OUR PLACE IN THE ORDER OF THINGS

by Robert Blumetti

The three monotheistic religions see God as someone with a master plan, who has laid down the law and demand that everyone obey his laws, and if they don't, they will suffer the most excruciating pain for all eternity. Ironically enough, everyone who happens to be unfortunate enough to be born in a part of the world that has never heard the "divine word" is damned along with those who heard it and rejected it. Thus, God, who is suppose to be all-knowing and infallible, has deliberately created billions of people whom he has damned to Hell. He is all-knowing and infallible�so that means he knew that billions of people would never have the chance to be saved, as well as those who he knew would choose to reject his law, and thus, they would be condemned after death. Why? Why would God do such a thing? Well, the followers of monotheism like to say, "We can never know what God does, or why he does it, but we have got to have faith." This is poor comfort for those billions burning in Hell. Of course, that doesn't concern those who know that they are saved.

Pagans do not believe in a God who is concerned with suffering and pain. We don't see God as a great judge, passing judgement on everyone, condemning billions to eternal suffering. We don't fear God or his wrath. We know that God does not inflict pain and suffering on us. We know that the terrible things that happen to us are not the "will of God." The monotheistic God is a God with a plan, and we are all suppose to be a part of his plan�whatever it may be? He is supposed to have created us so that he can torture us�torment us with temptation. He created the Devil to temp us away from him and made us weak so that the great majority of us will fall victim to the wily ways of Satan. He then deliberately makes our lives a living Hell by sending earthquakes, tornadoes, fires, floods, hurricanes, disease, storms our way, to test our faith, all the while killing thousands even millions in wars and plagues, and our clergy try to reassure us that it's all part of "God's will" and that the fallen are "in his hands." But if God is in complete control of the universe, why does he send such horror to torment us? Is this the behavior of a truly loving and merciful God?

For us, the Gods, by whatever name you refer to them as, are a balancing force is the universe. They represent the natural laws of science that act as a balancing factor in nature to counter the chaotic and destructive forces that are represented by the giants. They are far too powerful a force to be concern with the pain and suffering, or salvation, of every little individual on the face of the earth. But that does not mean we cannot tap into their power to help us in our lives. It does not mean that we are completely disconnected from the power that is the Gods, which maintain order in the universe, to help us succeed in everything that we do.

We pagans, followers of the Folk Faith, realize that the universe is ruled by the physical laws of science, and that the actions and reactions of nature, are the opposing forces of chaos (the giants) and order (the Gods). We were not created out of dirt to be tested and judge. We were created from the same Life Force that holds the universe together�the same Life Force that is the essence of the Gods, and that we are part of the life-changing, evolutionary process that holds the universe together, that keeps the planets rotating around the sun and the sun, along with the billions of other stars, rotating around the center of the galaxy, and propels the galaxy, and the billions of other galaxies, through the vast, limitless void of space. This means we are part of nature and ruled by the same laws of nature that governs all living things on this planet, and perhaps on other worlds. And because we are part of the Life Force, the action-reaction of order and chaos, that governs the universe, all our actions contribute to one or the other. By the way we live our lives, and the decisions we make every minute of the day, we either contribute to the chaotic, destructive forces that are the giants, or contribute to the ordered force that is the Gods. There is no sin or breaking of commandments, but the simple fact that the environment that surrounds us, the society we live in, the way people interact with each other and treat each other, are all determined by the way we act. If our actions are destructive, then we will live within a chaotic destructive society, but if we live by the golden rule, then we will live in a healthy, orderly and progressive society.

The Gods have set up the rules by which the universe works. If we adjust our lives according to those rules, we will benefit from them and eventually, we, both individually and collectively as a people, will become great. And over time, in generations from now, our children will become God-like.

This is the truth that we must understand�we are governed not by commandment, of which we will be condemned if we break, but should live by the simple golden rule of treating people in the same way that we want them to treat us, but at the same time, we recognize that if others treat us badly, we will not tolerate it. Thus, we hate no one, and seek to do harm toward anyone, but we are not pacifists, for pacifism is permitting others to dominate or harm, you. Thus, we do not sit around praying for God to intervene for us, but we do seek to forge bonds with our Gods, so that we can tap into the Life Force that we share with them, and thus help us in our actions, and give us the power to succeed. So we do not sit back and accept fate without doing anything about it. We know that we must act in a productive way if we are to be successful in life and all things that we do. We know that we can only be successful by positive thinking, backed up by positive action.

We do not believe in sin, because we have no commandments to break. We understand that there are right and wrong actions, and when we make mistakes, we don't pray for forgiveness, but instead,we accept the fact that we are not perfect and recognize that we did wrong and make a promise to ourselves and loved ones, to try not to do it again. We know that mistakes are part of life and we can actually learn from them and grow�becoming a better person by trying not to repeat our mistakes. Thus, while we should own up to our mistakes, and when necessary, make amens for the wrongs that we might do, we should not feel guilty or shame, especially if we truly recognize the wrong that we did. In fact, we should even talk about it to others, as a lesson in teaching others, especially our children and young people, as examples of what not to do if they want to lead a happy and successful life. We all know that it is often better to confess our mistakes then to keep it bottled up inside, permitting them to fester and eat away at your mind and soul with guilt and shame.

The problem with the monotheists is that they are intolerant of anyone who disagrees with their interpretation. Monotheists claim that anyone who disagrees with them is condemned. Even among themselves they cannot agree and have a long history of hating each other, waging wars against each other and persecuting each other. Christians have always considered Jews, the children of the Devil, because they rejected Christ, and Jews consider anyone who does not belong to the chosen people, inferior. Even among Jews and Christians there is disagreement. Orthodox Jews disagree with Conservative Jews and both disagree with Reformist Jews, and of course there is the Hasidic, and even they don't agree. The Christians are even more divided. Catholics, Protestants and Orthodox Christians all disagree. Catholics believe all Christians who do not belong to the Catholic Church are condemned to burn in Hell. Orthodox Christians believe the same about everyone who does not belong to the Orthodox Church. They are all condemned to burn in Hell. Protestants consider both Orthodox and Catholics to be heathens and "pagans." Then there are the Muslims, who are also divided and war among themselves, they consider everyone else heathens, who can be killed, enslaved, raped and tortured with impunity because they do not believe in Allah. Of course, all this is insane.

As pagans we do not hate any other faith, even the monotheistic religions. We respect all religious beliefs, even if we disagree with the interpretation, we respect the religiosity. For most of the people who practice these faiths are basically good, or seek to do good, but their faiths are wrong. Most people just want to lead good lives, and we can respect anyone, no matter what they believe, who just want to lead good lives. The ancient Romans made it a custom of trying to associate their Gods with the Gods worshiped by other people. There were certain practices that the Romans abhorred, such as human sacrifice and homosexuality, but as for the actual Gods that other people worshiped, the Romans tolerated and even adopted them into their own pantheon of Gods. As a pagan I have no problem with saying a prayer to Jesus, because I know that the spiritual essence of the God, Jesus, that is worshiped, is essentially a God of peace, and I can associate Jesus with Balder or any other God of peace.

Joy to you all,

Bob Blumetti

Hail Odin! Hail Balder!