00:10:17.380then they will hear you and your ancestors will hear you.0.53
00:10:20.420So you don't have to dig into the stuff the way us Gothar do.
00:10:27.500You don't have to have this complicated, intricate understanding the way some do.
00:10:34.520But what does that have to do with bumper stickers?
00:10:38.240It's the exact opposite of a bumper sticker.
00:10:41.100But what it comes down to in a certain way is that one thing that I've heard fairly often
00:10:49.560is that you don't really understand a topic unless you can explain it to a five-year-old
00:10:54.400like Aubrey. So, and I think it's also true that complicated ideas can be distilled into a few
00:11:08.640phrases, a few short phrases, and I wouldn't say trite phrases because that has a negative
00:11:17.260connotation. Um, one of the friends of mine that I used to argue with about, um, politics and other
00:11:26.920trivia, um, was markedly progressive about his ideology, um, which was not his only flaw. Um,
00:11:37.380but, um, when we would, uh, have these discussions and I would throw a phrase at him and he'd say,
00:11:44.180You know, that's just a bumper sticker. That's just bumper sticker philosophy. And yes, in some ways it is. You know, like if you believe in the Second Amendment, you can have a bumper sticker that says, my rights shall not be infringed straight out of the Second Amendment.
00:12:02.720In case you didn't know that, or the now famous phrase from, publicized by the movie 300, Molan Levy, I'll probably pronounce them that, probably butchering the pronunciation, but, you know, come and take them.
00:12:23.260And, you know, so, yes, there is a complicated, intricate understanding and historical precedent for those sorts of bumper sticker philosophies, but that doesn't make it any less meaningful or, you know, because when you cook it all down, that that's what it means.
00:12:45.040I can defend myself. I have that right. And in many other things, that is true as well.
00:12:53.260And, you know, it can even come down to our mottos.
00:13:04.940Osatru is the natural birthright of every European, every person of European descent.0.95
00:13:12.940And just because you live in Europe doesn't mean you're European.
00:13:15.860And so the so those sorts of things can be distilled into a, you know, a little bit of short phrasing.
00:13:25.200And one of my favorites is and I should display this bumper sticker.
00:13:29.240I actually think about making some more.
00:13:32.000But from the old prior iteration of the Austrian Alliance, back when they were folkish, they produced a bumper sticker that just says Odin lives.0.62
00:13:41.720and in those two short words that says so much you know our gods are alive our gods are with us
00:13:52.220our ancestors are with us our traditions are alive and being revived by the austral folk assembly
00:13:59.660and so we can distill that into a bumper sticker so you know that bumper sticker philosophy
00:14:06.460believe me i will explain all the 862 books that i've read on the topic if you want to sit still
00:14:14.460that long or you can just take me at my word odin lives and um a man should not travel far
00:14:22.760on the road without his weapons because you never know when you need a spear to hand
00:24:27.800yes, Christianity came along, but, you know, for 100,000 years before that,
00:24:33.520we worship the gods of our own people.
00:24:36.260Odin and Wodunaz and Thursaz and Pivaz and give it to them in a way that realize, like, especially somebody who has never heard of it or barely heard of it, you have to spoon feed it to them.
00:24:55.100And, you know, and if you do it in a way that is inviting, you know, because trust me, I, you know, anybody who's least remotely curious, what I want to do is jump in their face and give them a bunch of literature and, you know, stand over their shoulder until they go to runestone.org and read the whole thing.
00:25:17.080I mean, that's my naturally, that's my natural predilection is to want them to go ahead and do it while they can.
00:25:26.380But if we can just get enough people to hear of us, hear about who we are, what we do,
00:25:32.060maybe they don't come in the first time, but maybe the third or fourth or twelfth time that they hear about also true,
00:25:40.880then they develop enough curiosity or the or the next time they see a hammer they go oh yeah i've
00:25:46.320heard about you guys i you know it's cool to see another one and eventually they will find their
00:25:53.360way home hopefully yeah so a couple of things that i think are are worth noting that do kind
00:26:03.520of connect these things i mean this is all about advertising and presentation and it's about
00:26:11.280maximizing your minutes when you have short amounts of opportunity to plant seeds
00:26:20.000so and a lot of these things we repeat on the program but i think they're very repeating and
00:26:26.320think we'd be a reminder um you being the person who engages this in whatever way you do
00:26:38.480are the de facto spokesperson of our faith
00:26:44.720the better you look the better you present yourself
00:26:49.120the more compelling the case that you make in the seconds or minutes you have to speak to this
00:26:58.100person about our faith and i mean that in a lot of different metrics yes if you are attractive
00:27:06.400that is always better than if you are unattractive if you are in good physical condition
00:27:14.280shoot, if you're in excellent physical condition, that's fantastic. If you look and your appearance
00:27:22.160shows that you take the way that you appear seriously and you have discipline and dignity,
00:27:29.940that's going to help. But there's a lot of other factors to that too. Look happy. Don't look scowly
00:27:37.680and angry and unapproachable. If you look like you're enjoying your life and you're approachable
00:27:42.640and you're a happy well-adjusted person that goes a long way um you know if you're not scary looking
00:27:52.240and yeah that has to do with you walking around with a grumpy face but it also has to do with you
00:27:57.360deliberately wearing clothes that are meant to be shocking that may attract a certain edge lord
00:28:05.600group of people but a lot of the people that we want will be repelled by it because they don't
00:28:11.040know what to make of it they lack the context or they do know what to make of it and you're going
00:28:15.680out of your way to be obnoxious with the way you dress um having a friendliness and an openness
00:28:25.200when you're talking to them all these things to maximize your minutes you want to be able to hit
00:28:32.720them from a bunch of different fronts if you can present something that is i don't know catchy and
00:31:22.540No, that's absolutely right. And, you know, of course, that's that's one of the reasons that I harp on language the way that I do.
