Happy Sol’s Day!
Yeah, I know another week without the Pagan Pulpit, but milestones don’t come up very often and this one is kind of a big deal – 1000 likes. You like me, you really like me. I just want to take the opportunity to thank all of you that support this humble blog. You make all worthwhile and the likes are appreciated.
Thanks for reading and every like.
I remain,
The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard, and Philosopher. The Grey Wayfarer.
Skaal!!!
Happy Sol’s Day
I know I know – no pagan pulpit again. Hey, this is my blog and I do what I want. Mostly though I am looking at catching up on some filing of posts today and looking at my other writing plans.
I should not that there are now 600+ posts on this blog and the streak of posts every day is up to 511 with this psot today. Content, I got that. Whatever the future might be I am starting to enjoy writing again. I now need to translate that into writing habits.
Thank you for reading – all of you.
Peace.
I remain,
The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard, and Philosopher. The Grey Wayfarer.
Skaal!!!
Happy Thor’s Day!
Journal Entry:
Looking at my business area the real need is for a whole new set of goals. I really knocked it out of the park here and that means really looking into what I am going to do next month as far as where I want my next year to go. This is now building on past successes and that is good, but where I want things to go from here is a good starting point for goals.
Mostly I need a new career that fits me better. management in business is Ok, but I prefer teaching and being an instructor. Also, my writing career needs to really start working – literally. The habits of a writer are not just part of my foundational makeup but my business one as well. It may even branch into self as well as discipline is a part of it.
Self-Reliance:
“Self-Reliance is the spirit of independence, which is achieved when each person is their own master and no one else’s’ .”
Principle: To walk in the spirit of independence by being my own master and no one else’s
Goal: Find a new, better paying job by March 2020.
Bucket List: To be a published author of at least five books by March 2029
I need to know what my secondary support career is going to be and I think it lays in the area od being a teacher/professor so I think the first step is heading down that road. I don’t have problems with the virtue or principle here. The issue is the goal needs to reflect this new career. The bucket list item already reflects my first career choice of being a writer so that is good.
Industriousness:
“Industriousness is the willingness to work hard, always striving for efficiency, as a joyous activity in itself”
Principle: Work with the enjoyment of work itself.
Goal: Finalize last requirements for my degree – Internship by May 2019 – May 2019 (achieved)
Bucket List: Write A Novel and Get it Published by March 2022.
Once again the virtue, principle and bucket list items are good. The bucket list item definitely reflects the writer aspect of my life so the goal should reflect perhaps the other aspect of my life, that of being a teacher.
Hospitality:
“Hospitality is the willingness to share what one has with one’s fellows, especially when they are far from home.”
Principle: To share out of my abundance to help people where I can with their life’s journey.
Goal: By March 31st of 2020, to be the leader/participant in a group of some kind. (Goal Achieved
Bucket List: To own my own home by March 2024.
Principle and virtue – good. Bucket list reflects a time where I know I will have a place to call home that I have built. The goal here should reflect being a supporter of causes I believe in and like I said last week, I think being able to support the Clergy project regularly is a good goal.
Higher Virtue – Justice:
The main thing right now for all of this is being jsut and fair to myself. That means doing something for the direction of my life and not feeling guilty about it if it makes me happy but might make others uncomfortable.
Work Day Routine:
Once again routine is now a matter of discipline, not having a good routine to follow.
I remain,
The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard, and Philosopher. The Grey Wayfarer.
Skaal!!!
Happy Thor’s Day!
Journal Entry:
In learning from the past what I concentrate on is my mistakes, struggles, and victories. In the area of Business, I have had all three of my goals for this 51st year of my life be crossed off. It has been a good year in that sense although not as successful as it could have been. I have made my mistakes regarding my goals and this is probably reflected in the Foundational and Self areas of my life more than here.
My struggles have usually come from not thinking through a goal or making the means I will accomplish it too specific rather than keep my options open. This lesson will definitely be thought of this time around as I think of what goals should be present for year 52.
Self-Reliance:
“Self-Reliance is the spirit of independence, which is achieved when each person is their own master and no one else’s’ .”
Principle: To walk in the spirit of independence by being my own master and no one else’s
Goal: Find a new, better paying job by March 2020.
