saudi citizens in the United States, demanded that we allow Saudi soldiers to set up military bases in say, upstate New York and the Florida coast, and to be allowed to occupy these bases for an indefinite period, we would think it crazy and never accept it. Yet we expect other countries around the world to acquiesce to exactly this kind of humiliating and infuriating arrangement. Our military presence in the Middle East and Southwest Asia needs to be considered in this light.
But the kind of discussion I am calling for will probably not happen, certainly not in the mainstream USA media nor the halls of government. The media and the government prefer to hew to the party line of "American exceptionalism," believing that we are a particularly blessed and virtuous nation, beyond all criticism or objections, and that other countries should "naturally" accept our leadership--or else.
In a strange way, this is actually a very tribal point of view. Our tribe of the USA is incapable of seeing any other point of view other than that which glorifies and justifies our own greatness and entitlement. Any disruption of our tribal interests will be met with maximum harshness, without excuses or compassion. A one-day attack in 2001 that kills a small number of our total population but involves no disruption of our government nor any occupation of our territory becomes the justification for eight plus years of war in which we invade two other countries, overthrow their governments, kill tens of thousands, take prisoners that we ship to overseas prisons for indefinite detention, and ignite or re-kindle interminable civil wars. Our armies march through foreign lands with no apparent understanding of how frightening, disturbing and humiliating our presence may be, establishing fortress-like bases wherever we like, like crusader castles of old, giving orders and issuing demands to local rulers that make a mockery of our supposed belief in democracy, and killing those who dare stand up against our occupation of land that is not our own.
Once you take off the self-justifying, other-distorting glasses of American exceptionalism, this is not so hard to see. It also helps to travel and talk to non-Americans once in a while.
In my writings in this blog on Paganism, I have struggled a great deal with the relationship of tribalism to ethnically-based forms of Pagan revivalism, particularly Asatru/Heathenry. Now I see a new and disturbing connection with the world situation. It is my impression that the same American Heathens or Asatru followers who are most enthusiastic about the retro-ideal of a closed tribal community are the ones most likely to unquestioningly support the US military in carrying out its imperialistic duties in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere. It seems that they view the American military as the most wonderful tribe of all; a tribe beyond criticism, whose legitimacy or purpose cannot be questioned.
A few months ago, on a Yahoo Heathen group that I often peruse, I read many messages of congratulations to a young man going off to war in either Iraq or Afghanistan. Not one voice was raised to question the wisdom of the war; there was just the simplistic, sentimental "support the troops" point of view. I didn't want to spoil the party, so I said nothing.
Does Norse Pagan tradition have anything to say about the current situation beyond the easy glorification of war that one may derive from the battle-scenes in the Eddas ans Sagas? This is obviously a matter of interpretation, but I believe there are several strands in Norse mythology and history that show something more complex and nuanced than a simplistic glorification of the tribe and exultation in war.
(1). In the account of the "first war in the world" between the Aesir and Vanir tribes of gods described in the poem Voluspa, the resolution of the conflict comes not from one side completely subduing the other, but through truce and compromise that results in a blending of the two tribes. Could this be applied to America's conflict with Muslim militants? It might save some money and lives if we tried to figure out what these "bad guys" wanted, instead of assuming that they are insane and should all be killed, and see if we could work out some kind of compromise. I have a feeling that they would first of all like to see our troops leaving. Guess what? So would many Americans, including this one.
(2) In the satirical poem Lokasenna, the suspicion is voiced that Odin, in his function as arbiter of war, often gave victory to the less deserving side on the battlefield. Other texts show Odin as being fickle in terms of his support of one side or the other. Does this apply to anything today? Well, it might give us a little humility in viewing the odds for American victory in Afghanistan and elsewhere (Yemen? Somalia? Iran? Sudan? Pakistan?), when we reflect on how the god of war does not guarantee victory to anyone.
(3) When the Norse explorers attempted to settle in North America, probably on the coast of Newfoundland at the site of L'Anse aux Meadows, they were eventually driven off by the hostility of the Native Americans. Victory is not assured when occupying foreign lands.
