“I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for what I do. I am free no matter what rules surround me. If I find them tolerable, I tolerate them; if I find them too obnoxious, I break them. I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for what I do.” – The Book Of Rabyd 2:2
Thoughts and Exposition:
I am diverging from the original Book of Rabyd at this point. Much of the old one was the same author and while I respect that author, there are many other true points of wisdom quotes that deserve a place at the table. I could quote Robert Heinlein all day too and he may get one or two but there other author’s whose wisdom I find top-notch and so they will also be included.
There are all sorts of schools of thought about why people do what they do. About ethics and morality in general. The most common I have heard is that we do things out of respect or fear. God, the law or basically some authority in general. I would now maintain is not a very high sense of ethics or morality that you have if you only do things out of some outward focus, or because some outward force compels you to be ethical or moral. It basically is an admission that you are not very ethical or moral and you need someone or something to make you so.
This quote cuts through that bullshit, and drives home the point that the only real thing that is responsible for our choices is us. We alone bear the moral responsibility for our actions. Not our fear of the divine (whom ever they may be), respect or fear of the law, or just plain fear. At the end of the day, it is each one of us that is morally responsible for our actions. We alone bear the responsibility for our choices.
Part of this quote is more truth than choice. We tolerate the rules we find tolerable and we break the rules we find obnoxious. I saw this all the time in Christianity. I would laugh inside when people would decry people with tattoos because of an old testament passage about it, knowing full well that same passage had rules like no blended fabrics and other such rules. If those same people were forced to engage all the rules that would have made them upset. No matter how much a person claims to live fully their code, they make exceptions. Then most of them lie that they don’t. Neither Heinlein or myself will do that any more. Rules either are tolerable to my freedom of choice or they are obnoxious to the point of being worthy of being broken. I simply state and live that reality while others will deny it.
I think people play this game of fear and respect because it allows them to look down on someone morally and be in their ivory tower. To think of themselves as better because they ‘follow’ some moral code and others don’t or do it imperfectly. The problem with such codes, is when you get right down to it people follow the parts they like or make them feel morally superior, and ignore the parts they don’t and try to hide it so their moral judgment doesn’t come back on their own head.Quite frankly I am sick of this fear/respect dichotomy. In my mind it just leads to more ‘evil’.
Heinlein and the Book of Rabyd offer you an alternative. Better is to live like this – I am free because I am completely responsible for my own actions. No one else, nothing else compels me to be ethical or moral – only myself. I live free and take full responsibility. Period. Stop. Nothing else.
The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard and Philosopher. The Grey Wayfarer.
By the time this post drops it will be Friday at 8 am. I will be at work, but I will be thinking about iron. It has been about three months since my old gym closed leaving me gym homeless. It would have to say it has been hard, not just because I don’t have a place to train, but because the gym was a place to get my mind right. It was one of the many tools I used to fight The Grey and I am excited to bring it back into my life. I have missed the iron.
I joined a new gym Monday April 1st. It is a block from where I work, so I am planning on heading there after work and banging out some set and reps. This winter I have not lost much of what I gained last summer. I probably have put on a few pounds but my diet has been pretty tight for the most part, plus my work is fairly physical. I am hoping this new gym membership will allow me not only to return to where I was but take my progress to new levels. My only goal for each workout is to make it better than the last time.
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 follow A FULL Paleo Diet Plan from April 1, 2019 to March 31, 2020.
Bucket List: Do a rebellious act on April Fools Day, April 1st, 2020.
I decided to slow down on this diet thing, not because exercise is coming back into my life as far as walking and lifting. No, my thoughts are to read my book again on Paleo and start to follow their advice on how to implement it. I am sticking to what I am doing currently and will over time change my diet to be more Paleo centrist. It has worked well for me. I should be implemented fully by the end of the month if not sooner. It’s one of those one bite at a time things to eat the elephant. Is elephant meat Paleo friendly?
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.
I was going to walk this last few days. The weather is still a little cold, but in truth I think my new exercise program should kick off with a trip to the gym. It’s symbolic. A restart should always have some sort of symbol to mark the occasion and I feel the moment I reach down for a deadlift for the first time in three months, I will be off and running. I have decided on a three-day split. Pull, Push and Legs. Pull being Traps, Back, Biceps and Forearms. Push being Chest, Delts, Triceps and Abs. Legs being Quads, Hamstrings and Calves. This keeps me in my three days a week minimum and hitting my whole body in that time frame. I am going to start off with 4 x 10-12 with a rising pyramid as far as resistance levels. Once muscle memory kicks in after a month, I should be doing what I was doing before my last gym closed.
Stretching will be a part of it before and after. Next week the weather is supposed to be very Spring-like. so walking my first few 5 k training walks will commence then.
I have started a savings plan that will lead to my first tattoo. More on that under fidelity.
Fidelity:
“Fidelity is the will to be loyal to one’s Gods and Goddesses, to one’s Folk, to one’s self, and loyalty to one’s friends was as 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
Bucket List: Discover all the countries of origin from my genetics and visit them all by March 18th, 2029.
