(This article is derived from an alt.religion.asatru post of July 1997).Part of the Zeitgeist we live with today is the conclusion that the truth is subjective,that we cannot hold it, that we cannot be certain we know anything, so we have to accept anything or mildly demure with a lot of qualifications preceding each comment. "I could be wrong but..." "I kinda feel like..." That truth is a liquid with a form only definable by its subjective container is a cliche that passes today for wisdom from greasy spoon restaurant to university hall.
However, it is not truth which is subjective. Truth exists, whether in historical events or scientific fact or what have you. It is only the lack of information which causes subjectivity to come into play. It is our approach to the truth, our attempt to know it, which is subjective. That is based not on the liquidity of truth, but on the limitations of our knowledge, our vision, our expectations, our ability to discern.
Religion is somewhat different. If one approaches it only by studying the lore, as a scientist or a scholar might, one will see that a subjective approach is required due to the conflicts in the source materials. If we as Asatruar, for example, make the Eddas akin to the idol which Christian fundamentalists have made of the Bible, we will never escape (as they have never escaped) the endless quoting of chapter and verse to promote subjective viewpoints. But we have a different tool, if you will. The spirit of the ancestors which lives within and the living gods. Asatru is a living religion and it lives within its adherents, as it did 1,000 years ago, as it did 40,000 years ago.
If one approaches it as a scholar, without seeking an inner understanding of its spirit, without seeking to know the gods as living entities rather than literary figurines, it is very subjective, an intellect trying without reference to spirit to sort out matters of faith. If one approaches it with the spirit of the age, accepting a belief in gods with Indo-European names but never finding the primal, ancestral foundations of your spirit, one has a PC religion based on fashionable ideas, rather than on the living gods, which returns one to a subjective understanding.
If, on the other hand, one finds Asatru, the ancient and living faith, it hits you with a certainty. At the deepest and highest levels of your being, there is a resonance and a recognition, one knows the gods as our ancestors knew them. We can know the gods and their nature. We can know the spirit of the ancestors back in the very dawn of our Folk, for we carry it still. To reason is added knowing.
And knowing the nature of the faith, one speaks of truth, one speaks truth. Asatruar must therefore have the courage of conviction, must be willing to boldly and plainly say what we believe rather than acting as if our faith is without form, tenets, or truth. The options are not all the same, merely fluid subjective options- the faith has meaning and substance. And it is in stark contrast to today's fashion in thought.
The gods live. Hail our gods!
This page hosted by Get your own Free Home Page