Is Alienation a Gift of Odin?
Is alienation a gift of Odin? Too much of anything, even a good thing, is not necessarily a good thing, and so all things in moderation.
But is alienation a gift of Odin?
We've all felt alienated : that feeling that we don't belong, that we feel no connection to a social group and the values it is exhibiting.
If we never felt alienated, if we always felt connected to status quo, how would we ever grow? What would push us to resist? What would drive us on the quest?
Now it understandably sounds odd to speak of alienation as a gift from Odin, but if you pay attention to your feeling of alienation, what you'll find is you'll find is where the world is not your own, where something does not belong, where something is wrong. This does not mean that the entire world needs to be remade in your image, but there should be some place in the world that is your home, a place that is your home, some people who are a tribe, who reflect your values and are certainly not spreading wickedness in the world. The feeling of alienation is a guide to where the battle must be fought, because if you feel alienated, if you feel like you don't belong, there are others who feel like they don't belong, too, and I have said it again and again that the main job of the warrior is to ensure that there is some place for soul in this world. This world which often encroaches on people, encroaches and takes over so that there is no room for soul to be in this world. Where you feel alienated is where you notice that something is wrong as the world has no place for who you are. You came to bring a special quality to this world, and where the world will not allow it, where the world says there is no room for that special quality, where the world dares to negate that special soulful quality that you bring to incarnate, that is where you must push back, that is where you must negate the negation, that is where the battle needs to be fought. Freedom is not just a negative condition, a "freedom from". Freedom in a heathen context is always a "freedom to", the freedom to be who you are, to become who you are, and to radiate that special quality that you came to bring into this world.
You were once a fruit on the World-Tree. You were once a scintillating fruit. We look up and see the stars, and many of the stars may be seen as fruits of the World-Tree. You were once a star, a fruit of the Tree of Life, and the World-Tree grew a special quality within that fruit, and that fruit was taken, and it was heated, and quickened, and prepared, and it was placed in your mother's womb by the disir assigned by the norns to choose children for mothers, and to give gifts into this world, a gift that only you can give. When the world has become so close-minded, and when the world has become so narrow and so crowded that it will not allow that special quality, that gift from the Gods that you represent, then you must assert yourself, you must stand up and stand forth. Ek-sist : it means to "stand out". Dare to stand out. Be who you are, and negate the negation. Negate that which negates you, because with those qualities, there are others for whom you will become their champion for that, and the Gods will applaud you, for there are all kinds of special qualities needed in this world for it to flourish with vitality, and you are one of the ingredients in that marvelous recipe.
Remember that most people, the common people, the class of carls, stay frightened of wyrd. They need their narrow pens to stay safe, but if you would rise above, if you would become excellent and noble, then you must become comfortable with weird. You must dare to be weird in order to become noble, in order to rise to excellence. Wizards work with wyrd directly, and nobility is a quality that comes from daring to risk something, and in a tribal species, there really is no greater risk than daring to stand out from the crowd a little bit, and daring to beam forth that special quality that others may find disturbing to their narrow and square ways of being. This does not involve an elitism towards the square, towards the common person who needs those strong and rigid parameters and reference points, but it does mean being exceptional and stepping out from that, and knowing that life needs that stepping-out.
So where you feel like you don't belong, don't just sit and take it. Speak your mind and gather your crowd by taking a stand. And then you may see that your feeling of alienation was merely a signal that stagnation had taken over the social sphere, and needed that special kind of stirring up that Odin fosters. A gift from Odin indeed, if used with skill.
But is alienation a gift of Odin?
We've all felt alienated : that feeling that we don't belong, that we feel no connection to a social group and the values it is exhibiting.
If we never felt alienated, if we always felt connected to status quo, how would we ever grow? What would push us to resist? What would drive us on the quest?
Now it understandably sounds odd to speak of alienation as a gift from Odin, but if you pay attention to your feeling of alienation, what you'll find is you'll find is where the world is not your own, where something does not belong, where something is wrong. This does not mean that the entire world needs to be remade in your image, but there should be some place in the world that is your home, a place that is your home, some people who are a tribe, who reflect your values and are certainly not spreading wickedness in the world. The feeling of alienation is a guide to where the battle must be fought, because if you feel alienated, if you feel like you don't belong, there are others who feel like they don't belong, too, and I have said it again and again that the main job of the warrior is to ensure that there is some place for soul in this world. This world which often encroaches on people, encroaches and takes over so that there is no room for soul to be in this world. Where you feel alienated is where you notice that something is wrong as the world has no place for who you are. You came to bring a special quality to this world, and where the world will not allow it, where the world says there is no room for that special quality, where the world dares to negate that special soulful quality that you bring to incarnate, that is where you must push back, that is where you must negate the negation, that is where the battle needs to be fought. Freedom is not just a negative condition, a "freedom from". Freedom in a heathen context is always a "freedom to", the freedom to be who you are, to become who you are, and to radiate that special quality that you came to bring into this world.
You were once a fruit on the World-Tree. You were once a scintillating fruit. We look up and see the stars, and many of the stars may be seen as fruits of the World-Tree. You were once a star, a fruit of the Tree of Life, and the World-Tree grew a special quality within that fruit, and that fruit was taken, and it was heated, and quickened, and prepared, and it was placed in your mother's womb by the disir assigned by the norns to choose children for mothers, and to give gifts into this world, a gift that only you can give. When the world has become so close-minded, and when the world has become so narrow and so crowded that it will not allow that special quality, that gift from the Gods that you represent, then you must assert yourself, you must stand up and stand forth. Ek-sist : it means to "stand out". Dare to stand out. Be who you are, and negate the negation. Negate that which negates you, because with those qualities, there are others for whom you will become their champion for that, and the Gods will applaud you, for there are all kinds of special qualities needed in this world for it to flourish with vitality, and you are one of the ingredients in that marvelous recipe.
Remember that most people, the common people, the class of carls, stay frightened of wyrd. They need their narrow pens to stay safe, but if you would rise above, if you would become excellent and noble, then you must become comfortable with weird. You must dare to be weird in order to become noble, in order to rise to excellence. Wizards work with wyrd directly, and nobility is a quality that comes from daring to risk something, and in a tribal species, there really is no greater risk than daring to stand out from the crowd a little bit, and daring to beam forth that special quality that others may find disturbing to their narrow and square ways of being. This does not involve an elitism towards the square, towards the common person who needs those strong and rigid parameters and reference points, but it does mean being exceptional and stepping out from that, and knowing that life needs that stepping-out.
So where you feel like you don't belong, don't just sit and take it. Speak your mind and gather your crowd by taking a stand. And then you may see that your feeling of alienation was merely a signal that stagnation had taken over the social sphere, and needed that special kind of stirring up that Odin fosters. A gift from Odin indeed, if used with skill.
posted by SiegfriedGoodfellow at 7:06 AM
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