The Heathen Way (2012-3)
The Heathen Way
Features of the Heathen Way:
1. An awareness of the world as a place of flux which can be either more orderly and conducive to the good life or else more chaotic and destructive of happiness.
2. An understanding of the world as a playground of both natural (visible) and supernatural (invisible) beings which it is profitable to be aware of and to interact appropriately with.
3. An attitude to strive actively for a more orderly world against the forces of disintegration and chaos.
4. A desire to lead a mature adult life as an individual, family or community - a self-directed life where one takes responsibility for one's own welfare and strives for greater health, wisdom, capability, strength and resilience.
5. A respect for those who have come before us and their accumulated wisdom which we call a cultural tradition. Respect for ourselves and our ability to discover new ways of doing things appropriate for us. Concern for those who will come after us that we will leave them with a good foundation to build on.
6. A respect and concern for the wider world which we live in - its human and non-human inhabitants and its material substrate and the good relationships between them.
The Heathen Way is many things but it includes:
- the striving to support the small against the giant
- a participation in activities that attune oneself to reality
- an appreciation of community
- a valuing of self-reliance
- a willingness to put one's hand to many kinds of tasks not just one
- an awareness of one's roots in the ongoing processes of existence
- a desire to be a person of worth who creates value in the world
Twelve Activities of a Heathen Life
Gathering - gathering food, materials people from out there to in here so that we have what we need to produce what we need.
Gardening - cultivating plants that can provide us with food, animals too maybe
Cooking - preparing our food from raw ingredients so that it is good for us to eat
Nursing - attending to those who are small or infirm or in need of help to get what they need from the world so that their life can continue, their health be restored, their growth assisted, their happiness enhanced.
Story-telling - telling each other stories which build our understanding of the world.
Dancing - moving, speaking, singing, acting with a rhythmn that pleases us - especially in co-ordination with others to produce something that is good for body and soul.
Handcraft - creating objects and tools for our use that assist our lives.
Shelter-making - creating places to live in suited to our nature through dual-faced structures - once face outwards to the earth and the elements and one face inwards to us and our living space.
Warfare - action to influence the other people and creatures about us to take account of our needs and give us space to live when they might not otherwise do so. Physically violent action will not usually be the best way for heathens today.
Herbalism - the use of substances from plants to heal the body and other similar interventions.
Witchcraft - the practice of psychospiritual techniques to impact the mind and restore it to a healthy peace.
Wizardry - the seeking after wisdom and the use of such wisdom to benefit the community and the world.
Seven Important Things
Wisdom
Wisdom is important. The wiser a person is the more likely they are to take the actions which benefits themselves and others.
Capability
Capability is important. The more capable a person is at performing different tasks the more likely it is that when something needs doing they will be able to do it.
Food
Food is important. People need a continuous supply of food to continue living. For best health the food needs to be of sufficient variety and quality and not contain injurious ingredients.
Health
Keeping the ability to be active.
Community
Community is important. The relationships people have with each other, how they interact and how they see and feel about each other are things that matter. Heathens work to build good relationships between people and strong and happy family and community lives.
Communications
Sharing information.
Shopping
Acquiring goods you need.
About Religion
Religion might be defined as cultural practices which orientate a person in the world and give them a set of values to live by.
Religion can be good or bad depending on how well it helps people align themselves with the world as it really is and value the things that are important for a good life.
Heathens are suspicious of religion which had been devised by an imperial power. They suspect it may be intended to keep them in their place and prevent them from achieving their full potential. Heathen religion is devised by members of a heathen community itself.
Religion connects people to the world they live in. Because people and the world they inhabit both change over time, religion itself has to change with them if it is to serve people well. So development of religion is a continual process.
Worship is a practice that encourages people to see worth in things. Good worship will encourage practitioners to understand what are the important powers in the world to pay attention to and which will support the development of a rewarding life.
Ritual sacrifice is a practice of giving up something of value in reverence of an important power. Often to gain the important things of life we have to give up other things. Ritual sacrifice prepares us to do this.
Supernatural beings. Heathens understand that if we only look at the surface of life we can't develop a full picture of the underlying connections between things. Thus we imagine supernatural beings which don't have solid visible bodies like a natural being but still can have a visible effect. For a rational heathen a supernatural being is an abstract process or activity which is fully part of the world. It obeys the natural laws and doesn't have an existence independent of the stuff the world is made of.
Deities. A deity is a mental picture of a supernatural being. A deity exists in so far as people believe in it and thus keep the deity in their minds. In a different way also a deity exists in so far as it reflects an actual truth about the world.
Myths. Myths are stories that encode worldly wisdom in an easily digestible and memorable form.
Runes. To understand the world we need to break it up into its underlying component pieces or runic elements. So runes are mental concepts that are given special attention. Runes come in sets which ideally form a comprehensive mental toolkit for making sense of life.
Wisdom
Wisdom is important. The wiser a person is the more likely they are to take the actions which benefits themselves and others.
Sensitivity is the faculty of being intuitively aware of what is what. A sensitive person can hear the inner voice which guides them in the true nature of things.
Clarity is the faculty of being able to set aside unjustified assumptions and preconceptions and see clearly what is actually in front of them.
Knowledge is the rich store of patterns of possibilities that a person can harbour. Knowledge is hard to discover direct from nature but comes to us much easier from the mouths of others. With greater knowledge we can make sense of life that much quicker.
May 4012
What is the purpose of life?
Life itself is purpose - that is the full-flourishing life is its own purpose and reward.
But such a life has to be striven for.
What is your Worth?
What is your significance? What good impact are you having on the world? How much are you helping to make the world a better place? To what extent do your actions create the structures of the fully flourishing life?
Heathens strive to be worthy people - people who make a positive contribution to the well-being of their communities - and are mindful of their overall impact on the world as a whole - their cosmic worth.
July 4012
What is Dirt?
Dirt is what gets in the way of the full flourishing of living beings.
Dirty water is not good to drink. Dirty food is not good to eat.
We can also talk of dirty actions. Dirty deeds are not wholesome. They cause harm.
Those who support dirty deeds have some of that dirt rub off on them. They themselves become unclean.
The products of dirty deeds are themselves dirty. If we take the dirty produce then we are dirtying ourselves.
Cleanliness
Heathens strive for cleanliness - for taking in what is clean - unsullied by contaminants - physical or moral. That way they support their own good health and the good health of the world around them.
July 4012
Rootedness
Our roots are our connections into the processes of the world.
Heathens strive for awareness of their rootedness.
They are aware of their place in the world , the impact they have on the natural world and the impact the natural world has on them, the impact they have on future generations and the impact that past generations have had on them, the impact they have on their immediate family and community and the impact their immediate community has on them, their impact on the wider human community living on this planet and the impact of the wider community on them.
July 4012
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