Wisdom

The Pagan Pulpit – Havamal 142 – Wisdom, Word and Deed

/ Ed Raby Sr / Leave a comment

Happy Sun’s Day

Announcements:

We don’t pray here – we figure God, the gods and goddesses, or whatever powers that be either know already, don’t give a fuck, or are busy with more important matters than our petty stuff. We also kind of assume that they expect us to do stuff that we can do for ourselves, that we will do them ourselves and not be lazy. We also believe in being good friends, so we don’t presume on our friendship with the powers that be by asking them all the time for stuff while giving them nothing in return.

We also don’t take an offering here.  We figure the powers that be probably don’t need it.  Let’s be honest, offerings are not giving to the divine powers, their giving to an organization to support it.  Just being honest. God, the gods or whatever never see a dime, farthing or peso of that money, it all goes to the church, mosque or shrine.

Opening Song: Disturbed – Indestructible

Disturbed has become a new band for me.  I like a lot of their songs and this one is a good one for warriors.

Poem:

“Scars”

My meditation turns to my scars.

I have many but only a few are visible to others.

Most I find are hidden, healed slashes on my soul

No less real, and no less perfect.

Reminders of foes fought, battles won and lost.

Reminders of the price of fidelity, and the pain of another’s treachery,

Reminders love gained at cost and also love lost.

Scars – my one proof that life has tried to destroy me, but I survived

My one proof that I am a warrior.

– The Rabyd Skald – Ed Raby, Sr.

Yeah, this poem is my latest. I think it needs no commentary as it will either resonate with you or it wont.

Meditation:

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Song Of Preparation: Trapt – Headstrong

Trapt put out this song a long time ago.   I like it in that it shows how a strong attitude can make you a fighter for what you believe in.

Text: Havamal 142

Then began I to thrive, and wisdom to get. I grew and well I was. Each word led me on to another word. Each deed to another deed.

Sermon:

When people ask me why one should have personal code, I tell them that no matter what your faith you need something that guides how you live.  When people ask me why I personally chose a warrior code as my personal code, I give them the old Japanese proverb – Better to be a warrior in a garden than a gardener in a war. For me the mindset of a warrior in this world simply carries more weight and is far more useful in all matters.

In Havamal 142 I think we see some of the mentality of the warrior.  It’s actually does not start with war or martial spirit but wisdom.  Knowing how to use what you know practically. The three-part progression of this passage:

  1. Gain wisdom
  2. Let wisdom change your words
  3. Let your words turn into deeds

Gaining wisdom is not easy, so the start of this train of thought does not start with a task that is simple.  Wisdom is often found in learning from experience and sometimes those experiences are painful.  Wisdom also can be costly to gain and may require us to sacrifice something.  The story of Odin giving up his eye to gain insight has particular moral application here.  Wisdom is found in our experiences, the experiences of others and simply at times learning and seeking it out.

Letting this wisdom change our words is particularly powerful.  My wife and I have been reading How Words can Change Your Brain and I have to say it shows one great truth that our self talk can change our attitude and it is important that the wisdom we learn should change what we say and how we say it.  This changes our thinking.

Our thinking eventually will go over to actions. It is not enough in my opinion to simply know the right thing to do and think on it.  You must act. This is the great dividing line between being a gardener in a war and a warrior in a garden.  Those who act on their wisdom and words become warriors.

Closing Song: Survivor – Eye of the Tiger

I remember when the movie Rocky came out and I heard this song for the first time.  I knew then even as a kid that it would become an anthem for fighters.  Still is.

Be Strong and Fight On!

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

Skaal!!!

A Skald’s Life – Business Virtues – Current Known Goals

/ Ed Raby Sr / Leave a comment

Happy Woden’s Day (Woden is another name for Odin)

So, with my decision to let meditation on the Nine Noble Virtues (NNV) be a true guiding force to my goals and letting go of my notion of roles, what goals do I currently have?

  1. Strengthen Marriage – Given recent events my wife and I are spending time and even a little money to work on our marriage.
  2. Finish my Political Science Degree – I have one semester left and an Internship.  By the end of December I should have graduated with only my internship left.  My degree will be a BS in Political Science with minors in Economics and International Business.
  3. Advance Career – Once I have the degree I need to start a new career.  I am keeping my options open at this point.  It may even involve continuing education.
  4. Monitor and Control Finances – My wife and I being on our own means we now do this together.
  5. Write for my Blog  – 1 post per day average.
  6. Exercise – Weightlifting four times a week plus morning stretching every day.
  7. Follow a Solid Diet Plan – Paleo with intermittent fasting needs to be more and more a part of my life.
  8. Create and work a Bucket List.

