Nine Noble Virtues

Looking for A Shieldmaiden

/ Ed Raby Sr / 1 Comment

Happy Frigg and Freya’s Day!

Since my divorce, I have dated a handful of times. Mostly this has ended in a “Meh” from both me and the woman. While I can’t speak for the woman’s side as the only feedback I got from a couple of them was – ‘it might be too early for you Ed.” Yeah, my brain says you are probably right, but my dick says otherwise. Never been a guy for one-night stands because I have figured my empathic nature requires that I have some sort of feeling for a woman before I would have sex with her. And let’s be honest, the whole female-male thing is about sex in large part, but a long-term relationship requires a different viewpoint. My situation requires that I be having sex for good emotional/relational reasons, not just physical ones.

There are, of course, other reasons for a man and woman to be involved with each other. I would still say the time-honored and tested method of having a good stable family is nuclear, although I think others work as well. Evolution created and society recognizes this in practicality, if not vocally. My reasons for having a woman in my life in a relationship are not a long list. The qualities I am looking for are, in my opinion, feminine strengths. Even if the woke and politically correct crowd does not recognize them as such. In short, I am looking for a Shieldmaiden.

  1. Fidelity – I don’t want to worry if she has my back or not. When the world tries to come at us as a couple, I want us to go automatically back to back and the world loses. I want a woman who is strong in her feminine nature but understands that being independent is about freedom of choices. It doesn’t mean we don’t need each other.
  2. Peace – Bring my life peace. Make my dick hard, not my life and I will not make you hot and bothered, not give you tears. By carrying each other’s burdens our overall load gets lighter. When things get chaotic, we turn to each other to calm the chaos. Our home is the pale of peace and safety and we both work hard to make it so.
  3. Intimacy – It is easy to point to the sexual side of intimacy and that is very important. But I want a woman who is intimate of mind and heart as well. Where the ‘pillow talk’ matters just as much as the sex before it; conversation just as much as coitus.

I don’t think that is asking too much and it’s not a long list. I know this is something that takes time to develop, but if this is the goal and desire, I am willing to make it so.

I remain.

The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard, and Philosopher.  The Grey Wayfarer.

Skal!!!

Pagan Atheist

/ Ed Raby Sr / Leave a comment

Happy Thor’s Day!

I get all kinds of looks when I tell people I am a Pagan Atheist. It is interesting to watch people’s faces as their mind races to find which they should be offended, scared, or angry about – my paganism or my atheism. Truth – all this shows is they don’t have a proper perspective of either.

I am pagan as far as my ethics of following the Nine Noble Virtues, respect for those that follow them in return, respect for those who have gone before (ancestors), and I find the holidays more reflective of reality. In short, I am pagan as far as practice because of heritage and I honor what my ancestors have tried to pass down to later generations. What I don’t believe in is the supernatural, the gods, or God.

That’s where the rational atheist comes in. I don’t think faith is a virtue but a vice. People will do all kinds of dishonorable shit because of faith. Believing in something you cannot prove or when there is even proof against it is no virtue. It’s arrogance. Honor Brings humility. Faith is what leads to arrogance that you are right despite evidence to the contrary. I refuse to have faith again. I chose rather the part of rationality that desires proof and the part of paganism that searches for truth even if it is a hard truth.

I know it is a strange mix but I take what I believe to be the best of both and keep walking the path.

I remain.

The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard, and Philosopher.  The Grey Wayfarer.

Skal!!!

Yes, I Still Follow the Nine Noble Virtues

/ Ed Raby Sr / Leave a comment

Happy Odin’s Day!

I still follow the Nine Noble Virtues (NNV). I feel that following a system or code of virtue is far more valuable than following a religion or spiritualism because the results are far more tangible. Real-world application to life is far more important to me than it used to be when I was religious. Application to every day is what matters. The NNV provide that, as they transcend religions and theoretical philosophies. Simply put, they work.

Every Virtue has a real-world expression. They also combine to provide different expressions. Industriousness needs courage at times to lead to success as one faces risk while working at something with a good attitude about work. Can anyone not see the connection between honor and truth? For me, by following the NNV I end up with a life that expresses itself with love, justice, and wisdom. Qualities that no decent person should fault anyone for.

