Building The Temple - exercise as a devotional activity

One thing I have noticed in the alternative faith community is a tendency to view the physical as inferior to the spiritual. The concerns of this world, such as economics, politics, security, and physical health and fitness are frequently seen as mundane, lower consciousness, or secular.

Yes, we are spiritual beings, temporarily incarnate in this world. I do not think there is a single faith on this planet that will disagree with that. My question, however, is whether this is a punishment or a reward. By viewing our flesh as inferior to our spirit, we fall into a form of dualism that says if one thing is good, then it's opposite must be bad.

What do devotional activities in the community look like from my perspective? I will approach this idea from the classical four element system most of you out there are at least familiar with, even if you do not have it as part of your world view.

AIR - Air devotionals are the most basic form we find, both within and without our community. Examples of this are prayers, bardic circles, songs, chants, etc. We use our voices and the air exiting our lungs as a form of praise and worship to the gods. Any devotional activity based on sound can be seen as an air devotion.

FIRE - Again, very common. Incense, bonfires, torches and candles are commonly used in our devotions. Also a significant number of activities are directed toward 'raising energy' which is also an aspect of fire.

WATER - A less seen, but present element of devotion and liturgy. Usually there will be some kind of liquid sacrificed, or at least present on the altar. Also the whole psychic/ intuitive focus of so much of our activity is a water thing, in my opinion.

EARTH - This is where a lot of us fall down. In general, the cakes portion of cakes and ale is as much as we do. Oh and 'grounding', using the earth as a dumping ground for our emotional toxins.

Why is this? Is it a carry over from the Abrahamic tradtions many of us arrived from? Or is it a rejected peer thing, because so many of us were 'nerds' rather than 'jocks'? Do we hate our bodies for being temporary, rather than eternal? I think there are as many reasons as there are people to have them. I do, however, see this as a great imbalance, potentially a dangerous one.

Our bodies are glorious, beautiful, unique reflections of, and gifts from, the Gods. Whether they are mighty and muscular like Thor and Skadi, lean and sinewy like Hoenir or Idun, aged and wrinkled like Bragi and Hela, or even maimed or crippled like Volund, Tyr, and Hoder. We can feel the smooth velvet of moss on a tree, we taste the sweetnes of apples and grapes, we feel the joy of hugging a freind, or the naked intimacy of our lovers.

So how would we do an 'earth' devotional? What can we do to thank the Gods for our bodies and the oh too transient experience of being incarnate? We can begin by seeing the Gods reflected in our bodies. Do we have the might and mass of Thor? The sensuality of Freyja? The challenges and difficulties of Hoder? All of these are a part of us. It is what makes us, us. Would I be who I am, here and now, without the poor vision that has plagued me throughout my life? No. I would be someone else. This has been one of my challenges to confront on the earth level. Another is economic status. By growing up poor, I learned lessons about community, resourcefulness, and determination that I would not have had otherwise.

We should look on our bodie as the 'Ehwaz", the horse that carries our consciousness through life. In a lot of ways, this is all any of us truly have and own. Once the body goes away, we are not incarnate beings any longer. That dynamic of flesh and spirit that makes us who and what we are has passed.

How do I use exercise as a devotional activity? These techniques may work for you or they may not, but hopefully they will act as a springboard to your own activity.

I begin my day with a 2 mile walk. On the first part of the walk I recite my own version of the 'Sigrdrifa's prayer'.

"Hail to thee day,
Hail day's sons,
Hail night and daughters of night.

With blithe eyes look upon me this day,
Send to me prosperity.

Hail ye Gods and Goddesses,
Hail Earth,
the mother of us all.

Goodly spells and speech I request from thee,
And understanding while I live."

As I am walking I recite this with intent, paying attention to what I am saying as well as the process of walking. Also as I walk, I make an effort to enjoy the sensual delights around me. The smells of plants and flowers, The feeling of moving muscles. The sounds of birds, crickets, frogs, even the white noise of passing traffic. I look for new wildflowers, or trees, butterflies, lizards, rocks, etc. I enjoy the sunrise or the patterns of stars overhead. All of these I do with a consciousness of my nature as an incarnate being, and a sense of gratitude for that incarnation. If I see something that reminds me of a parrticular deity, I acknowlege it with a 'Hail (deity), and a feeling of gratitude for their gifts.

On my way back, I recite my rune poem 3 times as a sort of marching cadence or chant.

