The origin of this blog was inspired in part by Nietzsche referring to himself and his philosophy as a Northwind. For more details see my google document here where I provide excerpts from the 2012 research paper Nietzsche and the North by Filip Lucian, that covers how Nietzsche was seeking to revitalize the ancient vitality of the Indo-Europeans and their heroic physiological natures and life-affirming mythology.
I am ancestrally from the North, i.e. Indo-European and Nordic, being Germanic Scandinavian. I wanted to appreciate my Nordic ancestors in this blog, but not only them but also my Indo-European ancestors. I see many similarities in the mythological energy and utility of Greek mythology and Norse mythology because both are at their core what I call solar-pantheons. For example, this video, by a YouTuber begins by saying that
[Anceient] Greek and old Norse religion...although separated by about 1,500 years ... I would not exactly call them two separate religions. They were far more similar than they were different and they both have the same Indo-European roots; if we go back far enough to proto-European times, 7, 8, thousand years ago, we were all one and the same. But by the time the Greek and North peoples migrated and evolved they developed two separate belief systems.
So the North-wind energy is a reference to Nordic/Hyperborean spirit of vitality that descends from the common ancestors of the Norse, Celts, Greeks and Indian-Hindu peoples, etc., who are known as the Proto-Indo-Europeans. So what we find is that this ancestral cultural energy or Northwind has been funneled through the physiologies and mythologies of the Indo-European ethnolinguistic branching ancestral family groups, from the Norse to Greeks to Hindus. For these groups are all basically the same in spiritual energy and vitality as they descend from the same ethnolinguistic and mythological source (the Proto-Indo-Europeans). For we can trace them all back to the same Proto-Indo-Europeans and a likely original Proto-Indo-European mythology from which all these groups grew separate yet similar ethnolinguistic mythologies.
Note as well that according to this university page:
Seen genetically, Indo-European heritage encompasses all peoples of Germanic or Scandinavian or southern Mediterranean or Persian or Russian or northern Indian descent, any of a wide range of national groups stemming from India to Iceland.
The Proto-Indo-Europeans basically branched out into different groups and mythologies, from the Scandinavians and Norse mythology to the Indian-Hindu mythology.
One reason for this blog is to honor and respect my own German and Swedish ancestry and heritage as an American. For it was my ancestrally Germanic Norse grandfathers and grandmothers, their unique lives and creativity, which formed the Norse mythology. So by appreciating and respecting their mythology I am connecting with my genetic roots and my ancestors as an American.
The second reason is like unto the first. In that I realized that every ancient people produced a cultural mythos from their own life experiences and pre-conscious psychology and physiology as a people and culture; much like seeds and soil producing a particular kind of plant that's either healthy or unhealthy. So that from out of my Germanic Scandinavian ancestry their grew up from cultural memory a vitally alive mythology of gods and monsters, great heroes and deadly adventures. This mythical storytelling energy has inspired recent movies and TV series like Conan the Barbarian, The Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones, and the 2013 series Vikings, etc.
On Heathenry & Racial Ideologies
To avoid any confusion, I want to be clear up front in this introduction that I am not, what some refer to themselves as, a heathen, i.e. I am not a practitioner of heathenry.
I unfortunately have to make this crystal clear, for having mentioned my desire to respect and revere my Indo-European Scandinavian ancestry, I need to separate myself and distance myself from various fraternal organizations attempting to return to the literal worship of Thor and Odin. Many of these types of groups (note: not all of them) often unfortunately practice controversial ideas regarding race. In this regard, to be clear I am not in any way interested in any kind of racist ideology.
My views are somewhat similar to Nietzsche's vision of future Superhumans. This was Nietzche's vision of the ideal next stage in human evolution; which he believed could be accomplished through any mix of races, and not just one so-called "superior race." In other words, evolution is about mixing traits and peoples toward healthy functional organic forms. I do not believe in any version of "white supremacy." Instead, similar to Nietzsche, I believe in the growth of a healthy future humanity and any potential future hominid species.
I don't completely agree with everything Nietzsche wrote but I find his vision of focusing on the future and envisioning the best version of a future hominid specieces (the Overman, Beyond-mankind, or Superhumans) as a new form of God-worship: a practical way to ground spiritually in the real world of biology in this life (that we know to exist without a doubt). From this bio-realist perspective, all ancestories can come together, with the most healthy and heroic among each ancestry, to produce the next stages in human evolution in a natural and organic process.