My first step to achieving all that is to put things into morning, daily and weekly routines. So what I need is a list of things for the Morning routine, the Daily routine and the Weekly routine.  I need then to start going through these routines.

Part of this is going to be setting up plans too:  Having a budget me and my wife work out together, my weightlifting plan and my diet plan.  In addition, I need that bucket list.

Once school is over, I will be making some decision about continuing my education.  I also want to get back to walking after school.  Right now I am using the rather long walk from where I park to class four days a week for that.  After school is over, I will need a new plan.

Self-Reliance:

“Self Reliance is the spirit of independence, which is achieved not only for the individual, but also for the family, clan, tribe and nation.”

Principle: Work to be self-reliant in all things.

My wife and I have actually achieved some measure of self-reliance at this point.  Food, clothing and shelter plus insurance and two vehicles. It basically allows the both of us to function in this society and we really don’t need any help.  We still get a little, but I am slowly trying to wean us both off of it.

There may be other things as time goes by that require provision.  Our goal is that we first look to ourselves to provide them or perhaps if we can’t, we don’t need them.  There is still a minimalist in me that is rather strong.

Industriousness:

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

Principle: Work with enjoyment of work itself.

What we are doing now as a couple is trying to be more efficient. That is getting more bang for the buck.  Basically we are budgeting and looking at how to make more money wherever we can.  It really is now about finding work we enjoy and is more lucrative.

In any case even though I am not working where I would ultimately like to be, I still am trying to enjoy work for its own sake. It makes what I am doing go smoother and without that dread most people have when they go to a job.

Hospitality:

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

Principle: Be ready to be hospitable to those who truly need it.

I actually thought about picking up a hitch hiker the other day.  My heart goes out to wanderers in this world, so it was a draw to me.  But from a hospitality point of view, we can offer much more than a couple of months ago.

I want to still design my living room in this small apartment to handle a small group.  I am introverted but I don’t mind the occasional social gathering I can control.  It might be more cost-effective to serve something basic and tell everyone to bring their own booze.  We will see.

I remain –

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

Skaal!!!

“Of Wolves and Ravens” – Introduction

/ Ed Raby Sr / Leave a comment

Happy Tyr’s Day

After my departure from Christianity, I began to study mythology.  Not so oddly, I landed on the Norse/Germanic Myths being my heritage in large part is from northern Europe.  From a faith stand point I don’t believe Odin is a true representation of the god that may actually exist anymore than I think the god of the Bible is a true representation of the god that actually exists.  I just like the imagery of the Norse myths.  They’re cool.

In this study of Norse mythology I came across the Wolves and Ravens of Odin.  The Wolves are named Geri and Freki and the Ravens are Huginn and Muninn.  Hunger, Fury, Thought and Memory respectfully.   Or one could put it Need, Want, Mind and Wisdom.  There is actually a pretty heavy debate on the meaning of these names but I liked the idea of them representing different philosophical ideas.  Out of this I began to think more about what my philosophy of life should be and an expression came to mind.  Mind you I don’t remember reading this anywhere, but I wrote it one day and it stuck in my head. “It’s OK to feed the Wolves but listen to the Ravens first.”

For me, the wolves have come to symbolize the driving motivations of life.  We need to have certain things – food. clothing and shelter as a base level of existence.  But we also want certain things.  These forces are largely matters of desire and they cause us to be motivated. The real problem is that if you feed the wolves without thought or wisdom to how you are feeding them and why, you can end up in a worse state than you were before.  We need to be motivated by what we need and want, but we need to pursue those things thoughtfully and wisely.

That where the Ravens come in.  Thought and Memory.  Reason/Knowledge on one hand and Experience/Wisdom. on the other. The imagery is the ravens perched on each shoulder telling us what we need to know and what wise course of action could be taken. Using this we guide our wolves productively.

“Of Wolves and Ravens” is about engaging this philosophy on various issues. I am thinking I will present a political issue, societal issue and a personal issue each week and examine them in the eyes of what we need, want, think and understand about them and hopefully draw some conclusions that will be both practical and sound in their philosophy.

Until next week, I remain,

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

Skaal!!!