Of Wolves and Ravens – Philosophy on a Schedule

December 25, 2018December 25, 2018 / Ed Raby Sr / Leave a comment

Happy Tyr’s Day. It is also the 6th night of Yuletide. This night is sacred to the goddess Eir and Healing. Eir being one of the Valkyrie who was famous for her healing skills. I know today is December 25th and is sacred to all you Christians out there. It used to mean a lot to me in this regard as well. So Merry Christmas and best wishes for the New Year. Today we pagans celebrate the virtue of Discipline mostly in regard to taking care of one’s self in regard to health.

Well, this will not be a normal Of Wolves and Ravens. As promised I am establishing a pattern for writing Of Wolves and Ravens. With a pattern I have a pretty good chance of being disciplined in writing it each week. I will be doing the same for Odin’s Eye and my New Series on Saturday on Norse Mythology. Haven’t come up with a unique title for that yet, but I will.

Topics I want to include here in Of Wolves and Ravens must meet the requirement of being a philosophical discussion. So included here is discussions of the Nine Noble Virtues of Asatru, The three higher virtues – Love, Justice and Wisdom. Discussions on Minimalism and Libertarianism will here as well. I must say this would be a good place to discuss economics and political philosophy so that will be here as well as regular western and eastern philosophy. I think a ten week pattern is in order.

Week 1 – Nine Noble Virtues and The Higher Virtues

Week 2 – Honor and Eastern Philosophy

Week 3 – Courage and Western Philosophy

Week 4 – Truth and Love

Week 5 – Self Reliance and Minimalism

Week 6 – Industriousness and Economics

Week 7 – Hospitality and Justice

Week 8 – Discipline and Political Science

Week 9 – Perseverance and Libertarianism

Week 10 – Fidelity and Wisdom

I think this pattern will be a good one as it will keep me covering a lot of different topics and not getting stuck on too many. I will try to bring modern events and other things into the discussion as much as possible.

I want to change the nature of the Wolves and Ravens as far as Need, Want, Reason and Wisdom which will still appear at the end and make them more personal to myself. Taking the discussion about whatever topic is there for the week and putting it into practice personally is the goal at that point. This should keep me writing and more importantly changing for the better as I continue this journey I call my life.

I remain,

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

Skaal!!!

Of Wolves and Ravens – Philosophy in Progress

December 18, 2018December 18, 2018 / Ed Raby Sr / Leave a comment

Happy Tyr’s Day

Introduction:

When I started out Wolves and Ravens it was about applied philosophy. In particular it is about the idea that the Wolves of Need and Want and the Ravens of Reason and Wisdom need to work together. In large part this is simply a metaphor to describe a new philosophy of life, once I discarded Christian philosophy as a bad and hypocritical end.

It has as at its roots a more humanistic view of life. That there are human forces that simply exist, and that we must understand how they work together and use them to our advantage. rather than just let them run amok. Like Odin, our familiars of Reason, Wisdom, Need and Want need to be ordered in a way that they serve us, not us serving them.

From time to time I want to go back and meditate on the philosophy I am trying to develop. Seeing I haven’t written one in a while, this seems like a good time to pause and reflect. In the next couple Wolves and Ravens, I want to talk about some overarching philosophies that guide me. Namely, Libertarianism and its Non-Aggression Principle and Minimalism. Inside of this is a discussion of virtue and the Nine Noble Virtues of Asatru.

My thoughts are that I need to spend some time developing this philosophy further. Part of the problem with this series is I have had no overall plan as to how to do this. Odin’s Eye by contrast has had a plan right up to the last Thor’s Day of the New Year. What may follow in Of Wolves and Raven’s is basically where I spend some time talking about Each Virtue and the overarching Minimalism and Libertarianism from time to time with the occasional issue to illustrate how it works. I will work on what pattern needs to be here but a regular discussion of all these issues needs to be present in Of Wolves and Ravens. Next Week I will establish that pattern for next year.

But first, the idea of human need, want reason and wisdom must be dealt with directly.

Needs (Geri):

When I speak of human need, we are talking genuine needs, not wants that people think are needs. When I speak of human need then, the list is actually very short. Individually, we need food, water, shelter from the elements and personal security from harm. Humanity as a whole has the need for sex for procreative purposes and I would say society bands together for security and mutual support. These needs are natural and drive us as humans. One of the things in this part of the philosophy I try to maintain is that there is no ‘sin’ or ‘sinfulness’ in having needs. Needs are both normal and necessary.