This type of Nietzscheanish spirituality has nothing to do with eugenics or racist ideologies, but is about simply living your best life, your most heroic and noble life possible as a free spirit; and procreating with women of any race or ethnicity you choose, who will provide you with healthy offspring. In other words, what I am promoting is not racism nor eugenics or any of that nonsense. I am promoting solar-pantheonism: which is a term I coined to refer to a universal spiritual philosophy found in nearly all ethnic indigenous religions as well as universal faiths like Christianity.
Greco-Nordic Americanism
Norse and Greek Gods as Metaphorical Archetypes of our Pre-Conscious Instincts & The Heroic Ideal
This heroic adventurism in Norse mythology is connected to my genetic roots, as the myths and stories are intertwined with my own ancestral memory as a people and culture. The Norse gods and sagas were forged from the actual experiences of my very own ancestors which were molded with artistic creativity into tales of elves and giants, dragons and wolves, Thor's hammer and Odin's spear. For example see the video, Sources on the Norse Gods as REAL Living Humans by Norse Magic and Beliefs YouTube Channel. At the start of the video the author explains that for him the Norse gods are only symbolic: representing aspects of nature, the Universe, and parts of our own body and spirit. He then goes on to say that it's possible that the Norse gods and myths are not only metaphorical, but also, to paraphrase him, they could also be over exaggerations or mythologized legends based onreal humans and their high status and heroic accomplishments. I agree with this assessment.
So to clarify upfront, I am not in any way attempting to return to a literalistic practice of the worship of pagan gods. I have seen some people on YouTube literally offering forms of sacrifice to gods like Thor and Odin. I personally think this is silly and superstitious but to each their own. So I do not consider myself "pagan" because that is a loaded term which can include such superstitious practices. If anything I would be promoting secular or naturalistic paganism. But even there I still cringe at the phrase "paganism" even with the term secular in front of it, because I often think of New Age woo nonsense and pagan Wicca, all of which I completely reject for multiple reasons.
Another term I've seen thrown around is European Paganism, like on The Ark (Heroic Ideal) YouTube Channel, which is probably closer to what I would be promoting. In other words, I'm not promoting a literal belief in Gods or returning to pagan sacrifices! I am instead seeking to revitalize the pro-instincts psychology of the heroic ideal embedded within the Norse and Greek mythologies.
I think a better way to describe what I am advocating is not "paganism" then, which has religious connotations; but what I would call maybe Heroic Instinctualism. I have been influenced by not only Nietzsche's revitalization of Greek mythology but also the work of Dr. Paul Dobransky M.D., who also unitizes Greek mythology.
Dr. Paul Dobransky's work begins with his Mind OS (PDF here), which is a good secular replacement for the New Testament ethos. His Pro-Instincts Psychology, utilizing Greek mythology, is in my opinion a better alternative to the Pauline New Testament, for it better integrates our human instincts with our common ethical ideals. So that it's a synthesis of the best of self-empowerment and personal and group psychology. For example, see this article on Power Imbalances and the Equation of Power, where Dr. Paul Dobransky discusses the Zeus Instinct and the Hephaestus Instinct and the physics equation of power. Also see his article Discovering the Passion and Generativity that Drive Men’s Happiness. He also wrote two books specifically to help women but men might find them useful as well, which can be found on Amazon.
- A Blog Teaching Mind OS (to help handle the death of a loved one)
Mythology as Genealogy
Growing up Judeo-Christian, there is much I still appreciate and value to this day about the biblical tradition. But the suffering and subjugation of the Jewish peoples of the Bible by the Persians, Babylonians and Romans throughout history is simply not my own genetic or cultural memory. For it was that particular cultural memory that unified and solidified the Jewish/Israelite people with specific beliefs and rituals directly connecting them ancestrally to their particular mythology which was forged from their unique suffering as a people under the rule of foreign empires; and this unique set of historical experiences led to specific mythical stories about their people; like Moses helping the Israelites escape from Egypt. Thus, in my view the religion of the Bible is interwoven with the memory of their specific ethnic experiences as a culture and Israelite people.
Part of their cultural memory of dealing with foreign empires and tribes, led to an ethic of how one treats strangers is very important to their national god. This ethic of mistreating strangers as wrong and instead being welcoming and kind as morally good, is what scholars call biblical hospitality. So that Judeo-Christian mythology contains within it a spirit of resilience and welcoming hospitality: which is unique to their particular Israelite experience because of their experiencing centuries of ill treatment by foreigners enslaving them and mistreating them as an ancestral people.