00:31:30.500You know, 20 years ago when I started in this on this path, we were a bunch of, you know, Viking Bulgarians.
00:31:43.500But now we've evolved where we are, where we really are, you know, a family based faith who honors our ancestors and respects the, you know, the upright nobility of our culture.
00:31:58.260And, you know, and that's why, like for most people, you are the only awesome truer that they know you're the like you're the only guy who wears that hammer.
00:32:08.020You're the only woman who wears the little lady with the mead cup thing.
00:32:14.380And so, you know, so to put your best foot forward always, yes, with a happy demeanor and, you know, you win more friends with honey than with vinegar, you know, all those things are true.
00:32:34.440We want to be the kind of people that other people want to be around.
00:32:40.100Like, you know, when I go to the Hoff, any Hoff that I'm at is always so welcoming and friendly and open that, you know, it's a beautiful thing to be around the families that we have, the people that we are is, you know, it's a wonderful, joyous experience.
00:32:56.860the, you know, because we are the people who believe that this life is joyous, that this life, that our people, this world is sacred.
00:33:08.180And we act that way. And that's why, you know, we have a lot of the values of the, I'd say it like the broader pagan community where, you know, yes, we honor and nurture the earth.
00:33:26.860you know we are in charge of it but you know you can we are benevolent dictators um we honor and
00:33:34.060nurture our families children are not in charge though um so those are the you know so those are
00:33:40.620the sorts of things that again we as we present that way in the world then the people who who see
00:34:19.580around us, try to label many of the things that are our core values as being bad and
00:34:29.020villainous in those chaotic circles that unfortunately control the media and control
00:34:37.620a lot of the narrative in certainly, I don't know, vapid college-age people's minds.0.99
00:34:46.180whiteness is bad heterosexuality is bad traditional values are bad being a man is bad0.90
00:34:57.960so there's a constant push to say that anything we believe is villainous and that we are then0.75
00:35:07.000villains don't lean into that don't let that affect the way you think and don't as a way to
00:35:17.240combat it celebrate the bad guy image we're the good guys don't ever forget that and don't get
00:35:24.680tricked into identifying with the negative stereotype they try to put on you that's
00:35:33.880it sounds so common sense but when you hear it enough eventually you'll see some of our people
00:35:40.360that are easily swayed acting as if they are in fact the bad guy don't do that
00:35:49.640no absolutely and i you know one of the
00:35:51.800authors that I have read a good deal of watch several of his videos is Jonathan Bowden
00:36:02.920notorious English patriot and he he had one of the one of the great phrases that that
00:36:17.080that I've taken to heart and when presented the opportunity and necessity to address some of the things that maybe if you want to say it this way,
00:36:32.080you know, some of the excesses of that Western civilization has engaged in, conquering people, being mean to people and that sort of thing.
00:36:41.860sure yes absolutely that happened um we did that um you know in an ideal world that wouldn't be
00:36:51.480necessarily the way to interact with other cultures um but it is also a fact of life
00:36:57.000is a it is a historical fact that um cultures clash and um you know
00:37:07.780you know, again, one of those bumper sticker ideas that is always in my head in that situation is
00:37:15.040when it's us versus them, I take us every time. And, um, so yes, um, if you read about
00:37:24.860some of the, again, like the cultural clashes, um, you know, why would you want to go out and,
00:37:33.520you know, kill these other people. Well, they were trying to kill us. And so, you know,
00:37:38.500when it's kill or be killed, again, easy choice, easy choice. Um, and yes, we have been aggressive
00:37:47.500in trying and taking territory and all that sort of thing. Um, I think there's a, there's
00:37:53.660absolutely a way to make that be reasonable in the big picture. We are trying to impose order
00:37:59.700into a chaotic universe, into a chaotic world, the world of Midgard.
00:38:06.440We've succeeded in greater or lesser extent in imposing order in various parts of Midgard.
00:38:18.180And yes, that comes at a price, you know.
00:38:20.640I mean, and at the same time, and that applies to, like, every arena, right, like one of the tropes right now that they, they, them, we know who they are, always hit us with is, well, you know, what about slavery?
00:38:41.440What about, you know, you guys enslaved all these people?
00:44:51.040And of course, the progressive is all about removing boundaries. You know, we should uproot this fence. This fence is harshing my buzz. It's in my way. We need to get this out of here. I'm not able to fully actualize myself with this fence here in the way of whatever it is that I want to do.
00:45:36.880he would say something along the lines of
00:45:39.460of before we go pulling this fence up, let's think about why it's here. Why did someone put a fence
00:45:47.200here? What is this fence designed to do? What is this barrier that is between, like the way we
00:45:56.020would say it, there's this barrier here that someone erected 600 years ago, 10,000 years ago,
00:46:03.400They put this barrier up to help divide order from chaos.
00:46:11.180The word meme was not originally written about a Facebook post.