My savings plan is basically to take a little more out of each of my checks and set it aside. Part of this will be for my first tattoo and part of it for my wife and I’s mini vacation. In a couple of months the vacation will take place and then in three months I will see where my tattoo money is at.
I think one of the things on hold is the genetic test and part of that is I want to wait until I have a new job and extra income to save for it. I have a lot of time on this one but information is needed, so I can even begin planning.
Higher Virtue – Wisdom:
I feel my plans are starting to go in motion and it is very much like work to get this wheel turning the right direction. Discipline, Perseverance and Fidelity are hard ways to make yourself a better person but they all involve humility in the face of opposition and at times failure. But humility, in order for it to bring strength and wisdom, brings change not withdraw.
Weekly Routine:
Weightlifting/Stretching – Minimum 3 days per week.
Walking – Minimum 3 days a week
Job Search – Minimum 3 days a week
Cleaning – 3 days a week.
Writing – 3 times a week
Cheat Meal Count: 3 per week.
The first part of the week I tested the morning Routine and the mid part of the week I tested adding the Daily Routine. Today begins adding in the Weekly Stuff. It has not been as difficult as I would have thought, but there is a lot of preparation and build up work in some areas.
Goals and Bucket List Items Achieved (Since Summer 2018):
Goals Achieved: 1 Graduated College with BS in Political Science and minors in Economics and International Business – December 2018.
Bucket List Items Crossed Off: 0
I remain,
The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard and Philosopher. The Grey Wayfarer.
Another one of those posts where what I taught in the past about the Bible is going to have some of the problems I will now reveil. Problems I discovered that are a little overwhelming to maintaining faith. I am actually going to take on one of the more solid parts of the Bible – where we actually have four witnesses of events which would seem to fulfill the Bibles’s own standard of ‘two or three” plus one. However as we will see, this doesn’t’ a) solve other problems and b) some of the events witnessed still only have one witness.
The gospels actually illustrate some Bible problems so well that they provide an excellent test case for critics. I mean if you can have four witnesses, and still present something that makes you scratch your head, then anything less than that obviously is worse.
The gospels are contradictory – This is particularly true when it comes to the resurrection accounts. Some gospels really have no account at all. Mark doesn’t have anything other than a statement that Jesus rose from the dead. The longer ending is probably an addition from someone regurgitating a story and not someone who was an eyewitness. Even when there is a claim to being eyewitnesses they can’t seem to get their story straight. Despite the claim to the contrary, this does not validate the story, it is what in court would be contradictory testimony. It would be thrown out, but gospel apologists continue to make the leap (this not being able to get their story straight) means the gospels are actually more authentic. No, quite the opposite in fact. It means there was a lot of confusion ‘resurrection’ morning and in moments of confusion any story can be both fabricated and propagated.
The gospels also suffer from confirmation bias. Every writer of each gospel clearly wants the story to be true, and thus does not offer critical analysis of many events that are presented in the Life of Christ. In my opinion, this is the main atmosphere on ‘resurrection’ morning. A desire that Jesus of Nazareth was alive so strong that it created and atmosphere of mass psychological collusion. Before you think that couldn’t be possible, I remind people of Jim Jones and Jones Town and Heaven’s Gate, events that show that human beings can desire something so badly they will not look critically at what they are being told, Based on these false beleifs they will in fact kill themselves and be martyred for it; if they believe it strongly enough regardless of whether it is true or a lie.
Timeline issues – yeah, I am stuck on the resurrection again because it was one of the problems I faced regularly in teaching the event. The accounts vary in their timeline and even events are presented differently to the point that they contradict each other in order of events. Who saw Jesus before someone else is a regular problem. Throughout the gospels some things appear in different order. Not a deal breaker but one of those ‘ keeping a straight story’ issues.
Historically speaking if you are looking for other biographies or historical accounts of Jesus of Nazareth, you will disappointed. The only accounts we have are from his disciples and they biased. There is no objective historical account of his life, There are mentions in other sources like Philo and Josephus but all they really prove is that Christianity is indeed something that stretches back to the first century, but Jesus himself and his life is untouched by these sources. .
The two or three witness problem still persists despite their being four accounts. Why? 1) The Gospel of John stands alone in many accounts. It offers up events that don’t have any collaboration at all. Even from the other gospels. John literally stands alone in his accounts of things at times and thus does not met the Bible’s own standard of ‘two or three witnesses’ for those events. 2) The other gospels clearly either copied each other or a common account. I have no problem with this historically speak except sometimes the word choice is verbatim which means they didn’t do much more digging than to copy without further investigation. There many theories to this, but in the end what you have is the possibility that instead of three accounts from three different witnesses, what you get is one account of these events, which are not collaborated, and simply copied by others. When they do differ, Matthew, Mark and Luke have the same problem as John. They often stand alone with many stories. One gospel writer will present one story, but the other two leave it out. This happens a lot and in the end you get very few stories that all four gospel writers actually touch. The only miracle they touch is the Feeding of the Five Thousand and it looks like John is trying to correct the account of the other three. The rest mostly deal with Jesus’ time in Jerusalem before he was crucified. That he had triumphal entry, he held a last supper where he said he would be betrayed, etc. But all goes south at the resurrection where things get completely contradictory or confusing.
