00:10:26.220as always. It's very, very much appreciated. Also should mention, a large part of our program,
00:10:33.780a lot of our front-loaded portion of today's program until we get my co-host in, is going to be
00:10:40.140question and answer stuff. So please, you know, ask things about anything you might want. We
00:10:51.220promise we will answer your questions on the program, or if we miss them, or they come in
00:10:57.140late at the end, or whatever, we'll get to them in the next program. Also, at any time, if you're
00:11:02.460interested, vns at runestone.org. Email your questions there, and we will answer them on the
00:11:10.920next program, and we already have a number of you that do that, so do that. Also, while we're on the
00:11:18.260killing a little bit of time at the beginning of the program, it's worth mentioning. Like,
00:11:22.660share, subscribe. Wherever you are consuming this, if you're watching it live, if you're watching it
00:11:28.620later, or if you're listening to it as a podcast, wherever you're finding it, like, share, subscribe.
00:11:35.100Tell your friends, tell people you might know. You're all part of different groups and things
00:11:40.600on social media out there. Get the word out for other people to check it out. Word of mouth is our
00:11:47.300our most powerful tool to get our message and our existence in front of the eyes of more of
00:11:55.580our folk that need to come home. So please feel free to do that. Yeah. Also, thank you to the
00:12:06.680folks at CounterCurrents who had myself and our law speaker on about a week and a half ago to do
00:12:14.540an interview there. That was, that was very nice. Always enjoy talking to that audience.
00:12:21.640Appreciate that. And I should mention coming up in a week and a day, I will be being interviewed
00:12:31.540on No More News. So looking forward to that as well. Always appreciate opportunities to get,
00:12:39.760Again, get our existence and our message out in front of more people that need to be coming home.
00:12:45.540The biggest hurdle to our growth at this stage is that there's a lot of people that simply don't know we exist.
00:12:56.020The sky is the limit. We've got a huge room for growth.
00:12:59.480There are a ton of our folk that need to come home to our gods and our faith, our our true folk assembly.
00:13:06.460The thing holding the biggest majority of that back is simply not knowing that we exist.
00:13:12.520So the more we get the word out and, you know, because we are who we are and we stand for what we stand for, we it's harder for us on certain platforms.
00:13:21.620So anything you can do there helps us out.
00:13:23.800Um, all right. So I do not have any idea what situation is with Svan. Hopefully he joins us.
00:13:38.420If not, I can go ahead and get us started into the meat of this.
00:14:26.060And all of these, all of these pieces that we're
00:14:30.800reading in this section, again, they add
00:14:33.520depth and additional material to the Volsunga Saga that we did
00:14:38.600like a seven-part breakdown of. So keep in mind going into it, this is a very old tale. By the
00:14:50.880time of the Edda's getting compiled, you know, this, the events of, of this would have taken
00:14:58.260place roughly 800 years earlier 750 years earlier so this survived for a very long time in an oral
00:15:14.020format amongst our ancestors it also is copied down across northern europe and western europe
00:15:20.980in a number of different ways. There are undoubtedly tons of bits and bobs of this
00:15:31.540that we do not currently have access to that were floating around at the time.
00:15:36.100Everything doesn't match up perfectly, but the more different source material we read
00:15:42.260about the subject, the more we get a deeper, more fleshed out understanding of the Volsunga
00:15:51.820cycle as a as a thing all right a question before we get started do we
00:16:13.660have anything like pamphlets we can drop places funny you should mention that
00:16:20.500Short answer is no, but the bigger answer is, yeah, something that we've been working on. It's a project that stalled out a little bit that we were working on. Witten Brandy and myself have been working on it, figuring out the right format and what information we need on the pamphlet has always been kind of a curiosity.
00:16:48.900one of the interesting things and this is a good problem to have but it's really interesting one
00:16:54.820we need pamphlets for each of our Hoffs and we can model those after you know local church pamphlets
00:17:02.980but for the bigger deal and for most of the you know most of the area that we'd be putting
00:17:10.980pamphlets or handing them out we need a generic AFA one we run into something different because
00:17:17.060our faith is dissimilar to any other it's dissimilar to any other uh any other church
00:17:27.060any other religious body out there it's strange because numerically it's you know
00:17:36.260as as numeric as several small local church or you know good-sized local churches
00:17:43.220but in scope our practice is along the lines of you know the mormons or the jehovah's witnesses
00:17:50.740or the catholics to where we have you know we have membership in 12 different countries
00:17:57.300so figuring out the best way to let people know who we are what we're about and drive them to
00:18:05.460the site figuring out the right verbiage and the right uh imagery for that is something we are
00:18:11.380working on. I know you guys want that. I appreciate you wanting to pass those out, and we will
00:18:16.580definitely try to get some of that ironed out. Matter of fact, I'll talk to Brandy about that
00:18:21.060tomorrow. Okay, so Nosfahn tonight. He got his weeks mixed up. Wondering what we can do for
00:18:39.060replacement stuff or not. I don't know. I don't think we have anybody queued up, but
00:18:47.380if any of our Gothar want to call in and step up and join on here, you guys are welcome to join me
00:18:55.140this evening. If not, I will just take us through the Reagan's Mile, and I think I'll go ahead and
00:19:00.520get started with it. Sigurd went to Hjallprecht's stud and chose for himself a horse, who thereafter
00:19:10.700was called Grani. At that time, Reyn, the son of Hreithmar, was come to Hjallprecht's
00:19:25.500home he was more ingenious than all other men and a dwarf in stature he was wise fierce and skilled
00:19:34.980in magic reagan under undertook sigurd's uh bringing up and teaching and loved him much
00:19:43.200he told sigurd of his forefathers and also of this that once odin and honer and loki had come
00:19:52.900to Anvari's waterfall, and in the fall were many fish. Anvari was a dwarf who had dwelt long in
00:20:03.400the waterfall in the shape of a pike, and there he got his food. Otter was the name of a brother of
00:20:11.800ours, said Reagan, who often went into the fall in the shape of an otter. He had caught a salmon
00:20:19.260and sat on the high bank eating it, with his eyes shut.