(4) Both the Norse gods, in mythology, and the Norse peoples, in history, often blended with and assimilated with other beings/peoples/cultures. The Norse gods fight giants, but also mate with them. The Vikings fought the English, Irish and French, but also settled among them and in time became completely mixed with them. This suggests something that the American military is realizing about Afghanistan: it helps to get to know people and form relationships with them, not just order them around and bomb them when they become disagreeable. This is quite different from assuming that we Americans all have the answers and that the other side should become our obedient subjects.
(5) We also find, when we examine the course of Scandinavian history, that the Scandinavian countries became much more pleasant and prosperous places when they gave up their dreams of empire and conquest. That's the good news. The bad news is that no one gives up empire willingly. I imagine that American imperialism is in its final stages, because we are rapidly reaching the point where we simply cannot afford to keep all these troops trained, equipped, and deployed all around the world. Not if we want to preserve any kind of public services within the home base of the empire. I think the sun is starting to set on America as the dominant world power, but it will take a while. I look forward to the quiet day when we become a modest, medium-sized power, like Britain after World War II, when it gave up its African and Asian colonies. I also believe that when we stop trying to dominate the world, Islamic extremism will lose its raison d'etre and the Muslim world will calm down too. However, it is going to take a while.
This is all quite painful to ponder. I take none of this lightly. I seek solace in the spirits of nature, the quiet patience of trees and water and stones.
Rarely will you hear any discussion of how the Islamic world in general has been suffering a long-burning sense of humiliation, frustration and anger since being unsettled, disabled, carved up into pieces and then rearranged this way and that by Western colonial powers from the British to the French to the Russians to us for the last several hundred years. The post-WW II creation of the state of Israel by non-Islamic powers from outside the Middle East is one particularly grating example of events that have often taken place against the will of Islamic countries and without their consultation or any serious consideration of their interests or sensitivities. To put it bluntly, the Muslims are tired of being pushed around. Americans may recall we had a similar feeling toward the British in our colonial days, a feeling which prompted us to undertake a certain war of independence. To our British rulers in that period, Americans seeking to break away from the British Empire must have seemed like crazy, evil terrorists, "the worst of the worst."
So, when Islamic radicals take up arms against American forces occupying their lands, their actions, however regrettable or horrific, are not really all that crazy or irrational, nor are they so impossible to understand. What is needed is to seriously and thoughtfully consider their own point of view--which is not the same thing as agreeing with it--and not simply condemn it as evil or insane. These radicals are responding to what they see as unfair American domination of their world, an "American empire," if you will, and this is their attempt to make it end, or die trying.
I would argue that we will never succeed in stopping these repeated attempts at destabilizing our world through terrorist violence until we seriously consider how past and present actions of America and other Western countries have destabilized others' worlds, particularly those of Islamic peoples who once lived in proud, powerful Islamic states that boasted an advanced sophisticated civilization. We tend to assume that the rest of the world should accept American dominance, including allowing our military forces to freely operate in or near their territories--though we would never allow others to bring their military forces onto American soil--and merrily join in with our economic system and form of government.
Consider how we would feel in the reverse situation. If Saudi Arabia used its oil wealth to construct a huge military and then, after some perceived humiliation of some Saudi citizens in the United States, demanded that we allow Saudi soldiers to set up military bases in say, upstate New York and the Florida coast, and to be allowed to occupy these bases for an indefinite period, we would think it crazy and never accept it. Yet we expect other countries around the world to acquiesce to exactly this kind of humiliating and infuriating arrangement. Our military presence in the Middle East and Southwest Asia needs to be considered in this light.
But the kind of discussion I am calling for will probably not happen, certainly not in the mainstream USA media nor the halls of government. The media and the government prefer to hew to the party line of "American exceptionalism," believing that we are a particularly blessed and virtuous nation, beyond all criticism or objections, and that other countries should "naturally" accept our leadership--or else.
In a strange way, this is actually a very tribal point of view. Our tribe of the USA is incapable of seeing any other point of view other than that which glorifies and justifies our own greatness and entitlement. Any disruption of our tribal interests will be met with maximum harshness, without excuses or compassion. A one-day attack in 2001 that kills a small number of our total population but involves no disruption of our government nor any occupation of our territory becomes the justification for eight plus years of war in which we invade two other countries, overthrow their governments, kill tens of thousands, take prisoners that we ship to overseas prisons for indefinite detention, and ignite or re-kindle interminable civil wars. Our armies march through foreign lands with no apparent understanding of how frightening, disturbing and humiliating our presence may be, establishing fortress-like bases wherever we like, like crusader castles of old, giving orders and issuing demands to local rulers that make a mockery of our supposed belief in democracy, and killing those who dare stand up against our occupation of land that is not our own.