Time to Look Through the Eye:
Faith:
As a student of the Bible, what faith I have left in the Bible is an interesting thing and the gospels in particular. I taught Life of Christ at least ten times in my ministry. I think you can reasonably say that Jesus of Nazareth was probably a real person and that he indeed was a Jewish Rabbi, and probably a controversial one to the point he was hated by the other rabbis, religious teachers and groups. The gospels are a reflection of that but are written by his followers. So how do you continue to follow the teachings of a rabbi the others have decried as a heretic? You present Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah and add a whole lot of legend to the real man, so that it makes the people who killed him look like complete assholes. The gospels may very well be a reflection of reactionary activity. Like Paul Bunyan or John Henry who may have been real people but their legend got big to the point of being ridiculous; Jesus of Nazareth suddenly becomes much more than he really was to justify Christianity’s existence and growth. I have faith that human beings may want to believe something so badly, they will lie to themselves and create stories to make their experiences change in their mind to verify the new presented ‘truth’.
Religion:
Christianity itself developed a problem of having so many accounts of Jesus life that were so contradictory, they convened a council of the church to sort it out. This has led to the question: the criteria used may simply been one way of one group trying to politically eliminate another. The criteria were created by men for men’s purposes. The gospels chosen in the end may simply been the least contradictory, but still not perfect by any stretch of the imagination. Religion then has a vested interest in defending its ‘holy’ book so they cannot be questioned and ‘BAM!’ – two thousand years later, they still stand despite all the problems. Not because they are the truth or history, but they have become religious tradition further defended by doctrine and dogma.
Theology:
I suppose I have no Messianic Theology anymore. I was asked once recently if I had renounced Christ. I shrugged, is there anything to renounce? I mean I don’t see the need for humanity to have a messiah figure. In fact I would say looking for one or needing one is a cop-out trying to look for someone else to come along like a white knight and save you from all your problems. My Christology these days might simply be non-existent. Not renounced, just faded out of existence as no longer needed. Jesus was either a great teacher that people either added to his story to the point it is just as unlikely as other tall tales, or he was a lunatic who people believed so strongly they made stuff up to reinforce their belief in a lunatic. Was he the Messiah? – My answer: do we need one? Was He Lord? Once again do I need one?
Spirituality:
I like some of the teachings of Jesus. I find them spiritually uplifting as I consider them. That said, I would also say I can treat them with the same attitude I treat the teachings of Buddha, Confucius and other great and deep thinkers. Containers for truth, but not THE truth. Just human beings that said some wise words and I find spirituality in a lot of people’s words beyond the standard religious figures. It is the one way we live on I suppose – the wisdom that can be found in words we wrote or spoke.
Events are a different matter. I don’t find spirituality in events I didn’t personally experience anymore. I can find inspiration in tales of courage, honor and other stories where virtues are center, but my spirituality is my own experiences in life, my own study and my own vision for myself..
Conclusion:
I would say my path has taken a very honest turn. You can’t create a special group of ideas or books and then say you will not criticize them and then claim to be objective. The gospels are ancient writings, that when we subject them to the same scrutiny as many other writings of antiquity, fall short in many areas. This is simply true. They are religious tradition protected by religious dogma that once ripped away, you find a much more difficult truth. They are perhaps a mixture of true stories about Jesus of Nazareth mixed with tall tales. They are very possibly fabricated stories with an agenda that has nothing to do with the real man Jesus of Nazareth.
Continuing to Walk the Path,
The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard and Philosopher. The Grey Wayfarer.
As I take the some new steps to reorient my life goals and ambitions, I have to understand all the tools I have at my disposal to navigate the paths and the waters ahead. This blog is a tool for that and large one. Writing allows me to take my scattered thoughts and form them into something a little more organized and purposeful. The Journal Posts force me to check my course and see if I am on track with the plan.
I mention it sometimes but I also have a paper journal which is more of system of checklists. It allows me to see daily and weekly progress on my routines. It is a form of self accountability. For weightlifting and exercise I have a logbook.
I have found that there are some essential things to be learned from navigators. 1) Is to know where your going and have a route to get there. 2) Have alternate routes ready whenever possible because sometimes the road you want to take is blocked, so you need alternative ways to get where you are going. 3) Keep records – you can look back and remember things both bad and good. Stuff to avoid in the future and stuff that surprised you as how it made the journey that much easier.
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: To achieve and maintain personal independence and advocate for independence in my family, state and nation.
Goal: Find a new, better paying job by the end of June 2019 or before.
Bucket List: To own and run my own successful business or company.