Bucket List: To be a published author of at least five books by March 2029
This goal was a good solid win for me but next year the issue will be to actually have a job that puts this new degree I have to work. I also, considering all my bills still need a more white-collar job that makes far more money in order to make some headway.
Industriousness:
“Industriousness is the willingness to work hard, always striving for efficiency, as a joyous activity in itself”
Principle: Work with the enjoyment of work itself.
Goal: Finalize last requirements for my degree – Internship by May 2019 – May 2019 (achieved)
Bucket List: Write A Novel and Get it Published by March 2022.
I might put a writing goal here that involves developing the habits of a writer. Not sure what seeing have this in Foundational but I also might consider additional higher education.
Hospitality:
“Hospitality is the willingness to share what one has with one’s fellows, especially when they are far from home.”
Principle: To share out of my abundance to help people where I can with their life’s journey.
Goal: By March 31st of 2020, to be the leader/participant in a group of some kind. (Goal Achieved
Bucket List: To own my own home by March 2024.
I guess at some point I want to start giving back and I think my first charity would be to give back to The Clergy Project once I get myself more established.
Higher Virtue – Justice:
Being fair with myself while being hard on myself is an interesting dichotomy. But justice is best served when we work hard to gain something for ourselves. I have done this and I feel very much alive for it. The fact that my life is starting to turn around is a testimony to the virtues I seek to follow.
Work Day Routine:
I like this new routine as it puts some things in front of others that I will now probably do because of my habit of blogging being so ingrained and I want to get to it. I do have to point out until my new schedule kicks in fully, the old mixes with the new for another week or so.
I remain,
The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard, and Philosopher. The Grey Wayfarer.
Skaal!!!
Happy Tyr’s Day
Journal Entry:
Before I get back into the cycle of Virtues, Principles. Goals, Bucket List and Routines that I do, I must address a few sundry issues. the most notable of these is that the purpose of all this is to keep myself grounded in the now, learning from the past and looking to the horizon. Mostly I am now aware that my 51st year of life is drawing to a close and the goals need to be set for 52. This process starts now with a lot of meditation and thinking about what is best for me.
Like an ancient sailor, one can set a goal for a certain place, but the wind and sea require one to be flexible about the execution of how exactly that is achieved. Life does not always cooperate with ones’ goals. Mostly the next year will be about the following:
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”
Principle – To possess a feeling of inner value about myself and my future with a desire to find the same in others.
Goal: Maintain a daily blog streak of one post per day for an entire year (365 days). (achieved)
Bucket List: Hike the Northern Lakeshore Trail along the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan by March 2024.
As I look at what is crossed off here this was about taking stock of myself to maintain a progress toward honor. I am thinking that next year’s goals will involve blogging as well – maintain the habit. but also coming to terms with my new YouTube channel being a new pulpit for myself. Being an honorable social media personality might be the issue here.
Courage:
“Courage is the bravery to do what is right always.”
Principle – Act with Courage at the right time.
Goal: Cross one thing off bucket list every year. Deadline March 31st.
Bucket List: Go Back to Budapest, Hungary for a vacation by March 2029.
My goal here will be much the same I think. But might raise the stakes and require two things to be crossed off my bucket list instead of just one.
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.”
Principle – To Honestly Pursue, Accept and Speak Truth to All who will Listen.
Goal: To Write a Non-Fiction Book by March 31st, 2020
Bucket List: Read 52 books (one per week) in the year 2020.
This is the most likely goal to fail this year so I might simply renew it with some changes. Like, make it more basic – Write a full book this year instead. I want to learn from my struggles as a writer this year in order not to struggle next year as much.
Higher Virtue: Love:
I think I am about to make a decision that will be a major victory for me learning to love myself. The downside is there is no way to not to probably get some pushback from others who love me but won’t like what I have decided.
Morning Routine:
The changes here reflect what will happen when I am at the 6-3 schedule. This week and next I am going back and forth from 4-1 and 6-3 so this becomes more negotiable between the old routines and the new. Good thing, as I am working on a lot of changes.
I remain.
The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard, and Philosopher. The Grey Wayfarer.
Skaal!!!
Happy Sif’s Day.
Journal Entry:
Sometimes life forces change and with my routines, a new job with a new schedule is going to force some changes in my routines. Other changes were already being thought about because if I put things in front of other things that are more habit then I tend to do that and the thing that is a habit as well. The idea is that in particular by putting my daily reading before writing on for my Blog, the reading will get done as will the blog. It’s an experiment that happens to work for me.
