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Month: July 2016

That Idea? It’s Probably Divine Bird Shit

That Idea? It’s Probably Divine Bird Shit

Being a writer often means one needs to have a certain amount of inspiration along with the perspiration to write. Although I write a fair amount for a living, sometimes the inspiration can be, well…, lacking. You might say the muse has left the building.  Some people may even say the muse never entered with me, and occasionally I would agree with them.  But since we’re talking heathenry, perhaps it might be a good idea to talk about the Mead of Poetry, since that seems to be most applicable to writers.

The Story of Kvasir and the Mead of Poetry

The full story about Kvasir and the Mead of Poetry is told in the Prose Edda written down by Snorri Sturluson, but there are references to it in the Havamal.  It’s an older story, and one we may not have all the versions of, but at least we have a story.  I won’t recite it in it’s entirety; there are many good sites that have the story line, and you’re welcome to read it in the text.

For those with the tl;dr attention span, here’s the basic story:

The gods craft a man named Kvasir from their spit (ewww) that is so wise and knowledgeable, that he goes around the world imparting his wisdom to those who would learn it. Somehow Kvasir didn’t get the memo that two dwarves named Fjalar and Galar were up to no good and killed him. They crafted the mead of poetry from his blood (another ewww), and anyone who drank from it was given great wisdom and poetry. To make a long story short, a Jotun eventually kills the dwarves and secrets the mead in a mountain with his daughter. Odin gets wind of this, goes undercover, seduces the daughter, steals the mead in his beak, and flees in the form of an eagle back to Asgard with the Jotun on his heels, errr… tail feathers? So close, he poops out some of the mead, which was not saved.  (And anyone can partake of the bird droppings with predictable results.)  The rest Odin give to the Aesir and doles out sparingly to those people gifted with poetry.

So, is it Bird Crap?

I look at the story as a metaphor for the creative process.  I’m pretty sure it fits to most anything creative whether it is writing, music, crafting, or some sort of handiwork.  We all start out as, well, crappy beginners.  Some of us may be better or gifted with the mead of poetry, but most of us deal with bird crap.  I use writing as an example.  Writing is hard work for those of us who do it for a living and work at honing our craft.  When we first start out as writers, we’re basically consuming the bird crap Odin left behind.  Eventually, we get better, but it takes practice and study.

Looking Deeper into Odin’s Hard Work

In the Mead of Poetry story, Odin doesn’t just trick the Jotun and get the mead.  Oh no.  He first comes across  nine field workers of the brother (Baugi) of the Jotun (Suttung) who has the mead. He calls himself Bölverkr and tricks them into killing themselves and then goes and visits their master, who is perplexed by his misfortune. Bölverkr/Odin makes a deal to work for Baugi for the season and do all the work his nine dead workers would do in exchange for a sip of the mead. Baugi agrees and Odin does the work, but Suttung is none too keen on giving him a sip.

Odin convinces Baugi to help him get the mead. It takes a few setbacks and the Jotun nearly skews the All Father when he shape changes into a snake and slithers into the hole in the mountain. There, he changes back and beguiles the daughter who sleeps with him three nights for three drinks of mead. Odin drinks all three jars in three sips.

We can take this story at face value and find it amusing, or we can actually consider what it means.  I suspect it is a metaphor for how we acquire our skills as creatives.  Let me explain.

The Metaphors for Acquiring Skills as Creatives

Looking at this story, I see Odin doing a load of hard work. He works a full season doing farm labor for just the chance of maybe getting a sip of the precious spit man’s blood.  He manages to convince a Jotun to help him obtain it, only to be betrayed by him.  Then, he has to woo the daughter to get the mead.  Luckily she obliges.  Suppose she didn’t?  Hmmm, that would’ve been tragic, but this is Odin, and he manages.

He carries the mead in his bill when he changes into an eagle, and regurgitates it (ewww) for the Aesir as he returns so that the gods have it.  He is dogged by Suttung, who may be a metaphor for failure, as Odin craps out lousy mead of poetry while regurgitating the good stuff.

What does this all Mean?

I’m guessing that our ancestors recognized that being creative was hard work, and took skill and perseverance. That being said, anyone can be a writer, but it takes talent and hard work to become an author of any merit (all you have to do is pick up some of the self published works to see what I mean.)  I’m not saying all self-published work is bad; I’m saying that a goodly portion is because many people have not taken the time to hone their craft. It’s like someone learning to play a musical instrument.  Unless you’re a child protege, chances are if you’re good at playing an instrument, you worked at it.  Even then, I’d bet the child proteges work hard to learn and master their craft.  It also means that most of what people do, whether it’s poetry, writing, music, art, or anything else creative, isn’t great.  Apparently Odin only gifts a select few with the real mead and not the bird crap.  No wonder that drink tasted odd…

Is Thor Stupid?