I really like the progression here. I did however have to change the goal time frame to the end of June, as I passed the end of March with no new job. I have decided to step back and redo the whole procedure this week. I also have chosen the end of June for another reason. I am searching my home state right now with no limitations on where I can go for a job. Very willing to move. After the end of June, the whole country becomes my search field. I am getting to the point where I need to go where I need to go to make my life go where it needs to go.
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.
Goal: Finalize last requirements for my degree – Internship by May 2019
Bucket List: Write A Novel and Get it Published.
Internship is going well. I start my novel this week. My concern usually at work is trying to find ways that are more efficient and effective.
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 of a support group of some kind.
Bucket List: To own a home by March 2024.
I want to start researching different types of support groups this week as well. I want to see what I can do or am willing to do. Both of these items here are very much dependent on where I end up for work, In the meantime I still try to be as helpful as I can to others without bankrupting myself.
Higher Virtue – Justice:
Finding just solutions to life’s interactions has been challenging but very fun to me. I really like negotiating between parties and always have. Might be career path for myself. Justice is very much about being Self-Reliant so I am not a burden to others, Industrious so I provide some usefulness and Hospitality so I can help when I can. A real balance between holding to the right path and mercy is required in everyday life.
Daily Routine:
Wife: Communication / Cuddle Time
Blogging – Organize, revise, write new post for next day, 15 min. work on fiction.
Study / Homework / Research: half hour per day minimum or until all necessary work is completed.
Personal Business: record financial transactions, savings plan actions, budgeting, appointments, other.
Check Communications and Email after 2 pm but before 4 pm.
Latin – half hour
Weekly Routine Items
Nutrition: Daily Carb Count – 1
My only worry about this routine is it might be too long. If it turns out that it is, than Latin can go to the Weekly stuff. So far though I have to think it looks good on paper. I have three days to test it and see but I will probably continue to try well into the next week before I would make a change.
The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard and Philosopher. The Grey Wayfarer.
Happy April Fools. That said you won’t get an April fools joke from me. I prefer a more traditional approach to All Fool’s Day. Everything backwards or upside down. Next year this will be my day to do something out of character and do something truly risk taking. Smoke a Joint, Get Drunk, Go to a nudist resort, etc. Something where I throw the virtues to the wind for one day and live life a little risky. Something where the socially unacceptable becomes normal for one day. I have a year to plan it so this should be interesting.
This year, however, today marks the second day of my ‘walking on’ I have realigned my compass, taken a look at my map and conformed a more clear route and I am now taking steps on it. Journey of Life resumed.
Implementing everything is going to probably take the entire week to really get going. I have tested the morning routine and it is solid like before. Now I have three days off from work from Tuesday to Thursday where I plan on implementing the rest. The problem of course with it is things need to be set up for some things to be routine. Learning Latin. for instance needs a little work to decided how to proceed step by step o the days off will allow me to do that. By the end of the week I should have all of that done and be moving forward.
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).
Bucket List: Hike the Northern Lakeshore Trail along the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
I feel valued these days at work and by the few friends I have left. I feel positive about my future. I sometimes struggle with myself. Throwing off the whole light verses darkness thing and just being a man walking in life as a human being has been a difficult but necessary transition. It is also one where I feel far more at peace.
The daily blogging hits a half a year with this post. A milestone for which I am giving no fanfare. Half a year to go. To be ready for the hiking trip is going to require training and acquiring some gear. Planning and scheduling. My walks at least three days a week are the first steps.
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.
The concept of fear being a choice has changed a lot of things for me. Danger is a real thing but fear is a reaction that can be controlled. I have a lot of things to do that will require courage in the next few months so I need to keep making these choices.
I did make one change to the goal here to make it one a year for the bucket list as many of my bucket list items are now more long-term goals. I actually have two that need to be completed by next year at this same time so this should be easy. Hungary and Budapest awaits, but it will probably be a few years yet.
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 Be Honest and Speak Truth to Myself and Others. To Be Silent in the presence of Fools.
Goal: To Write a Non-Fiction Book by March 31st, 2020
Bucket List: Learn Latin by March 31st 2020 to the point I can take a test and show my self proficient.
Honesty is really not my problem. Bluntness is. I am glad I added the part about learning to be silent in the presence of Fools. I find myself getting involved in less and less social media discussions. If it wasn’t for writing and memes I might not be involved at all anymore.
The writing schedule will be two days a week on the non fiction book (because it is a goal) and one day on the novel (because it is a bucket list item). I had to dust off the Latin books and read the “How to do this’ section but I am starting to take baby steps.
Higher Virtue: Love:
When comes to Truth, Courage and Honor, I am definitely adding the notion of love here as I ask how these three express love all the time. It is a guiding virtue for me in these regards.
Morning Routine:
Review Nine Noble Virtues (NNV), Principles, Goals and Bucket List
Meditation – 3 min.
Check Communications and Email.
Paper Journal: Create Daily Log and To Do List.
Breakfast, Medications and Supplements.
Shower and Personal Hygiene
Get Dressed for the Day
Love this now. It allows me to use the beginning of the day to think, plan an prepare. Not hard at all.
The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard and Philosopher. The Grey Wayfarer.