The other change is now the daily word count for writing will be 1000 words until I get consistent with that and then I will raise the word count upwards as things get easier. I need to jsut be doing it every day and then expanding it to the point fo maximizing the word count without exhausting myself as a writer or person. Blogging itself has to actually be done in such a way that I am two days ahead fo myself. revising the psot for the next day and writing the one for the day after that.
The Morning. Work and Rest Routines have worked far better than any other method I have used. The difference now is creating an option on the morning routine for exercise at the gym on workdays and taking a morning walk on rest days. Moving from 3/4 time to full time means five workdays and 2 rest days on average per week. My daily schedule as a department manager also changes from 4am to 1pm to 6 am to 3 pm.
After consideration of all these factors, the routines I have been following are revised as follows:
Morning Routine:
Work Day Routine:
Rest Day Routine:
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.”
Principle: Apply discipline to every aspect of life that it can be applied.
Goal: To be following a full Paleo Diet by March 31, 2020.
Bucket List: Do a rebellious act on April 30th, 2020 – Beltane.
Discipline and Routine go hand in hand, Most of the whole issue of my routines is about living the Virtue of Discipline.
Perseverance:
“Perseverance is the ability to stand up and return from defeat and failure”
Principle: Keep getting up after every defeat or failure.
Goal: To engage in an exercise program that involves weightlifting, hiking/walking, and stretching/ yoga an average of three days a week from April 1st, 2019 to March 31st, 2020
Bucket List: To get at least one tattoo by March 18th, 2020.
The real trick at this point it to persevere in my routines. That every failure in them; not only do I get up from, but that learn from those failures so I have them less often.
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.”
Principle: Be loyal to those who have been loyal to me.
Goal: Celebrate my wife and I’s 30th anniversary (June 10th, 2019) with a mini-vacation (achieved)
Bucket List: Discover all the countries of origin from my genetics and visit them all by March 18th, 2029.
I need to perceive of following these routines as being faithful to myself. Being Loyal to myself involves achieving my goals and seeing items checked off the bucket list. Routine and Fidelity to myself need to be a part of my mediation for a while until it becomes a constant thought and later a habit.
Higher Virtue – Wisdom:
Wisdom is always an application thing. In this case, I have a lot of experience now in revising my routines as the situation calls for it. This was not catastrophic change and I think they might actually help out much better. Long term it might reveal the wisdom of making exercise a part of my morning routine regardless of schedule. 24-hour access gyms are good for that.
Rest Day Routine:
New and revised, like all the rest – next week will be a good test for all of them.
Goals and Bucket List Items Achieved (Since Summer 2018):
Goals Achieved: 6
Bucket List Items Achieved: 0
I remain,
The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard, and Philosopher. The Grey Wayfarer.
Skaal!!!
Happy Tyr’s Day
Journal Entry:
This week I am both talking about my Routines and trying to get back on track with them starting with my Morning Routine which represents the daily discipline of my life. The every day self-discipline of taking control of some basic things including my thoughts and feelings is what I am doing here.
What you see mostly with my morning routine is taking control of my thoughts and feelings and learning to control what I feel and think. There is also the basic physical discipline of stretching to wake up my body. It’s organizing my day in my head and then beginning to execute that plan in my life.
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”
Principle – To possess a feeling of inner value about myself and my future with a desire to find the same in others.
Goal: Maintain a daily blog streak of one post per day for an entire year (365 days). (achieved)
Bucket List: Hike the Northern Lakeshore Trail along the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan by March 2024.
I have a real love-hate relationship with honor these days, there are places where honor is present in my life and others where I would just soon challenge certain people to a good old fashion Viking duel to settle the question.
Courage:
“Courage is the bravery to do what is right always.”
Principle – Act with Courage at the right time.
Goal: Cross one thing off bucket list every year. Deadline March 31st.
Bucket List: Go Back to Budapest, Hungary for a vacation by March 2029.
I would say that the most likely candidate for my bucket list item here remains to get my tattoo which crosses off a goal and a bucket list item at the same time. recently I engaged my courage with work and I think it paid off. I will probably know for sure by the next ‘A Skald’s Life’ post.
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.”
Principle – To Honestly Pursue, Accept and Speak Truth to All who will Listen.