00:20:24.820Loki threw a stone at him and killed him.
00:20:27.920The gods thought they had great good luck and stripped the skin of the otter.
00:20:44.160That same evening, they sought a night's lodging at Hrithmar's house and showed their booty.
00:20:53.340Then we seized them and told them as ransom for their lives to fill the otter skin with gold and completely cover it outside as well with red gold.
00:21:04.860And then they sent Loki to get the gold.
00:21:07.920He went to Raun and got her net, and then went to Andavari's fall and cast the net in front of the pike.
00:21:18.340As the pike leaped in the net, then Loki said,
00:21:22.100What is the fish that runs in the flood, and itself from ill cannot save?
00:21:30.900If I had thou was from hell redeemed, find me the water's flame.
00:21:36.420Anvari spoke. Anvari am I, and Owen my father, in many a fall have I fared. An evil norn in olden
00:21:49.940days doomed me in waters to dwell. Loki spake. Anvari, say, if thou seekest still to live in
00:21:58.240the land of men, what pain have you set for the sons of men who war with lying words? Anvari
00:22:05.040spake a mighty payment the man must make who in wolf gelometer's waterway waters weighed on the
00:22:15.680long road lead the lying words that one to another utters loki saw all the gold that anthari had
00:22:27.680but when he had brought forth all the gold he held back one ring and loki took this from him
00:22:33.760the dwarf went into the rocky hole and said now shall the gold that gus once had bring their death
00:22:44.040to brothers twain and evil be for heroes eight joy of my wealth shall no man win
00:23:04.520Working on it took me a second to load there.
00:23:08.240The gods gave Hrithmar the gold and filled up the otter skin and stood it on its feet.
00:23:15.980Then the gods had to heap up gold and hide it.
00:23:20.320And when that was done, Hrithmar came forward and saw a single whisker and bade them to cover it.
00:23:28.060Then Othyn brought out the ring and varanot and covered the hair.
00:23:34.600And then Loki said, the gold is given and great the price.
00:24:54.280hrythmar called to his daughters ling heath and lofen heath fled is my life and mighty now is my
00:25:05.180need ling heath spake though a sister loses her father seldom revenge on her brother she brings
00:25:14.100a couple of things while we're at this point uh to kind of reiterate
00:25:20.340There is a complex web of things and a certain butterfly effect that happens.
00:25:31.300If we're not cautious through life, you stumble into bigger situations by being casual and unthinking with silly things you do.
00:25:45.380The gods are out walking and Loki decides, I'm gonna chuck this rock at this otter, not knowing where he's at not taking time to think it seems like a thoughtless act, but it literally puts his life at stake.
00:26:03.380And it forces them to get in a rough and unfortunate situation that they need to find a way out of.
00:26:13.380And Loki's dealings with any of these strangers that they meet is particularly hostile and sets about a very painful set of events that we see throughout this story, throughout this sequence of stories.
00:26:35.560The other thing to think about that we're coming up to right now is the strange interlocking obligations as far as your bonds of duty to kin.
00:26:55.700we have sons slaying their father and then their father asking his daughter their sister to avenge
00:27:08.080him and creating an impossible circumstance and I think that the depth of this is often
00:27:15.960ill understood by folks. Very often, for a long time, and I certainly heard this early on when
00:27:29.740I was involved in Alistair, there is this inviolable, you know, kinslaying is the ultimate
00:27:38.440evil. There's this supreme loyalty to kin under any circumstance, but it doesn't take into account
00:27:45.840When there's kin-on-kin bad action, and then you have conflicting obligations.
00:28:01.300And I think in a lot of ways, this speaks to some bigger pictures in Ausatru.
00:28:10.000Our religion recognizes complexity and that sometimes there are just bad options and there is an art and a wisdom to navigating your way through the most honorable or the best possible way of playing hands that you're dealt.
00:28:35.300We believe very much in or law or in, you know, the hand that you're dealt. You come into this world with a complex matrix of luck and of destiny and of past deeds of your kin that you can either be benefiting from or hampered by.
00:28:58.900And we all come into the world with a certain hand to play. There is an art in playing that hand. In other faiths, it's like you cash in and just hope for the best and let Jesus take the wheel.
00:29:14.940In our faith, very much, you're expected to play the hand that you're dealt and to make the most out of your opportunities in life and to craft victory from that to the best of your ability.
00:29:30.800And that's often very complex when you have to choose, you know, do I kill my brothers or do I avenge my father?
00:29:39.800You know, it doesn't do I not avenge my father if it means killing my brothers or do I go ahead and become a kinslayer, but fulfill my obligation to my father.
00:29:51.920And there's not always the perfect answer.
00:29:54.300Things in life are very difficult and very challenging.
00:29:57.340The art of nobility is taking the responsibility upon yourself to make the hard choices to live with their outcomes and to be bold in facing situations to where the path is not clear, to where things are foggy and you have to choose the best with the information you have.
00:30:23.260And it's not as appealing for mass consumption because it requires a certain amount of work, but it is honest and it is ennobling if you embrace those challenges, even if it's difficult.
00:30:37.960so to continue hrythmar spake a daughter woman with wolf's heart bare if thou hast no son
00:30:54.380with the hero brave if one weds the maid for the need is mighty their son for thy hurt
00:44:47.680i wish to speak upon a subject male bonding men bond differently than women
00:44:55.640uh if i personally don't have a man or two to smoke and spit and swear with and bust balls
00:45:04.540occasionally i truly feel alone the afa is a wonderful church but can it possibly see the
00:45:10.660wisdom in this. Um, yeah, absolutely. Um, absolutely. There is. So I'm trying to take
00:45:27.420this question as, as broad as possible. Um, with the, the person who asked that, I know a little
00:45:32.940bit deeper of where they're trying to get on it, but I want to make it broad for the audience.