00:46:17.080The meme, memeology, is about those sorts of cultural ideals,
00:46:25.400the cultural ideology specifically for us, Western civilization,
00:46:30.180pardon the redundancy, but specifically for us, Chesterton's Fence then would be about those
00:46:37.560sorts of things. And maybe the easy example is marriage, right? Marriage is a man and a woman
00:46:44.940who partner together so that they, not exclusively, but primarily and in large part,
00:46:51.620so that they can raise children in a stable environment. And of course, the left has come
00:46:59.140alone, feminism primarily, but all the other progressive ideologies that have to do with
00:47:06.380uprooting all these cultural boundaries. So, you don't need marriage. You can just have, you know,1.00
00:47:13.340you know, women can raise kids by themselves. You know, we don't need men. We just need a1.00
00:47:18.740child support check. So, and so they uprooted that fence, right? They have undone marriage,
00:47:27.920And we can see that in both in the collapsing marriage rate, in the skyrocketing rate of unwed motherhood and in the high divorce rate.
00:47:42.880What has that done? You know, if you and look, I'm divorced.
00:47:49.800I know that it's you know, that that stuff is not easy.
00:47:52.860um i put it all down again you know it's the you know it's the cultural enrichment um brought about
00:48:01.440by the culture of critique but the um but but what has that done i mean look at this the the way that
00:48:10.300the the mental illness among children and and actually studies show and i use that phrase but
00:48:18.300Um, they do show they, those studies done by sociologists and psychologists demonstrate that, um, the number one, um, indicator, the number one leading, um, cause or, uh, indication of mental disturbance in children is divorce.
00:48:41.420and it's, you know, it's a very real phenomenon.
00:48:48.460And, you know, and when I say stuff like this,
00:48:56.120I don't mean, I'm not saying this as a way to belittle women.
00:49:05.000They complement us with the E, the complement.1.00
00:49:08.460They are our other halves, our better halves.1.00
00:49:11.180in many ways um biologically though women are you know eight million years of evolution um1.00
00:49:22.060they are um caretakers um for the home and of children and you know but in the modern world1.00
00:49:32.200Because of the ills of feminism and the way that we've been led astray by the forces of chaos, they don't always get to implement that.1.00
00:49:47.900Even those, again, studies show that most women would rather be at home.1.00
00:49:52.520But they can't be because there's complicated reasons about why housing is so expensive, blah, blah, blah.
00:49:59.020I don't want to get too far off on that track because we're talking about Chesterton's Fence and why it is that the cultural meme of marriage is such an important foundational institution for Western civilization.0.50
00:50:18.120And because of that, that is one of the primary things that the Frankfurt School set about to unwind.
00:50:29.200And I can't remember the name of the book that they produced in 1918 or whatever it was.
00:50:34.260But, you know, the foundational element of Western civilization is the family.
00:50:45.800And because of cheap consumer goods and cable and smartphones and all that stuff, we are contributing to our own demise as the machine eats its way through Western civilization.
00:51:06.200But, you know, if we could find a way, we traditionalists, if we could find a way to throttle that back, I think that's one of the things that we could do it.
00:51:26.060And, and, and again, you know, there are any numbers of examples and that's just the easy one that comes to mind.
00:51:33.260And Matt, I would entertain anything else that you want to posit along that regard.
00:51:39.520But, you know, that's, again, marriage is the easy one to me.
00:51:45.340And so, you know, but any of those cultural boundaries, maybe another one is children.
00:51:56.060in recognizing and respecting their elders. Okay. That too is, you know, has gone the way of the
00:52:04.320dinosaur in large part. But again, why do they do that? Because kids don't know anything. Kids are
00:52:13.500dumb. Okay. Maybe some of them are, have a little bit of smart, but they're not experienced. You1.00
00:52:20.140know, why can't I just go out in the road and play in traffic? Why can't I just stick this fork in
00:52:25.260electric socket okay well chesterton's fence would suggest that you don't go out in the road because
00:52:33.100that's a good way to get smashed you don't stick for an electrical socket because you'll blow a
00:52:37.420breaker and dad will get all pissy because he's got to go out in the closet and um you know swap
00:52:42.460the breaker over or whatever so those sorts of cultural memetics are designed to to keep our
00:52:52.060civilization from descending into chaos. And so when somebody asks you, why do we do things this
00:53:01.620way? Because 200,000 years of civilizational evolution has demonstrated that this is the
00:53:14.820way to do it. And before you start doing it some other way, you do a little test over here. You
00:53:20.420don't upend the whole civilization because Gertrude Stein's got her panties in a knot1.00
01:00:12.840I'm not, but I believe those books are there,
01:00:16.840but when Google curated all the results to where it was impossible to find the other argument,
01:00:22.340And anytime they tell you that you can't look at the information to decide anything on your own, that is a powerful signal that they are lying to you.
01:00:41.060Maybe not 100% of the time, but it should certainly push you that direction until proven otherwise.
01:00:48.920And there's a few things in this world that are unquestionable.