Wants (Freki):

Anything above and beyond these needs is a want and represents that part of us that strives to make a better life for ourselves beyond the base needs of life. Prosperity is found here when we want something beyond the basic needs and strive for it. I also maintain that these wants are normal and necessary as they are what builds society and civilization. The question is how to achieve both Needs and Wants in a way that is most beneficial to ourselves. That’s where Reason and Wisdom come in.

Reason (Huginn):

Reason is opposed to prejudice. Prejudices are, as Voltaire observed, what fools use for reason. Everyone has prejudices and I would say everyone lets their needs and wants drive them to objectify others. Reason steps us away from that and tries to find the best path for all. it seeks to find a way so all can strive to benefit themselves without harming others. It is not collectivist as collectivism, tribalism and all the junk that goes with them are not reasonable but full of prejudice. The issue of reason is to find a way that steps away from prejudice and the objectification of others.

Wisdom (Muninn):

Wisdom boils down to experience and memory. History and learning from it falls in there as well. At some point you have to check your reason with the reason of others. There is simply no way as a human being you can know and understand everything. That’s where the rest of humanity come in. The only issue here is sifting through it all to find that which is reasonable and wise.

Conclusion:

In the coming weeks I will be attempting to put a pattern to all this like I have in Odin’s Eye with issues of faith. religion, theology and spirituality. To discuss issues is now more of an object lesson in the rest of the discussions on the NNV, Libertarianism, Minimalism and any other philosophy I adopt.

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

Skaal!!!

The Pagan Pulpit – Education Isn’t About Convincing People

December 16, 2018December 16, 2018 / 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, 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: “Walk” – Pantera Cover by Breaking Benjamin with Disturb’s David as Lead Vocalist:

Found this gem of a cover song while researching another song. Love it.

Poem: “The Time You Spent” by Joanna Fuchs

Just a little poem in honor of my graduation.

Meditation:

Song of Preparation: “Hammer to Fall” – Queen – Live:

Text: Education isn’t About Convincing People – Eben Pagan:

You can’t convince anyone of anything. You can only give them the right information so that they can convince themselves.

Sermon:

A quote from someone named Pagan.

I wish I could say I have convinced people of something different from what they already believed. Belief is unfortunately a powerful force that keeps us from change at times. It is without a doubt easier to give information to people and then let them stew on it and let them learn based on what you have given them.

I don’t if at the heart of it all is education. Whether formal or informal, we learn and we try to pass it on. But people have to convince themselves or they will not really change.

I know for me the whole faith question was one of listening to the other side, but it was my own examination of my former education that I discovered holes and flaws. I began to inform myself and study the critics of my faith and discovered that some criticism was legitimate. Painfully legitimate.

So, I found myself with a new conclusion, one I came up with myself. That we ultimately choose our religion and faith based on who we are, not on the truth. We embrace the faith we want to because we want to embrace it. We simply learn and change ourselves because of what we learn. Don’t expect others to be any different from you in this regard. Just give the information you know and then let them figure it out, or not themselves.

Closing Song: “Somebody to Love” – Queen:

Because it is Queen.

Parting Thought:

Nope, you at times have to educate yourself.

I remain,

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

Skaal!!!

Odin’s Eye – Why I Am a Pagan (and What I Mean by That)

December 13, 2018December 13, 2018 / Ed Raby Sr / Leave a comment

Happy Thor’s Day

Introduction:

I suppose a definition is in order. Pagan can be used as both a noun and an adjective and has multiple definitions and means which may or may not apply to everyone who calls themselves a pagan. Pagan or paganism can imply some, most or all of the following:

One observing a polytheistic belief system
A member of spiritual, cultural or religious community that worships nature – neopagan
One who is not a Christian, Jew or Muslim (negative)
Irreligious or hedonistic person
Uncivilized

None of these definitions really work for me I would prefer to understand it with my own definition that kind of reflects a broader definition of pagan:

One who defines their own spirituality and comes to understand that spirituality from the world around them.

Yep, that is me. I mean I don’t really have any belief in special revelation anymore but I do believe that people might have some sound ideas about how the divine works but that is the natural revelation of reason not the divine doing something directly to reveal themselves.

Faith:

When you faith basically consists of believing there is something or someone out there but you don’t believe that we will ever know who or they are. When you believe that the only real means we have to engage the world is yourself, then you begin to have faith only in yourself. to do the things you need to do. If I am going to come to understand the divine reality, then it is going to have to be me that does it. It doesn’t mean that conversation, reading and the opinions of others are not part of that. What it means is like I know that I am the only responsible moral agent for what I do, I also am the only real moral agent in what I believe. The reality is that for every human being there is a faith in something.