00:45:36.680just continue with a couple posts down i accidentally skipped it oh okay so i guess
00:45:41.480there's there's more to it uh providing a vital or a virtual place where men can be men as it were
00:45:50.600not posting nudie pics of women but a place where freedom of speech is not stifled by rules and
00:45:56.200proper church behavior so the afa has that we have a men's group where folks can talk and talk about
00:46:03.240men things um no we don't want a group where our guys get together and are overly crass or you know
00:46:16.040there's a lot of opportunities for that as the afa we absolutely have a spot for men to talk
00:46:23.080about men's issues and men's things in a you know in a frank way but yeah encouraging folks to be
00:46:33.480dignified in their behavior on AFA sponsored things is really important I know the AFA doesn't
00:46:40.040want to sponsor a group where guys can you know be be crass or be vulgar or do things that you know
00:46:47.720you wouldn't be proud of doing in a church group that said i'm not silly and i'm not prudish i get
00:46:55.240that the best thing for that is not a church sponsored group for guys to do that it's to make
00:47:01.180some friends and talk to them online um and then you can have you know whatever level of guy talk
00:47:07.840that you need to have with them um in those groups that you know are volunteer the groups that people
00:47:16.040groups that men choose to engage in with people that they choose to engage in with.
00:47:21.980I get that it's cool to sit around with guys and tell vulgar jokes and not have to watch what you
00:47:30.360say. I get the idea for that, but that's something you do with groups of friends that you create that
00:47:37.020want to be there, that want to engage in that kind of discussion with, and that you've built
00:47:42.740that relationship with. It's a strange thing and an artificial thing to come in with people that
00:47:48.580you, your only point of connectivity with them is your membership in our church. And then wanting to
00:47:57.680jump into a, you know, to a much, much more guys will be guys locker room situation with people
00:48:09.920That works a lot better when you've got people that you know and that you've built that level of closeness with where you feel comfortable having those kind of conversations with.
00:48:18.720And not every guy is going to be comfortable with that or going to like to converse that way.
00:48:24.220That's not, you know, that's not a requirement to be a man is to be to be crass or to be vulgar.
00:50:58.160with whatever you decide to do and it's going to be different depending upon what you do
00:51:04.000don't allow yourself to be overwhelmed by the end result that you want to achieve take things
00:51:10.560one step at a time that can be really hard because we are in a you mentioned the modern world in the
00:51:21.440modern world we have we have a lot of access to instant gratification to lots of things
00:51:32.480we with our phone at a moment's notice get an answer to any question we want get directions
00:51:40.640we can order whatever food we want and pick it up either we can use doordash and they'll deliver it
00:51:46.740you've got all these things to where results come very very quickly but on the bigger
00:51:51.820life things results sometimes don't come that quickly and especially when you have the perception
00:51:59.980that it does come that quickly for other people it's very hard to put in the work for a goal that
00:52:10.040seems distant it really is true and I understand this and it would this would not be soothing to
00:52:18.780me 20 years ago but it is something that I've learned is true developing habits and being
00:52:29.120consistent in those habits more often than not that's what gets you where you're trying to go
00:52:37.040and that's what wins you victory in your life um there's a follow-up question by nick and i
00:52:45.360think this is going to address and cover some of it when our young men especially you know
00:52:55.920again our young men young heterosexual white men get so much messaging in the world today
00:53:04.800that they're unwanted or that all of the things they can't do or you know
00:53:13.440all of the places that they're toxic or all of the ways that they feel unwanted and i
00:53:19.920absolutely get that but it's really easy when that's the messaging that you're constantly fed
00:53:29.440to lean into that and to embrace the doom spiraling uh doom porn as it were where you're just
00:53:39.920feeding on bad social media all day about how terrible everything is
00:53:44.320that wastes a lot of time where you could be spending it based on what's positive and what
00:53:53.140victories that you that are in front of you if all your focus is on listing all of the things
00:53:59.520you can't do it makes it much harder to notice and to see the things that you can do to get
00:54:08.140closer to what you want. So often we look at the end result of something and it may seem so far
00:54:16.040away that it's unattainable and we give up and don't even try. Most things in life aren't a
00:54:24.640zero 100 proposition. There's a lot of things that get you so much closer to what you want
00:54:32.380than you are now whether or not you make it to that 100 or not if that's where you want to go
00:54:42.220and you get halfway there it's halfway closer than you are today there's a lot to be said for that
00:54:48.940we often let perfect be the enemy of good and we don't capitalize on opportunities that we have to
00:54:56.860make our lives better and so that's kind of what i would say is taking those small steps
00:55:03.660um doing things incrementally is how you get most anywhere in your life we see moments and they
00:55:11.820stand out because they're the the subject of of legend and you know drama and history these big
00:55:19.180These big moments to where in one really special person's lifetime, you know, they conquer the world, but there's only so many Caesars or Alexanders or Napoleons out there.
00:55:39.360But in the meantime, take advantage of all of those little opportunities you have.
00:55:45.900And I'm speaking in vagaries because it depends on what you're trying to do.
00:55:51.200But if you're scrawny and you want to put on some weight and get in better shape, there's nothing you can do that's going to magically make that happen.
00:56:00.700Even if you took a whole bunch of steroids and other things, without going in there and putting in the effort or without eating enough, your body is not going to do what you want it to do.
00:56:12.840So the whole idea of weight training is progressive overload that over time and very consistently over years, you build that physique that you want.