01:00:52.340you're not allowed to question them and think on them that should be a big red flag that's my thing
01:00:57.780i'm not in just a word out here i know that some people tend to go all one way or all the other
01:01:03.940like alan was saying if there is some hey this is a look at the bodies in the street piling up
01:01:09.540because of this plague well cool then maybe there's an actual reason to do that it's funny
01:01:15.460in the same conversation with my dad about the covid vaccine well why should i take it
01:01:23.060and he said well why shouldn't you i'm like no that's not what you taught me in 1997 no
01:01:31.620and i said i'm not scared of covid and i think what what i used was chop it up i'll do a line
01:01:38.980of covid right now i don't fear covid i do fear getting this vaccine and you know that was the
01:01:49.140logic it's not trying to rant at you guys about whatever you you think and i would encourage you
01:01:53.620guys to make the best medical decisions that you can i think another great another great example
01:02:02.820of you know chesterton's fence being uprooted and relocated based on the influence of
01:02:10.500those who are trying to undo our civilization corporate catalyst is
01:02:20.020the uh the food pyramid you know the food pyramid has destroyed american health
01:02:26.020um you know we used to we used to invert we used to eat the inverted food pyramid right
01:02:33.660um sugar's bad for you of course but you know the but like we used to it was all meat and dairy and
01:02:41.260eggs a little bit of fruit and you know a side of bread and that was food and now they you know so
01:02:47.580then they came up with the food pyramid and and again so like Chesterton would
01:02:54.900say he probably I think I always invented having a pipe you know why
01:02:59.640should we eat in a different way than our ancestors have been eating for the
01:03:03.220last 20,000 years well because ConAgra and other Monsanto similar type
01:03:12.280corporate interests, sponsored these studies that were gamed to show that grain-based diets
01:03:23.160are better for you. It's totally wrong. It's totally the opposite of what stuff is. I mean,
01:03:29.560look at the, and you know, again, in the Facebook memes, they put pictures that come out. Look at a
01:03:36.620beach picture from the 1960s when people were eating meat and dairy, you know, 3,000 calories
01:03:45.860a day of bacon and eggs and milk, you know, and everybody's thin because that's what our bodies
01:03:54.820are designed and evolved to run on is that, you know, that's the kind of fuel. And what do
01:04:01.560Americans look like now? You know, we're all a bunch of fat slobs, myself included. You know,0.99
01:04:06.820I have been trying to instill some more discipline in myself lately, but it's not all just because of
01:04:14.680Pop-Tarts and Captain Crunch, but that had a big contribution. You know, breakfast is the
01:04:20.480most important meal of the day. Look, this, you know, Captain Crunch is a delicious part of a
01:04:27.580nutritious breakfast all totally bunk all totally false um but except the delicious
01:04:35.340huh i said i said except the delicious part right it is delicious um uh but otherwise no um
01:04:47.360although i do still occasionally eat a pop-tart if i can find one laying around loose somewhere
01:04:53.780But so we have destroyed ourselves by listening to the science.
01:05:04.860And so we have to decide for ourselves, you know, what, you know, what, and we can look at thousands and thousands of years of history, you know, about what it is that works for us.
01:05:18.520um and not everybody can eat dairy and cheese and i realize cheese is subsanitary you know
01:05:27.620but you know but ditto like where we have infused the western diet into places like uh you know
01:05:37.000into the pacific islands and you know and i matt i know you've had some experience with those guys
01:05:41.880from you talk about you know having the guys from samoa and they're you know working up in alaska
01:05:46.320And, you know, it has destroyed their health.
01:05:51.320You know, they've gone from these thin, healthy, lean, muscular guys to being obese.
01:09:00.000Don't get me started about driving because, you know, I have a long list of road rage quibbles that not everybody.
01:09:12.420Now, I should also go back and iterate that you can be a responsible vegetarian and be lean, but it's a lot of work in my experience.
01:09:25.760because we were vegan for a while and it's a lot of work to do that and to get the right nutrition
01:09:33.440and if you can do it great you know in fact there's a i think there's an ethical and there
01:09:40.860is an ethical response about the way that um meat animals are treated they're treated horribly
01:09:50.520that's another thing that we should, like as a civilization, we should be more, we should be
01:09:59.120kinder to the animals that we eat. They live horrible lives. And, you know, so for some,
01:10:07.760you know, that in and of itself is a reason to be vegetarian, not because it's wrong to eat meat,
01:10:12.440But because it's wrong to raise chickens, you know, 60 in an 8x8 crate that, you know, that have horrible lives and they're slaughtered horribly.
01:23:36.880this goes back to the nobility discussion about making good choices the afa doesn't have some
01:23:49.960kind of abstinence before marriage stance the afa doesn't have a big stance on sex before marriage
01:23:55.800the AFA has a stance on wanting our people to be dignified and wanting our people to make good
01:24:03.900and responsible choices. And there is an arc to that, especially when sex comes into play and
01:24:11.900the consequences that come along with it. So there is a great deal to be said for
01:24:17.100discretion and wisdom in figuring that out artfully i think there is a tendency by those in our
01:24:28.600circles to want us to have a particularly prudish stance and i don't think that's appropriate even
01:24:35.240though you know it's tempting to to go with that but i do think an honest stance is also necessary
01:24:42.620in there um so yeah there's no great afa doctrine on sex before marriage but the responsibility of
01:24:55.480dealing with that and dealing with the consequences of it i think we could talk we could talk an
01:25:00.680entire show easily about what is ideal i think ideal is that our families are raised together
01:25:10.740in a faith community and you have people that have grown up knowing each other and families
01:25:14.700that have grown up knowing each other and you have people who are both 18 that are magically
01:25:21.980in love with each other and have found the perfect partner and they stay with that partner
01:25:25.840for the rest of their life and raise you know many healthy beautiful white babies i think
01:25:33.820that that's a whole lot of um variables that are unlikely to all hit at the same time but i think
01:25:42.460trending towards that gets us closer to the ideal alan what are your thoughts on these things
01:25:49.340i agree with what you said um we have some work to do to correct um the errant path that uh that
01:25:59.660we are on overall. Along that line, I would just say, you know, although, of course, you
01:26:07.560know, it's not the last word on these sorts of things ever, but in Germanica, it wasn't
01:26:19.860Caesar, who was it? Anyway, you know, when they were, when the Romans were trying unsuccessfully
01:26:27.680to conquer the German peoples, you know, they noted that chastity was greatly valued0.97
01:26:35.260among the German tribes, and for a good reason.0.96
01:26:45.400So I'll say this on what's not ideal.1.00
01:26:48.360So, what is not ideal is for you to find yourself in a spot where you have children that you have no custody or shared custody of.
