If we run into such debts as that we must be taxed in our meat and in our drink,
in our necessaries and our comforts, in our labors and our amusements, for our
callings and our creeds, as the people of England are, our people, like them,
must come to labor sixteen hours in the twenty-four, and give the earnings of
fifteen of these to the government for their debts and daily expenses; And the
sixteenth being insufficient to afford us bread, we must live, as they do now,
on oatmeal and potatoes, have no time to think, no means of calling the mismanagers
to account; but be glad to obtain subsistence by hiring ourselves to rivet their
chains around the necks of our fellow sufferers; And this is the tendency of
all human governments. A departure from principle in one instance becomes a
precedent for a second, that second for a third, and so on 'til the bulk of
the society is reduced to be mere automatons of misery, to have no sensibilities
left but for sinning and suffering...And the forehorse of this frightful team
is public debt. Taxation follows that, and in its train wretchedness and oppression.
~Thomas Jefferson
Treun Cridhe MacGhille Eoin sent me this quote of Jefferson's. Some things never change.
It's been a busy few weeks lately. The garden here at Heimbu is in full bloom (and the grass is out of control again) I have taught a very enjoyable (for me) general Stav seminar in Sweden and have also just finished a 2-day talk on the spiritual aspects of Stav at our place.
I've had a fair amount of comments regarding last months View where I have been asked to develop my at times slightly confused ideas further.
Also there has been a few people asking what ones actually mean by spiritual development in Stav, so I will try to make the effort to clarify things, if nothing else for my own use.
It has been clearer and clearer to me after living in the UK for 11 years now that this country exists in a more or less spiritual vacuum that neither the Church nor the different re-created Neo-pagan religions seems capable of filling.
RITES OF PASSAGE
Now in my view religion develops out of rituals and when the importance of religion in peoples life fades, the need for rituals remain. One can just observe little children and see how they all create their own little rituals to understand the universal need we all have in this respect. Rituals at birth, cominging of age, marriage (and divorce?) and death. In all countries the dominant religion will try to fill this need, this being one of the main reasons why organized religions can survive. Doctrine and dogma are of little interest to anyone outside the hierarchy, and even they regard them more as tools in power-struggles inside the organization.
So what about Stav. It is not a religion, but it is a deep spiritual philosophy. As such it needs to look at the common human denominator in all or at least most spiritual movements. I see no reason why we should not be able to record and celebrate the births, marriges and deaths within the Stav Community (or the wider community for that matter, if we are asked).
THE SACRED MEAL
Apart from the afore mentioned rites of passage the most obvious one is the sacred meal. This can be the purely stylized one of the Christian Church, the remnant that is the Christmas office party or the coming together at Blots in the different Asatru groups; the sharing of food is important. It helps to build community and it should help us to realize the importance of our daily sustenance.
In Stav this takes the following forms. In the family a specific place is set aside to put some of the food we bring home as an offering whether to god/esses, ancestors, the spirit(s) of the food itself or nothing in particular. The important thing is to treat our food with some respect. This should then make us more concious of what we are eating, so that at least one meal a day is a deliberate preparation and sharing of food where the whole family take part instead of having a TV-dinner in front of the telly. This should be an opporunity for the family to talk and learn from each other. It will also be much healthier for your body.
In a little wider aspect a Stav Ve consists of a group of people that comes together possibly once a week or twice a month. There is usually a purpose like training in the Martial Aspect of Stav, or story-telling, or some form of teaching or discussion, which then finishes with some sort of meal, whether that is an organized barbeque or just a scone and a cup of tea at a local tea-room. But again this bonds the group together much more than just training and then going home straight away can do.
Then there is the bi-monthly coming together of several groups to their parent Stav Hov on the 6 festivals to mark different high points of the year. This would tend to be a more formalized meal where everyone brings what he or she can for the table and all problems that has risen since the last meeting are dealt with, plans are being made, friendships renewed.
Finally we have the yearly Thing at Heimbu on the first week-end of August where anyone involved in Stav congregate from all over the world if they can possibly make it. This is an opportunity for all to meet people that previously have just been an E-mail adress, to discuss the future direction of Stav (and indeed the wider community) and generally to have a good time. (As an aside there has been discussions on making this twice a year; the usual Summer-thing and the Winter-thing on the first week-end of February geared more towards the needs and wants of the women. This will be discussed at the Summer-thing this year)
SEID AND GALDER
We are here talking about 2 different approaches to the understanding of ourselves
and the world around us; seid being the intuitional, female and indeed alogical
way, while galder is rational, male and logical. Generally speaking galder tries
to fit seid into a system that can be utilized and taught, while seid provides
the raw material that galder draws upon. Both approaches are equally important
in the development of mankind, though it is only fair to say that seid can be
used without galder, but galder would not excist without seid. Something to
ponder upon, perhaps, as galder has a tendency to want to dominate seid. (I'm
aware that this sounds like pure gibberish to anyone not fairly knowledgable
in pre-Christian North-European thinking, but I'll be happy to try to clarify
by answering any question)
THE STANCES
The Stances are probably the most important aspect of Stav; without them there is no Stav as everything in the system and its world view is incorpurated in these 16 runes. To go through these stances correctly every day will have immense benefits for the mind, body and spirit. One will gradually realize the interdependence of all three, and also how we fit into the pattern of the web that makes up the Universe and everything that excists in it. This can not be explained, only experienced.