We are with verse one of chapter two moving into a different realm of The Book of Rabyd. Chapter one is principles I would say are universally or nearly universally true. Chapter Two is points of wisdom which are more about life guides and coming to a better understanding of the world. Not hard fast rules in chapter two, but definitely can be seen to be true most of the time. We start with the simple three word Phrase: “People are Stupid”
One might say this is a pretty pessimistic view of people in general. This is not a statement about people and their morality however, just their nature. Terry Goodkind and his Wizard’s Rules impressed me in their quick way of getting to human nature and laying it out there plainly and bluntly. I like someone who can take a concept and put it into a simple statement and “People are Stupid” shocks you ,and yet catches your attention, because you know in you heart it is true. I have tried to put this idea into other terms or phraseology but it never has the force of “People are Stupid.”
Terry Goodkind though really doesn’t stop with just these three words. but in his book Wizard’s First Rule he makes several other points about it:
Given proper motivation people will believe almost anything.
People will believe something because they want it to be true or fear it is true. (Confirmation Bias)
Peoples’s heads are full of things that they think is true but is in reality mostly false. (Cognitive Dissonance)
People rarely can tell the difference between a lie and the truth, but they think they can. (Ego)
Because of all this people are easier to fool.
You will note Terry did not say ALL People are stupid. His assumption is that by understanding this rule you can rise above it yourself. First you understand it for yourself that you yourself are stupid. Once you get this idea that you are stupid, and need analyze your own thinking and beliefs for whether or not they are true, then you are very much on the path to understanding yourself and others better. Stupidity is part of being a human being and once you get that part, the rest of the wisdom that flows from this foundation becomes easier to swallow. Truth is found in understanding that even you can be subject to stupidity and that means re-thinking things regularly to make sure you are basing your understandings on the truth and not just what you want to be the truth.
There is tremendous power that you gain when you understand all of this and the challenge for the vitreous person is to not take advantage of it for malevolent purposes. It gives you an advantage when you realize what makes people, stupid including yourself is Confirmation Bias, Cognitive Dissonance, and Ego. You can use this to help or harm. lead people to truth to a lie. Motivate them to great good or evil.
As a leader over the years’, I have come to realize the difficulty of researching and coming to know the factual truth at times, but knowing full well that to motivate people to act on it, requires a great deal of tapping into people’s ‘stupidity’. Otherwise they will never be motivated to act. Truth rarely motivates, passion does. That is the challenge to be motivated by truth as a leader but tap into people’s passions so you don’t on the one hand mislead people, but on the other hand get them to act.
We may see Terry Goodkind again. I am revising a lot of these points of wisdom and combining some of them so we will see. However many of the Wizard’s Rules echo in a lot of them.
The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard and Philosopher. The Grey Wayfarer.
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, and 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, they are given 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: ‘Radio Ga Ga’ – Queen (Live at Wembly London 1985)
I don’t really need to explain why I open with Queen sometimes do I?
Poem: “We all eat lies” – Dark and Twisted
Meditation:
Hard to find the right people. Why? Because as we will see today – stupidity.
Song of Preparation: ‘Vengeful One’ – Disturbed
The greatest thing that proves people are stupid is that they believe the media most of the time. The media knows full well that people are stupid and take advantage of that all the time. They feed people’s’ confirmation bias and into cognitive dissonance all the time.
Text:
‘People are Stupid’ – The Book of Rabyd 2:1
Sermon:
We are with verse one of chapter two moving into a different realm of The Book of Rabyd. Chapter one is principles I would say are universally or nearly universally true. Chapter Two is points of wisdom which are more about life guides and coming to a better understanding of the world. Not hard fast rules in chapter two, but definitely can be seen to be true most of the time. We start with the simple three word Phrase: “People are Stupid”
One might say this is a pretty pessimistic view of people in general. This is not a statement about people and their morality however, just their nature. Terry Goodkind and his Wizard’s Rules impressed me in their quick way of getting to human nature and laying it out there plainly and bluntly. I like someone who can take a concept and put it into a simple statement and “People are Stupid” shocks you ,and yet catches your attention, because you know in you heart it is true. I have tried to put this idea into other terms or phraseology but it never has the force of “People are Stupid.”
Terry Goodkind though really doesn’t stop with just these three words. but in his book Wizard’s First Rule he makes several other points about it:
Given proper motivation people will believe almost anything.
People will believe something because they want it to be true or fear it is true. (Confirmation Bias)
Peoples’s heads are full of things that they think is true but is in reality mostly false. (Cognitive Dissonance)
People rarely can tell the difference between a lie and the truth, but they think they can. (Ego)
Because of all this people are easier to fool.
You will note Terry did not say ALL People are stupid. His assumption is that by understanding this rule you can rise above it yourself. First you understand it for yourself that you yourself are stupid. Once you get this idea that you are stupid and need analyze your own thinking and beliefs for whether or not they are true, then you are very much on the path to understanding yourself and others better. Stupidity is part of being a human being and once you get that part, the rest of the wisdom that flows from this foundation becomes easier to swallow. Truth is found in understanding that even you can be subject to stupidity and that means re-thinking things regularly to make sure you are basing your understandings on the truth, and not just what you want to be the truth.