00:56:28.040If you're overweight and you want to lose weight, it's daunting because you spend years getting fat and then you're like, man, I want to look like I want to look and I want to do it in just a couple of months.
00:56:39.360It doesn't work that way, but it does if you do incrementally. And when I say this, it's not just theoretically come up with ways to gauge your incremental progress. So just using the analogy that I made, if you keep a workout log, when you work out, you can chart over time. Are you lifting? Have you gone up in weight? Have you gone up in reps? Are you lifting more at the given exercise than you did this time last year? You can chart that.
00:57:09.360and you can see differences if you chart your body fat percentage and you're trying to lose weight
00:57:18.160or you're trying to lose fat rather you can see if that percentage is going up and down you can
00:57:23.440see how you're doing you can celebrate those small victories but finding ways to gauge small
00:57:29.040victories and check in is really really important most of these that i'm saying today are things
00:57:34.640that individuals can do but i've talked about this before and i think i talked about it the last show
00:57:40.720or two shows ago there was something that was really valuable to me that i read in nine doors
00:57:46.160of midgard by edward thorson and at the beginning of that curriculum he has you make i think a
00:57:52.960low staff and merc staff list basically a you know your good qualities and your bad qualities
00:58:01.680or good things you're bringing to the table and bad things that you have and over time you check
00:58:08.400in with this maybe monthly i forget how long he prescribes between check-ins but over time
00:58:14.480and i've kept that list since i first started doing that um man like 15 years ago now and
00:58:23.120And over time, it is beneficial to look and see all of the things you've been able to, you know, scratch off the bad list and the things you've been able to add to the good list.
00:58:38.020That requires you to be honest with yourself.
00:58:40.760But coming up with ways to check in is important.
00:58:43.080The other thing I would say, and this is, you know me, and I get on here with our law speaker and he's, you know, a little bit older than I am and he's fairly resistant to technology.
00:58:57.440I'm not that guy. I don't mind technology. I'm on my phone a lot. I have to be to do this and to do this well.
00:59:03.360but it's easy to get wrapped up in that in a way that's distorted i don't know that all those
00:59:13.620people are artificial but you're in a you're in a space where everything is democratized and
00:59:19.560whoever's got the most time to be the loudest on social media is perceived as having some kind of
00:59:25.580value check in with real people in life get friends even if it's just a few our young men
00:59:35.660finding other young men in the real world that they are able to check in with measure themselves
00:59:42.060against and hold accountable and have them hold you accountable accountability is the biggest
00:59:49.980is one of the biggest factors and it's the reason that people want life coaches it's the reason that
00:59:56.960people want uh you know nutritionists or people want personal trainers most people if they do
01:00:04.720any effort can figure out how to get a good diet they can figure out a good exercise routine
01:00:09.900but having somebody you check in with they're like hey you know how you doing at the gym well
01:00:17.220i haven't been going there's something inherent in men men of value to where you man you don't
01:00:25.140that's the last thing you want to do is admit to your your peer that you are not holding up your
01:00:32.340end whatever it is whatever you guys decide to do if you guys are going to read stuff you guys are
01:00:36.100going to learn a language if you guys are going to pursue something in your careers having somebody
01:00:42.020that you check in and have to report your progress or lack thereof to you forces you
01:00:47.780to get out of the cycle of justifying things and doing mental gymnastics and to speak it
01:00:54.320into the world to another person and see their reaction to your failure or your success.
01:01:03.420Accountability is really important, chunking things into small attainable things that you
01:01:07.900can measure is really important and avoiding the tendency to spiral to doom spiral is really
01:01:17.340important so that's what i would say um and to nick's question about victory and what victory
01:01:23.420looks like victory looks real different to a lot of people depending on where you're deficient or
01:01:30.060what you're trying to do with your life but we need to never lose sight of the big victories
01:01:38.460but we also need to celebrate and appreciate each of our small victories
01:01:44.780victory is usually not a one big bite victory it is most often a series of small bites that
01:01:54.060gets you ever closer to your goal and i truly believe this and this can be applied to a lot
01:02:01.420of different stuff but if you um if you gear yourself right be in position to capitalize on
01:02:12.780that big lightning once in a lifetime circumstance victory absolutely you don't ever want that to
01:02:19.900pass you by if the opportunity is there. But in the meantime, in the meantime, do all
01:02:27.680of those things to secure all of those small victories. You build it brick by brick with
01:02:34.720those small victories. Again, that doesn't cost you the big victory. But if you bet
01:02:42.940wrong and the big victory doesn't come, you miss out on everything if you don't seize
01:02:47.340those small victories. And if you're busy stacking bricks of small victories, then you are best
01:02:55.000poised to recognize when the opportunity comes to make a big leap towards victory. You can do both.
01:03:02.560Do both. The hardest thing is to, and I said this before, the hardest step is from the couch to the
01:03:10.880front door. Everything else is easier. If all of our young men
01:03:18.840would go out and make an effort each and every day to win, we
01:03:23.360would be in such a better place and we would be so much happier
01:03:28.260and we would set such a better example for our children. So do
01:03:33.520that and encourage other men to do that.
01:03:40.880what have you unlearned in your path as an
01:03:49.680into as into and through the priesthood that surprised you huh
01:03:58.700so i don't want to be flipped with my answer to this i actually want to give this some thought
01:04:07.140because I think it's a really good question.
01:04:09.420This is when I would throw it to Svahn
01:04:10.960and then capitalize on him having to answer it first
01:07:02.940You hear about, you know, people's relationships, struggles, and the failings that people have
01:07:11.540romantically with members of the failings people have with members of their family
01:07:17.300you really get to see the parts of people that aren't meant for public consumption
01:07:25.700and sometimes it recalibrates you know the distance between the person they project
01:07:33.940themselves to be and who they really are or you know whoever they're telling you a story about
01:07:40.820But it also, you learn a lot of things.