Once you take off the self-justifying, other-distorting glasses of American exceptionalism, this is not so hard to see. It also helps to travel and talk to non-Americans once in a while.
In my writings in this blog on Paganism, I have struggled a great deal with the relationship of tribalism to ethnically-based forms of Pagan revivalism, particularly Asatru/Heathenry. Now I see a new and disturbing connection with the world situation. It is my impression that the same American Heathens or Asatru followers who are most enthusiastic about the retro-ideal of a closed tribal community are the ones most likely to unquestioningly support the US military in carrying out its imperialistic duties in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere. It seems that they view the American military as the most wonderful tribe of all; a tribe beyond criticism, whose legitimacy or purpose cannot be questioned.
A few months ago, on a Yahoo Heathen group that I often peruse, I read many messages of congratulations to a young man going off to war in either Iraq or Afghanistan. Not one voice was raised to question the wisdom of the war; there was just the simplistic, sentimental "support the troops" point of view. I didn't want to spoil the party, so I said nothing.
Does Norse Pagan tradition have anything to say about the current situation beyond the easy glorification of war that one may derive from the battle-scenes in the Eddas ans Sagas? This is obviously a matter of interpretation, but I believe there are several strands in Norse mythology and history that show something more complex and nuanced than a simplistic glorification of the tribe and exultation in war.
(1). In the account of the "first war in the world" between the Aesir and Vanir tribes of gods described in the poem Voluspa, the resolution of the conflict comes not from one side completely subduing the other, but through truce and compromise that results in a blending of the two tribes. Could this be applied to America's conflict with Muslim militants? It might save some money and lives if we tried to figure out what these "bad guys" wanted, instead of assuming that they are insane and should all be killed, and see if we could work out some kind of compromise. I have a feeling that they would first of all like to see our troops leaving. Guess what? So would many Americans, including this one.
(2) In the satirical poem Lokasenna, the suspicion is voiced that Odin, in his function as arbiter of war, often gave victory to the less deserving side on the battlefield. Other texts show Odin as being fickle in terms of his support of one side or the other. Does this apply to anything today? Well, it might give us a little humility in viewing the odds for American victory in Afghanistan and elsewhere (Yemen? Somalia? Iran? Sudan? Pakistan?), when we reflect on how the god of war does not guarantee victory to anyone.
(3) When the Norse explorers attempted to settle in North America, probably on the coast of Newfoundland at the site of L'Anse aux Meadows, they were eventually driven off by the hostility of the Native Americans. Victory is not assured when occupying foreign lands.
(4) Both the Norse gods, in mythology, and the Norse peoples, in history, often blended with and assimilated with other beings/peoples/cultures. The Norse gods fight giants, but also mate with them. The Vikings fought the English, Irish and French, but also settled among them and in time became completely mixed with them. This suggests something that the American military is realizing about Afghanistan: it helps to get to know people and form relationships with them, not just order them around and bomb them when they become disagreeable. This is quite different from assuming that we Americans all have the answers and that the other side should become our obedient subjects.
(5) We also find, when we examine the course of Scandinavian history, that the Scandinavian countries became much more pleasant and prosperous places when they gave up their dreams of empire and conquest. That's the good news. The bad news is that no one gives up empire willingly. I imagine that American imperialism is in its final stages, because we are rapidly reaching the point where we simply cannot afford to keep all these troops trained, equipped, and deployed all around the world. Not if we want to preserve any kind of public services within the home base of the empire. I think the sun is starting to set on America as the dominant world power, but it will take a while. I look forward to the quiet day when we become a modest, medium-sized power, like Britain after World War II, when it gave up its African and Asian colonies. I also believe that when we stop trying to dominate the world, Islamic extremism will lose its raison d'etre and the Muslim world will calm down too. However, it is going to take a while.