Is Thor Stupid?

It seems to me that there are two camps when it comes to Thor: those who think he’s at least average intelligence (for a god, whatever that is), and those who think he’s maybe not as dumb as a post, but would be challenged by one occasionally.  Since I picked on Thor last week, I’m going to test his good graces again and tackle his intellect.

All Brawn and No Brains

I suspect that thinking Thor is stupid is a relatively recent phenomena which has to do with our current stereotypes.  Although the stereotypes are changing, the common stereotype of the muscle man is the stupid jock. I think, rightly or wrongly, that stereotype has been crafted over the years.  Although science disagrees that people who are athletic are stupid, it’s still a stereotype that is perpetuated.  I did a quick look on the Internet in the quest for the search of why muscular people, particularly men, are considered stupid. I found a reference on that oh-so-accurate Wikipedia (that was sarcasm, for those not paying attention), and even a blog which mentions a study on it.

My Own Experience with Jocks

Growing up, I had the joy of dealing with bullies, and dealing with kids who were naturally better at sports. I had undiagnosed asthma which precluded me from doing well in physical activities when I was younger.  This was during a time when people thought asthma was “all in your head.”  It took years for me to admit I have it, and now that I do, life is much, much easier. But I digress.  Most of those kids were, well — not the brainiest — and those who were smart, tended to hide it for fear of being bullied.  To add to the stereotype, I grew up when nerdy guys in lab coats got people to the moon.

In college, I saw kids who got scholarships and were treated like gold because they were good in sports.  While not all the jocks were stupid, many were not the sharpest knives in the drawer, because they often were given a pass.  I went into the sciences, geek girl that I am.  So, the stupid jock was commonplace.

My junior and senior year, I worked out and trained in martial arts.  So, I got to know the weightlifters.  Many had been the kids everyone picked on when they were small; a good portion of them were introverts. So, they did the best thing they could think of: not become a target. Many of the people I knew in martial arts were smart.  Yes, there were the average and idiots in the group as well, but most I would categorize as being clever enough.

So, why the dichotomy?

When We Moved from Agrarian to Industrial

I think that the shift in emphasis started in the 18th century, but really didn’t take hold until the 19th century and early 20th century where people started separating themselves into white collar and blue collar (note: this is not a rich versus poor argument).  My parents looked down on those who didn’t have office jobs as being unable to be smart enough to attain those positions.  Never mind that many of the blue collar jobs paid better than white collar jobs.  I suspect that this attitude was fostered though the colleges and through those who were able to work pushing paper for a living.  I suspect that the GI Bill after WWII and emphasis into getting higher degrees also pushed more people into thinking that manual labor means you can’t hack an office job.

I’ve already mentioned the moonshots, which were a result of the cold war. In fact, I suspect that the emphasis going into science and other intellectual activities caused a bigger split, suggesting that you couldn’t be both strong and smart.  Sure, we had our Hollywood heroes, but they emphasized not  strength, per se, but beauty. Professional athletes were always admired, but they were never considered brilliant, except when it pertained to their performance

When Physical Prowess was Admired

It used to not be that way.  Prowess in sports suggested you were good on the battlefield. Being physically fit has paramount before firearms became prevalent. After all, whether you lived or died, whether your family would survive, and whether you had enough food was largely dependent on your fitness and skill as a hunter, warrior, and farmer.  Firearms replaced swords, pikes, maces, and knives, and armor went away.  No longer did you have to carry some 50 to 70 pounds of armor and weaponry.  While there were wars, most problems were resolved in torte.

Brains and brawn weren’t considered mutually exclusive.  Many warriors were considered clever and intelligent.

So, What About Thor?

I feel that Thor has gotten a bad rap, not because he’s stupid, but because he has likable characteristics that make him more…well, human. Somehow he loses Mjolnir, and has to go in drag to get it back.  He journeys with Loki to Jotunheim and yes, he is tricked by the Jotun’s magic, but then so is Loki.  Then, there’s the story how Thor tricks a dwarf who is about to marry his daughter in the Alvissmal where the gods promised Thor’s daughter while he was away. Tricking a dwarf to stay above ground after sunrise (and thus turned to stone) doesn’t suggest a stupid god.

