A brief synopsis of the nine noble virtues in the modern world
By Rory H. AOR
Courage
A small word I am sure that everyone would agree, and not a word that is heard too much these days. Whether that is because of the current trend for people to be mindless, state controlled automatons or as a more direct result of the weakening of the folk over centuries of subjection to foreign influences. Nevertheless courage is such an important word to us as Odinists, we are a small movement in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds, both struggling to re-establish our faith in the waning years of an overbearing desert creed on one front and resisting the destructive influence of another overtly violent and sanctimonious Nazarene faith whose teachings include boiling non-believers in oil amongst other base acts.
It takes a deal of courage for a small number of folk to stand up for what we believe in this situation alone. Standing up against injustices and misguidance in schools, the press, jails and other institutions where our folk are derided and our beliefs scorned. This extends right down to our daily lives when managers in our workplace may be scornful or obstructive of what they don’t see as a ‘mainstream religion’
Then there is the courage of the parent who has to perform Bael for a child, whether that child passes in infancy or in the face of the enemy on the martial field. Still too the courage of the strongest of parents, those who would go against the medical advice given in order to give their unborn a chance of life. Not to mention the everyday courage parents show in the correct raising of their children.
What still of the courage of the young men facing the enemy, probably our most basic understanding of courage, to stand in the face of onslaught and defend your mates, to push on against all instinct into the fire.
Many decisions in life need to be made with courage, some will inevitably put us to a short term disadvantage and the courage is in making these decisions for the long term good.
Courage can be shown in many ways and has many faces even membership of the OR can be seen as a form of courage. In most cases we are people not content to say in passing “yeah mate I believe in the old gods” we are people who say “HAIL THE OLD GODS, HAIL OUR FAITH AND FOLK, HAIL THE NEW AWAKENING” and proceed to make our best endeavour to work towards this goal.
Truth
Our belief in the truth does not just mean not telling lies to people, although honesty is a very important part and our honour is only as good as our word. However this would be a far too simple explanation. Truth is and will be, truth is itself. We as a folk are part of the eternal truth and as such are aware of our own mortality and also aware that part of us will continue to be a part of the whole long after we as individual are gone.
Telling the truth to the point of rudeness can be seen by others as ‘undiplomatic’ or blunt but will never be taken as false and with experience those who know us will come to respect that our words are not just hot air wasted.
It is in the same way that our pledged word must be kept, that the truth of our words lead to the expectation that our promises be fulfilled, regardless as to whom the promise is made. After all we are not the stranger folk.
Honour
Our honour is our worth, it is the measure by which we, in the end, will come to be known, both amongst our folk and our descendants.
If we go through life discharging our duties to those which we owe service with due diligence, if we pay attention to our duties of care to our faith, folk and family and if we are honest in our dealings whilst driving those we deal with to be honest by our principles. Then we are gaining honour for both ourselves and our folk as a whole. If however we behave like a wretch then the dishonour reflected on us all is magnified tenfold.
Our folk have honour, we hold our heads high and walk tall. We have the knowledge that if we live our lives by the Nine Noble Virtues and apply them and the Nine Charges to our daily lives then we will live with honour and be an inspiration to our descendents and show due respect to the honour of our ancestors.
Fidelity
Fidelity seems an unfashionable word these days due to the corrupt influences in the world. The ‘pre nups’ and ‘quicky’ divorces of the celebrity world have bred a society that thinks that this is the way to behave. Marriages of convenience and for publicity poison the minds of youngsters who, due to the liberal and weak upbringing techniques favoured in recent times, do not have the steady and firm parental guiding hand to help them see through the fog of fantasy. This situation is made all the worse by generation upon generation having been brought up this way believing it is the right way to go.
Fidelity is the cornerstone of the family and as such it is the first influence on the minds of our children, a husband owes fidelity to his wife as does the wife to her husband. In this way they propagate a sense of dependability, devotion and commitment to their children which they can then carry on into adulthood.
Fidelity can also be applied to our dealings with others, the US Marine motto ‘Semper Fidelis’ meaning always faithful, showing the fidelity of brothers in arms to one another, that bond of trust that means your back is always covered.
Discipline
Discipline means more to us than the martial discipline we were used to in the forces, it is a way of thinking, the idea of self discipline is one of the most important aspects of this virtue.
The self discipline to finish the job rather than to knock off because its 5 o’clock, when we get home to cook a proper meal for our family rather than just open a packet. To ensure that we find the time to pass on our knowledge and our faith to our children. Even the self discipline to push ourselves to achieve, whether to gain renown or reach that next fitness target.
Discipline is almost seen as a swearword in many walks of life these days with children assaulting their teachers. Youths attacking old age pensioners for the pittance in their purse and gangs of immigrants running council estates showing no deference to the state in which they live or to the laws by which they should abide. A dire situation from which we must strive to raise our nations.
Hospitality
We are mostly by nature a hospitable folk and strive within the means at our disposal to provide for any guests that we may have. Whether this be a Hearth meeting where we gather for Blot or just a visit to a friend we have not seen for a while, you can virtually guarantee that one of the first sentences spoken after the initial hails will be “coffee or tea?” and this is as it should be, meeting in frith with the guests and host acting accordingly.
Hospitality though can be abused in these days of dysfunctional and shattered families, it has occurred many times when folk have taken in relatives in time of need only to have the helping hand bitten. Although it is our duty to offer help to friends and relatives in times of need it is not our place to put up with thieves, wasters, and destructive influences on the family. Those who cannot be helped should be cut adrift to ride the downward spiral of their own making.
We see this in a wider sense on a daily basis in our city streets, guests in our countries who have more than outstayed their welcome and are as leeches on our flesh.
Self–reliance
Self-reliance is another of the traits which modern society is trying to subvert. How many able bodied people out there are on benefits for every aspect of their lives rather than bother to get a job? A rhetorical question. There are literally millions of people in the UK alone who sit and take from the state every penny available while the taxes paid by the rest of society are supposed to fund this abomination.
Self-reliance is the learning of skills and abilities to overcome the obstacles of life, the providing for ones self and ones family. Instead of saying to the state ‘who will heat my home for me?’ say to a farmer ‘If I cut some wood for your stove may I take some for mine?’
Industriousness
As an individual we must strive for advancement not just for ourselves and our family but also for our folk and the new awakening. In any way we can we must be aware of opportunities to further these causes. The job we do should be done with the utmost professionalism and with an eye for promotion and recognition to better provide for our families.
The home should be kept in a suitably clean condition and presentable for any guests who may arrive. Children should be encouraged to take on what chores they are able and rewarded for them as a valuable learning experience, that industriousness brings rewards.
We should take any opportunity we see to further the new awakening and promote our faith and the OR.
Perseverance
We are a small but slowly growing minority and without being evangelical we promote our faith, adhering to the Nine Noble Virtues in our daily life and following our faith path. As such in this modern world we can expect to receive quite regular knock-backs along the way. It is our duty to overcome these and press on.
If the winds of the storm blow into our face and press us back then we must put our heads down, lean forward and drive into the weather. If we gain ten members over the next year, lose eight as they are the chaff and one of our own dies then we have still grown by one.
The re-awakening is the long haul, we will not see our people as a majority within my lifetime or probably within my children’s lifetime but in their children’s? Who know? But it is this that we must work towards with every sinew and bone, take every chance that presents itself to further our cause and dig in brothers and sisters. We have a fight on.