Religion:

I don’t completely dismiss religion, I just know what it really is. It men and women’s collective opinions about the divine. I don’t dismiss sacred writing as they might have so accurate observations about what god may be like, I just know they are all the works of men and women and the divine probably has little to do with it. There is a kind of natural revelation as people talk, discuss and write about god but that is all it is. For me the jury is still out of what value religion actually has and it isn’t coming back with an innocent verdict. One thing is for sure for me is that all of that is nothing more than a few more voices in the whole of the discussion for me now.

Theology:

The thing about theology based on natural revelation is that verification of what you discover using reason is not always possible. You start sentences about the divine with ‘If,,,” a lot. The one thing being a pagan means is a lack of being dogmatic about what you believe. Your theology is very open to change and the changes can be quite dynamic. You are open to these changes and in fact I feel a good pagan should embrace them and meditate and think on them. It’s a journey of discovery not a place to make a last stand and die on a hill that may not be worth anything in the end.

Spirituality:

This means a great deal of spirituality as a pagan for me is to be open and relaxed. My deist pagan self tells me that I can be open to let the god of the universe; if they exist, to reveal themselves to me in the world around me. My humanist pagan self can see the ‘divine spark’ in each human being and let that tell me a little about the divine as well. My spirituality is based more on living the Nine Noble Virtues of Asatru than it is rituals and creeds. They simply represent a good code to live by in my opinion and ultimately it is my spirituality and no one else’s so I have to guide me to truth as much as possible accepting the guidance of others when it fits. I am The Grey Wayfarer and that is an identity I want to keep the rest of my life.

Conclusion:

We are coming on the pagan celebrations of Yule. Part of my spirituality is the celebration of holidays and some of the divine being revealed in them as I celebrate them. Mostly through the concepts of family and values such as hope and joy. This brings us to the end of the year. What a year it has been!!! Good, bad and ugly it has been a year I will not soon forget. I want to keep walking though, I believe that the best things are still yet to be discovered are around the next bend in the path, over the next hill or across the next valley of life. So I commit myself to the journey.

So I remain,

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

Skaal!!!

Odin’s Eye – Why I Am a Humanist

November 29, 2018November 29, 2018 / Ed Raby Sr / Leave a comment

Happy Thor’s Day

Introduction:

These days I am looking at being nothing but a human being – hopefully a decent one. As a deist I can acknowledge the possibility of a god, gods or divine force but because of ignorance I don’t really know what they or it is. I just don’t know and I cannot assume that they have done anything more than create the perimeters in which I live and nothing more. I have faced and will continue to face problems in this world, so who do I rely on to help me with those difficulties?

This is where I become a humanist and basically say it is time for the human race to grow up and realize that the only solution to human problems is humanity itself. That if I am going to look to solve my problems, I need to look to me to solve them and if I can join together with other humans to solve mutual problems that may be the only way to solve them. I need to have ‘faith’ in humanity to do this because in truth, as far as we know, our only salvation for our problems is our own abilities to over come them.

Faith:

I know people might watch the news and wonder how one can have faith in humanity. I do because in truth the news focuses on a small minority of people with either a problem or are the cause of a problem. The news always focuses on the small minority of bad things that happened while ignoring the normal good things that happen every day that are far more numerous. It is the classic case of focus on the negative but ignoring that the positive that far outweighs the negative. “Problem X has gone up two percentage points in the last year.” What they don’t tell you is this is only an increase from 2% to 4% and 96% of people don’t have that problem or are not engaged in that negative behavior. As Penn Gillette rightly observed there are two things about people which are true: 1) Things are usually getting better all the time and 2) People always believe they are getting worse.

I believe most of us humans are like myself. I am just trying to make my way in this world the best I can, make the best life for myself. I just doing the best I can with the cards I have been dealt and trying to get new cards if I can. I would never intentionally hurt someone and I mind my own business unless I see someone in trouble and then I try to help as best I can. I don’t do this for any other reason other than it’s the right thing to do. Because it is the human thing to do.

Religion:

This is a far cry from most religions which try to tell you that humanity is all sinful, or deficient or selfish. Religion as a general rule uses guilt and remorse for past mistakes to motivate people to action. It also creates this false sense of achievement that allows some of that religion to arrive at a higher spiritual plane and thus judge the rest of us a righteous or unrighteous. Thus they can motivate us to serve them as a way to ease their burden while adding to our own.

I am not very religious anymore. Mythology of all types is more of a hobby and area of knowledge of mine but in truth I approach the world trying to be spiritual but not religious. My motivation comes from my own humanity which I no longer consider sinful or deficient. There is good in me and probably more than most religious systems would acknowledge or want me to acknowledge.