Fehu's wealth streaming forth,
Uruz strength is my source,
Thurisaz challenge and defend,
Ansuz is my truest freind,
Raidho marks my journeys path,
Kennaz kindles burning wrath,
Gebo's gifts upon my soul,
Wunjo is my final goal.

Hagalaz gathers strength to smite,
Nauthiz shivers in cold night,
Issa transforms stream to glass,
Jera comes and all things pass,
Eihwaz the spine of nine worlds,
Perthro gathers mystery furled,
Algiz wards holy space,
Sowilo shows suns bright face.

Tiwaz brings law to all,
Berkano seeds and leaves both fall,
Ehwaz ancient friend to man,
Mannaz holds strength of clan,
Laguz knows secret heart,
Ingwaz rides in sacred cart,
Dagaz begins each day anew,
Othila eldest gifts run true."

Once I am home, I then begin my other portion of the work out. Pushups, crunches, etc. All of this is still with the idea of building my body into a worthy temple for the Gods. I finish the workout wth a large glass of water and go to sip my coffee on my porch, feeling joy and satisfaction that another day of incarnation has begun. Thanking the Gods once more for the gift of a body to carry and contain my consciousnees, I approach my day happily, ready for whatever challenges may come my way.

On Faith

What is faith? When we speak of religion or spirituality in any form we frequently refer to our concepts associated with them as 'our faith'. Most people, if given time, would define faith as 'things we think are accurate reflections of reality, in the absence of empirical proof'. The word 'faith' comes from the Latin fides, to trust. This meaning has been carried forward to the modern era, in that our faith describes the group of tenets and principles we have trust in. On a very basic level faith describes those things that we believe to be so basic to the nature of our world view that we feel no need to verify them by experiment. An example of this is 'I have faith that, if I were to place my hand on my workbench and use my other hand to smack it with my 3 pound sledgehammer, I would be in a great deal of pain". How do I know this without having done it? I know this through the experience of others, observed and related to me, from similar experience of my own, and through the rational process of combining these experiences into a general principle 'It hurts when heavy things hit the body'. By logical extension, I can include large rocks, wooden beams, elephants and automobile engines in the category of ' heavy things' without requiring any or all of the above to fall upon or be thrown at me.

'But', you may say, 'you have empiric evidence of the result of the above experiment, as a result of related experience. You may not have done it with that hammer on that workbench, but you had similar experience with other related objects'. I will grant the truth of this statement. However, let us consider an individual who either through mastery of biofeedback techniques, use of chemichal or natural anesthetics, nerve degeneration or disability has no sensation in their hand. Let us further assume that this individual has been in this state every time they encounter the events described above. This individual would have to accept, on faith, that their body would, under normal circumstances, experience the sensation called 'pain' by others when these events occured. This may seem to be a rather absurd chain of reasoning but, when brought into other realms of experience, it can be seen to be a valid example.

Consider the individual born with red/green color blindness. They do not see trees, roses, grass, etc., in the same fashion as those of us who have what is called normal vision. They have to accept, on faith, that these colors exist as described to them by others. This phenomenon is more common than you might believe. There exist individuals in the population who have a greater or lesser than average ability to perceive color, sound, taste, touch, and scent. I myself, in spite of being a smoker, can often tell when I am close to water or when a rainstorm is approaching by the smell. There are many people who will tell you that water has no taste or smell, so how do I do this? I cannot extend my perceptions directly to others, so as a result I must describe to them, in language, the sensations accompanying my perception. They, as a result of past experience with my veracity, will then grab their umbrellas or head out to the pool depending on how truthful they believe me to be.

There is a phenomenon in medical research called the 'placebo effect'. This occurs during double-blind testing of drugs and treatments when an individual receiving said object believes that their condition will improve and it does, even when they have received an inert substitute for the treatment. They got better without any chemichal or medical intervention beyond 'this will make you better. This occurs in daily life more often than people realize, when an individual performs some major or minor feat of strength or skill, and when asked they respond 'I did not think about whether I could do it or not, I just went in and did it'.

Even the most hardened empirical sceintists will have to admit some level of faith. Science, as a body of knowlege about the principles and functioning of the universe, is based on several fundamental tenets. These are (in no particular order):
1) The universe is knowable.
2) The universe is subject to rules.
3) These rules can be discovered through a process of observation, reason, and experiment.
I would like to look at each of these tenets in a little more detail beginning with tenet #1.