01:07:47.440Sometimes you learn positively about all of the stuff this person has gone through and the fact that you didn't know because they held themselves with a certain amount of dignity or they held themselves in a way to where you thought they had it all together.
01:08:01.500so it readjusts and you unlearn in the sense you have to readjust your barometer of you know
01:08:11.840what's real and what people are really going through and what's the real evaluation of people
01:08:19.500one thing that I've learned um and again it cuts both ways sometimes you discover villains where
01:08:27.420you thought you had heroes, and sometimes you discover heroes where, you know, you thought you
01:08:32.000had villains or you thought you had dullards. Some of the people that I have least expected great
01:08:38.320things from turn out to be amazing. Some of the people that, and I've learned this a lot, a lot
01:08:45.320of the people that look the part that seem like they are, you know, the best, you know, the best
01:08:52.420and the brightest, they look like they should be on the recruitment poster, very often those people
01:08:57.400are worthless those people do not they're not made of solid things they don't know anything
01:09:03.080about loyalty or hard work or dedication i've heard you know some of the scariest
01:09:15.080meanest looking you know baddest looking dudes turn out to be the biggest cowards
01:09:21.240some of the most unassuming, you know, meek looking guys that you'd never expect it from
01:09:29.580turn out to be champions for our faith and our folk and turn out to be rock solid.
01:09:36.580So I've learned a lot of that. I've learned how to see that a little bit better.
01:09:42.380I've also learned really deeply how depressed a lot of our folk can be.
01:09:50.500i've had to counsel people through some really bad things i had to counsel people
01:09:56.740through suicidal situations or situations where um maybe somebody that we all knew and loved
01:10:03.940uh took their own life so i've learned some of that i've learned you know signs of who
01:10:14.180really believes in the gods and takes this seriously and who doesn't and it's not always
01:10:20.060who you think in counseling i have you know every time i think that you know i've got a good grasp
01:10:28.140on it and i've seen it all and i've seen you know most of the things i could encounter
01:10:31.920you get the most strange and random odd things that you never in a million years would think
01:10:41.920were having to counsel people through or or hear about and so a wide variety of those things
01:10:53.600and that's that's the thing so all of those things and I suppose some of that's unlearning
01:11:06.080knowing where our people really are at versus where they say they're at
01:11:09.680and getting a better feel for the real soul condition of a large chunk of our folk
01:11:17.520it's also kind of interesting and i'll say this too i get to see things on a much broader scale so
01:11:27.840because our folk span economics and upbringing and geography and age and countless other things
01:11:39.680i get a wide perspective on stuff that people are going through i'm able to counsel people who are
01:11:48.000you know in their 70s and 80s i can also counsel people who are in their 20s i counsel people in
01:11:56.640all different parts of the country and i've counseled people in different parts of the world
01:12:01.360you know men women veterans students health care workers a wide variety of our folk with a wide
01:12:11.520variety of issues so i think it's given me a very valuable perspective on just on better understanding
01:12:19.760people um but i think that was a really good question
01:12:30.400um so all right a question i would like to ask if
01:12:46.240heathenistic behavior tribalism primalism and modern primitives have a place in modern house true
01:12:54.560um i don't know what all of that means because i think they mean different things to different
01:13:03.340people um there is a wide spectrum of stuff you can do if you want and it's not disqualifying
01:13:20.600i don't know if that means it has a place in modern house to true so if you want to do
01:13:29.400primal primitive things it's is again it's hard to those words mean different things
01:13:35.960to different people they sound like a variety of primitivism things and as
01:13:45.400it's broad and I'm trying to be artful on it I want to want to keep it real on stuff as a broad
01:13:54.920term no I think that sounds like ooga booga stuff in a sense of you know there being time and a
01:14:01.800place for you to want to get out in the woods and get back to nature or to test yourself against the
01:14:08.360elements or to something like that I think there is absolutely a place for that if you as a hobby
01:14:15.400want to do caveman stuff or flint nap which some people do or do a variety of if it's just fun for
01:14:23.560you to go run around in the woods in a loincloth or whatever you do you i don't think that's
01:14:29.960disqualifying but no i don't think it has a particular again when you ask that no i don't
01:14:37.080think that's something that modern house is true needs to encompass but if that's something you
01:14:41.240want to do on your own time i don't think that's a a horrible thing to do um it just isn't really
01:14:48.520related to alsatru now i say that there's been um people that want to do like primitive weapons
01:14:56.760hunting or those kind of things and i think that's appropriate i think there is a place
01:15:02.360for something like that and i is i do think there's a place for some you know getting out
01:15:10.040in the woods male bonding over you know going through struggle and going through some kind
01:15:16.600of ordeal i think there's place for that i think those things as lifestyle choices though no not so
01:15:23.160much next question if you could speak privately to your 20 year old self at the beginning of your
01:15:30.840spiritual path what would you warn or encourage him about
01:15:40.440so again with the deep questions i think that's a really good question too
01:15:45.640and it's something that i've kind of thought about but it always
01:15:48.360there's a number of things if you get burdened by negativity over a long period of time i wouldn't
01:16:04.680want to go back and crush my youthful optimism with reality checks on things
01:16:14.040What I would strongly do is tell the 20-year-old version of me to trust that people have reasons for doing things the way they do.
01:16:37.220And when I look at something and it's not like the cool idea I have in my head, to stop and consider why and maybe ask before I assume.
01:16:51.860I think that's one of the things is we get young and we get, you know, everybody knows, we know it all.
01:16:58.320And I think all of us have gone through that to one degree or another.
01:17:01.600But you get involved in something at a young age and you know the right way to do it.