Theology:

As a deist and humanist, my theology of humanity has changed quite considerably. I no longer see human beings as anything but what they are – human. Not sinners in the hands of an angry God, not morally deficient because they have desires that are basic to survival and living and not some drifting concept or phantom shadow. Just real genuine humanity.

This means I can hope a lot of things for my fellow humans. I can see them as fully capable of handling their own problems. I can also see that if I join with them I might be able to overcome greater problems. I don’t look at humanity as the problem, but the only real thing I can see and know that can solve those problems.

There is a respect for the individual human that follows from this as well. Not just a respect for the whole of humanity, but that each human being has this capacity to be more and better than what they are. Because of this I feel and have always felt that humans should be as free as possible to pursue their own interests to overcome their own problems as long as they do not bring harm to others. In the end I alone and they alone are responsible for their actions.

Spirituality:

As a humanist I know on thing for sure – I alone am morally responsible for what I do. No one else can have that responsibility. I also cannot be held morally responsible for anyone else’s choices. Nor should I be held accountable for them. If there is one axiom of religion that might be true, it’s the idea of being treated like I want to be treated. I want to be left alone to pursue what is best for me and as long as I don’t do that by harming or exploiting others, I should be allowed to do it. This is my basis for liberty and freedom for myself and all others. I am a libertarian in large part now becasue I am a humanist.

Conclusion:

It is in liberty and freedom where human beings are free to pursue solutions to their problems and associate with those they choose to associate with that such solutions will be found. No place else. This is something that religious people find it hard to grasp. They turn to a god, gods or whatever force they serve for the solutions and then wonder why problems still persist. This issue is turning to the one thing we know in the world that has the potential to actually solve the problems we face – ourselves.

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

Skaal!!!

Of Wolves and Ravens: Lessons in Logic – Normative vs. Positive Economics

November 27, 2018November 27, 2018 / Ed Raby Sr / Leave a comment

Happy Tyr’s Day

Introduction:

I am working on school work so it is helpful to review certain concepts. Most notably basics. Most people think economics is a dull subject but it probably is the one science that also deals rationally with the question of scarcity. That is what to do with resources as all resources have a limited availability? All resources are scarce, so how to distribute them is always the issue. Within this framework will be arguments and in economics arguments boil down to whether something is normative or positively stated.

A positive statement is factual dealing with the way things are and describes things factually. A normative statement is a statement of what should be and deals with recommendations for how things should be. In my old religious/theology classes positives statements are the issues of morals – the way things are and how people actually behave. Normative statements would be the issues of ethics – the way things ought to be.

When people ask me why I like economics so much it is because economics is a very human thing. Society and individuals do not live in a world of pure positive or normative reality. In truth things are constantly going back and forth between what is and what ought to be. To the wolves and ravens.

Needs (Geri):

It is a positive statement to say that human beings have needs. Things that must take place for people to survive. We need water, food, shelter from the elements and air. Without these things we would die. Most of these things are scarce, in truth all of them.

What is not always clear is how these needs should be met in the most effective and efficient manner. Economists will put out different models and will engage the subject with as much fact and evidence they can muster. However, some of this discussion in the area of needs dwells in the realm of the normative, because some economists might argue that this list of needs is too short. Education, Health Care, Defense, etc. all enter the picture here as the issues of well-being and security seem to be in that realm of tug of war between morals and ethics.

Wants (Freki):

People want things – that is probably a positive statement. The issue of how one goes about acquiring what one wants enters the realm of ethics and the normative very quickly. The whole discussion of rights, collectivism vs. individualism and many other discussions of which economics system is the best, enter the arena at this point. It could be said that the majority of the disagreements between economists involve wants vs. needs discussions.

Reason (Huginn):

One would think the moment we engage reason that the world of the normative drops out of the picture. It doesn’t though. Reason has to engage ideas of all kinds. In economics reason might spend a large part of the time engaging the laws of economics (there are at east thirty of them) but sometimes it is not clear because of the normative nature of the issue how those laws should be applied. This is the centrality of the issue of economics. I love this aspect of it.

Wisdom (Muninn):

Wisdom is learning to understand things and how to apply them. Economics, because of this normative/positive tug of war, has the added feature of trying to be applied to real life. Trying to come up with the best solution for the problems of needs and wants is the central core of economics and this practical aspect draws me to it like a moth to a flame. Sifting through all the normative and positive statements to find a true genuinely helpful philosophy of economics is a worthy goal and one I want to embrace. In addition economics has been around long enough that from Adam Smith onward we have a large number people to draw from as far as experiences and thought. It means the wisdom provided on these questions is extensive.

