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Thirty Years On - by Böðvar Ásbjörnsson

As I look around me, we heathens today finally have a "past" in the modern era. Still, thirty years on, we're wrangling over who we are. I think it's time that we cease being an "entry-level" religion.

We've got people now who've been "doing Asatru" for ten years and some for many more, in many variations – from an Icelandic model to the AngloSaxon Rice now to Irminenschaft. Each in his or her own way lives, trying to be true to what has been left to us. Seeing how much effort it takes to "do" it properly, with all the reading, etc., that tells me that we should have developed a class of goðar, or at least a class of experts.

In the face of that, the constant on-line and even "real world" carping and faultfinding and the tenderness about anyone being "the boss of meeee", is working against us. Criticism and carping exist even in the face of these learned and experienced experts and of folk who've given a good bit of their lives to the foundation of the Folkway. This sort of thing is disrespectful both of our scholars and leaders. It is, in the face of their experience both modern and what we've rediscovered from Elder sources, also impractical.

We're up to our horned helmets in "seekers". In practice, little is expected from these seekers, and no dedication is required. People just are, and every voice seems given equal weight. They can then begin raising the noise-to-signal ratio upon entering any discussion of our Folkway.

Besides the modern tendency toward a worship of the individual, the problem stems from people projecting onto the whole, onto heathenry, their spiritual and personal confusions, compromises, and foibles. This is backwards. People don't assign their identity to the whole, they take a measure of their identity from the whole. That's why we have a whole...otherwise, we have a bag full of individuals competing to be more "me" than the next guy does. Personally, I'm glad for each person who's made the journey "back home" to the Folkway, the context native to Northern Europeans. That said, I really don't need see snapshots of their travels.

We often find ourselves faced with a difficulty of pronouns. Advance and improve you all you wish. What I'm railing against is the confusion of people who are defining "who WE are", and trying to act upon that, with "who I am". By all means, one should seek to arrive at a goal for you, and work toward it. The society – our Folk – should compliment and facilitate that. But, again, don't confuse improving yourself with tinkering with "who WE are".

In effect, we should be folk of a society that makes it possible to reach one's goals without subverting, constantly reorganizing or fiddling with the foundations of the faith. Those foundations are pretty apparent, and are becoming clearer with each passing day, as our scholars’ work to reveal more to us. Furthermore, they become more apparent and more practical as our goðar, our chieftains, and other bright lights discuss and disseminate the practical business of living from Lore. I won't address the "where does it say that in the Eddas" school of limited scholarship and personal agenda here, but suffice it to say that this dynamic exists along with the business I'm discussing here, and move along.

The importance of clarifying and realizing the foundations of heathery is why a study of history – going beyond the Vikings, by the way, both back and forward – should progress apace with a study of the Eddas and Sagas. History is Lore, as well. A study of language, which is the basis of thought after all, is also recommended as being as important as a study of the Lore.

I think that we find ourselves in our online and real world conversations focusing too much on advancement of the whole, of "heathenry", of our still-young-and-tender society, under the guise of "serving the individual". It's as if we're still organizing, even with several tested organizations and societal models – from the Alliance to Winland Rice to the Irminenschaft – over and over again, as new voices are raised. All too often, the proposed and contested differences of focus are based upon a quest for advancement based itself on self-analysis. Often carried out by "drama queens", of which we have seen far too many – when self-analysis and personal spiritual and cultural advancement should be completely the business of the individual, not an emotional feast we're all expected to "enjoy".

Moreover, it this quest for spiritual "centeredness" should take its cue from our rediscovered and modern traditions not seek to alter them in any way. A man walking in the woods who keeps changing his point of reference will soon find himself lost. Even a cursory study of ethno-history will show you that our society even under the Christian yoke remained unchanged for tens of centuries, especially in areas having to do with personal interaction and societal organization.

If we're to improve the "who WE are" dynamic, we would strip the impractical – both because of foreign influence and modern v. ancient impracticalities – away from the model and run with what's left. That should leave the individual enough wiggle room to be the best "me" he can be. ”Folk” is the context in which the individual is relevant. An individual can improve him in context, or go out among foreigners and change him out of context. Personally, I don't believe that a person can be who he is unless he's true to what he is.

I would hope that an individual would still have enough respect for the context to leave the changing of it to cooler heads than some guy or group of guys and gals who don't think that context elastic enough for their personal goals, or which somehow offends their secular sensibilities. We shouldn't be called upon to reorganize every time some new "doer" – self-appointed, or by flaw of temperament – shows up, ready to reinvent the wheel. We need to agree, even (maybe especially) at the local kindred or sippe level that there are standards. New people, as they arrive, need to buy into them or keep "shopping".

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