Even though I am not Jewish, I can still incorporate this ethical vision of hospitality which grew out of their unique cultural memory. Note that the Norse religion also emphasized hospitality as well as trade. But I can do so without also identifying ethnically with their specific religious cultural memory or adopting the national god of the Israelites. For their Old Testament deity is a specifically Israelite-oriented deity as a patron god of war for the Israelites, not the Greeks or Scandinavians. Again, I see all these gods and religions as mythology, but the point I'm making is that they have specific genealogical and cultural markers, as cultural products of a specific people and their cultural memories.
What this means for me personally, is that when I read the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) for example, I do not read about my people, my own genealogy of the Germanic Scandinavians; I am instead reading about another people's ancestry and cultural memory different from my own. Now of course I can appreciate and respect the mythical artistry and psychological utility of the biblical myths, as Jordan Peterson does; but I can do so without personally identifying with that national god or the Israelite religion. For it's simply not part of my own ancestral cultural identity.
I also don't see why this kind of thought process should be controversial, when if things were reversed, and a Jewish person were asked why they don't identify with the Scandinavian gods and Norse religion, their answer would likely be that they have their own cultural identity and religion as an Israelite. Jews have their own specific Israelite-forged rituals like Yom Kippur, Shavuot, and Hanukkah that is tied to their unique experiences as an ethnic tribe. There is a certain beauty in a people celebrating their ethnic unity through ritualized memory. All ethnic cultures have done this throughout history. For every ethnic tribe has uniquely specific cultural traditions connected to their ancestral cultural identity. I am not Jewish ethnically nor religiously, and thus the fact is that these Israelite ritual practices are just not part of my tribal lineage or my ancient ancestral cultural memory.
The reality is that it was not my ancestors who were enslaved by the Egyptians in the Bible story. Furthermore, when the Bible says Yahweh (or Jehovah) chose a people (a genetic lineage) to be their patron god, it was not my Indo-European people/lineage. In other words, the Bible is about another people's ancestral oppression and subsequent religious developments in order to maintain the Jewish genetic lineage and cultural identity. I can respect Judaism, and I do. I can learn about it and even choose to practice some of its ethical ideals (which I do actually); but at the end of the day, the fact is the Hebrew Bible is about a different historical ancestry that is different from my own Indo-European historical ancestry.
So when I read the Bible I am reading about someone else's genetic lineage and religious culture. However, when I read for example the Norse Sagas or the Iliad, I am reading something closer to my Indo-European lineal historical heritage: passed on through the various Indo-European Solar-Pantheons.
To use an analogy, its like sitting down and looking at someone else's photo album and listening to them reminisce about their great great grandparents and telling stories within their family history. There is nothing wrong with appreciating someone's album like that when visiting their home. But, to extend the analogy, what if you were then expected to ignore your ancestral photo album and family stories in your home (or even throw them in the trash); and instead you were expected to place only their photo album in your living room and treat it as your own, and to only tell their family stories?
I have a very similar perspective when it comes to the Pauline mythology, which grew out of the Israelite Maccabean martyrs: who used the specific strategy of martyrdom to deal with the suppression of their Israelite dietary laws by the Romans. So again, this Maccabean influenced martyr-centric mentality -- which is at the core of the apostle Paul's mythos -- is not a part of my Indo-European ancestral cultural memory. The specifically Pauline ritual mythos of ultimately rejecting Life as a form of "spiritual escapism" through the ideal of celibacy and voluntary martyrdom as a seeded male-bride of a Messiah Husband. This is foreign to me personally; and rather unappealing both mythologically and psychologically.
I can understand why a woman would find it meaningful and intimate to be mythically engaged to be married to a god-husband and seeded with his divine DNA mythically. But for me personally, I find such ideas rather emasculating. As an American male of Norse ancestry, my ancestor's gods like Thor and Odin are far more appealing to my masculine sensibilities as mythological archetypes of my male instincts.
Americanism as Greco-Norse Adjacent
As an ancestrally Nordic American, I have my own quasi-religious holidays, customs, and practices like Christmas and Halloween, which have been influenced by Norse culture. Rather than America being based on Maccabean-Pauline ideas, American culture is much more in line with the heroic cultures of the Greeks and Norseman.
The reason why I emphasize Americanism is because American is a philosophy of life, which is at odds with the New Testament as an ism. I discuss this in the documents on my Google sites here and here. The philosophy of Americanism is largely based on American founding fathers like Thomas Jefferson and Ben Franklin, who were not perfect, they were flawed for sure, but they were definitely heroic and masculine men. They didn't embrace the idea of being supernaturally seeded by a god-husband as a male bride. Although Jefferson, as a Deist, did consider the ethical teachings of Jesus beneficial for forming an ethical American society, he completely rejected the Pauline ideology, as did Ben Franklin.