Conclusion:

If there is any lesson today it is for people to recognize that there are positive and normative statements in the world and to learn to distinguish between the two of them. This becomes the foundational skill of learning not only how to engage logical principles but to learn how to know when someone is stating a fact or an ethical opinion is something that every person should learn. For me economics stands as this great fusion between life and philosophy and learning how to navigate both.

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

Skaal!!!

The Pagan Pulpit – That Which No Longer Serves Me

November 25, 2018November 25, 2018 / Ed Raby Sr / Leave a comment

Happy Sun’s Day:

Announcements:

Opening Song: Shinedown – Monsters:

I suppose there is a progression to the music today. The start of it is an understanding that the monsters that live in all of us are very real. I love the chorus of this song:

‘Cause my monsters are real, and they’re trained how to kill
And there’s no comin’ back and they just laugh at how I feel
And these monsters can fly, and they’ll never say die
And there’s no goin’ back, if I get trapped I’ll never heal
Yeah, my monsters are real

The emotions that are the monsters, as our text says, doubt, fear sorrow, confusion and anger. Monsters that sleep but can be awakened at any moment with disastrous consequences. Other people may fool people and hurt everyone with their lies and falsehoods, but the real danger is the monsters lurking within us all.

Poem: “The Fire of Fury” by Ed Raby, Sr.

“The Fire of Fury”

A flame burns within me

It is one that I cannot see

It is fueled by my fury.

My motivation,

My anger,

My salvation,

My destruction

My enlightenment

Fire, Light, Anger, Illumination

The Fire of Fury will light my way

Or it will consume me

Ed Raby, Sr. – November 24, 2018

I had the title of his poem for quite some time and a feeling of what I wanted to express. I used it for the subtitle of my Rogue Wizard series at its current state but it kept being the title for a poem too. As I was preparing the Pagan Pulpit for this week, the words began to form. Poets understand what I mean. I think it speaks for itself.

Meditation:

Song of Preparation: Disturbed – Indestructible:

It is no secret I like Disturbed. I plan on sitting back after school is over and listening to every one of their albums and songs. I just haven’t had the time to give listening to music the proper time it deserves and this is one band I want to some attention to in-depth. The progression of today’s songs continues with learning to take the negativity and toxicity of certain emotions and transforming them into that which makes us indestructible.

Text:

“Release all that no longer serves you: “I cast away all doubts, fears, sorrows, confusions, anger to the wind. I release any toxicity that weakens my spirit.” – The White Witch Parlour

Sermon:

Yeah, I am using a quote from a white witch site. That said when I was a Pentecostal, I swear I heard this same quote from the more Charismatic Movement oriented believers. It’s amazing how mysticism can change the form it has, but the words and concepts are simply the same.

There is something to be said for the idea of releasing that which no longer serves us when it comes to emotions. Emotions are raw material. Parts of them are useful and other parts are chaff that needs to be given to the wind. The real challenge of dealing with these emotions is learning how to harvest them. Learning what needs to be released as toxic and unproductive while keeping the parts of them that lead to constructive and healthy action.

The most pronounced example of this I can think of is something that happened this week to me. I wrote on Tuesday a post: The Rabyd Skald – The Grey and The Wayfarer (Part 3) – Confessions. The process of working through the three issues presented in that post was refining moment for me. I was working through the emotions and found that I changed in my feelings toward all these situations. The toxic elements of the emotions are less and the good parts that motivate and bring positive change are now more present. I know what to do about all of them and I am more at peace about that.

The quote today is a personal one that perhaps we all need to say from time to time. Doubt can lead to inquiry into truth. Fear can lead to courage. Sorrow to joy. Confusion to enlightenment. Anger to Motivation. Once you have let go of the toxic part of these emotions, the positive constructive elements are what makes you more of who you are and who you need to be.

Closing Song: Halestorm – Amen:

Ultimately its your shit to deal with. Not anyone else’s. And that ultimately is a good thing. Can I get an Amen?

Parting Thought:

Have a great week.

I remain,

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

Skaal!!!

Odin’s Eye – Objections to Christianity – Part 2 – Sin: An Imaginary Man-Made Problem

November 15, 2018May 21, 2019 / Ed Raby Sr / 1 Comment

Happy Thor’s Day

Introduction:

My loss of faith really started here. I can actually go back to a message I was preaching on sin and salvation through Christ and the fact this quote from Dan Barker from Losing Faith in Faith ( a book I still want to read) was rolling around in my head. I was trying to think of something that would make his assertion wrong. I got up preached the message and sat down. I can site this moment as the time my crisis of faith began. I realized he was right.