Goal: To Write a Non-Fiction Book by March 31st, 2020
Bucket List: Read 52 books (one per week) in the year 2020.
I need to catch up on my reading of books and probably this means a few novels because they go faster for me. non-ficiton books take longer because I try to think through them while I read them. Writing the non-fiction book is going to require some work as I keep shifting from one idea to another. I think my Youtube channel has become the living expression of the principle here.
Higher Virtue: Love:
I hate it when to love means you have to make choices of priority in that love. I have to love myself first. This has become clear if I want to be happy. This means other relationships do have a priority order but at the top is me and it has to be me.
Morning Routine:
The routine works when it is done. I have a problem being consistent with it and I am thinking that tomorrow I will start working on it and it alone for a couple days until the next A Skald’s Life. The issue is I want this to be a habit. The habit of being my thoughts under my mastery. This is going to take some months of being consistent to do this. This needs to be the focus in the coming year.
I remain.
The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard, and Philosopher. The Grey Wayfarer.
Skaal!!!
Happy Frigg and Freya’s Day!
Disclaimer: The topics covered in Freya’s Chambers include serious discussions of sex, sexuality and related issues. If it isn’t your thing; you can move along, otherwise enjoy and feel free to discuss. Given the nature of some subjects be prepared for nude images as there may be some. I avoid genitalia as a general rule but is not always possible.
Discussion:
In 1967 the science fiction writer Robert Heinlein published his novel – The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. It was mainly focused on showing how people could not only go to the moon but also after a hundred years establish a colony on it. In the midst of the story however, he introduced a concept of group marriage called – the line marriage.
The main protagonist of the story is in such a marriage. He has multiple spouses and all his wives also have multiple spouses as it is essentially a polyamorous marriage, although no homosexuality is mentioned. The ficitonal comment is made that the marriage was 150 years old. The two people who started it had long ago died when the moon colony was young.
The idea of line marriage is to keep it going you add to it in such a way that there are multiple generations represented. In the story, the protagonist is the third husband a far as age with a couple younger ones behind him. The women are generationally spaced as well. The chief, of course, is that all the wives and husbands can have sex with each other. There are no exclusive bed partners and the members can also date if the aim is to bring in another member. The real issue is that Heinlein presents a world where sexual jealousy is minimized or a thing of the past.
There is a lot of advantages the protagonist points out to this relationship. There are multiple incomes but only one large dwelling to maintain so they are fairly prosperous. Children in his world require licensing to have because of overpopulation but the ones they do have are considered to belong to the whole marriage. So everybody pitches in and takes care of the children thus they have so burned out is less frequent.
The organization of the family is with one head patriarch and one matriarch to handle the day to day issues but more complicated decisions are handled democratically. The rights of each person are respected and the responsibilities are laid out clearly. The marriage is a true contract relationship and people can leave it, but it is remarked that very few have.
The sexual issue was actually handled by the women as far as who was going to sleep with who every evening. In the book, the protagonist sleeps with two or three of his wives and gets the honor of being the first to consummate the marriage with the woman he brings into it as he patriarch defers to him although he would normally have the right to go first. Not that sexual fidelity seems to be required as long as people are practicing safe sex outside the marriage.
Could this concept work in the real world? it has been said that polyamorous relationships, whether married or not, don’t work out long term. I have never seen research to back this idea up so I can only say until lI see some that the concept seems sound. Jealousy and the feeling of being left out would seem to be the biggest dangers of this but the open nature of it would mean the marriage is more about the mutual benefits without the responsibilities being overbearing. I can’t say at this time that it wouldn’t work.
It does reflect I am beginning to understand more and more what people mean by love not being limited by gender or number. Monogamy is definitely hard to maintain and often leads to a lot of work and disappointment for a multitude of reasons. Those reasons seem to be answered and countered with the idea of line marriage.
My Two Cents,
I remain,
The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard, and Philosopher. The Grey Wayfarer.
Skaal!!!
Happy Thor’s Day!
Journal Entry:
Continuing with the analogy of wells in regards to the bucket list under Business, these are about gaining some accomplishment and rest in the area od career. Particularly the career fo being a writer. The thing is I have to get going on this writing thing in a far more disciplined manner and it will happen I think. There is also the thought of having a place of my own where I have my point zero from which the rest of my wanderings proceed.