I simply remind everyone who reads this blog that much of what it means to me to be The Grey Wayfarer is to follow this philosophy – the Nine Nobel Virtues. It is something that guides my decisions and thoughts and I will write on it fairly often.

Thanks for stopping by.

I remain.

The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard, and Philosopher.  The Grey Wayfarer.

Skal!!!

The Grey Wayfarer – Upgraded

/ Ed Raby Sr / Leave a comment

Happy Tyr’s Day!!!

In some ways this is a test post, but in truth, I am also going to announce a few things that I hope will work. For roughly a half a year now I have wrestled with two things concerning this blog: 1) That someone banned it from Facebook for being ‘abusive’ and 2) What to do about it? My hope is that I have solved the problem.

Not that Facebook has contacted me or anything about it but rather I have tried ot contact them about it for quite some time with no results. So I decided to take matters into my own hands and change the URL. You will still see when you arive here that it is still thegreywayfarer.wordpress.com but I decided ot purchase the domain name so it is simply thegreywayfarer.com now. Hopefully I can post to Facebook again with this address, and to allow me further advantages, I have also purchased the personal plan here on WordPress so I will be able ot do some other thigns as well.

Now before all you joniour detectives go running about there are a few suspects I already have in mind and I can’t do anything about it. The problem with Facebook pages is that you really can’t block someone specifically from following you or reporting you. Why, if they didn’t like what i was writing didin;t they just unfollow? Well. some of my haters are probably dedicated to making my life as hard as possible. The other couple suspects are simply people personally invovled with me in the past and may now just not want ot deal with it at all. Possible a person form my former church but I am not going to write about that much at all as my new pulpit is The Rabyd Atheist my YouTube Channel. In large part, I have put them and their self-rightous nonsense behind me. Regardless, this blog is my baby and I am not going to go down without a fight.

That said I am going to reduce what I talk about here. I want to coninue to use it as personal journal of sorts regarding my goals and vision for my life. I also want ot use it to continue to use it to discuss the Nine Noble Virtues and perhaps do a little fiction writing to keep my creative juices flowing. I am not so much interested in using this as a platform for my personal life anymore, so much as keeping focused and engaging in a some creativity. It should be noted that obsticles to my goal will still be discussed and that includes my long running battle with The Grey or as it is more commonly known – depression.

Hopefully this post goes through to Facebook and problem solved unless that person also decided to get this one blocked as well. To that person, why don’t you just stop following the page and go on with your life? I am trying my best to do so and so should you.

I remain,

The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard, and Philosopher. The Grey Wayfarer.

Skaal!!!

“It Begins” – Heimdall’s Discipline

/ Ed Raby Sr / Leave a comment

Happy Sif’s Day!

Discipline:

“Discipline is the willingness to be hard on oneself first and then if needed help with the development with others, so that greater purposes may be achieved.”

Vision Point: To develop and follow a results-focused nutritional plan that results in fat loss, muscle gain or maintenance, and a lower A1c with the result of a body fat percentage of 8% or lower and a normal A1c by December 31, 2021.

Journal Entry:

Alright. Starting tomorrow it all begins in full force. I have a lot of disicpline to get back to doing and the main enemy will be myself. The most important thing is to be both hard on myself and patient at the same time.

I chose Heimdall for disicpline as to me he embodies someone totally dedicated to a task. A attitude i need ot develop with all my plans at this point. Be dedicated to the task first, then enjoy life second.

The goal here is healthy diet and nutrition and that has long been the most challenging thing for me, but when I have been on, I feel great in a lot of ways. By the end of next year the body fat needs ot be down and the A1c needs to be in the normal range. To do that requires disiplined eatingg habits.

I remain,

The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard, and Philosopher. The Grey Wayfarer.

Skaal!!!

“Using the Gods” – Sif’s Independence (Self-Reliance)

/ Ed Raby Sr / Leave a comment

Happy Thor’s Day!

Self-Reliance:

“Self-Reliance is the spirit of independence, which is achieved when each person is their own master and no one else’s’ .”

Vision Point: Be Debt Free by December 31, 2022.

Journal Entry:

In this reworking of my blog, I needed new subtitles for my entries; Foundational, Business and Self being used before. With the need for twelve of these things – one for each virtue – I decided to use the gods and goddesses of Norse mythology to set my posts off. You have already seen Tyr assocaited with Honor and now Self-Reliance is set off by Sif.

