Rekindling the Flame of Pagan Life Today, Part Three
Considering the differences between those who are held up as examples to follow among Christians and pagans can be illuminating. Christians hold up as examples Jesus and his saintly disciples. The most common Christian image held up of Jesus is as the suffering and crucified one dying or hanging dead on a cross. Whether the image is a crucifix or empty cross, Christ suffering and crucified is the image upheld for imitation. Christ suffering and crucified exalts maleness, celibacy, self-denial, outpouring of self, passivity, meekness, physical weakness, pleading with God in prayer, patience, humility, suffering, obedience to God’s will, and death. Historically, the saints who have been held up as models are those who best reflected the suffering and crucified Jesus. They were for the most part males, celibate monks or friars, self-denying, out-pouring of self, passive, meek and physically weak. They exercised patience and prayer in suffering, obedience to God’s will and often died as confessors or martyrs of the faith.
Those whom pagans have exalted and held up as examples to follow differ greatly in comparison to Christians. The pagans, male and female, celebrated in story and song were hearty, healthy souls full of strength, courage, endurance and life. They lived not in nature but as part of nature. They loved whom they loved and did so without shame or guilt. They took responsibility for their own lives, protected themselves, their loved ones, friends and possessions. When necessary they battled their foes and earned glory for their courage and might. They wondered at the beauty and tragedy of nature and life, gained knowledge as they did so and expressed their experiences in rhyme, story, song and writings. They ate and drank, hunted, gathered, domesticated animals and gardened, paired and bore children, stayed together or went their separate ways when it was best. They spun thread and wove cloth, made pottery, built homes, sang and danced. They wrote the scientific and philosophical works that Christians later based their writings on. They rose up to the challenges of life and faced them with courage, fully accepting whatever the Fates or Norns had determined. Divination and magic were normal practices of life. Death, while it brought sorrow and hardship, was not vilified as an enemy but accepted as a natural part of life for all of the living.
Have I idealized the life pagans lived and in many cases still live? Perhaps. I will admit my bias. Even so, I think that the contrast between those held up by Christians and pagans while less than perfect still has value and illustrates the differences between the two.
In the quote that opens this meditation, Malcolm Bull identified the challenge of the Renaissance not as recovering the past but as rekindling the flame of pagan life. Our Renaissance ancestors succeeded to a degree. Perhaps those of us who are pagan today can succeed even more.