My UPG Take on Thor

I am not an expert when it comes to Thor, but what little dealings I’ve had with him shows me a strong and compassionate champion.  Yes, he has a temper; yes, he is not beyond using his strength. But I have noticed that he is more likely to forgive if someone makes an error like Thjálfi did in breaking the bone of his goat and sucking out the marrow. As one of the gods who favors humanity, I can think of no better champion.

I don’t think Thor is stupid.  I think that because his strength is so great, we sometimes don’t take into account that Thor is smart too.  After all, he’s the son of Odin and Jord.  Would Odin have a stupid kid?  I don’t think so.

How We Can Learn from Thor Losing Mjolnir

How We Can Learn from Thor Losing Mjolnir

I’m staring at two half-finished blog posts and hating them.  I think it’s because even though I tend to write stuff that causes people to think about some heavy things, today I need a little levity.  And I think I’m not the only one that needs it in the Heathen community.

Taking Everything Too Seriously

I swear to the gods, people take everything way too seriously most of the time. Hel, our ancestors
didn’t always take everything seriously.  The stories about Loki and Thor are prime examples. Thor loses his hammer; Heimdall devises a plot for a cross-dressing Thor (after Loki found out Thrym the king of the Jotun wanted Freyja as his wife) to so he can get his hammer back. The story is fairly short, but I can imagine a bunch of drunk Northmen telling the embellished story and laughing. Then, there is the story of Loki’s and Thor’s journey to Jotunheim.  Oh yes, and the building of Asgard’s wall and Loki’s philandering with a stallion…

Our ancestors understood that levity was important, and not even the gods were beyond having amusing stories told about them.

Why We Need to Lighten Up

My point is that our ancestors had plenty to worry about.  They had invaders and wars. They had famines and poor harvests. They had diseases that wiped out whole villages that today we’ve cured or at least made less deadly.  They didn’t have smartphones, iPads, and Pokemon Go. Yes, yes, we have plenty of terrible things happening in this world, but sometimes its important just to laugh and shake our heads over the crazy stuff.  I swear if more people just relaxed and didn’t throw down every two minutes, I think we’d be a lot better off.

Science Backs Me Up on This

We know (from science, of course) that getting angry all the time isn’t healthy.  According to Scientific American, people are getting angrier all the time and less civil due to the Internet.  It’s because you’re dealing with a perfect storm of perceived anonymity, the ability to have a monologue, the inability to gauge people’s emotions and reactions, and the ability to be an armchair advocate without really doing anything toward a cause. What’s more, the media outlets actually foster this behavior by leaving up the worst comments, thus allowing people to think this is acceptable behavior.

People are Angrier Because of Issues

A fairly recent piece written in the BBC talks about how Americans are even more angry than before due to a number of issues. We’re bombarded with bad news all the time and becoming more polarized.  I remember back when 9-11 happened.  I spent a long time being depressed because I was seeing news constantly about the terrorist attacks. Eventually, I had to turn the TV off.  So it has been with the Internet.

Dealing with Rage

At some point, we have to decide if we’re going to stay angry all the time, or whether it’s time to lighten up. Obviously, there are times for seriousness, but we should take a clue from the gods and see humor even in the most dire situations (such as losing Mjolnir).

 

Do You Have Free Will? Probably Not.

Do You Have Free Will? Probably Not.

This late post is due to me getting a summer cold. I’ve been dealing with this crap for the past two days which means that taking care of myself supersedes a blog. (Hard to believe, eh?)  My latest post which is bound to rile some people is about fate and free will.  Rather than tell you my overall opinion on the subject (but I will give you my thoughts on it), I’m going to go over what Norse mythos/legends and science has to say about it.  You can then come to your own conclusions.

The Heathen Concept of Fate

Those who follow Norse paganism are no doubt familiar with the Wyrd/Fate and the Norns who weave our Wyrd strands. Their names are Urdr, Verdandi, and Skuld and they water Yggdrasil and use mud to prevent the World Tree from rotting.  (I don’t exactly understand how, since rot often occurs with wetting things down, but I digress.) They also weave the strands of each god’s and human’s life. How much is predestined versus how much we can choose is the great debate. The fact that they set our fate upon its path suggests that our destiny may be predetermined already. As always, Your Mileage May Vary (YMMV) on this interpretation.

To me, the Norns are akin to the Greek Moerae, the Roman Parcae, and the Slavic Sudice, which is highly suggestive of an older Indo-European pagan religion whence these beliefs sprang from.  I talk about this a bit in my earlier posts, so it should come as no surprise to my readers. I’m not going to talk about the validity of predestination versus free will when it comes to the Norns.  I’m going to talk about what science has to say about it, because I find the implications far more interesting.