01:27:08.320That is a horrible place to be most of the time.
01:27:14.140It's a less than ideal place to be all of the time.
01:27:18.520but i've seen a lot of heartbreak by people who have not been thoughtful in their
01:27:30.440premarital sexual expression and they have found themselves with children that they
01:27:37.080don't get to see or have say in their life or to where they kind of have to half borrow their
01:27:42.120when the children are in a 20-year struggle with a person who hates them
01:27:51.400with kids in the balance that really don't get what we would want for them in terms of
01:28:00.120a family and upbringing trying to avoid that situation by some caution i think is very advisable
01:28:07.640And at the same time, you know, we also recognize that in this modern era, especially where traditionalism is trying to gain a new foothold in a, you know, awash in a sea of anti-traditionalism, you know, and especially, you know, a man or a woman who gets in to a marriage with the best intention.
01:28:34.620and then one or the other of them finds their way
01:32:10.840And so, like, for the most part, people have no idea what that stuff is.
01:32:16.400Um, and honestly, part of it is because in my, you know, my car is, ends up parked outside my professional office and I want to keep the amount of controversy, um, below, uh, the minimum.
01:32:38.060however the one that i won't say it causes a problem the one that draws the most attention
01:32:44.300um is you know i have a i have a i have a peace sign on my truck but i have it right side up
01:32:51.500um you know and and i mean that's an easy thing to goad people with because you know the peace sign
01:32:58.780if you put it right side up it's the augie's room so you know i've been i've been stopped in traffic
01:33:05.900and had people ask me you know why should peace sign upside down and like again i've got an
01:33:10.540elevator speech for that and they go you mean they've been lying to us about that the whole time
01:33:16.620they sure have um so that's one of those things that can you know inspire
01:33:23.820attention and thoughtfulness among people and it doesn't mean war exactly you know the opposite of
01:33:31.420although we are at war with the anti-traditionalists and i'm happy to own that
01:33:43.580i don't have any bumper stickers um and i haven't gotten any negative feedback um
01:33:53.820um to be fair you do you may not have a bumper sticker but you do have a car that says prius on
01:34:01.640it that's bad enough so people dislike my prius but i really like my gas savings so
01:34:08.380you know there's a cost for that um i have a
01:34:16.040sons of confederate veterans license plate that i'm sure some people who are
01:49:12.480and, you know, absorbs the surrounding peoples and countryside into its sphere of influence.
01:49:23.640But then the peoples at the edge that don't quite get conquered develop a sense of, in this term,
01:49:31.840asabaya or cohesiveness, and Gilbert said, you know, folkishness.
01:49:39.840Like, you know, so if you want to think of it, and it is widely true that this phenomenon occurs between, like, the city and the country, between the city and the rural, because you come, you know, like, the civilization conquers, and, you know, the warriors go out and make this big buffer zone.
01:50:07.480and then they sort of retract to the city and become comfortable and wealthy and become soft
01:50:16.460and lazy and that's what happened to Rome although it took several hundred years
01:50:24.040some would say thousand years because Byzantium was really the end of the Roman Empire and that
01:50:29.840didn't get conquered until like the 1600s right 1500s um anyway so but the but those those outer
01:50:39.700groups develop a group cohesion because they are opposed to the control being levied against them
01:50:51.500by the by the central authority okay so just like the german tribes were remained unconquered
01:51:03.360because they kept their asabaya they kept their folkishness and they said we will not
01:52:10.840It was, you know, I mean, Spain, like traditionally European had been hundreds of thousands of years had been, you know, the Celto Aryan people.
01:59:39.120alan do you want to take the first swing at that
01:59:43.120i i can but you know the answer is yes um you know
01:59:47.920You know, if they're a worthy person who has done good things and stands with their folk and, you know, I have no qualms at all about it.
02:00:04.140Of course, my dad was an atheist, I guess, and my mother's a devout Christian, but at the same time, they didn't know about Ossetru.
02:00:17.920So, I mean, I understand the import of the question, but I would still say, you know, that in the open round of oaths, toasts, and boasts, that it was, you know, that it's a valid expression.
02:00:36.900See, I think that the devil is really in the details.
02:00:41.220um people ask on here a related question but the difference to me is
02:00:47.940knows about us are true but chooses to reject it for christianity
02:03:27.180You know, both important, you know, so at the same time, I, you know, I mean, I know what she's getting at, you know, but the, but those are differences of degree and not of kind.
02:03:45.240And the Greco-Roman panoply is very much the same as the Norse panoply.
02:03:54.900The Indo-European people manifested that in slightly different ways.
02:04:01.580But and I'm not super conversant on the, you know, the like which one represents, you know, like Mars, you know, because when, you know,
02:04:13.980when the Caesars were conquering or tried to conquer the German tribes,
02:04:18.260they saw very close analogies to, you know, between Mars and Thor, for example.
02:04:23.680So, you know, so those are differences of degree and not of kind.
02:04:29.820You know, there are heroic gods who smash the forces of chaos
02:08:28.300on more than one occasion members have responded negatively to ai generated flyers for afa events
02:08:35.780when i send them out i'm sure there are many more members or there are more members that have a
02:08:42.060problem with af flyers and don't tell anyone while i try to limit ai in my work i can understand if
02:08:49.140others want to use it to save time but some members seem to think it's a kind of moral failing
02:08:54.300or something. Do you think these members might have a valid point? What are your thoughts on
02:08:59.640using AI for AFA-related things and people just using it in general? Thanks for all you do.