I realized there is no proof that sin rationally exists. I only believed that because that was what I was told by a preacher and read it in the Bible. Unless the Bible was truly inspired, then I had no natural or logical proof that there was this thing called sin, a sinful nature or my actions were righteous or sinful. God Himself had never come down and told me I was a sinner, that was men either in the form of preachers or the men who wrote the Bible. Over time, I began to realize that sin has the same problem as the inspiration of the Bible – the Bible asserts it but never proves it.

Going back to my pulpit moment, I sat there thinking and my faith started to unravel. I sat there thinking: “I make a living by telling people they are sinners so they will feel guilty, then they accept the ‘gospel’ and feel better. Out of gratitude they throw money in the basket and pay me. WTF.” It was a bad moment for me and one that led to my eventual downfall over two years later.

Faith:

If you are a believer you take the existence of sin as purely a matter of faith. Basically, if you believe that sin exists, you do it for the same reasons you believe the Bible is inspired. You have faith it is true – you hope and believe it is true, but you do not have a proof or a rational argument to say it is true. The Bible writers assume sin is real and a problem. They never prove it, and the believer is left to take that sin exists as a reality and that God has solved it. You believe all that without rational evidence. It is purely a matter of faith.

Religion:

I now think that sin is a man-made concept. It probably originally. like so many things might have had a good intention. To keep people from making bad decisions given the cultural context. I mean sex without birth control and modern medicine can lead to deadly diseases and unwanted pregnancies. So you tell people not to have sex except with people they are committed to and get married to so the child will be legitimate. The practical side of this is the lessened risk of STDs and unwanted pregnancies. It is a wise course of action.

When just showing the wisdom of this to others doesn’t work, you throw in the wrath of God to bring about a more forceful form of persuasion – tell them it’s a sin against God and He will bring down his wrath on the one who sins. This is where you make up the concept that sexual sin is an affront to God and he will send you to hell if you don’t repent of it and stop doing it. It is ultimately a fear tactic that uses guilt to prevent certain behaviors.

The dark side of this gets worse though as people genuinely think they’re taking the side of God when the punish sinners. The real problem with sin is that some people think they have risen above the concept of it. They feel qualified to judge others using their religious beliefs. It gets worse because the said concept can be held by people in power who wish to impose their views on people to create a ‘righteous society’. To force others to follow your moral code of some behaviors being sin and thus outlawed. The problem is the difficulty using reason to prove something is a sin. It’s not self-evident.

Theology:

I don’t believe in sin as a theological concept anymore. I think in large part it is a bad one because all it does is produce guilt and then in a guilt-ridden state people can be manipulated. I haven’t looked at this fully but I have a theory a large part of religious people have a poor self-concept and that is because they have a large amount of guilt associated with their ‘sins’. This leads them to think they are bad or even evil people and the cycle of self-destruction begins. You spend a lot of time putting on masks at that point to protect yourself from the social wrath of being a sinner while at the same time being wracked with guilt because you can’t seem to escape your sin. If it sounds like I have been there – yep. I would say a lot of my initial causes of depression came from this struggle.

My theology about mankind has certainly changed since I discarded man as a sinner. I don’t think of myself as a sinner but simply a human being. I am not all-powerful, all-knowing or all-present; so I am going to make mistakes and there is really nothing I can do about it. I have needs that are normal. Wants that are normal. I have my reason and wisdom to guide me. I am not perfect and I make mistakes and have errors in judgment, but that doesn’t mean I am a sinner, just human. To me, life is no longer about overcoming sin and removing it from my life. Rather, it is about discovering the virtue in me and causing it to grow. And there is a virtue in who I am as a human being if I look for it and develop it. It about growing into the best human being I can be.

Spirituality:

This is why spiritually speaking I spend more time meditating on the Nine Noble Virtues as a way to learn where I need to grow. I am not trying to get rid of sin out of my life, praying that God is gracious, etc. I have come to see some things as normal and human, not sinful. My goal now is to build character, not remove sin because I think sin is a made up imaginary concept. I meditate on the good things, not the bad things. I grow the good in me, rather than trying to deny my humanity by calling it sinful. I find it makes me much happier and far more at ease in this world.

Conclusion:

After concluding that the Bible is a human book with no proof of inspiration and the sin is a concept made up by the writers of the Bible. There are only two things left on my four objections to Christianity. The first is the other imaginary thing the Bible creates which is the solution to sin being Salvation in Christ and finally, the god of the Bible seems to have very suspect standards of justice.