Is it a Conscious Decision, or are We Trying to Explain Our Behavior?

We think that we make choices all the time.  But 20 years ago, psychologists proposed that we somehow convince ourselves that our behavior was caused by our own thoughts and actual intentions after the behavior, itself. In other words, the fact that you’re getting up from your desk to get a cup of coffee isn’t ruled by thought, but by behavior and your mind plays a great game to convince you that you thought this up all along.

As farfetched as this seems, a recent study takes this to the next step. Subjects were presented with five white circles and asked to think which one they thought would light up red. Whichever one was lit up was done randomly and without a predictable pattern. The subject could give an answer that they selected the one that was lit up, selected one that was not lit up, or tell the examiners that they didn’t have enough time. What happened was interesting.  When the time was too short more that 30 percent claimed they picked the right circle (when the number should have been around 20 percent).  When the examiners slowed the time between when they were to choose before the circle lit up, the number that claimed to pick to right one fell to about 20 percent.

At some point, the scientists determined, the people were mixing up what happened with their actual intention. In other words, stuff happens and we make up a good story why it happened and how we intended it to happen that way.

Bereitschaftspotential

That mouthful of a word describes a readiness state our brain goes into before we are conscious of our own decision.  This state can occur up to 1.5 seconds before the mind is conscious of it. In fact, Sam Harris makes a case against the whole concept in his book entitled, (what else?), Free Will. This was proven in tests using MRIs back in 2008, which allowed the researchers to predict the person’s action up to 90 percent even before the person knew what he or she was going to do.

The Block Universe and Time Theory: Or How to Make Your Head Hurt

Okay, you say, that’s works for people, but how about a person’s fate? Well, now I’m going to dive right into the Block Universe theory on time, which will probably make your head hurt about as much as mine is hurting right now with this cold. Time in the Theory of Relativity and other equations is changeable backwards and forwards, so our thought that time is linear isn’t right.  The Block Universe theory states that the past, present, and future exist simultaneously in space-time and that we perceive time’s passage as if a spotlight is being shined on the moment events seem to occur.  Events happen, but the past and the future are already there too.  We live in a temporally scattered existence.  We’re scattered throughout a certain segment of time.

Well, this puts our lives in another perspective.  We exist simultaneously with ourselves when we’re born and when we die.  Our entire lives have already existed and the point where we are at is just the spotlight shining on it. So, while we can make choices that create events, those future events already exist with the past and the present. 

 

Then Again, This Might Be a Computer Simulation

Nowadays scientists are at least considering the possibility that the whole universe is some gigantic computer simulation program and we have no idea what purpose it might have. Elon Musk of Tesla is convinced we’re a simulation. Neil deGrasse Tyson believes it’s about a 50 percent chance.  In which case, all our speculation may be moot and our gods are just terrific programmers.

What The Rational Heathen Thinks

 There are certainly other views of the Universe I haven’t covered, but it’s getting late and I’m tired and still have some work to do. At some point, I look at the question as possibly meaningless — if I don’t have free will, and if my fate is plotted for me, it won’t change my actions one way or another.  I still have pieces I have to write, I still have chores to do around home, and I still have plenty of things I must do.  If I am the master of my fate, then the outcome and plan is still the same.  I’m not going to say “it was fated,” because I understand that the one thing physics does recognize well is cause and effect. So my work to fix something that breaks or try to improve things is what may cause positive outcomes.

Then again, it might be fated that I do these things.  Who knows?

Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July!

Do You Even Troll, Bro?

Do You Even Troll, Bro?

Today, I’m on a rant against trolls.  These may indeed be the type that live under bridges, but more
likely, they live in their parents’ basements and bitch about those of us who actually have something to say.  These are the types who use the “anonymity” of the Internet to cyber bully and laugh at those who don’t agree with their world view.

Kids, I’ve been slaughtering trolls before you were a gleam in your troll-daddies’ eyes.  I think you need to get a reality check.  For the rest of those who want to understand why someone doesn’t respect your opinions and viewpoints online (or if you’ve ever been the target of DYEHB), read on…

Internet Trolls are Narcissists, Psychopaths, and Sadists

Whoa!  That sounds extreme, doesn’t it?  Guess what?  Those aren’t my words, but I agree whole-heartedly.  The pronouncement comes from an article in Psychology Today. Trolls are the nastiest people around and we don’t want to spend anytime near them.  They scored ridiculously high in what shrinks call “the Dark Tetrad:” narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and sadism. Canadian researchers came to this stunning conclusion that those of us who have been on the Internet had already known after two studies with more than 1200 subjects. So, if you’ve ever taken delight attacking people on the Internet for sheer sport, count yourself among the troll-kind.  And you’re not my friend.  For some reason, I couldn’t see the graph, but I found it on Slate, so you can see it too.