I chose Sif because nothing says self-reliance or independence quite like a person who has their own land and works it for themselves. Times may change, but the notion of owning that which brings independence remains the same.

As I redo these you will see which god or goddess gets assocaited with which virtue. Some you may guess easily, others might be more dififuclt.

Until next time.

I remain,

The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard, and Philosopher. The Grey Wayfarer.

Skaal!!!

“New Journal Post Format” – Tyr’s Honor

/ Ed Raby Sr / Leave a comment

Happy Tyr’s Day!

Honor:

“Honor is the feeling of inner value and worth from which one knows that one is noble of being, and the desire to show respect for this quality when it is found in the world”

Vision Point : Maintain my YouTube Channel with at least two videos uploaded a week and reach the goal of 100 subscribers.

Journal:

This is the first journal post in the new format. The first channge being that each of twelve virtues I talk aobut will be connected to a Norse God or Goddess. I still have these organized into foundaitonal, business and self virtuesm, but that won’t be as in your face as before.

The second part is this is much shorter. State the virute, the vision point and then journal thoughts about both and life in general.

Honor has always been a trouble spot for me. I find that much of my struggles with honor stem from the fact in order to keep mine, I have had to far too often give up my own happiness. Finding an honorable path that also makes me happy has been the struggle.

YouTube has provided me a new pulpit of sorts. I like it and so far the at least two uploads has been maintianed and I am about 58 subscribers away from 100.

I remain,

The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard, and Philosopher. The Grey Wayfarer.

Skaal!!!

“Virtues to Vision” – The Rabyd Skald

/ Ed Raby Sr / Leave a comment

Happy Woden’s (Odin’s) Day!

Ok, time to get to work on my changes. The first thing is to reconsider my vision for myself in light of the virtues I hold dear. In the end their should be twelve redefined goals. Some new and some restructures. The basic method here is to look a each virtue again and consider what Vision Point I should have with each one.

Each of these vision points will at first represent a concrete goal. Something for development. Once achieved this vision point will be replaced with something more along the lines of a bucket list item – a reward that fits the virtue. Once that’s achieved, back to the development goal. The reduces things down to twelve items at a time. If include my Higher Virtues but I am not sure about that as of yet as it may simply be simpler to just have nine.

Foundational Virtues:

Honor:

“Honor is the feeling of inner value and worth from which one knows that one is noble of being, and the desire to show respect for this quality when it is found in the world”

Vision Point : Maintain my YouTube Channel with at least two videos uploaded a week and reach the goal of 100 subscribers.

Courage:

“Courage is the bravery to do what is right always.”

Vision Point:  Start a New Career by January 2021

Truth:

“Truth is the willingness, to be honest, and to say what one knows to be true and right. It is often better to not say anything at all if one cannot be honest.”

Vision Point: Write a Book for Publication by December 31, 2021.

Business Virtues:

Self-Reliance:

“Self-Reliance is the spirit of independence, which is achieved when each person is their own master and no one else’s’ .”

Vision Point: Be Debt Free by December 31, 2022.

Industriousness:

“Industriousness is the willingness to work hard, always striving for efficiency, as a joyous activity in itself”

Vision Point:: To write 1000 words per day during 2021.

Hospitality:

“Hospitality is the willingness to share what one has with one’s fellows, especially when they are far from home.”

Vision Point: Start regular significant donations to The Clergy Project and FFRF.

Self Virtues:

Discipline:

“Discipline is the willingness to be hard on oneself first and then if needed help with the development with others, so that greater purposes may be achieved.”

Vision Point: To develop and follow a results-focused nutritional plan that results in fat loss, muscle gain or maintenance, and a lower A1c with the result of a body fat percentage of 8% or lower and a normal A1c by December 31, 2021.

Perseverance:

“Perseverance is the ability to stand up and return from defeat and failure”

Vision Point: Impliment a Progam of Exercice that involves regular Weight Training and Walking.

Fidelity:

“Fidelity is the will to be loyal to one’s moral philosophy, to one’s family, one’s friends, and most important to one’s self, and loyalty to one’s friends is valued as highly as loyalty to one’s family.”

Vision Point: Find a way to get the whole family together for a few days in. Christmas or some other time in 2021.

Yeah, Nine is enough. Now that this is done. I can look at my routines and make some alterations.