01:17:05.440What is with these idiots? Why are they not doing it this way? This is clearly the right way things were supposed to be done. Often when you get closer and you see the inner workings, you realize why those things aren't done. Maybe those things have been tried and didn't work. Maybe those things require resources that are much harder to attain than you might think they are.
01:17:29.560maybe the uh the folks that you think would be all about chipping in and helping out with something
01:17:36.120maybe they're not so i think that there's i would teach that to myself the idea of respecting your
01:17:44.760elders and if something's not done the way you think it ought to be done ask those that you
01:17:51.560think are doing it wrong, ask them why ask questions, always ask questions. I tell that
01:17:58.120to my 20 year old self, I would tell that to all I'm literally telling that to all of
01:18:01.940you right now. Ask questions. If you you wonder why something is the way it is, be intellectually
01:18:09.580curious and ask more importantly, you don't have any right to be grumpy about it. If you
01:18:16.300don't ask and figure out why things are the way they are. And
01:18:21.340so I think I would try to encourage myself to be slower
01:18:24.700to make big, you know, condemnations of people and
01:18:28.140things and quicker to learn the why things are the way they
01:20:40.380okay so and i i don't reconcile it because i have always felt this way
01:20:45.420we are a real religion as such we can't larp things so holding on to traditional things
01:21:04.260that are traditional is really cool but it's always been fundamental to know
01:21:11.220why we're why those traditions exist and why we're doing them if we're doing something within
01:21:18.180the a as a the afa as a tradition because it's cool and it's something we've always done and it
01:21:23.320you know ties us together with the fluid practice of our faith great but being like stuck in it
01:21:31.700if we learn a better way and not wanting to do it right and this is i think the fundamental key
01:21:37.500This is where the tension comes in. When we learn and we grow and we learn that a tradition is wrong and we should do something different, dealing with the old heads that have always done it this way and don't want to change, that is a problem.
01:21:57.880And I think that's a problem for all of us. We should want to do things right. And we should know that we will always, we are not perfect, but we should always strive towards perfection. And that means we're going to have to evolve things we do to get closer and closer to right. And I think that's really, really important.
01:22:19.580I've always thought that was important but that's where we run into and I think that's what separates
01:22:26.060and maybe this is not fair we all have sentimentality and I can understand when we all
01:22:37.180want to continue to do traditions that we're used to that are comfortable that are fun
01:22:43.300or that you know are our comfort zone that's not wrong in and of itself but it's always valuable
01:22:52.360to check in and say what's the right thing to do what would the gods want us to do
01:22:59.260both of those things are more important than what's comfortable to do or what we're used to
01:23:06.620doing so refreshing our priorities on what's um right and why we do the things we do is really
01:23:15.440important thank you baby all right that's enough um that's really important so i would say i would
01:23:23.360say that there's a there's a big tension between people who are comfortable doing stuff and then
01:23:28.460also you have if you've been doing something wrong for 20 years it's really uncomfortable
01:23:35.060to switch it up and admit that and change course. We all have a sunk cost thing where if we've been
01:23:43.120doing something wrong for a long time, we don't want to change what we do. It takes courage and
01:23:48.580it takes resolution to be able to do that. And I say that when something's wrong. More often than
01:23:54.940not, the vast majority of the time, it's not that something's wrong. It's just that something can be
01:24:00.640done better and so you have to alter a tradition most often you don't have to abandon it you just
01:24:06.980have to tweak it to make it better or to get closer to you know where it ought to be there's
01:24:14.840a certain humility that we all should have knowing that we're not perfect and that getting it right
01:24:21.440is much more important than continuing something that makes us comfortable battling against the
01:24:29.900I don't know the entropy of staying in your comfort zone it's one of the biggest okay so
01:24:35.880I'm stuff that I've learned while doing this that's one of the biggest ones that I've seen
01:24:40.620getting outside of your comfort zone is scary and that may look like really different things
01:24:49.060really different people if you are not very socially adept and you're you're a nerd or
01:24:59.420you're not popular or you're not you didn't have you're not outgoing or you're one of those kind
01:25:05.320of people going out and interacting with groups of people and being outgoing is terrifying
01:25:16.300that may not seem like a big deal at all to people who it comes natural for but if you don't have
01:25:25.460that and you don't develop that in you know your school period you're like high school age
01:25:32.900every year that goes by it's exponentially harder to go talk to girls it's exponentially harder to
01:25:38.340go like make a friend and like do that i'm amazed that aubrey you know will go to the park and she
01:25:45.940can just go hi you want to be my friend cool and they click up and they're buddies for the next
01:25:50.500two hours they play at the park i can't do that as an adult um so if you're not outgoing that's
01:25:58.100hard and it can be terrifying i've seen um the idea of you know not knowing what ausitru is
01:26:07.140and who you'll meet at an afa event or at an ausitru moot that's scary and i get that people
01:26:14.660oftentimes always have an excuse or a reason that they don't go and make the effort because it's
01:26:21.060scary and it could be disappointing they don't want to face that so that's terrifying um for some
01:26:27.420people getting out of the house the thing about the first step from the the couch to the door is
01:26:32.960the biggest deal i've seen other people that are you know that have defined themselves in their
01:26:41.200life by being counterculture or by being skinheads or by being, you know, maybe they're,
01:26:47.360they're ex-cons and they're guys that a lot of, you know, other groups of people would be
01:26:51.580intimidated by and think are, you know, these scary, bad-ass dudes. I'm always surprised.