The researchers had this to say:

“… the associations between sadism and GAIT (Global Assessment of Internet Trolling) scores were so strong that it might be said that online trolls are prototypical everyday sadists.” [emphasis added]

Well, well, well.  That says to me that they simply get their rocks off making other people feel awful.  Nice.

Is the Rational Heathen a Troll?

Now, I can hear some of you muttering that I am some kind of troll because I post what are controversial posts occasionally.  And sometimes, yes, I admit that the titles are a bit more click-bait so that you’ll read them, but I consider that just good journalism and not necessarily trolling.  In my Recons are Idiots piece, I thought I was pretty damn clear what kind of recons I had issues with.  And oddly enough, those were the same folk who took umbrage at my statements by proving me right.  It’s funny because as many outspoken recons there were, there were more people saying, “yeah, I’ve experienced that — thanks for agreeing with me.” So, if you’re a recon and you’ve disagreed with me, note that plenty of other folk are in my court and you or someone who claims they’re a recon are the ones who have given recons that reputation.

That being said, I don’t go out of my way to attack a particular person.  Oh, I might mention a type of person, or refer to someone whom I keep anonymous for everyone’s overall protection, but I don’t troll the boards looking to pick fights and make people miserable. If anything, I’m extremely courteous to those on other boards.  Now, if you come swinging on my own board, then the gloves are off.  If you make a legitimate case, I will listen to you.  I may not agree, but I’ll listen to you.  And if you’re civil to me, I’ll be civil to you. That’s the game we’ll play.  The only people I don’t have patience for are the racists and white-supremacists.  And I will insult you if you are one.

Look, no one says you have to read my page.  In fact, if you don’t like what I’m saying, maybe you should go elsewhere where people agree with you.  You’re welcome to stay in your narrow-minded corner since you can’t seem to accept someone else’s point of view. (And yes, I just took a swipe at you.  Deal with it.)

I’ve had precisely two trolls show up on my Facebook page. After some long, ugly discussions which ended up as ad hominem attacks, I didn’t bother to tell them to fuck off.  I simply banned them.  The problem is the more you try to reason with them, the worse they get.  Finally, I got tired of them and pulled the plug. I’ll entertain opposing views, but you’re on my good graces if you’re nasty.  My good graces incidentally are largely dependent on how much work I have to do, how much sleep I’ve had, and what kind of day I’m having.  In other words, “you don’t know my day, bitch,” — don’t push it.

Why Do They Do It?

 Interestingly enough, there is a lovely post in Psychology Today which actually states why trolls do what they do.  A lot of it has to do with the nameless face in the crowd mentality.  The overall “anonymity,” or at least, obscurity, of the Internet, combined with the feeling that other people’s silence equals agreement, and being surrounded by a social group that will at least support them, are reasons they will say the damnedest things.  The trolls I zapped online wouldn’t dare say what they did to my face.  If they did, they’d better only keep it at words.

For a while, there has been people who had a board specifically for Heathen trolls. I read through some of their “laughs” and found them to be boring and inane. And yes, I just call them inane.  They laughed at people for the way they practiced Heathenism, as though there is some “right” way and some “wrong” way.  I’ll admit, there are some practices I think aren’t right due violations in the ethics of reciprocity, and you’ll know up front why I think that, but the gray areas of Heathenism are very large. It’s those gray areas that the trolls revel in, and they make certain that everyone knows how “stupid” they think a person is.  While I might think your way of practicing Heathenism is wrong, if it is harmless and you’re not trying to push it on me, I probably won’t make fun of you.  If I do, it’s because it’s so bizarre and off the chart.  But I won’t name names.  Ad hominems directed at specific people aren’t cool, and downright mean.  There’s no reason to do this.

The Troll Test 

Yes, really, there is an Internet troll test. While I am not beyond getting into a debate with someone, I can truly say I say no to all those questions.  I’m not asking you to bare your heart to us, but if you really think it’s a great idea to call me names, I’d suggest taking a look at the questions and see if maybe the shoe fits.  If it does, then perhaps you need to go somewhere else.  Like very far away.