Our gods gave us the gift of passion. As a member of the AFA, you have felt that passion for our Folk and the Æsir. A lot of our Folk are missing this in their daily lives. In the 50s, beatniks introduced the idea of “cool” and people who were passionate about things were derided as “nerds”.
Apathy was celebrated and hard work, dedication to any goal outside of immediate gratification was ridiculed. Putting in the effort to master something was not “cool.” When passion could not be muted it was redirected into a list of ignoble past-times too long to mention. Growing up, most of us remember “the Fonz.” He had no goals, he strived for nothing beyond satisfying his sexual appetite (the Jötun are described this way in our lore). Yet all the characters looked up to him and he became the focus of the show. But when Richie went off to college the Fonz ended up living above the Cunningham’s garage. He was a loser.
Degeneracy is a corruption of the passion our gods have gifted us. Everyone either knows someone or has themselves succumbed to a passion that is unworthy of a noble people. Our Gods demand we use their gifts wisely just as our ancestors would expect us to use our inheritance wisely.
Stoicism is often held up as an ideology, and while it is a necessary tool for a person to have, it is not the goal. What stoicism can do is temper the steel of passion forging it into a mighty weapon of Victory. Tacitus says, “The love of fabulous history, which was the passion of ancient times, produced a Hercules in every country, and made Ulysses wander on every shore.” As Ásatrúar it is up to us to share our passion so that a Raud the Strong is produced in every country our Folk dwell.
Hail Freyja, goddess of passion!
Gothi Lane Ashby