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Spirituality: It's Not a Competition!

I write this article in direct response to attitudes I've seen exhibited among spirit-workers and "mundane" religious people alike.


TO THE MYSTICS

First of all, here are two games that we all need to stop playing:

1. "I have suffered more with my spirituality, so I am more hardcore."
2. "My life is good, which proves the Gods like me better."

I personally have suffered, a great deal.  I have the PTSD to prove it.  And while the Vanir are not all lurve and cuddles, my main Job is to serve Frey as a Light-Bringer.  Speaking from personal experience, it can be fucking hard to resist the urge to be snarky or outright mean when it's warranted, and rather swallow it down into a smile, and strive to remember the good people and bring them cheer.  My life is not as bad as it used to be, but shit happens.  Having bad shit happen to you does not mean you are doing it wrong or that there is a Great Deity Conspiracy to fuck you up.  This may actually be the case, but just because life is going well for you does not give you the right to gloat to people in hard times and feel that they must not be as blessed.

If I sound angry, consider this: I have many friends who would in one way or another fit the "spirit-worker" paradigm, that being said, when you get more than two people together, there is bound to be politics.  Some of us are God-slaves, Divine bootscrapes if you will, and that does not make the God-slave "sick" or in an "unhealthy power dynamic" as I have heard some critics express.  The Gods who decide to "pwn" humans in that manner are usually requiring some pretty thankless Jobs, the work that other mystics won't do, so to speak.  And just because someone is not Bossed around and seems to have an easier Path, doesn't make it so.

My Path is different from friends of mine who are Owned by Hela, Loki, and Odin, and even by other Vanic Deities (e.g. Freyja).  I have learned that even two people oathed to the same Deity and working that Deity's agenda here on Midgard will have different Paths: the Deities are that complex that They can share one side of Themselves with one, and a different side with another, and not be contradictory.  They are Gods -- even more complex than the most complex of humans.  And it's important not to feel unimportant just because you have less experience than someone or your Path is less "flashy".  We are all needed -- that doesn't mean we can puff up our egos, and treat others like crap, and think we are Hot Shit because the Gods want us to do things for Them.  But it's just as wrong to treat ourselves in a condescending manner: if you identify as a spirit-worker, the Gods/Spirits chose you, and it's insulting to Them to question Their judgment about it.  We all ask questions and are entitled to do so to keep our sanity; the difference comes with self-flagellation, a place where I have been largely for giving too much of a shit what others think.

We, the God-touched/God-bothered/God- owned... whatever you want to call it... we are all in the same boat, just in different positions.  One is not "better" or "worse" than the other.  I certainly don't envy my friends who are Hela's and are given Her Work to do, even though they may wield more obvious Wyrd-working power.  If anything, they need Frey's Light just as much if not more than random people.

We need to stop competing with each other: talking less, and listening (not just hearing) more, to each other, but most of all, to the Gods.  We are individuals, and remain individuals even when our lives our not completely our own anymore.  We have different Paths, and different needs.  We don't need to all lurve each other and sing "Cumbayah", but we already have enough odds stacked against us with challenges in meatspace, and often woo-pretenders who will act out of jealousy when they see something authentic.  So, a little more understanding all around, please.


TO EVERYONE ELSE

I have said this elsewhere on my site but I'm going to repeat it because I really do mean it:

I have not ever said that people are "lesser than" me or my associates spiritually because they're not as mystical, or not mystically inclined at all.  I don't feel that not having visions or precogs or talking with the Deities makes anyone inferior to me spiritually.  It takes all kinds of people to make a world, and I have seen people who claim to be mystics who live dishonorably (not anyone I would count among my associates, FYI) and people who are not mystical at all whose faith shows in their deeds.  There are many different ways of being religious, and I believe that shamans and mystics have always been historically rare, nor is it necessarily a superior path, as those who get woo-woo tend to be less functional in meatspace.  (The kind of wiring that makes people "see" also tends towards certain impairments.  Beyond that, while one can pray while working, it's nearly impossible to multitask with trancing and getting mundane activities done.  If we were all receiving mystical woo-woo, the world would stop running properly.  Trust me on this.)

To explain in more depth:

I believe there is a spectrum of Woo, and spectrums-within-spectrums, rather like shades of different colors.  I do believe there are very few people who are absolutely incapable of "receiving", full stop.  To the same effect, I believe full-time shamans have always been few and far between and most spirit-workers are not ever going to be on-call, 24/7 Bootscrapes.

There are some people who I call "Woo Lite", that is, they will talk with the Gods on occasion and/or strongly feel Their presences at rituals, and may receive direct guidance, but in general they are not being told they have to Do Things for the Gods.

It is possible to be devoutly religious and not God-Owned, and indeed, most people should not feel bad because every aspect of their life is not being meddled with by Gods Who Have an Agenda (TM).  Even most of the moderately God-touched people I know, who are not necessarily spirit-workers, find themselves prone to depression and anxiety.  While the DSM-IV-R would say that all of this religious stuff is a mental illness, I think that the mental health issues many God-touched and God-owned people face is co-morbid rather than causal, that is to repeat what I said about having the right wiring for reception also tends to interfere with being "normal".  And this is not to say that all mental illness is evidence of being God-Owned, of course it's *not*, but a few centuries ago, what you would have seen the priest for and prescribed prayers and meditation to remedy is now usually pathologized.

The professor Dale Cannon has a book called "Six Ways of Being Religious" that essentially comes down to

-Right Action
-Sacred Rite
-Reasoned Inquiry
-Devotion
-Shamanic Mediation
-Mystical Quest

While it is possible to have more than one component in one's religious makeup, most people are prone, through personality and experiences shaping that personality, to one or two.  Most of the Recons I know are all about Reasoned Inquiry, often coupled with Right Action.  I don't think it's fundamentally wrong to study history, apply it to today (especially with some of modern societal ills), and try to live honorably.  Indeed, many people are better at showing their faith through mundane deeds, and it has been said that your work is your ministry, whether you are a baker, or an engineer, or a newspaper reporter -- these things are necessary to keep the world running, and affect others in the great web of interdependence.

Moreover, if you are open to talking directly with the Gods and They don't seem to speak to you, that is not Their only way of communicating and you may find more subtle ways to connect with Them.  I obviously don't think everyone should be doing trance possession because it can be dangerous -- I myself don't do it (I didn't say "can't", I said "don't", as in "I will not").  I think the Vanir in particular can be perceived all around in nature, and enjoying the simple pleasures of life.

The important thing is not to beat yourself up because you're not as spiritually intense as This Person Over Here.  We are all different people, and your Path to the Gods is going to be tailored to your individual makeup and Wyrd.  The Gods are more appreciative of sincere intent and appropriate deed than They are of someone trying too hard to be what they shouldn't, failing at it, and making others suffer in the process.


Whether you are Woo or Not Woo, the Gods are everywhere, and can be experienced in a multitude of ways.  They are that complex.


(C) 2008 Sigrun Freyskona.