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Published On: Apr 26, 2006 10:02 PM
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Published On: Apr 26, 2006 10:02 PM
Neediness of the Gods, or Arrogance of the Asatru?
One hears it a lot these
days:
"Until I heard the call of the gods...."
"The gods called me..."
"The gods call whom the gods call..."
I must be on the wrong cellular service, because my phone still ain't ringing and it still ain't the Aesir. I have a vague recollection of some secret society that claimed to receive postcards from Odin, but that may be an entirely different thing.
It's a tricky subject to discuss. After all, those who believe they are called by the gods can just discount whatever I say, as "What does he know? Apparently the gods didn't call him." Those that agree with me can be then placed in the same category of heretical heathens, uncalled by the gods.
Be that as it may, I place myself in the breach yet again to look in-depth at the concept that the gods call. The implied idea here is that the Aesir and Vanir in some way communicate to people who would be potentially good followers, in an attempt to bring them to heathenry. It logically follows that there must be some reason that the gods would do this; possibilities are:
1) it is a need of the gods to be worshipped;
2) there is something so darn desirable about the person called that the gods want his/her attention;
3) the worship of other gods hurts the gods.
I've seen no support for concept number 1 in the lore. The gods seem to do just fine with or without worship. They are seen on occasion to appreciate or enjoy it, as Freyja's reward of assistance to Ottar for his devotion in the Song of Hyndla demonstrates, but there's no sign of the gods actively working to recruit followers or punish non-worshippers (except in the example mentioned under point 3).
The idea that someone is desirable (as a worshipper or follower) of the gods does appear in the Lore in certain instances. In Grimnismol Odin and Frigg foster the shipwrecked children of a king, and later wager on which is the better man. The first point of importance here is the actual act of fostering, as this is the point at which the gods are demonstrating something about these specific mortals to be of interest. The problem, however, with extrapolating a "call from the gods" from this instance is that the gods were disguised as normal people when they performed this fostering, so while it shows an interest in certain individuals, it doesn't show a godly need for attention from them. On the contrary, the tone of the argument between Odin and Frigg resulting in the wager is more indicative of children fighting over who has the better toy, rather than any actual fondness for the individuals.
The concept that the worshipping or following of other gods is harmful or damaging to the gods appears in the short story of Thidrandi whom the Disir killed. Thidrandi went out at night shortly after converting to Christianity, and was struck down and killed by nine women riding on horses. The actual event is a little more complex; there was apparently another set of nine women trying to protect him, but the important point for our purposes is that 9 women, alleged to be the Disir, killed Thidrandi after he became Christian. Problems with using this as reverse evidence that the gods require worship are numerous. First, the story is Christian in nature and narration. A common action through various areas that Christianity replaced the former religion are for the old gods to be vengeful spirits. Secondly, the nature of the disir themselves must be called into question. "Disir" most commonly refers to female ancestral spirits, not higher gods such as the Aesir and Vanir, but family spirits who might intervene on behalf of their descendants. This act of vengeance, therefore, has nothing overt to do with the Aesir. Finally, using this to justify the gods "calling people" would be an attempt to use a negative example to prove a positive statement. An analogous claim would be "Person A cannot eat meat; therefore he must like vegetables." It doesn't necessarily follow.
I can think of no other reasons or justifications for the concept of "being called by the gods." The Aesir as I understand them are not co-dependent entities, requiring the worship of followers to survive.
So why would people want to believe that they were chosen by the gods, since there's no historical evidence for such a belief? Well, the not-nice answer is of course arrogance. It's nice to be wanted, after all, and the idea of being personally sought out by a deity or set of deities is an attractive one. A slightly nicer idea is that people are unconsciously re-enacting a Christian belief in their new religion. It is common among Christians to "hear the call of Jesus," or to be personally called by God or one of his angels for a specific task (reference the popular accounts of Joan of Arc). It's easy, of course, to follow a line of creative speculation and arrive at the idea that the gods MUST have called. Unfortunately mind games do not religious truth make.
Unfortunately, none of these arguments stand up. A heathen who is honestly attempting to reconstruct ancient beliefs must therefore put this idea behind him or her, until or unless some wisp of evidence shows up to support such a belief.
I personally used to talk about being "called." I couched it in vague terms, but I wanted to believe it. I'd say things like "I don't know if I was called or if I just called out, but either way I got here." Which was a nice, open-minded way to be. But I was holding onto a belief that neither I nor any known source can back up. And that's not a good thing.