02:09:07.260Alan, what are your thoughts on using AI-generated design for flyers?
02:09:14.120i think it's fine you know because to use ai to say you know draw me a you know generate me a
02:09:26.360picture of some vikings sitting around the dinner table i don't have the artistic ability to do that
02:09:32.820i mean every flyer i've ever done back you know 100 years ago when i was a folk builder
02:09:39.280Or, you know, it's all just a text, you know, which is, I mean, it's bland and boring, but I mean, it just says, you know, we're doing this at this point, you know, because I don't have that, you know, that be that flair for that sort of stuff.
02:09:57.260I'm all about some vocabulistics, but the, but, you know, I see absolutely nothing wrong with it.
02:10:09.280To the extent that it enhances, you know, just the publicizing of the event, you know, I wouldn't suggest that we should let the AI go out, you know, pick me a date and a restaurant and, you know, and, you know, and do the whole thing for us.
02:10:25.680But, you know, as far as enhancing a flyer so that it is more eye-catching, now, I mean, at the same time, I understand, like, the objection to that is, you know, AI is eating the world as part of the machine.
02:10:45.480And so, you know, to the extent that we are contributing to the downfall of all that sort of stuff, I mean, I, you know, that's the objection.
02:10:58.720I mean, I sort of understand it, but, you know, that seemed to me to be just, you know, the the part of that purity spiral that we all get in sometimes.
02:11:12.800And, you know, you know, for some it's objectionable, but for some it enhances the, you know, the beauty and attention that the flyer and that the underlying event deserve.
02:11:32.060So, you know, do what seems right to you would be my suggestion.
02:11:38.820Yeah, I think these people are drastically overreacting.
02:12:09.840that ai helped you with but it's different having ai write you a song or ai compose you a poem
02:12:17.680i think some of those things take away from art but this isn't art this is you trying to make a
02:12:24.880quick flyer that's visually appealing and i think that everybody knows that you're not trying to
02:12:30.800trick them or pass anything off and if a member objects do they have a hand-drawn flyer they would
02:12:38.000like to present to you to use instead if they do and i say that as a flex like cool you want to draw
02:12:44.480one what but if they come back hey here's this beautiful one i drew for you sure use that one
02:12:50.800go for it awesome um no ai is a tool that is increasingly useful for us to not use it
02:12:59.680is puts us at an unnecessary disadvantage there are certainly going to be many occasions where
02:13:09.600it would be inappropriate but to navigate what is a good use of it when it's necessary
02:13:17.360um no we need to be we need to be on the cutting edge of using all of the tools necessary as long
02:13:26.880as they do not do something morally intolerable for our fold to advance us and move us forward
02:13:34.000our ancestors were noted for doing that they were at the tip of technology and they wouldn't
02:13:40.160shun using things outside of their sphere or that their ancestors didn't use in order to
02:13:46.800be more effective at their goals efficacy matters and tying hands behind your back for no good
02:13:54.960reason because somebody's purity spiraling because they want to use microsoft paint or
02:14:00.480whatever they're used to using i don't see that as a as a moral argument and i also don't see a
02:14:08.320dishonesty as if you're claiming if you're going to claim that you hand drew it and it was generated
02:14:13.680by arvin yeah or ai then yeah your deception is is morally reprehensible but if you're not trying
02:14:21.040to fool anybody i don't think it's inappropriate at all i think you're doing the best you can to
02:14:25.200make visually appealing stuff and that's fun some of my flyers would use ai but i'm not bright enough
02:14:32.240to know how to do that so that's where i'm at but i appreciate you asking i'm sure it'll come up on
02:14:38.800a variety of things as those kind of lines get blurred more and more no but i think that's a
02:14:43.840great point if anybody raises an objection then you ask them okay well next time i do it
02:14:49.840But I would like we can work together.
02:14:53.640You know, we can work together and put together a flyer that, you know, that you can do that art and I'll do the place and we'll meet and talk about it.
02:15:01.900So that's a great that's a great co-option there.
02:26:17.060other than a ritual clubbing, nothing comes immediately to mind.
02:26:30.560And I think, some kidding aside, one of the things that I
02:26:41.700believe in in the hierarchy of our tradition is
02:26:51.220reaching these questions within the chain of authority or within the chain of command if you
02:27:01.160will. So if I were faced with that, I would try to formulate a ritual where offerings are made
02:27:18.420to the desir, to your, you know, to your guardian spirits to ask your ancestors to influence their ancestors, you know, because I honestly believe that the, you know, that those sorts of things like my morning prayer involves an invocation to my grandmother.
02:27:48.420fathers and my grandmothers um and and but less or so to the gods like the gods are out there
02:27:57.440fighting ice giants and um you know they're out on the periphery maintaining the balance
02:28:04.760in the world between order and chaos um so you know you want to try to keep these things it seems
02:28:13.540to me at the uh you know at the at the proper level of um of involvement you know like if
02:28:23.940your electricity goes out you don't call your senator you call the city councilman
02:28:30.500so when the you know so if you want to try to influence a friend a nurse while brother to come
02:29:09.060any time you are reaching out in prayer, be it to your ancestors, to the gods, whatever
02:29:21.540it might be, if you're asking them for something that you have no hand in, that there's nothing
02:29:28.660for you to do, and you're helpless and you want some help from the other side, okay.