You will have to hang on a while though as next week I will talk about how I can as a Deist, Humanist Pagan celebrate Thanksgiving. The week after that I will talk about Why I am a Humanist. Then I will get to my third theological objection to Christianity on the first Thursday of December. The remaining schedule for Odin’s Eye for the year looks like this:

November 22 – Why I Celebrate Thanksgiving (as a Deist, Humanist Pagan).

November 29 – Why I Am a Humanist

December 6 – Objections to Christianity – Part 3 – Salvation through Christ – An Imaginary Man Made Solution.

December 13 – Why I Am A Pagan

December 21 – Yule

December 28 – Objections to Christianity – Part 4 – The Justice of the God (Hell)

Then it will be on to the New Year.

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

Skaal!!!

Of Wolves and Ravens – Religion and Leadership

November 13, 2018November 13, 2018 / Ed Raby Sr / Leave a comment

Happy Tyr’s Day

Introduction:

If there has been one thing I have learned in the last few month’s it is that people for some reason trust a person who is more religious than one who is not. I am not sure what the congregation reacted the strongest to when I left my last church, the fact that I had an emotional affair, or that I left the faith. I think if had been just the first I might have gotten off with lesser consequences from them but the notion that I, a pastor, had a crisis of faith seemed to bother them more than the affair. At least for some.

There is a prevailing notion that a religious leader is more honest and truthful than one who is not. We see it in politics every year as one candidate or another with come out and declare their faith, quote from the Bible or declare how their faith in God has made them a better candidate than the other one.

I know for myself I have noted a change in how people perceive what I say. I even had one guy say my opinion was now more invalid because I no longer had faith. So much for basing assessment of validity on reason and the rules of logic. The truth is while we may gravitate to religious leaders, they my be even more damning as far as leadership direction and motivation than their non-religious counterparts.

Does being religious make a person a better leader or just a more devious one? One that uses the politics of religion to get votes and support. To the wolves and ravens:

Needs (Geri):

Does a good leader need to be religious? I am not sure high ethics and morality are found in being religious. I mean even in Christianity, the ethics of Christians can get inconsistent and even diabolical. The Calvinist doctrine of election is most certainly something that led to the American notion of manifest destiny that probably single-handed was the most responsible philosophy that lead to the western expansion of the United States and the wiping out of the ‘non-elect’ Native Americans. Not exactly a positive high ethical moment when you use faith to justify genocide and theft. I don’t think there is any need for a leader to be religious at all because their religion being a force for good or bad really can depend on the religion and its worldview.

Wants (Freki):

Do we then still want a leader to be religious? I guess that would depend on who you are. Christians want Christian leaders; Muslims want Islamic leader, etc. Why? Because then those groups know their values have a better chance of being respected. The problem is this same issue becomes a way of excluding other faiths and systems of understanding the world. It should also be noted that religion more often than not causes people to believe things about reality that are not true and for that to affect public policy is dangerous. People want religious leaders because they want to push that particular faith’s agenda, not because being religious makes a leader a better or more sound one.

Reason (Huginn):

My problem with bringing reason into this discussion is that leadership and following one often has much more to do emotion. Very few honestly assess a leader for their leadership qualities. Reason actually tells us that people are stupid and follow people because those people share the same associations with them. Even of that person’s character is suspect, they will still follow them because they are ‘one of us’.

Donald Trump and evangelical Christians are a classic case in point. During the primaries Ben Carson supporters were basing Trump as immoral due to his past associations with Democrats and the fact he was divorced a remarried several times. There was also the fact that he had affairs while he was married. As an example of Christian moral character, Donald Trump was and is not the best, Yet, the moment it was clear he was the candidate of choice, they flipped and started saying what a godly Christian man he was. Yeah, evangelicals being hypocrites once again is not new, but this was the most blatant flip-flop I had ever seen and I was still a minister at the time.

From a reason standpoint being religious is the reasonable thing to do if you want religious people to blindly follow you, so Trump immediately made a show of getting prayed for and quoting the Bible. He was elected with a majority of Evangelical support. So it gets you elected but it’s obvious that being religious also gets people to leave their ethical standards to vote for you.

Wisdom (Muninn):

Wisdom when it looks at history cannot support the notion that a leader being a zealous religious devotee is a good idea. Religion has been used to justify more wars, genocides, rapes and other things no rational caring person would consider good. It takes religion to make otherwise good people do evil things. Give such a person power and you have magnified the evil that he can make good people do. Power in the wrong hands is already dangerous, religious zealots in leadership magnify this a hundred fold.