What this means for me as an American, is that the Bible is not about my ancestry and nor is it in my view a practical mythos to live by. I instead can simply go on experiencing the cultural memory of my Norse ancestry and their religion through many American holidays and customs we already have in place in North America. For example, much of our theatrical culture is based in Norse mythology. In my opinion, American Sports are basically a celebration of the heroic spirit, reminding one of the battleground of the Gods in the form of sports athletes in competition for greatness and heroic glory on the field of battle. Gym culture is a celebration of the athletic and muscular culture of the Norse and Greek Gods through building one's physique like a sculpture sculpted into a Greek God.
Heroic Adventurism versus Leveling Docile Utopianism
I see Proto-Indo-European / Greco-Norse heroic adventurism being at odds with Pauline leveling utopianism. Paul, as an Israelite, was a utopianist who believed his national god and messiah was going to fly down from the sky very soon and force equality and end all biological reproduction and competition. In this new utopia there would be no more gender nor earthly biology, but everyone would be non-biological and angelic like a genital-less ken doll basically. This end-times apocalyptic fantasy squelched the Greco-Norse spirit of adventurous heroism and replaced it with a more docile and weakening energy of leveled complacency. Just compare it to the more enlivening Viking spirit and Greek vitality, and the choice today of which myth to live by becomes clear, at least to me.
Paulianity as Anti-Life or Anti-Instincts
I find the Pauline ideas deeply problematic for many other reasons as well. For example, part of the Israelite's unconscious survival mechanism, according to Nietzsche, was the development of a priestly caste that sought to demonize their oppressors. This dualism was influenced by Persian Zoroastrianism. This priestly caste evolved and separated into two basic groups, today's Rabbinic Judaism and Pauline Christianity. Nietzsche spoke favorably of the ancient Old Testament religion and modern Judaism and he despised Anti-Semites. But he was very critical of Pauline Christianity, which he sees as the priestly caste evolving into a resentful revenge-seeking pity party via Paulianity; which he described as mostly a product of being angry at and demonizing Life itself, and seeking to escape this world for a fantasy world.
I think this Pauline negation of life was in part based on the cultural memory of his people being under subjection by foreign powers. Rome was the latest empire subjugating the Israelites in the first century. Some Jews revolted with a Greco-Norse or ancient Semite warrior-god energy, fighting back and seeking to gain their own independence and sovereignty as a nation. In other words, like the American founding fathers who fought for their freedom and independence, these first century Israelites were willing to fight and die for their own freedom and independence. Paul on the other hand, had a different plan.
Paul was part of the school of Apocalypticism. Whereas some Jews believed their messiah was going to come back and restore peace through war efforts, Paul reinterpreted the Hebrew scripture so that his messiah was Jesus who instead died as a Maccabean style martyr; which ushered in the final apocalyptic end-times. Paul's message was therefore that they did not need to fight Rome because Jesus was going to come back and fight for them any day now.
The Pauline message was pacifist as an interim ethic, be ultra nice and passive now, because they will get it later from my sky god. "We," he basically said, "are not to fight Rome, but to be docile, and ideally die as martyrs." This was all based on the Pauline expectation that his messiah was going to come and conquer Rome and establish an Israelite theocracy very soon. This we know did not happen. So this means that the first and second century Pauline disciples who practiced celibacy and/or martyrdom, giving up their normal lives for the expectation of the immediate return of the messiah in their lifetime, ended up causing them to suffer and die for an expectation of something that never happened.
I think this was all based on Paul's own unconscious resentment of the strong and powerful Roman empire surrounding him with unholy temples of pagan gods and statues which he thought were demon possessed. In fact in his mind the whole biological world was controlled by Sin, Satan, and Demons. This resulted in Paul's apocalyptic revenge fantasy and a Life-despising worldview: ending in an anti-Nature, leveling, communistic utopia When A Jew Rules the World (this is an actual book title by a Christian). Note that this book was actually written to combat antisemitism among Protestants. For the record, I don't want or expect a Scandinavian to rule the world either. I'm not into any form of dictatorial communism or what Hitchens described as a celestial North Korea.
Honoring One's Own Ancestral Heritage & Mythos
As we can see, the whole New Testament mythology is an ancestral mythos based on the specific cultural memory of Israelites like Paul, Peter and James, etc. This is quite frankly not my heritage or cultural memory as a Germanic Scandinavian, nor as an American. It is simply not my cultural heritage.