01:26:59.240Sometimes it's very scary for them to meet a group and interact with a group of people that
01:27:05.460don't come from that background, that haven't lived a rough life, that haven't shared those
01:27:11.220life experiences, that aren't rough around the edges, that aren't covered in tattoos or whatever
01:27:17.000the situation is, as much as, you know, it's intimidating for people who've never been around
01:27:25.060that to be around those folks, it's very intimidating for those folks to be around
01:27:29.480normal people and not feel like they're going to mess it up, not feel like they're going to say
01:27:34.660the wrong thing and everybody look at them like they have, you know, four heads. We all face
01:27:40.360different things that are our comfort zone that it's scary to get out of. Maybe we've been
01:27:45.520practicing Ausitru for, you know, 20, 30 years, but we've all been doing it this one way. And now
01:27:51.480we come to the AFA and they want to want us to do it different. And that's uncomfortable.
01:27:58.880Getting in a room of people, maybe you're around, you know, you're new to this and you're in a peer
01:28:03.580group of people that, you know, studied a lot and know all the little, you know, can make lower
01:28:09.480references and know all these things. That's intimidating. It can be scary too, get you out
01:28:14.520of your comfort zone. We are very used to in the modern world, being very comfortable at all times
01:28:20.380and being uncomfortable is terrifying to people. That's how you get victory though, is forcing
01:28:26.720yourself into uncomfortable situations and overcoming those challenges, getting comfortable
01:28:33.280with being uncomfortable is really important. And I would
01:28:37.360advise all of us, especially young men, to learn how to do that.
01:28:58.780it is extremely important for us to celebrate our heroes it is
01:29:08.840so in the most mundane way it is noble for us to celebrate the deeds of great people
01:29:22.660and to acknowledge those deeds and give those people their their worth and their recognition
01:29:29.780that's the right thing to do those people also serve as an example for us to aspire to and learn
01:29:40.080lessons from their life and to celebrate that they were real flesh and blood people like we are with
01:29:47.420the same fears and hopes and dreams and feelings and to see the things they were able to do
01:29:57.200and to aspire to that and to know that it's attainable if we just have the metal as men
01:30:04.180or as women to achieve those things. Metaphysically, that is very important and we owe them. They did
01:30:15.320a great you know depending on what it was they did great deeds to get us to where we are for
01:30:21.400their folk and for their gods we owe celebrating them and continuing to build and accelerate their
01:30:30.220fame our ancestors those who have passed hear us beyond the veil they see the things we do
01:30:39.220And when we celebrate heroes, we continue building their fame beyond the veil, and we continue building their storehouse of spiritual might in the realm they find themselves in.
01:30:54.140We absolutely believe in the idea of posthumous ascension that, you know, at any point in the future, souls that are beyond the veil, you know, can get called up to become more than they are, can get brought closer to the halls of the gods, can get elevated to something better.
01:31:12.500And we help provide them that momentum by celebrating them after their death and by spreading their fame.
01:31:22.860And it was it is an obligation we have to those who pass in our own family as well to tell their stories, to speak of them, to keep their names alive and to, you know, continue reminding and refreshing the well of fame with stories of their deeds and with acclaim for the things that they've done.
01:31:46.640that is a tremendous gift that we can give to those who've done great things and it's something
01:31:53.420that we're obliged to give and that hopefully in continuing the cycle that are you know big or
01:32:00.780small perhaps one day we are grand enough that we're acknowledged as heroes with days of
01:32:05.780remembrance but even if we're not amongst our family to be talked about positively to have
01:32:12.180people that knew us talk about and celebrate the things that we've accomplished and the people that
01:32:19.060we the lives that we led here in Midgard the people that we are that is a something beautiful
01:32:26.980that we pass on that we hope those who follow us will do for us that we owe to the generations
01:32:33.780that come before us to celebrate them and to keep their memory alive and to keep
01:51:52.320that they don't know how to do religion anymore
01:51:58.040And so it's a hard transition for some people.
01:52:01.460And there's, again, about the comfort zone.
01:52:03.420When people join, they want to get shuffled into something that's easy, that's already been figured out, that you have a Hoff on every corner.
01:52:17.160You know, there's five Hoffs in every major city.
01:52:21.500And cool, where's the closest one to me?
01:52:25.840It's much harder to put in the work to build Alcetru, to grow Alcetru, to put in the effort of making all of this work.
01:52:36.900There is lots of moving pieces, and unfortunately, they're done by a relatively small group of us.
01:52:44.760so the biggest threat is our people's casual indifference or reluctance to join and be part
01:52:55.540of something bigger than themselves and them not stepping up to their potential but that said
01:53:04.020that potential is there so the opposite is also true we are able to do amazing things with a
01:53:12.080very small fraction of our people actually caring and trying to make it work. If all of a sudden all
01:53:19.600of our people decided, if any of our people, if 10% of our folk decided to join the AFA, become
01:53:27.360Alistair True and push the ball forward with everything they had, sky's the limit. We're able
01:53:33.600to do tremendous things with a very small part of the population. How much more if we had double
01:53:41.700triple, 10 times. None of those numbers are, you know, outside of the realm of, you know,
01:53:47.640very recent or very soon possibilities. So if our people decided to step up and all of a sudden
01:53:54.800they took everything serious, they got out of the like sarcasm and atheism and doom spiraling and
01:54:02.700decided to really engage in this, we could do what we could do is limitless. It is shocking how
01:54:10.700amazing we're able to do with so few of us putting our, you know, putting our shoulder
01:54:16.280to the wheel. If, you know, just a small percentage of us decided to really put in
01:54:22.240that effort, it'd be tremendous. There's nothing that could stop us.
01:54:31.160What is the current plan for Sigurheim and Tiershoff? So current plan as of now.
01:54:40.700We are going to get as many of us that we can to move to Jackson County, Tennessee.
01:54:50.320The whole county, you know, anywhere you want to live in there is about 30 minutes from, you know, the farthest other place you'd want to be.
01:54:58.260So we could all live very, very close together and have very regular community.
01:55:05.060We could have community there, certainly weekly.
01:55:09.060We could have community there several times a week.
01:55:12.080We could put down roots and make something very important happen there.