This is all quite painful to ponder. I take none of this lightly. I seek solace in the spirits of nature, the quiet patience of trees and water and stones.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Trans-Atlantic Tensions, Euro-American Reflections
In embarking on the intellectual and spiritual journey of this blog, I have been repeatedly struck by the great distance that divides American versus European forms of Norse Paganism. I am starting to wonder if it is even accurate to consider Heathenry/Asatru in the two regions the same thing, or if it may be necessary to create new terminology to distinguish the "Ameritru" version of modern Norse Paganism from European/Scandinavian Asatru (not to mention other varieties now being created in Africa, Australia and likely other places, too, which is a topic I would love to hear readers' input about.)
This is a highly personal topic to me, as my introduction to Asatru, and indeed to Paganism in general, came in two distinct sets of experiences, one in the United States, the other in Scandinavia. I am probably more inclined toward the European version of Asatru because my meetings with Scandinavian Pagans were from the very first moment pleasant and inspiring, and my first encounter with American Heathens was disturbing and discouraging. Back in the late 1980s, I learned of a Norse Pagan publication being produced by an Asatru association in Florida, whose name I no longer recall. I eagerly wrote to the group for a copy, and received something that was totally perplexing to me. The publication certainly showed knowledge of old Norse literature and traditions, and expressed a dedication to the Norse gods and goddesses, which I appreciated, but this was mixed with racist ideas and language that were totally disgusting to me. Repelled, I gave up on any further contact with this or any American Asatru or Heathen group well into the 1990s, though graduate study of Old Norse kept a small light flickering somewhere inside me.
My interest in Old Norse mythology and religion remained strictly academic for some years, until the mid-1990s when I received a fellowship to study in Iceland, which was a wonderful and truly life-changing experience for a working-class kid who had never been out of his home country before. In Iceland, I was introduced to Heathens who were not only extremely well-versed in Norse Pagan religion, this being after all a venerable part of Icelandic cultural heritage, but also completely opposed to any kind of racist interpretation of their religious traditions. They furthermore showed great curiosity about other religious traditions of the world, with my best buddy in Iceland being a great fan of American Indian culture and religion. Another Icelandic friend involved in Asatru professed to me his atheism, despite being deeply involved in the Asatru Fellowship in a leadership position. For him, what mattered most about Asatru was not believing in Norse gods but understanding Norse cultural traditions and attitudes that he felt were embodied by the old Pagan religion.
For me, this was a revelation. Here was a Paganism that was not a narrow-minded club with racist overtones, but an expansive, open-minded Heathenry, sufficiently well-grounded in its own traditions to not need to be dogmatic or fundamentalist, and knowledgeable and respectful enough about other religions to seek to learn from them. Their attitude seemed to be, "but of course....we are the descendants of the Vikings...we are explorers and seekers of knowledge." I found this an eminently welcoming milieu, and in later years, when I visited with Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, Belgian and German Asatru groups, I found much the same attitude and atmosphere: tolerant, open-minded, non-dogmatic, and intellectually curious toward the larger world.
Since returning to live in America in the last five years, I have found difficulty in locating the same kind of atmosphere and attitude. Some of this is no doubt my own personal psychological difficulty in adjusting to living in the USA after a good many years abroad; a sense of returning-home-but-not-quite-belonging that is sometimes called "reverse culture shock." After living in both Europe and Asia, I can no longer share the easy confidence of many Americans that their country is indeed the best, their society superior; "USA #1," as it often phrased, sometimes in a rather belligerent manner that I cannot relate to at all. There are many things I love about America, but I love many qualities of other cultures as well. To put it in more Paganistic terms, I have walked among the spirits of other lands and received their blessings and guidance, and my sense of gratitude towards those other lands and spirits does not allow me to uphold any kind of narrow, exclusive patriotism.
My style of patriotism is to try to form bridges of understanding between the United States and other countries, even though America really is a very isolated culture and the distance to be bridged is often very immense. I feel my personal spirituality calls me to this, and I would go so far as to say I do not think any really genuine spirituality can be nationalistic in a narrow way, for neither Jesus, nor Odin nor Athena nor any other deities or revelations come to us wrapped in an American flag or any other flag. Even the Flying Spaghetti Monster travels without a passport.