I remain,

The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard, and Philosopher. The Grey Wayfarer.

Skaal!!!

“Changes and the Facebook Block” – The Rabyd Skald

/ Ed Raby Sr / Leave a comment

Happy Thor’s Day!

As you have probably guessed I am not writing every day. Mostly, I am still trying to get a sense of what I am trying to do at this point with this blog. Some changes I am thinking about:

  1. My Journal Posts need to be shorter so I will be breaking them down to dealing with a single virtue each. The Nine Noble Virtues and the Three Higher Virtues make 12 total and so three virtues a week adds up to four weeks.
  2. The nature of the thise journal posts will also change as I will be dealing with a single virtue alone. I am eliminating the idea of a principle as unnecessary baggage. I also am combining the notion of a goal and a bucket list item with each virtue as well. I am going to call these Vision Points instead . They still are goals / bucket list type things. The difference by doing this I will be eliminating about 6 things to focus un and reducing the list to twelve. A much more managable list. As I age, the idea that my irons in the fire need to be very specific becomes more important.
  3. Other posts will be new in many ways and I am still in the creative process of those. I am going to do some fiction writing in all that but also make the others simpler as well.
  4. The main issue is no post (other than my fiction posts) should be longer than 500 words.
  5. I am probably going to archive all the other pages under the page heading Archives. Time for a fresh page start with a new file cabnebt so to speak so don;t be allarmed if all the pages at the top ‘disappear’. The aill simply be all under the title “Archives’. There will be some exceptions most notably “The Rabyd Skald’ posts.

I want to take a moment to address those of you that may have followed me on Facebook. I recently discoverd this blog cannot post to Facebook because someone reported it as abusive. I don’t how and no explaination was given to me. I wasn’t even made aware until I tried to share my last post to Facebook and it wouldn’t let me. I am going to explore some options. It might be beneficial for my author page to go private so I can post these there again. I am not sure.

In any case, I apologize to those of you that now have to subscribe via email or directly through WordPress now to follow me.

I remain,

The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard, and Philosopher. The Grey Wayfarer.

Skaal!!!

“Comeback?” – The Rabyd Skald – The Grey and The Wayfarer – Part 31

/ Ed Raby Sr / Leave a comment

Happy Mani’s Day!

It has been a long time since I put digital ink to digital paper and the most challenging thing is that WordPress has changed its format so I had to learn some new shit before I could even post. I really hate that. It’s not terrible but it is annnoying.

There are of course many more things that are annoying right now, not the least of which is my own depression. I has been a really difficult several months here and to be honest it has not been good for me in a lot of ways. A good chiunk of it has been due to not writing on this blog. So here I am trying to crawl my way out of The Grey.

Why the The Grey?  Because this blog kept me focused on what was important to me.  In the last couple months, I haven’t even focused on much about virtue or my goals and it shows. Survival Mode sucks. This blog not only recorded my life’s jouney, but now I see it also was about planning that journey and keeping me moving along the path. All that stopped when I stopped and now I am trying to recover it. 

So here I am in the middle of the night writing because the feelings of helplessness and lack of direction are overwhelming. I hate this and part of it is the old feelings of giving up what makes me happy in order for everyone else to be happy have returned with a vengence. This summer was far less painful in terms of heartbreak from a couple years ago (Less but still there), but more so in that what I feel I am missing is still missing.

So Part One of walking out of The Grey is to start writing again. I need also to change this blog in some major ways so it takes up little time. If I can’t get a post out in less than an hour then it is too long. Particlularly journal posts. I will be redesigning the posts to be split into smaller chunks.

It was funny. In March, I was in the best shape I have been mentally and physically in a long time. Then something triggered and I have been fighting uphill ever since. But I certianly didn’t help things by stopping my routines or writing on this blog.

The great mistake people make is that when they see my stopping this blog they sign relief because they don’t have to deal with my emotions and think that I am alright. It might be good for a lot of people, but it sucks for me and I am not alright.

But, I am going to have a comeback or die trying at this point. It starts here with blowing the dust off the virtues. Digging deep in myself and pulling my hat down over my head and my collar around my face and walking the storm known simply as The Grey. It starts now.

It is time to return. It is time to comeback.

I remain,

The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard, and Philosopher. The Grey Wayfarer.

Skaal!!!