There is tremendous power that you gain when you understand all of this and the challenge for the vitreous person is to not take advantage of it for malevolent purposes. It gives you an advantage when you realize what makes people, stupid including yourself is Confirmation Bias, Cognitive Dissonance, and Ego. You can use this to help or harm. lead people to truth to a lie. Motivate them to great good or evil.
As a leader over the years’, I have come to realize the difficulty of researching and coming to know the factual truth at times, but knowing full well that to motivate people to act on it, requires a great deal of tapping into people’s ‘stupidity’. Otherwise they will never be motivated to act. Truth rarely motivates, passion does. That is the challenge to be motivated by truth as a leader but tap into people’s passions so you don’t on the one hand mislead people, but on the other hand get them to act.
We may see Terry Goodkind again. I am revising a lot of these points of wisdom and combining some of them so we will see. However many of the Wizard’s Rules echo in a lot of them.
Closing Song: ‘Holy Diver’ – Dio
Parting Thought:
You are sovereign over your life. Never forget that.
I remain,
The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard and Philosopher. The Grey Wayfarer.
I have always been a loyal friend. I have always been a loyal father and grandfather. Understand if you mess with my kids (including my daughter-in-law and son-in-law by the way) or grand kids, prepare to reap something you will not enjoy. I am loyal to mother who yesterday turned 78. The memory of my father and grandparents I honor every day. I was loyal to my church and even at the end my thoughts were always on how I could withdraw without hurting them any more than necessary. I never turned my back on them, until they were misled into thinking I had, and turned their back on me.
No. Fidelity is a struggle in a very specific areas for me. The rest of it is solid. The areas that need work are obviously my wife and I and my trust issues now with possible new friends. The first is much better. My wife and I have been counseled and we have reached a place where we trust each other again and are supportive. We still have some issues of course like any couple but we are working on them together.
What remains for me is that I tend to trust people and give them the same loyalty I expect from them. The problem is that I assume they feel the same and they don’t, and I don’t pick up on that. It can make me naive at times as to what people, who call themselves my friends’, real intentions are or even their real nature. It has blindsided me more than once. In this last year it happened twice with pretty catastrophic results.
Well, at least until recently this was true. Now, I skeptical of everyone who calls me ‘friend’ with very few exceptions. I have made a commitment to keep my circle very small for this very reason. It also why not much has changed in regards to he virtue or principle I follow because I forged both of these things in the fires of betrayal – my own and of those toward me.
“Fidelity is the will to be loyal to one’s Gods and Goddesses, to one’s Folk, to one’s self, and loyalty to one’s friends was as valued as highly as loyalty to one’s family.”
No changes but perhaps some definitions are in order.
My gods are the virtues I follow and my philosophy of deism, humanism and paganism. Nothing more or less.
My ‘folk’ are my immediate family and those friends who have earned through their own loyalty the title of friend. Like the virtue says, my friends are family. I hope that is understood. There is only one difference. If friend betrays me, I have no problem throwing them out of the family.
Myself – yeah, in equal measure to those above I work on being loyal to myself and being truly myself. No more masks, no more lies to cover the real me. I will no longer be ashamed of my true self.
Principle: Be loyal to those who have been loyal to me.
Recent events have the caveat ‘ ‘who have been loyal to me.’ Betrayal is hard when you do it and I now see more than ever the value of fidelity from me toward others. That said, I get truly pissed off about people who betray me as a result too. Once you do that, my loyalty to you goes right out the window. People screw up, it should be no cause to be disloyal to them. Something me and my wife have learned together which is probably what makes our relationship much tighter in some ways than it has ever been.
I just turned 50, so I am too fucking old now for friends that are disloyal or forming friendships that are not serious. My pack is small but we fight together and die together if necessary. This needs to be understood. So yes, you have to demonstrate loyalty now before you get that kind of loyalty from me. Thank you. Otherwise cue Pantera’s ‘Walk for fake friends.’:
Goal: Celebrate my wife and I’s 30th anniversary (June 10th, 2019) with a mini-vacation
Last year my wife and I were separated for our anniversary. This year we need to make up for that somehow. Don’t know the specifics, but a ‘weekend’ getaway type thing might be just what we need the most.
Bucket List: Discover all the countries of origin from my genetics and visit them all by March 18th, 2029.
I struggled with this one for a while trying to find something that tied in with fidelity. I mean getting a genetics test is easy. finding the means to research it down to actually visiting each country my ancestors came from is going to require some prosperity. From my mom’s side, that means France, The Netherlands, and Wales for sure. I could however find some surprises with genetics test. The first step would then be to get a genetics test. I have set as a time limit on this one my 60th birthday as I needed a true long-term bucket list item and didn’t have one yet.
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 follow A FULL Paleo Diet Plan from April 1, 2019 to March 31, 2020.