The Universe is Knowable

Science assumes as a first fundamental tenet that the human mind is capable of learning how the universe works. That we, as humans, are reasonable beings in a reasonable universe that we percieve in an accurate fashion. This is why paeleontoligists and geologists disagree with the creation stories of various religions, because if they are true , then the various bones, fossils, and layers of rock must have been created ex nihilo (from nothing), in situ (where they are), as a part of the single greatest act of forgery ever commited on humankind.


The Universe is Subject to Rules

What is meant by this is that there are a limited number of ways in which a particular event can occur. New species do not appear out of nowhere, gold does not suddenly turn into peanut butter, and rocks fall when dropped. Every event is the direct result of a series of other events, some known some unknown, and events can be linked in a consistent series that, given a sufficeint number of observed events, the results of which can be predicted before they occur. Scientists are no less prone to dogma than any other group. Einstien's basic argument against quantum physics was that the behavior of particles appeared to be random, 'God does not play at dice with the universe'. We now have a better model of particle behavior than was available at that time, due to advances in our tools and mathematics. Probability does still seem to play a large part in particle behavior, however.


These Rules Can Be Discovered Through a Process of Observation, Reason, and Experiment

This tenet assumes that our observations are an accurate reflection of what we observe. When we see a tree, it is not a dog, rock, ham sandwich, or any thing other than a tree. It assumes that our reason is neutral and unbiased, in good working order, and capable of comprehending what we observe. It also assumes that our tools are capable of accurately measuring the extent of or accurately enhancing our perception of a praticular event. One of the arguments against Galileos observation of the moons of Jupiter was that what appeared to be moons were actually just flaws in his lens. Another example of this is a mirage, of which I have seen a few in florida on a hot summer day.

Many scientific theories that are commonly accepted today were quite controversial in their time. Continental drift, for example, was only accepted in the last century. The royal society in Britain argued in the 1700s that meteorites did not exist. The examples are myriad and diverse.

So let us get back to faith. Specifically faith in the existence of divinity. I will not argue whether this existence is singular (monotheist), paired (dualist), multiple (polytheist), or universal (pantheist). I will however look at a few arguments against the existence of any or all of these.

One argument is that if this (these) being(s) exist(s), we would have empiric evidence of such existence. My agument against this statement is that the planets Uranus and Neptune, and the ice dwarfs Pluto, Charon, etc (at least 8 at this point and it is highly probable there are many more) did not appear out of nowhere as soon as we had the tools to perceive their existence. They were always there, we just did not have the tools to percieve them. (for always read 'a really fecking long time'). There are other examples of this including atoms, electrons, viruses, germs, and the site of the historical Troy. Absence of proof is not proof of absence. Or, to put it another way, it is the bear you don't see that gets you. We have huge amounts of personal testimony from individuals who vary in veracity from untrustworty (Rev Jim Bakker) to extremely trustworthy (Gandi). Some of these individuals have no reason to deceive the public. Does a hermit living in the mountains of Greece, India. or Colorado really care what the public thinks?

Other arguments are based on the nature of proof. Eyewitness testimony is sufficeint to convict an individual of murder in most (if not all) countries. However these same eyewitnesses will be told they are delusional if they attempt to testify as to the existence of divinity. The opinion of a licensced professional is sufficient for people to risk millions of dollars on an investment, but not for them to spend a few hours a week pursuing things of the spirit. I personally know an avowed atheist who rejects the idea of any divinity, but spends his free time photographing and filming ghosts. He has even stated that the reason he believes the way he does is that his wife channeled the spirit of his dead mother, and she said there is no god. First of all, what mysterious transformation occurs in the process of dying that makes an individual less likely to lie? Secondly, if a spirit is not bound by time and space, how difficult would it be for this spirit to observe any time or space and get information with which to deceive people as to its identity?

My reasons for belief are simple. First, I have directly experienced the numinous. I have felt the touch of the divine, both waking and sleeping. Secondly, I am of the opinion that it is the height of arrogance for us as a species to say we know everything there is to know about our species, the universe, and the relationship of the two. There is something there. What it is, how it functions, and what view it may (or may not- thank you Vroomfondel) have of humanity as a whole, or any particular individual or group in that whole is an argument I leave to the theologians (demarcation, mate). I have seen proof enough to convince me, and that is all any reasonable individual can expect.

SV.