Conclusion:

I want to make it clear here, I am not really saying you can’t be in leadership and be religious. I am saying that probably given that we don’t need a leader to be religious to be effective, nor is it always wanted. Reason and wisdom say that it actually might not be good idea for a leader to be a zealot religiously in order to be fair to people of all faiths or those who lack faith at all.

I want to make it also clear Trump’s morality is not the issue here with me. I really don’t care as long as a leader is effective what his bedroom habits are. This issue for me is the danger of those who are religious who follow him, like the Evangelicals in how simply because a man quotes the Bible and bows his head in prayer, he must be godly. Therefore those same Evangelicals will follow him to damnation with the country and liberty as collateral damage. It might actually be more damning to freedom and liberty for a leader to be religious in truth.

Personally, I have found it interesting that people challenge the truth of what I say these days far more. Now if this was purely about lies told in the past, i could understand it to an extent. But it seems to be more than that. I am not ‘one of us’ with a lot of people anymore and so the tribalism of life comes in more fully. The real funny part is I have actually gotten more honest in the last few months than I have been in a long time. So much so, some people don’t like it.

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

Skaal!!!

Odin’s Eye – Why I am a Deist

November 8, 2018November 8, 2018 / Ed Raby Sr / 1 Comment

Happy Thor’s Day

Introduction:

I said for a long time that if I wasn’t a Christian I would be a Deist, because it is the most rational position because of the ignorance of mankind. We don’t know a lot of things, so to maintain that there might be a Divine power out there is simply a rational statement. It’s possible and even atheists admit this. Most atheists aren’t screaming into the microphone that people who believe in the divine are stupid, they just maintain that they don’t believe in a divine power themselves. They also like Laurence Krauss above admit that we are ignorant, so we can’t dismiss the possibility. Epistemologically, we are all in a sense agnostics except the religious who apparently think they have it all figured out.

I know a lot of my friends are worried because I am not a Christian anymore. I even had my counselor ask if I had renounced Christ. I almost laughed because if my salvation or damnation depends on my saying or not saying words, then I am sure that’s more pivotal rather than living your life with virtue in mind? Your actions can be totally evil, but as long as you don’t renounce Christ, you are good to go to heaven? I am sure someone will eventually say to me “I love you and I just don’t want to see you in hell.” Did you ever ask yourself the question: Why should he or I go to hell in the first place and is that justice? More on that later in Odin’s Eye in weeks to come.

Faith:

As a deist I can have faith in a creator, in the divine. I can’t really say what that divine power is however. What this means is I also don’t know what the divine’s actual expectations are. What I am left with is to engage a lot of reason with my faith and that my friends is a far more powerful combination than religion and faith.

Religion:

As far as I can tell all religions are man-made and their holy books are written by men. I cannot completely dismiss that those men might have been honest and genuine in their intentions. I also cannot deny for sure that they may not have encountered the divine power that actually exists. What I might say is that they all interpreted those things in the light of their preconceived religious world view. Casting those experiences in something they already understood and then adding their own opinions and spin to it.

As a deist, I really am no longer religious. I am however still spiritual in some regards. I take however as the deist axiom that ‘God gave us reason not religion’.

Theology:

I can still reason about the divine. I just don’t have to deal with the mucky muck of trying to figure out special revelation or revealed religion. I am left with creation to tell me through engaging it with my reason, what the divine might be like. I could make mistakes in judgment, but the one thing I am no longer doing in my theology is accepting as final arbiter someone else’s opinion about God like it is fact that cannot be questioned. That includes Paul, Moses and Muhammad.

Spirituality:

I think religions tap into spirituality and that is why they exist, but also it is why they all will work in this regard. You can also be spiritual without them. Meditation for instance has been rationally explored and the reason it works is that it is basically a human being learning to calm down, think and be at peace. It’s why even as a deist I can be spiritual but it is far more me trying to find my way in this world, than understanding the divine.

Conclusion:

I have heard deism is the a logical progress which ends in atheism. I am not sure that is true and the whole logical progression/evolution of religion thing has never appealed to me as genuine or always true. I really don’t find atheism to be rational at this point given the colossal ignorance of mankind. At the same time I get it. I don’t bear the atheist any ill will because I do understand why someone would follow that path.

For me the path is deism for while I think. I can have a faith that is rational taking into account my own ignorance. I don’t have to be religious to be spiritual in truth. Theology is a little more difficult but still possible. I guess I just need to see where the path ultimately takes me.

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

Skaal!!!

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