Bucket List: Do a rebellious act on April Fools Day, April 1st, 2020.
Time is pressing now on the nutrition element here. I need to spend time before Monday getting a plan together. The main issue is of course cutting out from my diet the things I cannot eat. Coming up with new things I can eat to cook and so forth.
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.
I decided to take some of my tax return and get a gym membership near where I work. I will probably stop by after work every day and hit the stretching and weights. The weather is turning nice so walking is about to start next week too. It begins very soon.
Fidelity:
“Fidelity is the will to be loyal to one’s Gods and Goddesses, to one’s Folk, to one’s self, and loyalty to one’s friends was as 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
Bucket List: Discover all the countries of origin from my genetics and visit them all by March 18th, 2029.
Lots of family stuff which is good. I suspect the goals will be different things that reflect my gratitude for fidelity toward family and friends.
Higher Virtue – Wisdom:
I learned a lot of humility this last year. I suppose that this has paved a lot of wisdom for me in the same time frame. As I relive some of the memories from last year, wisdom and humility kind of beat the hell out of my foolish pride. It is not an easy time right now and that is for damn sure. I hope that through Discipline, Perseverance and Fidelity, I can find a gentler way to pave wisdom with humility, but I doubt it. I suspect I might be harder on myself than life is.
Weekly Routine:
Weightlifting – 4 days per week.
Cleaning – 3 days a week.
Walking – 4 days a week
Writing – 4 times a week
Cheat Meal Count – Currently 2
Tomorrow I will be doing a special The Rabyd Skald post to deal with my routines. I suspect all of them will change but the main issue is to take each goal and bucket list item and find something to put in the routines that works toward them.
Goals and Bucket List Items Achieved:
Goals Achieved: 1 Graduated College with BS in Political Science and minors in Economics and International Business December 2018.
Bucket List Items Crossed Off: 0
I remain,
The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard and Philosopher. The Grey Wayfarer.
I am taking a break from the order to think a little bit about some things. This last week of March has definitely been about making my Realignment of Virtues with their respective principles, goals and bucket list item. I will be engaged in this until Saturn’s Day and then on March 31st the new stuff kicks off in full. Not having the time to do some proper research for the Bible Problems post that is supposed to fall this week, I decided to talk about something more spiritual and personal instead.
The people in my life do not understand the change of my beliefs and some of them are the closest to me. To them this change has been sudden and only now are some of them starting to get used to the idea but they still don’t understand it. Trying to rebuild one’s spirituality in this environment is not difficult, just often misunderstood because to others it was sudden but to me it has been long in coming. This is a decision I agonized over for a long time. One that has placed me in a position of rebuilding my spirituality after taking a sledgehammer (metaphorically speaking) to what i had built during my time as a Christian.
Time to Look Through the Eye:
Faith:
I consider myself a spiritual person still. There is part of humanity that one cannot put into a purely rational box no matter how much you try. The thing I have thrown off is religion. I have however not thrown off ‘faith’. Like it or not everyone has faith is something. Something they cannot rationally prove but still live their life by. Atheists deny this but if they were to go through their philosophy and principles they live by my guess is somewhere they would have to admit they go forward with without any proof – yet. They would contend they believe proof will be found eventually but it just hasn’t been found yet. That’s faith no matter how much you shake and dance.
I am not going to deny I have faith in stuff I can’t prove. I recognize my ignorance and ignorance is going to lead to some things you are going to take on faith because you have no choice or the alternative is to simply exist without progress. I take that there is a part of human beings that is spiritual on faith, because I cannot see a scientific or rational answer for some things – yet.
Religion:
The one thing I have discarded is religion. I recognize two forces that pass themselves off as good but are in reality evil as fuck. Government and Religion. With government I recognize there is a necessary evil that must be engaged because people are inherently tribal. Religion I can’t find to many uses for anymore. It is by its nature, controlling and manipulative. It sells you something that you don’t even need to solve a problem you don’t actually have. It has all the morality of the huckster selling snake oil and has the same objective.
It disguises greed, lust and manipulation as industry, love and care. It calls you to dwell in ignorance so you can preserve your faith. Never question things because if you did you might realize the ‘holy men’ are taking you for a ride. Cleaver, as perhaps if you lose your ignorance you might see that it is harming you far more than helping you. I refuse to engage a system of belief anymore that sees to tell me what THE TRUTH is; as I find, truth is not something that is always easy to find or black and white anymore. I have no use for religion in rebuilding my spirituality, as it is probably is in reality one of the most spiritually destructive forces there is.
Theology:
Whatever the divine might be, I now reserve the right to question its justice, mercy or decisions. I think the Norse attitude toward the gods is probably mine. The Norse gods are not interested in worship. They are interested in a life well lived. Mans approach to them is not to fawn or fall on one’s knees, but to stand bravely. They don’t want the devotion, but just respect for their power. Theologically, it seems if the divine is our parent, like a good parent it would want us to grow up and stand on our own and teach our descendants to do the same.
