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 Posted: Tue Jun 22, 2010 10:06 pm
I got to wondering the other day, how much are we entitled to in seeking a path, or forming one?
At the moment, I'm wondering if I'm deserving of any path at the moment. I suddenly feel like regardless of my interest or connection, or wish to learn more and respect more, that I may not actually be entitled to a damn thing.
Are we entitled to those paths our anscestors or family may have followed or honored? Are we entitled to any path we choose to honor and respect? Or are we entitled to nothing really?
What do you feel you or others are deserving of or entitled to?
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Posted: Wed Jun 23, 2010 1:30 am
That's a good question!
I'm not sure we're really "entitled" to anything. At least, not those of us (and I'm thinking the majority of us, here wink ) who aren't born into or raised in a tradition.
But just because we're not "entitled" doesn't mean there's no path out there for us. Some traditions, some religions and cultures, are closed to us. To illustrate this a bit more... if cultures really depend on understanding particular traditions, it's very important to be raised in them. This is because it's simply much easier to understand them that way. When you come to them as an adult you can study them all you like, but you won't understand them on that implicit level that you would had you had access to them as a child. Languages work the same way; you'll never learn a language the same way as an adult as you could as a child. Even with Celtic cultures it's possible to gain some access, but you have to essentially pick up your life, move over to where the culture resides, and attempt to integrate.
I've migrated from my point. What I meant to say before I went off on that tangent was that we aren't entitled to this or that; they take work. You might be able to pour mead into a drinking horn and say "I am Asatru!" and that's fine, maybe you're Asatru. But you aren't necessarily any good at it. Being Tru isn't necessarily all that easy; what does it mean to be Tru? What behaviour is necessary? When do we stand proudly and when is it better to be quiet and keep our heads down, because it is the wiser action?
Forging your own path is particularly hard. You have to understand the cultural implications of the things you're inspired by and incorporating into your own path, you have to examine what you believe and what you do and judge what is ethical and what is inappropriate and so on. And those of us who do follow specific paths, we have to examine which parts of said path we're not completely comfortable with, what parts we have to reexamine and decide if they're appropriate for us, whether we can change a little here or a little there in a way that's appropriate. And all that is part of the work of "earning" it, so to speak.
That's what I think anyway.
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