I have always thought that the point of spirituality was to rise above anything as limited and confining as nationalism, but in returning to America, I am struck by how pervasive American nationalism is among Pagans that I have encountered. I had a Heathen acquaintance write to me with a kind of patriotic ultimatum: "Are you American Heathen, or not? If so, good. If not, bye!" I have never in any other context been challenged to produce proof of patriotism in order to be accepted as a Pagan; as some say, "only in America." For me, this ruins the whole point of engaging in Paganism as a spiritual path. If I wanted a religion based on patriotism, I would worship a deified version of George Washington or Ronald Reagan instead of honoring gods out of ancient Europe.
Certainly there are many complex issues of identity and loyalty tied up here. I know that in American society, someone like me who has spent an extended period living in other countries is not exactly a typical person, but a bit of a freak. However, having had that very enriching foreign experience, I cannot simply shelve it in a box of exotic mementos and pretend that all I know and all that matters is what is American. This has been particularly painful for me in reaching out to American Heathens, because here are people who I would expect to be really excited about international linkages and comparisons, being that their spirituality is inspired by texts and traditions out of Northern Europe, but I find that they are often not really very interested in modern-day Europe and Scandinavia, only the Northern Europe of their imagination, of the Viking past that they read about in books.
Of course, it is not anyone's fault if they do not have the opportunity to travel and experience other cultures, but I have the sense that some, perhaps many, are really not all that interested in experiencing other cultures at all, not even those of the Scandinavia that they supposedly revere as their spiritual homeland. This leads to a kind of closed, in-grown quality to some American Heathenry that by lack of knowledge of other cultures, becomes narrowly, tribally American, despite the sincere attraction to Norse Pagan traditions. I also have come to detect an underlying world-view and set of attitudes that is American conservative to the core, and this to me is not a straightforward read-out of ancient Norse traditions, but a distinctly American, conservative way of thinking.
Some of my European and Scandinavian Pagan friends who have read this blog have been scolding me for making such a fuss about politics, which they feel should not be mixed in with Paganism or Heathenry. However, I do not think they realize the extent to which their own form of Asatru is in many ways informed by modern-day Scandinavian social and political attitudes, just as the conservative American form of Heathenry largely reflects the dominant, conservative political viewpoint of American society. Looking at this, I realize that what is eating at me, and what is indeed a further symptom of my "reverse culture shock," is that I am hoping to find in America more of what I have known in Scandinavia.
This is more than a mere matter of personal taste, however. I find the modern Scandinavia of today just as spiritually inspiring as the Viking Scandinavia of the past, and I want to be part of a forward-looking Norse Paganism that can change and adapt with the times, rather than an exclusively backward-looking or retrospective Paganism with tendencies toward fundamentalism.....which will be the topic of my next entry.
This is a highly personal topic to me, as my introduction to Asatru, and indeed to Paganism in general, came in two distinct sets of experiences, one in the United States, the other in Scandinavia. I am probably more inclined toward the European version of Asatru because my meetings with Scandinavian Pagans were from the very first moment pleasant and inspiring, and my first encounter with American Heathens was disturbing and discouraging. Back in the late 1980s, I learned of a Norse Pagan publication being produced by an Asatru association in Florida, whose name I no longer recall. I eagerly wrote to the group for a copy, and received something that was totally perplexing to me. The publication certainly showed knowledge of old Norse literature and traditions, and expressed a dedication to the Norse gods and goddesses, which I appreciated, but this was mixed with racist ideas and language that were totally disgusting to me. Repelled, I gave up on any further contact with this or any American Asatru or Heathen group well into the 1990s, though graduate study of Old Norse kept a small light flickering somewhere inside me.
My interest in Old Norse mythology and religion remained strictly academic for some years, until the mid-1990s when I received a fellowship to study in Iceland, which was a wonderful and truly life-changing experience for a working-class kid who had never been out of his home country before. In Iceland, I was introduced to Heathens who were not only extremely well-versed in Norse Pagan religion, this being after all a venerable part of Icelandic cultural heritage, but also completely opposed to any kind of racist interpretation of their religious traditions. They furthermore showed great curiosity about other religious traditions of the world, with my best buddy in Iceland being a great fan of American Indian culture and religion. Another Icelandic friend involved in Asatru professed to me his atheism, despite being deeply involved in the Asatru Fellowship in a leadership position. For him, what mattered most about Asatru was not believing in Norse gods but understanding Norse cultural traditions and attitudes that he felt were embodied by the old Pagan religion.