02:29:34.920but if it's something that you have the ability to affect yourself
02:29:39.180it would be improper for you not to be doing those things as well and i would never want
02:29:47.080to cut you off from praying also but like if you know someone who has turned their back
02:29:54.660on our gods and you want them to reconnect i think reaching out to your ancestors is a good idea
02:30:02.160I will say this, I have always been one to reach out directly to the gods on most things, and I'm not saying that's the right way to go, it's just how I've, it's how I've grown in Ausatru.
02:30:21.080but again i think scope matters i think a general you know beseeching the gods to help
02:30:29.700and this person open their eyes or come to their senses is a nice thing to do i don't think us
02:30:36.920prescribing you like you know say this thing five times and turn around in a circle and whatever
02:30:43.820i don't i think and i've always been an advocate for more prayer directly from the heart
02:30:51.020and you just asking respectfully for the thing that you want
02:30:56.080or even affirming an intention that you want
02:31:00.340in front of your altar and the sight of the gods is helpful.
02:31:03.620But it's also helpful while you're doing that
02:31:06.080to make sure you have extended that effort towards that person.
02:31:45.720And I think Alan's point about, you know, going to the ancestors first is probably a very valid thing to do on that.
02:31:55.700But anything that you're doing, whenever you're praying for anything, make sure you're doing it reverently, respectfully, and make sure that you are putting in the effort on your part where it's available to make that thing happen.
02:32:13.140So, okay, so joking aside, we have a social aversion, and it is sometimes, and it is easy to ask the gods to do it for you because it's awkward.
02:32:27.560Face the awkward, like, hey, let's you and I sit down and have some drinks and hash this out and talk it over.
02:32:35.320And, you know, Alan, you know, it's said in a joking way, but not really.
02:32:40.900Um, the term in vino veritas was originally used to apply to our Germanic ancestors and our customs of drinking often heavily when having those kinds of conversations, because it tears down those awkwardness walls and, you know, vino veritas from lying truth.
02:33:03.840you're sitting there and you guys do have a conversation
02:33:08.000in that kind of an environment, you can get to the heart
02:33:11.860of the problem in a way that is more challenging
02:33:24.460How does one get in trough with the gods?
02:33:27.560well i think answer asking the question is a perfect first step um the um there's no wrong
02:33:45.380way there may be a wrong way i couldn't conceive one but you know you know if you as matt said if
02:33:53.620you seek sincerely um then the gods will find you um the um there are certainly lots and lots of
02:34:07.320books out there uh to you know that will give you some intellectual understanding of what we do and
02:34:16.580why we do it um but you know you don't have to read any any of that stuff i mean and and i'll
02:34:24.680say that that on our website uh runestone.org um in our library we have some very simple rituals
02:34:33.020that um you know where you just ask the gods to show themselves to you uh you know and that and
02:34:45.620and you know it's not like you know the uh the blue cloaked wanderer is going to
02:34:52.900knock at your door in the next few minutes but if you seek with sincerity and persistence then
02:35:01.860um the gods and the ancestors will clear a path so that you can find um what you need
02:35:11.620when you need it um there are lots and lots of good books out there steve's book um also true
02:35:18.500and native european spirituality um edrid's book our truth is a also an excellent resource there's
02:35:27.780some other stuff that i like that it's hard to find but that have some good explanations out there
02:35:34.340for some of the concepts um but you know and of course
02:35:44.420an another strong strong way to to to correct to come into the gravitational pull
02:35:55.300into the orbit of the gods is to come to the hoff you know come to the nearest hoff event um
02:36:01.940um even if you know even if it's a day's travel for you and you know i realize that it's you know
02:36:09.160that that can be a lot to ask of people um but come and talk to us i mean cliff spawn daniel
02:36:19.640matt sheila steve we you know me trent all the go far that's what we're there for you know so
02:36:28.740come to a Hoff event and, you know, as Val was saying earlier, you know,
02:36:35.080this is a big part of our lives. You know,
02:36:38.700I work to support my also true habit. Um, and, uh, uh, you know,
02:36:45.460so man, you, you know, you get us started and I didn't mean to leave anybody
02:36:52.080out. I, you know, I didn't go through the whole list because, uh, you know,
02:36:58.220I mean, even John Rock's a decent guy most of the time, but ask us, you know, and then, and especially after you've kind of done it for a while, and again, you know, when you explore some of the folk ways to, you know, leaving some cream out for the house troll.0.99
02:37:28.220Pouring mead out to your land whites.1.00
02:37:31.440Those are the sorts of things that, you know, it's all one thing, right?0.99
02:37:36.420It's like, yes, the gods are critically important.
02:37:41.460But all of these things, all of these things are part of the folk way.
02:37:46.600And I will repeat, as I sometimes do, you know, that that I don't I really try to think of myself and I get to that point.
02:38:01.260Like, sorry, there was, oh, there's a, there's a, there's an essay from several years ago that, that talks about how difficult it is to come from a place of Christianity or, and then penetrate through that place of lack of faith and to believe in the gods again.
02:38:21.980um so you know that that that characterization was that we believe in the we believe in believing in
02:38:29.840the gods and that's the start you know that's that's coming to the door you know i i want to
02:38:37.340believe and then you open the door and you and you walk around in here and you and you accumulate all
02:38:44.720these practices and folkways and beliefs and system to the point now i can honestly say i think
02:48:33.660We certainly pray expressing ourselves to them.
02:48:41.780But we should always be listening for response or for interaction from that.
02:48:49.600I think any prayer situation should inherently facilitate some stillness and some reflection and some meditative, you know, being present for absorbing that response, however it comes to you.
02:49:13.300And I think listening is part of that.
