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The Fight for Context - by Böðvar Ásbjörnsson

It seems to me that the entire time I've spent Folkway since returning to it has been spent in a fight for context.

We fight over definitions of the faith, whom the Gods call, what constitutes our Folk, and how we should address the High Ones. Some things get loads of attention -- race, sex and sexual orientation, the views or personality or works of this or that godhi or gydhja -- but no one thing make up who we are or who we should be.

In the end, there's a lot of talk.

...yak, yak, yak...positions taken and defended, positions taken up in opposition...he said/she said...names exchanged...quibbling like lawyers or Little League parents....

It suddenly struck me what we're about here is *context*.

The Gods do not exist in isolation. As every thought, feeling, or action occurs, it occurs *in context*. They speak to us in *our* context, and we understand them *in context*.

The thought is thought of a specific person, at a specific time, in specific circumstances. So with the Gods.

The Gods aren't one-size-fits-all -- we've seen that bloody struggle between the Folkish and Non-Folkish wear itself out. If this is true for ancestry -- and I believe that it is -- then it's also true for context.

By context, where the Folk dimension of the equation is concerned, I mean time, place and social organization *in keeping with history and the present time*. After all, nobody just springs into life, as the Greeks said that Minerva stepped fully grown from Zeus's forehead (after four kids, my wife'd give good money for *that* trick!).

What we've been arguing about is context. How do we organize. Organization has always been, for our people, a body of law. What is our law? Who are we?

We argue, it seems, without making decisions, or even knowing beyond personalities why we're arguing.

As we nail down our relationship with the Gods -- AS A PEOPLE -- and learn who they are, we need to heed their guidance and find out who *we* are.

We need our law back. We need our identity back.

For that reason, reconstructionism is *a* step, and a necessary one. It is one of the things needing done.

As important is *deconstructionalism*, meaning that we examine ourselves today for unnecessary "guesswork", foreign influence, and just plain nonsense. Where new things have been added -- such as the Noble Virtues, in whatever form -- where they are practical, help
define an ethical structure and lead toward a workable body of law, we judge them part of the tradition...ancient or not.

Also important is allowing for the genius of the individual, and for making allowances for that individual.

But, we *need* an ethical structure. We need a social norm. We need our law.

We need to fill in the empty places in our tradition...and, must then *know* what those empty spaces are by knowing what *does* survive. We need to test what survives in light of what we are faced with today.

In short, we need to establish our *context*.

The Gods sought us out, or we sought them out...either way, they exist in one of the Worlds, and we in the World in the Middle. Who are we? They know us...AllMother sees all, we are told, and keeps to herself...a handy trait as we make fools of ourselves and of eachother finding our feet. But, do we know who we are?

We need to find our law, our ethics, and live "in law". That's a tall order, when much has been lost, and that which survives is open to the discussion of fools.

The first generation of godhar and gydhjur stuck the light. We need to use that light to build a foundation. Those who come after will have the context -- the customs, language, values, outlook -- we leave them, both good and ill.

Any of this make sense to anyone not living in *my* head? Well...understand or no, we need to get about it...better than we have been.

-- B

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