Spirituality:
This last year has been both a cubicle and a flood of challenges. I am starting to put some of the things I did last year at this time in the category of ‘more than a year ago’. By the time summer is over all of it will be there. This flood and fire I have been going through has cause the storm to rage at times and my scars to burn with pain; but in all of that, I feel like I am being reborn. I am becoming something greater than I was, something stronger. I no longer bow, I stand. I no longer need the crutch that is religion and I am done with its snake oil spirituality.
Conclusion:
I used to be a tiger and lion person. Strong animal images but both perform in the circus. But these days the wolves and ravens are more my speed. Not as strong but wild and free. You can put thme in cages but they will never be tame. I find that both light and darkness are not to be feared but used. I feed both wolves (Need and Want) and both ravens (Reason and Wisdom). I no longer see myself as sinner or saint – just a man rebuilding and discovering his true self. In that I find my spiritual rebirth and growth. I am Grey. An old scared grey wolf if you will. I have a pack but it is small, but then again I know what I bring to the table, so I am not afraid to fight or eat alone either.
Continuing to Walk the Path,
The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard and Philosopher. The Grey Wayfarer.
I have a Of Wolves and Ravens post in the incubator but I am so focused on the realignment I am doing that I don’t want to rush it and fuck it up have it not be as good as it could be. I will post it next week but this week I have the time and the emotional state where writing The Grey and the Wayfarer’s latest installment.
“I’m OK.”
If anyone has ever dealt with depression or someone who thy love who is depressed; you know this two-word phrase (when people ask how you or they are) is one of the most challenging to decipher. Sometimes the person is genuinely OK and they are telling you that. Other times the non-verbal cues would tell you otherwise and you should listen to them and not the words. Non-verbal communication rarely lies. If you’re talking on the phone with someone with depression, you really have to rely on tone of voice, losing the non-verbal by not looking at them leaves you in the dark a lot.
There are probably two people in the world right now that will notice a short pause before I answer them when they ask – “How are you?” That’s because with them, I have made a commitment to be absolutely honest. That pause is me giving my soul a quick look and asking what the truth is. If I say “I’m OK” to them, it true. Everyone else, it’s not that I don’t trust you it’s….. Well, I hope you understand.
That said, even when I say ‘I’m OK’ and am truthful about it, what does that mean? Well, I am not great. I am also not depressed. It’s really a state of emotional functionality. I am broken but I can function. I can actually do pretty well, it is just I feel at times I am just marking time from one thing to the next. Just existing. I feel emotions, but it is a low-level emotion that is a combination at times of sadness/ joy and pain/triumph. The best way to describe it is that my emotional lights flicker. It’s like spring or fall between the seasons. It’s like the electrical system of my emotions has a short in it.
Doesn’t mean there is something wrong, but nothing is right either. ‘I’m OK’ is probably the best way to put it.
The cause of this is not so much I am wired wrong. Probably the opposite actually. I am highly wired and hard-wired and so like all things complicated – things go wrong easily and frequently:
1) I am emphatic. I pick up people’s emotions and I find myself feeling what they feel. You think that is great? Try being a pastor for twenty years dealing with everyone shit negative emotional states all the time. It’s drives you to introversion, trust me.
2) I don’t stop thinking. From the moment I wake up until I go to bed, my mind is working. It’s fine when I have a problem to solve or something to think about. It’s when I am bored or there is nothing to do that this really begins to lead you down some dark lines of thinking.
3) I have a near photographic memory for verbal conversations. It’s contextual thankfully. I have to be in the place or similar place the conversation took place most of the time, but if I concentrate hard enough I can still pull it off. It’s why I am glad I don’t live where I used to live or have to go to the church I used pastor. Far too painful from the memory flood. I have a hard enough time meeting people I used to know. Yeah, that is enough of a trigger. It’s why I really need a fresh start somewhere else still.
The cause of all this is of course wounds received at my own hand and the hand of others. This time of year last year, I was forming a very tight relationship with someone. My fault and hers that we ended up being closer than we should have been. I don’t really blame her or me anymore. It happened, and assigning blame only really helps those who want to lie to themselves, so they can look themselves in the mirror. Or to look at me or the girl in the face again and still love us. Comforting lies don’t really help though. Just saying. We would all be better off facing the painful truth.
In one sense I look at my scars as the cause of this flickering emotion. Not so much the scars, as I wrote in my poem “The Scar”, but the seeping poison of a bleeding wound behind the scar – internal pain. But I also know some of the deepest and still internally bleeding wounds were self-inflicted. The ‘you’ in that poem has a lot of candidates, including myself.
I’m OK and I’m Broken at the same time. I wish there was some magical way to ‘get over it’ like people say at times. But there isn’t. I’m OK and I have to be OK with that. I have to function despite the flicker lights and I do. I have to for the sake of people I love and care for. I have to love them when I don’t feel love and I have to love myself as well even when I don’t feel it. I have to be OK, because sometimes its the best I have.
OK in The Grey,
The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard and Philosopher. The Grey Wayfarer.
The Grey Wayfarer 