To have a published writing career, finish a novel and get it published and have a home to call my own. These are goals that speak of rest times where I can look back and say – I did it and have the comfort of a home to do it from.
Self-Reliance:
“Self-Reliance is the spirit of independence, which is achieved when each person is their own master and no one else’s’ .”
Principle: To walk in the spirit of independence by being my own master and no one else’s
Goal: Find a new, better paying job by March 2020.
Bucket List: To be a published author of at least five books by March 2029
This is my writing career goal and I have one less year now. I need to get going and produce a book for publication every two years at a minimum.
Industriousness:
“Industriousness is the willingness to work hard, always striving for efficiency, as a joyous activity in itself”
Principle: Work with the enjoyment of work itself.
Goal: Finalize last requirements for my degree – Internship by May 2019 – May 2019 (achieved)
Bucket List: Write A Novel and Get it Published by March 2022.
I actually have an idea for a novel rolling in my head and it is really good. I just need to sit down and put it on paper. The real problem is I need to make progress on my non-fiction book to get it done in the next two months.
Hospitality:
“Hospitality is the willingness to share what one has with one’s fellows, especially when they are far from home.”
Principle: To share out of my abundance to help people where I can with their life’s journey.
Goal: By March 31st of 2020, to be the leader/participant in a group of some kind. (Goal Achieved
Bucket List: To own my own home by March 2024.
I don’t want a big fancy place, Just one that is comfortable and private with no nosy or prying neighbors. Just a place of my own to shut out the rest of the world when I need to do so.
Higher Virtue – Justice:
I am trying to get justice for myself. I am trying to get it by having a second more successful career as a writer and teacher/professor. It would be the best way to look back at those that wished me ill and acted on that wish and give them the middle finger and say – ‘still here and better than ever.”
Work Day Routine:
Good. I need to actually do it more.
I remain,
The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard, and Philosopher. The Grey Wayfarer.
Skaal!!!
Happy Woden’s (Odin’s) Day.
Discussion:
In Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings Aragorn is the bearer of a broken blade that is reforged by the elves. Andúril is the new weapon and becomes a central weapon in the struggle against evil as wielded by the last of the line of the kings of Gondor.
My recent work in the yOutube realm has placed me once more in the position of preacher and teacher and with a familiar topic – Bible and Theology. I don’t speak of the bible being the sword that needs to be reforged so much as my knowledge and understanding of it. Before I used this knowledge to try to build people’s faith. I see this now as a flawed and broken weapon.
In a very real sense, I see this as reforging this knowledge into a new weapon. A weapon to use against my former faith and no I don’t seem my turn from gospel preacher to atheist as good to bad but rather the other way around. The real evil is religious people who do evil things in the name of God and the Bible. In reforging my sword of Biblical knowledge, I plan on using it to fight this foe.
Time to Look Through the Eye:
“To see the truth, change one eye for another”
Meditation:
As I was meditating on this change, I realized that I might actually have to reach for and open my Bible on my shelf. Something I have not done in well over a year and a half. I found myself feeling old strength and knowledge flow back through my veins again as I used my knowledge of the bible and theology again but it was very different. I can see the obvious flaws with the Bible and theology in ways I never saw before.
Mystery:
The mystery for me is to unravel the power of religion that it gains over people. To do that I need to understand why people believe nonsense and how to combat it. In the realm of Christianity, I can see why people want to believe. Eternal life and some sense fo purpose are good motivators. But if the promise is false and if one takes the time to determine their own purpose, then what is the need?
Spirituality:
For my own sense of purpose, I am developing a sense of being an advocate for atheist issues, in particular, the separation fo church and state. It fits well with my political science degree and my religious background. I feel in the sense of atheist spirituality I might have started to see the need here and between this blog, my YouTube Channel The Rabyd Atheist and my desire to either teach in the public school or work for non-profit that has anti-theist aims regarding church and state. I have figured out that I will probably never be happy unless I am advocating for a cause and/or educating.
Conclusion:
I suppose I am taking the material of my old beliefs and education and forging them into something new – a new better and freedom-loving something. – a new sword of truth. Forged from the materials and shards of the old one. My own Andúril.
I remain,
The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard, and Philosopher. The Grey Wayfarer.
Skaal!!!
Hi, I'm Avisha Rasminda Twenty-Two years old, Introduce Myself As A Author , Painter , A Poet.
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The Grey Wayfarer 