For me, this was a revelation. Here was a Paganism that was not a narrow-minded club with racist overtones, but an expansive, open-minded Heathenry, sufficiently well-grounded in its own traditions to not need to be dogmatic or fundamentalist, and knowledgeable and respectful enough about other religions to seek to learn from them. Their attitude seemed to be, "but of course....we are the descendants of the Vikings...we are explorers and seekers of knowledge." I found this an eminently welcoming milieu, and in later years, when I visited with Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, Belgian and German Asatru groups, I found much the same attitude and atmosphere: tolerant, open-minded, non-dogmatic, and intellectually curious toward the larger world.
Since returning to live in America in the last five years, I have found difficulty in locating the same kind of atmosphere and attitude. Some of this is no doubt my own personal psychological difficulty in adjusting to living in the USA after a good many years abroad; a sense of returning-home-but-not-quite-belonging that is sometimes called "reverse culture shock." After living in both Europe and Asia, I can no longer share the easy confidence of many Americans that their country is indeed the best, their society superior; "USA #1," as it often phrased, sometimes in a rather belligerent manner that I cannot relate to at all. There are many things I love about America, but I love many qualities of other cultures as well. To put it in more Paganistic terms, I have walked among the spirits of other lands and received their blessings and guidance, and my sense of gratitude towards those other lands and spirits does not allow me to uphold any kind of narrow, exclusive patriotism.
My style of patriotism is to try to form bridges of understanding between the United States and other countries, even though America really is a very isolated culture and the distance to be bridged is often very immense. I feel my personal spirituality calls me to this, and I would go so far as to say I do not think any really genuine spirituality can be nationalistic in a narrow way, for neither Jesus, nor Odin nor Athena nor any other deities or revelations come to us wrapped in an American flag or any other flag. Even the Flying Spaghetti Monster travels without a passport.
I have always thought that the point of spirituality was to rise above anything as limited and confining as nationalism, but in returning to America, I am struck by how pervasive American nationalism is among Pagans that I have encountered. I had a Heathen acquaintance write to me with a kind of patriotic ultimatum: "Are you American Heathen, or not? If so, good. If not, bye!" I have never in any other context been challenged to produce proof of patriotism in order to be accepted as a Pagan; as some say, "only in America." For me, this ruins the whole point of engaging in Paganism as a spiritual path. If I wanted a religion based on patriotism, I would worship a deified version of George Washington or Ronald Reagan instead of honoring gods out of ancient Europe.
Certainly there are many complex issues of identity and loyalty tied up here. I know that in American society, someone like me who has spent an extended period living in other countries is not exactly a typical person, but a bit of a freak. However, having had that very enriching foreign experience, I cannot simply shelve it in a box of exotic mementos and pretend that all I know and all that matters is what is American. This has been particularly painful for me in reaching out to American Heathens, because here are people who I would expect to be really excited about international linkages and comparisons, being that their spirituality is inspired by texts and traditions out of Northern Europe, but I find that they are often not really very interested in modern-day Europe and Scandinavia, only the Northern Europe of their imagination, of the Viking past that they read about in books.
Of course, it is not anyone's fault if they do not have the opportunity to travel and experience other cultures, but I have the sense that some, perhaps many, are really not all that interested in experiencing other cultures at all, not even those of the Scandinavia that they supposedly revere as their spiritual homeland. This leads to a kind of closed, in-grown quality to some American Heathenry that by lack of knowledge of other cultures, becomes narrowly, tribally American, despite the sincere attraction to Norse Pagan traditions. I also have come to detect an underlying world-view and set of attitudes that is American conservative to the core, and this to me is not a straightforward read-out of ancient Norse traditions, but a distinctly American, conservative way of thinking.
Some of my European and Scandinavian Pagan friends who have read this blog have been scolding me for making such a fuss about politics, which they feel should not be mixed in with Paganism or Heathenry. However, I do not think they realize the extent to which their own form of Asatru is in many ways informed by modern-day Scandinavian social and political attitudes, just as the conservative American form of Heathenry largely reflects the dominant, conservative political viewpoint of American society. Looking at this, I realize that what is eating at me, and what is indeed a further symptom of my "reverse culture shock," is that I am hoping to find in America more of what I have known in Scandinavia.