SUMMARY
A brief summary of what I have been trying to say would be that Stav offers certain principles which if utilized can help one to see reality; the interdependence of all things whether they be animate or not. Generally speaking language fails to explain the un-explainable; reality can only be experienced. Belonging to a religious denomination (or indeed several) is as irrelevant (or relevant) as not belonging.
Last month I looked at what is happening to the average person or family in a fast-changing world, and how we are being manipulated. This month I will try to come up with a few possible solutions to some of the problems we are facing.
EDUCATION
This is a critical problem; how do we we teach our children (and indeed re-educate our self.) The way the system now works the Government has almost managed to completely dominate what is being taught by raising immense barriers against any disemation of independent thought. Anyone working with young people will now be so thoroughly checked that anyone not toeing the line will be eliminated, and in any case the pressure on children to pass tests are now so immense that they have no time to do anything extra-curricular that has not been approved. The only possibility that still remain (though probably not for long in the UK) is private education. However, this is not an option for most people because of cost.
But there is still one option left for the time being. While home education is definately frowned upon it is still possible to start an independent school (though there will be no support from the Government) If several parents come together in a co-operational running of a school which does not neccessarily have to have a physical presence as there can be teaching over the internet. This will get around the problem of vetting as the children will be under parential control. Organized meetings for sport and other physical activities can be arranged at convienient times. All this will take a lot of commitment and time, but the possibility is there.
HOUSING
Housing is getting to be a serious problem in the UK, but it doesn't have to be. Here just about all new-build is controlled by big developers which generally means shoddy, over-priced houses; this, however, is not the case in many other countries. In Scandinavia, for example, almost all houses are self-built with the prospective house owner hiring the builder to do whatever job he or she cannot or will not do. When this is done in the UK the price is generally around 60 per cent of an equally sized house on an estate and usually of a much better quality. It is of course almost impossible to get planning permission for a single dwelling, but again there is no reason why a group of people should not form a construction company and develop their own estate where they will have full control over what they are building.
Another possibility is for the group to buy up a whole block of run-down properties that no-one wants and re-develop them. In many inner-cities you can get these blocks almost at a give-away price because they are in so-called problem areas. But you have now in effect assured that you have neighbours that are not criminals as the group can create its own little oasis in a waste-land. If at the same time you have no problem with sending your children to the local sink school (see education above) the possibilities suddenly look much more interesting.
FOOD
There has been an interesting little experimence at a local school. One set of six-years old identical twins were IQ-tested and came out exactly the same. Then one of the twins were put on an additive-free diet, while his brother kept getting the same food we all get when we shop at the supermarket. Three weeks later they were tested again, and the little boy on the special diet was found to have 25 per cent higher IQ than his brother.
So even if the authorities claim that there is no difference between factory produced food and naturally grown food one does wonder. The supermarkets have of course noticed that many people are concerned and are now offering organic produce, but at a premium price. If you are short on money (or if you don't exactly trust the supermarkets, anyway) what can be done? One solution is an alotment (if you don't have a garden) It is amazing how much can be grown on a small acreage, especially if several people work together to extend the amount of land under cultivation. Another possibility is to join together and have a buying club where you go directly to the farmer. This can be more than 70 per cent cheaper than what you have to fork out in a shop.
TAXES
Death and taxes will always be with us. Maybe so, but at least the latter can be substantially reduced. The average person doesn't have a clue about how much he or she actually pay the Government; most look at their income tax which in this country varies between 22 and 40 per cent. But on top of this comes your council tax, the police and fire department tax, walue added tax on almost everyrhing we buy, import tax, custom and excise, road tax, liquer and tobacco tax, inheritance tax; the list goes on and on. It has been estimated that the Government's cut of one's salary is at least 80 per cent; more if you are on a fairly low income. This means that if you are making lets say £20,000.- a year your standard of living could stay the same if you made £4,000.-, but didn't have to pay taxes. And if you don't play the game you can easily reduce your taxes completely legally.
SUMMARY
If you have read what I've written above I hope you are getting my drift. One thing is (at least to me) increasingly clear. We are not getting value for our money from the Government, and this does not only apply in the UK; it is universal. The big nation states are run in an incredably inefficient way (not to mention corrupt way). Small loosely connected groups that come together for special purposes, split up and reform as needed seems to me to be the way to go. In this way there is no organization that can be authorized (that is controlled); will-o'-the wisps that do not officially excist, a possible non-excisting nation within nations bound together by the Internet.
In the past such groups have been too formalized and have almost always collapsed, mostly due to ego clashes. If no one is in charge this will not happen.
If any of this makes any sense to you I would welcome a discussion on the Stav Forum. (Or if it doesn't make sense to you at all, a discussion would still be fun) I might also be giving a few more concrete excamples next month.
Die petty thing, die.
Nobody will ask me why
I shall send you to your tomb
in the crater of my bomb.
An inferno of hot, red flame
I will give you without shame.
I'm no coward, I'm not bold,
I just do what I've been told.
Innocent killer
Karl Christian Kirchhoff