Why abandon my own cultural memory and physiological DNA represented mythically in Norse mythology? Wouldn't that be like an American rejecting the cultural memory of their American ancestors, who bled and died for them, and instead identifying with communist China? What does China have to do with me? I can appreciate the health affects of mindfulness mediation without becoming a Buddhist or becoming a citizen of China. So too, I can find value in Jesus' ethical teachings like Thomas Jefferson did, without believing the Pauline idea that I should be seeded by a male messiah as his bride.
The fact is the story of the Bible is not the story of my Ind-European people, but is about the Jewish people and Pauline ideology. I would never expect a Jew who practices Judaism to join the Pauline New Testament religion. So too, I do not expect the Jewish people to adopt any Indo-European mythos as theirs, even if only metaphorically as archetypes of the collective unconscious. For they have their own mythology that grew out of their own specific experience as a people. So if they have the culturally respected right to want nothing to do with my ancestor's mythology, why should I be expected to embrace the ancestral story and mythology of the Bible (in the form of either Judaism or Pauline-Christianity)?
Now, if somebody could convince me that the belief system of the Bible was the "only true religion," then that would make sense; but I see all religion as mythology. So if a religious mythology is as much a product of the ethnic memory of a people's evolved culture -- that morphed into a life-orienting mytho-philosophy -- then why would anyone want to reject or disparage a world-orienting mythos that is connected to that person's own ancestral cultural memory? Wouldn't that be like asking the person to spit in the face of their great grandfathers and reject their own genetic memory from out of which their own ancestral mythology grew?
Now, I'm not here saying that just because I am Germanic Scandinavian and American, that I should not consider Judaism or Christianity as a worldview option solely based on my ancestry or nationality. The truth is, my moving away from Paulianity had nothing to do with my ancestry (which I actually discovered later after rejecting Christian Fundamentalism). For I simply find the mythology of the New Testament ultimately impractical and disempowering psychologically. I realized that Paulianity ultimately made me feel less empowered as it oriented me in the world in a negative way that depleted my vitality. I then later on, found that my own ancestral mythology and Americanism made me feel more empowered; and better oriented me in the world in a more realistic and practical way as a mythos.
Now if I thought the Judeo-Christian religion was true or even practical or empowering, I likely would have clung to it but unfortunately it was none of those things. So, when I realized that Norse mythology was not only part of my own ethnic identity and cultural heritage -- but that it was useful for generating within me personal power and vitality -- the choice to move more toward the energy of the Northwind (see Nietzsche on the Northwind by Lucian Filip) became an obvious and natural path; as it was already built into my very nature as a Germanic Scandinavian.
Norse Vitality & American Spirit
And I'm proud to be an American
Where at least I know I'm free
And I won't forget the men who died
Who gave that right to me
(Source)
The way I see it, a religious mythology can either exude a psychological energy of empowering vitality, freedom and adventure, or form an oppressive, life-squelching and "controlling vibe." From this perspective, I see a distinct difference between the cultural energy in the mythologies of the Greeks and the Norse, which is different from the more depleting nihilistic energies of Buddhism and Pauline Christianity. Instead of hiding in a Buddhist or Christian monastery, being celibate and praying or meditating life away, there is instead in the Proto-Indo-European descending mythological traditions (like Norse mythology), an energy of heroic adventurism and overcoming chaos with creativity through poetry and art and a warrior spirit.
This Northwind vitality, or aliveness, is also in my view the energy of the foundations of America: which was based on this Greco Nordic spirit of breaking free from any oppressor and charting your own course with a spirit of adventure with an appeal to Nature's God: which God of Nature had more in common with the Greco Nordic mythological traditions which are based on the personification of the natural forces of nature, with the Gods representing the drives and instincts of the body.
When I study the lives of the main American founder fathers, in particular Ben Franklin who was a Deist, I find him embracing the energies of the body and the joy of living, with a more Greco Epicurean spirit instead of a Pauline attitude.
When Nietzsche and Dr. Paul utilize Greek mythology, they are simultaneously promoting and endorsing the same energy of Nature, which is simultaneously found in Norse mythology. Meanwhile, America was largely built off of the philosophy of the Greeks and the adventurous spirit of the Norse as a symbolic Northwind.
Rather than a religious dogma or set scripture, the reality of nature we experience all around us becomes your hymnal and scripture, your temple dome the sun shines upon. As an organic being not a platonic form, you grow within and through life as a part of life. There cannot be one true religion or tradition, only subjective perspectives.
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