This is more than a mere matter of personal taste, however. I find the modern Scandinavia of today just as spiritually inspiring as the Viking Scandinavia of the past, and I want to be part of a forward-looking Norse Paganism that can change and adapt with the times, rather than an exclusively backward-looking or retrospective Paganism with tendencies toward fundamentalism.....which will be the topic of my next entry.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Would the Vikings Use the Euro?
One of the things I find most fascinating about modern-day Paganism is the attempt to re-imagine and re-construct the spiritual pathways of the European past (note: for my purposes, I define Paganism as pre-Christian European religious traditions and their modern revivals, though this is not to meant to disparage spiritual traditions of other regions), and also to adapt these bygone traditions to modern society. Thus I am blogging on a computer instead of carving a runestone, for example.
With regard to Asatru/Heathenry and the revival of pre-Christian, Germanic-Nordic-Scandinavian religious traditions, something I find very interesting is how many modern day Asatruar in the USA are deeply involved with reimagining and reconstructing the lifestyle and religious beliefs of Viking era Scandinavia, but often seem to have no interest in the further evolution of Scandinavia beyond the Viking era. Now I know one way to explain this is to say, post-Viking, Scandinavia was Christianized, so who cares about it after that? Well, I do.
I have traveled to all the Scandinavian countries, most recently Sweden in spring of 2009, Iceland and Norway in spring of 2007, and also lived in Iceland on a Fulbright graduate student fellowship in 1996. Modern Scandinavia is extremely admirable and impressive, in my view. Strong economies; healthy people; beautiful landscapes; progressive social policies; cultures that retain the old and embrace the new, from rock-carvings to Nokia. It seems to me that the industriousness, imagination and sense of curiosity of the Vikings of the past did not go to waste, in fact never went away at all. These countries have continued to evolve, and the modern-day "Vikings" are just as worthy of respect as the legendary ones of old. I do not know if many American Asatruar share my feeling, and I think part of the reason is politics. In my experience, many American Asatruar are small-town, rural-oriented folks, either by birth or by later in life choice, and they tend toward a conservative, right-of-center political viewpoint that is opposed to the kind of quasi-socialism of the modern-day Scandinavian nations, where "social democracy" (the more respectful term) provides much more security and support to the population than what we see in the USA. I wish we could learn more from the modern Vikings, but I suppose the current health care debate shows how threatened most Americans are by strange, foreign ideas like universal health care. Just call me "Lefty the Viking."
With regard to Asatru/Heathenry and the revival of pre-Christian, Germanic-Nordic-Scandinavian religious traditions, something I find very interesting is how many modern day Asatruar in the USA are deeply involved with reimagining and reconstructing the lifestyle and religious beliefs of Viking era Scandinavia, but often seem to have no interest in the further evolution of Scandinavia beyond the Viking era. Now I know one way to explain this is to say, post-Viking, Scandinavia was Christianized, so who cares about it after that? Well, I do.
I have traveled to all the Scandinavian countries, most recently Sweden in spring of 2009, Iceland and Norway in spring of 2007, and also lived in Iceland on a Fulbright graduate student fellowship in 1996. Modern Scandinavia is extremely admirable and impressive, in my view. Strong economies; healthy people; beautiful landscapes; progressive social policies; cultures that retain the old and embrace the new, from rock-carvings to Nokia. It seems to me that the industriousness, imagination and sense of curiosity of the Vikings of the past did not go to waste, in fact never went away at all. These countries have continued to evolve, and the modern-day "Vikings" are just as worthy of respect as the legendary ones of old. I do not know if many American Asatruar share my feeling, and I think part of the reason is politics. In my experience, many American Asatruar are small-town, rural-oriented folks, either by birth or by later in life choice, and they tend toward a conservative, right-of-center political viewpoint that is opposed to the kind of quasi-socialism of the modern-day Scandinavian nations, where "social democracy" (the more respectful term) provides much more security and support to the population than what we see in the USA. I wish we could learn more from the modern Vikings, but I suppose the current health care debate shows how threatened most Americans are by strange, foreign ideas like universal health care. Just call me "Lefty the Viking."
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