Now this wasn't always so and there are indeed rather simple ways to turn your brain around to achieve the general feel of well-being and happiness. And since people weren't so miserable in the past why not take a good look at how our ancestors, the vikings, lived their lives. (Of course if your are Asian, African or from some other place, your ancestors may or may not be vikings. But bear with me please.)
Instead of a paternalistic all-perfect all-knowing and all-capable single god, the vikings worshiped quite a lot of deities, demi-gods, spirits and mystical creatures. They weren't really afraid of their gods and looked at their dealings with these beings as simple exchanges. Not that dissimilar from our modern free-market. You buy a hamburger for a few dollars or you buy good weather for raiding with a lamb. No commandments, no fear of enraging your all-knowing deity who will send you to a really really bad place.
In modern society its impossible to live up the impossible demands the monotheistic religions requires of you unless you wish to brave chambers of infinite torture or worse. We need the old polytheistic attitude that a free man makes his own destiny.
Instead of commandments the Vikings had guidelines all which served to remind them of what really kept them happy and alive: Honor, family and friends. These guidelines are pretty much common sense in its entirety but are nonetheless a great reminder.
My favorite:
Cattle die, kindred die,
Every man is mortal:
But the good name never dies
Of one who has done well
Starts as a sad reminder but ends with a truly refreshing fact.
No comments:
Post a Comment