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Heathen Autonomism
Autonomism means Self-Rule. It means generating a plan for action from within oneself rather than following one given to you by others.
There are many types of Autonomism depending on who is the Self who governs itself - an individual, a family, a community, a fellowship, a nation etc.
Heathen Autonomism is Small-Community Autonomism. An Individual cannot provide the means of life in isolation. A large agglomeration of people cannot maintain ties of mutual awareness or mutual commitment nor keep a watch over its leaders. A Small Community can potentially provide for itself - and keep its leaders in contact with its members so the former are inclined to think of the interests of the latter.
A Heathen Community has members bound by mutual trust and personal commitment so they can rely on each other. They have things in common, including shared cultural understandings so that they are best able to co-operate with each other.
Creating Space for Self-Rule
Autonomism depends on conditions of freedom. One can only govern oneself if one is sheltered from pressures from the outside which might push one to act in a way contrary to ones own design.
Heathen Autonomism needs at a minimum Economic Shelter and Cognitive Shelter. Economic Shelter to allow for the development of the internal economy as its members provide for each other. Cognitive Shelter so its members are able to develop freely their own understanding of themselves and the world.
In a world where Shelter is not provided naturally by the terrain people inhabit then it can be constructed by the way the people habitually act. People of Heathen Kind are habitually disposed to choose to support their own Heathen Community and other Heathen Communities in their daily activities at the expense of large and remote systems.
There are different ways that people might be motivated to support what is Heathen. A start is for people to understand what are the effect of their daily actions - which are life-promoting and which are not - and this needs to be more than an intellectual understanding it needs to be an understanding that touches the heart of a person.
Heathen Autonomism is non-prescriptive
Heathen Autonomism is about taking seriously the responsibility of managing ones own affairs as a community and of creating the conditions that enable one to do that and of supporting others who are trying to do the same. Beyond this there is no prescription as to how to go about it. (This we see as the role of individual tribal cultures.)
December 2011