"Until I heard the call of the gods...."
"The gods called me..."
"The gods call whom the gods call..."
I must be on the wrong cellular service, because my phone still ain't ringing and it still ain't the Aesir. I have a vague recollection of some secret society that claimed to receive postcards from Odin, but that may be an entirely different thing.
It's a tricky subject to discuss. After all, those who believe they are called by the gods can just discount whatever I say, as "What does he know? Apparently the gods didn't call him." Those that agree with me can be then placed in the same category of heretical heathens, uncalled by the gods.
Be that as it may, I place myself in the breach yet again to look in-depth at the concept that the gods call. The implied idea here is that the Aesir and Vanir in some way communicate to people who would be potentially good followers, in an attempt to bring them to heathenry. It logically follows that there must be some reason that the gods would do this; possibilities are:
1) it is a need of the gods to be worshipped;
2) there is something so darn desirable about the person called that the gods want his/her attention;
3) the worship of other gods hurts the gods.
I've seen no support for concept number 1 in the lore. The gods seem to do just fine with or without worship. They are seen on occasion to appreciate or enjoy it, as Freyja's reward of assistance to Ottar for his devotion in the Song of Hyndla demonstrates, but there's no sign of the gods actively working to recruit followers or punish non-worshippers (except in the example mentioned under point 3).
The idea that someone is desirable (as a worshipper or follower) of the gods does appear in the Lore in certain instances. In Grimnismol Odin and Frigg foster the shipwrecked children of a king, and later wager on which is the better man. The first point of importance here is the actual act of fostering, as this is the point at which the gods are demonstrating something about these specific mortals to be of interest. The problem, however, with extrapolating a "call from the gods" from this instance is that the gods were disguised as normal people when they performed this fostering, so while it shows an interest in certain individuals, it doesn't show a godly need for attention from them. On the contrary, the tone of the argument between Odin and Frigg resulting in the wager is more indicative of children fighting over who has the better toy, rather than any actual fondness for the individuals.
The concept that the worshipping or following of other gods is harmful or damaging to the gods appears in the short story of Thidrandi whom the Disir killed. Thidrandi went out at night shortly after converting to Christianity, and was struck down and killed by nine women riding on horses. The actual event is a little more complex; there was apparently another set of nine women trying to protect him, but the important point for our purposes is that 9 women, alleged to be the Disir, killed Thidrandi after he became Christian. Problems with using this as reverse evidence that the gods require worship are numerous. First, the story is Christian in nature and narration. A common action through various areas that Christianity replaced the former religion are for the old gods to be vengeful spirits. Secondly, the nature of the disir themselves must be called into question. "Disir" most commonly refers to female ancestral spirits, not higher gods such as the Aesir and Vanir, but family spirits who might intervene on behalf of their descendants. This act of vengeance, therefore, has nothing overt to do with the Aesir. Finally, using this to justify the gods "calling people" would be an attempt to use a negative example to prove a positive statement. An analogous claim would be "Person A cannot eat meat; therefore he must like vegetables." It doesn't necessarily follow.
I can think of no other reasons or justifications for the concept of "being called by the gods." The Aesir as I understand them are not co-dependent entities, requiring the worship of followers to survive.
So why would people want to believe that they were chosen by the gods, since there's no historical evidence for such a belief? Well, the not-nice answer is of course arrogance. It's nice to be wanted, after all, and the idea of being personally sought out by a deity or set of deities is an attractive one. A slightly nicer idea is that people are unconsciously re-enacting a Christian belief in their new religion. It is common among Christians to "hear the call of Jesus," or to be personally called by God or one of his angels for a specific task (reference the popular accounts of Joan of Arc). It's easy, of course, to follow a line of creative speculation and arrive at the idea that the gods MUST have called. Unfortunately mind games do not religious truth make.
Unfortunately, none of these arguments stand up. A heathen who is honestly attempting to reconstruct ancient beliefs must therefore put this idea behind him or her, until or unless some wisp of evidence shows up to support such a belief.
I personally used to talk about being "called." I couched it in vague terms, but I wanted to believe it. I'd say things like "I don't know if I was called or if I just called out, but either way I got here." Which was a nice, open-minded way to be. But I was holding onto a belief that neither I nor any known source can back up. And that's not a good thing.
Posted: Fri - October 7, 2005 at 04:47 PM