02:49:14.760um alan do you have anything to add on the question you weren't here for the question
02:49:21.640might be a dumb question when you join house to true are you required to formally declare it
02:49:26.140no they said this i didn't say that i wouldn't insult our questioners that way um are you0.94
02:49:32.260required to formally declare a patron deity and does prayer need to be talking slash asking
02:54:04.400our gods need things we need things and it is very much you know our gods need our truth
02:54:20.320they need our worship um they need our devotion they need
02:54:25.840And like we're generally said, and in the greater theory of religion, there's a different word I can't quite come up with, but like as we devote our life energy to them, they become more manifest in our lives.
02:54:48.380they become more manifest in the world. They become strengthened
02:55:12.520manifestation into the world. So we give to them
02:55:16.260our truth and our devotion in return they give to us guidance and strength and courage
02:55:26.940and that is the gift cycle um i should know but don't um the exact uh chapter and verse of uh
02:55:38.780you know a gift demands the gift um although i'm not positive that that's exactly what that means
02:55:44.880in that context, but a lot of it comes back to the underlying
02:55:56.800or overarching story of the world tree, right?
02:56:07.000Yggdrasil reaches up into the sky and creates the dew.
02:56:12.460The dew falls to the ground and nourishes the roots of the tree that rise back up and create the branches that create the dew that creates the life nourishing rivers that nourish the tree.
02:56:33.480So in the exact same way, our devotion rises to God so that they can nourish our soil so that we can make more, more.
02:57:33.480And that sharing doesn't imply any type of equity of gift.
02:57:41.080You giving a four-year-old a bicycle and then giving you a hand-drawn stick figure that may remotely look like you, there's no equity in that.
02:57:52.640But there is an exchange of you love your child and you're giving them something that you think will make them happy.
02:58:01.460and they're giving you something because they love you
02:58:05.280and they think that you'll really like this thing.
02:58:09.140That exchange matters, and it's not because your kid needs a bicycle
02:58:12.800and it's not because you need a picture to put on your fridge.
02:58:16.580It's the thought that counts in the most sincere and visceral version of that.
02:58:23.840It's the energy that you put in to your offering that is meaningful.
02:58:31.460And, you know, certainly the gods don't need, there's not a mead shortage in Asgard.
02:58:40.760It's the imbued intention and worship that you put into the mead.
02:58:45.860It's that exchange of your devotion for their might, for their inspiration, for their blessings, whatever the case might be.
02:58:59.780The more you exchange gifts with the gods, the more you're regularly engaged in that worship gift-giving cycle, the more potent and the more powerful and the closer that relationship becomes.
02:59:15.820The more you exchange gifts with a loved one or with a friend, the closer your relationship becomes.
02:59:21.960And sometimes that exchange is, hey, you were really sad and you needed something, you called me up.
02:59:27.520hey i really needed you one time and you were there for me that's also an exchange of gifts
02:59:33.000building that shared experience over time builds a stronger more powerful connection and it also
02:59:40.800makes the environs that it happens in more powerful i mentioned earlier about you know
02:59:47.620some of the favorite things at the hoffs the fact that the gift cycle has been observed for
02:59:53.280almost 11 years now at Odenshof, you can feel the resonance of that in the place because it is
03:00:00.900powerful. But yeah, it's that exchange of gifts between parties that care for one another
03:00:11.500is the fundamental essence of that. And you can get deeper with deeper esoteric truths to it.
03:00:18.360There's layers, but on the most fundamental layer that we all understand as human beings, yes, that sharing gifts and the important thing, the divine spark that makes you one of our race, one of our people, that is the first part of that gift cycle.
03:17:31.640I have a runic meditation that I do every day, mantra, runic mantra, and I Galdar the Futhark, you know, because sometimes when I sing Lizzo, it just doesn't sound right.
03:18:18.600saw them do that and I thought man that's cool
03:18:21.060And so I just, so I found that song and I looped it a couple of times so that I could just get in the rhythm of it. And again, I do it slightly differently now, but yes, I think that is very, very much a way to manifest our order into the world.
03:18:41.240all right well there you have it so um final announcement of the night starting next week
03:18:51.900victory never sleeps will occur at 6 p.m central that is two hours earlier than its current start
03:19:00.980time um i am hoping that's going to be more convenient for most of our guests certainly
03:19:08.680for our recurring guests i hope it will also facilitate um some of the members of the audience
03:19:14.840that it just runs too late for maybe they will be able to catch more of it participate a little
03:19:19.800bit more i apologize for any inconvenience it might cause our west coast folks um hopefully
03:19:26.440you guys are all listening to it if you miss it on any of our uh like apple music spotify
03:19:35.640any of the places that you can find us also uh looking at this on youtube we are i know a lot
03:19:43.720of people will consume it at later times so hopefully you guys can get that i think it's
03:19:48.280going to be a good move with time change um but yeah i want to let everybody know we'll be you
03:19:53.960know reminding folks as we get closer to it thank you guys all for being here tonight uh next week
03:20:00.600we will spawn and i will continue on the gilford getting um we are almost through that but we have
03:20:08.680generated some really interesting and i think very important conversations come along with that
03:20:12.840which has been great alan it's been awesome talking to you tonight we always get on and i i
03:20:18.600you know the initial conversation gets done in the first 45 minutes and then we are able to spend
03:20:26.200you know a couple hours on some really good questions from the audience so thank you
03:20:31.160everybody who's contributed and uh yeah alan these these uh adulting with alan episodes
03:20:37.720are a favorite of many so thank you for coming on tonight
03:20:43.320all right folks we will see you next time until then hail the icer of the folk of the afa and