The following is one of the Values from Herald Steve McNallen’s work The Values of Ásatrú, which were initially published as nine separate articles across various editions of The Runestone, from 1982’s spring to 1985’s spring, and then gathered into a single work. The nine Values were finalized in the publication of that document. This article will cover one value. The original text survives to us today on microfilm, and the text was produced via optical character recognition. The formatting and layout are setup to match the Herald’s initial writing. While I corrected any errors produced from OCR, I have otherwise left the text untouched; if I accidentally altered the text in doing so, I apologize. Any superscripts, and the attached explanations, are mine, and were added for context. The preface will be the same in each article.
This specific Value first came out in Runestone Runestone 1983’s Spring, #43.
Hail the Aesir, hail the ancestors, hail the Herald.
-Folkbuilder Chris Savich
Our ancestors were practical people in every aspect of their lives, including their religion. A glance at the "Words of the High One" attributed to Odin himself, shows at once that it is concerned not with pious platitudes or otherworldly lore, but with practical advice for living, for besting one's enemies, and for acquiring wisdom. This realistic approach to life was one of the greatest strengths of the Vikings and our other Germanic ancestors, and it is a trait we would do well to cultivate today.
Contrast this, if you will, to the eminently unrealistic and impractical advice given to us by the Middle Eastern religion known as Christianity. What could be more suicidal than a faith that advises us to turn the other cheek to our enemies, and resist not evil? What could be more disastrous than a. creed that says we should not worry about what we'll eat or drink or wear, but only trust that we will be provided for, like the birds and the beasts? Such advice is a prescription for disaster because it ignores the nature of the real world. It just does not fit and anyone who takes it literally is leaving himself or herself open to murder or rape or death by starvation and exposure. What a far cry from our practical and worldly-wise ancestors!
"But wait a moment", some will cry, "After all, religion is not supposed to deal with the things of this world, but must concern itself with the world to come." We of Asatru disagree! We say instead that a religion which works in the real world is preferable to one that does not. Why should we believe, as some would have us do, that there is any moral superiority in failure and impracticality? Why should a creed that fails the test in this world do any better in the next?
Asatruarar do not try to refute the existence of other realms of being, but we are aware that reports of these worlds are highly subjective and open to a variety of interpretations. The supernormal is important, but the focus of our day to day life must be here in this world. We can draw inspiration and strength from the realm of the gods, but our struggle is here and the lessons of our lives are here. A religion that does not work on this plane just does not work at all. In this respect, we who follow the old gods are both realists and idealists. We are less "otherworldly" than Christians in that we will settle for victory, success and health in this world rather than piein-the-sky promises of heaven after we die. What comes in the afterlife will come. Meanwhile, we do the best we can in the world in which we have to live.
What are the results of this way of thinking?' Well, religion becomes a matter of living fully and loving life instead of dealing wholly with non-physical realms in a promised future. Again- it is not a denial of the non-material aspects of our ancestral religion, but simply an acknowledgement that religion has to relate, and relate successfully, with the here and now. Seen in this light, all sorts of things become infused with meaning. A walk in a leafy forest becomes a religious act. So does making love, or working on your garden, or the countless other little actions that make up the tapestry of our lives. Throw out the musty, muddled creeds that preach otherworldly rewards while denying life and happiness here! Life is to be lived, and lived fully!
Besides this affirmation of life, there is another result of the Asatru pragmatic approach - a remarkable scarcity of dogma. A religion that gives due importance to this world deals largely in matters that can be proven and tested. Things which can be demonstrated need no blind faith to enforce them. Perhaps as a result of our pragmatism, even the supernormal aspects of our religion are not encrusted with dogma. There are certain supernormal beliefs in Asatru which are essential, but discussion and debate on these tenets is encouraged within fairly wide boundaries. After all, our religion is not a revealed one handed to us as a complete kit on some holy mountain, but is natural and organic, springing from the soul of our people. It is eternally becoming. It is a tree, not a rock.
We see Asatru as a religion that makes sense in Midgard. Asatru does not ask you to accept its worth on the basis of blind faith: its value is plainly visible in the "real” world. It is a belief that can be lived by practical, proud people too free to accept unquestioning dogma.
For more about the Ásatrú Folk Assembly, visit our website!
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