01:55:15.320And many of us are going to do just that.
01:55:18.900We're trying to get leadership families and those who want to get there, there as soon as we can.
01:55:24.220And then develop some things on the property.
02:12:32.940That is the best martial art ever and all the other martial arts sting.
02:12:37.200No, but it is a really cool one and it's one I was really happy that I learned.
02:12:40.900i say learned that i'm learning and and participating in i was actually going to ask
02:12:46.260as a follow-up sure why did you get into danzen rue japanese jiu-jitsu did you just did you
02:12:51.860research it or did it just happen to be the local dojo yes so a matrix of things
02:13:00.820I have never been an awesome striker that's just not the body mechanics of that just haven't been
02:13:13.440something that I did a lot and in my work bouncing strikes aren't always the most effective and you
02:13:22.400get in a lot of you know you get in more trouble you have a lot more liability with that
02:13:27.200and I you know at least at my level of competency it wasn't like you get a lot of bang for your buck
02:13:35.360most of the time it's funny we were on camera and when I was bouncing if I ever had to swing on
02:13:41.500anybody man it's nine times out of ten nine times out of ten it would be laughable it's just me like
02:13:49.560extending my arm at them it it's funny and people laugh at me that tenth one was amazing I'll tell
02:13:57.080what that tenth one was spectacular but the other nine were hilarious um so i wasn't ever great that
02:14:03.400way but what i was good at through bouncing was using my weight was you know grabbing and then
02:14:11.320doing something and that worked well and i found myself in spots where i didn't want to be on the
02:14:17.400ground all the time i bounced at one place where i had 13 guys on my team so i could afford to be
02:14:24.920on the ground in that spot but i had other places i bounced i was the only guy and i can't afford to
02:14:30.040be on the ground and i don't know the circumstance i don't know who's coming up i don't know if this
02:14:34.040guy's got friends i don't want to be in that spot all the time so i wanted something versatile where
02:14:40.440i could do things on the ground if necessary but to where i was doing throws i wanted something
02:14:46.360where i was doing throws to where i'm standing up and i'm putting the other guy on the ground
02:14:50.760so I looked around here for and you know jiu-jitsu was big Brazilian jiu-jitsu which
02:15:01.200has taken over and almost become synonymous that's why I need to say Japanese jiu-jitsu
02:15:05.520saying Japanese jiu-jitsu at one time was like a redundant thing to say but Japanese style jiu-jitsu
02:15:13.980incorporates so brazilian jiu-jitsu took the same from the same school of techniques and just
02:15:22.620focused in very heavily on all the ground techniques a lot of those are very similar or have
02:15:28.800um are used in japanese jiu-jitsu but they're they were developed more focused on in brazilian
02:15:37.620jiu-jitsu but Japanese jiu-jitsu you have throws you have you know various self-defense techniques
02:15:44.220and escapes and wrist locks joint locks arm locks holds that you do from standing as well as on the
02:15:51.480ground but you also have throws you like you have trips and sweeps but you have like throw throws
02:15:58.020to um so i looked around for japanese jujitsu schools or for judo and this one i just happened
02:16:08.420to find this dojo in like a really sketchy part of town but it was you know it was like a co-op
02:16:18.340that's you know donation based so it's free it's not like you're signing up for you know a very
02:16:24.340expensive thing but you can donate if you want and so i decided to go check it out it looks sketchy
02:16:31.140and it seems sketchy but i went home i had a good experience i went home and i looked up you know
02:16:35.540the guy in the school and stuff very legitimate very good credentials some amazing martial artist
02:16:44.020trained there this just happened to be their humble beginnings flagship dojo which is really cool
02:16:49.940um so i looked and and i say that there's other uh dens and rue schools but the bushido con
02:16:57.860is what i'm part of out here and yeah turns out very legit i've learned from some really
02:17:06.180really good people that go on and teach it at uh you know much fancier and more expensive dojos
02:17:13.700um but i learned a lot i've learned a lot i've had a really good time doing it
02:17:18.420it um it's been a very good experience i wish i would have started doing it uh earlier in life
02:17:25.380but yeah i think it's really cool i would love to have you know to encourage you guys to do that but
02:17:31.260literally any martial art is going to be a lot better than no martial art i think all of them
02:17:36.960have really good pluses and minuses to them what i do think is kind of important for a practical
02:17:45.660thing is you get something that's well-rounded that has a variety of different techniques for
02:17:50.860different scenarios and that it incorporate grappling and i don't just mean on the ground i
02:17:58.060mean from standing your ability to manipulate another person by grabbing or them grabbing you
02:18:06.060and you responding to it strikes look bad when you're trying to defend them in court
02:18:15.660You are much better served often with being able to physically subdue somebody through using your body weight, through throws, through joint locks and grabbing and holds.
02:18:29.960You're in a better spot and you have less room for something to go wrong and for you to end up getting in trouble.
02:18:37.200And that is something, unfortunately, we have to think about in the world we live in.
02:18:40.360um were there any AFA members in Central and Eastern Europe I'm moving to Prague Czech
02:18:51.100Republic uh this fall wondering if there is anyone around there so uh that's awesome
02:19:00.400congratulations I want to go there really bad one day I've heard it is absolutely beautiful
02:19:05.980and one of the most amazing places to go visit in Europe,
02:19:09.700and I've never been there, so I'm very envious.
02:19:12.400That sounds like an awesome, awesome adventure for you.
02:32:14.040But every day, I feel the weight of the responsibility of being Los Heri Gophie.
02:32:21.080And I would never want that not to be the case. I would never want to not feel the obligation and the weight of carrying those responsibilities and handling them.
02:32:40.660um it's stressful but it's supposed to be if it's not stressful you don't care and you shouldn't be
02:32:49.040in that spot um so yeah to me leadership is very much about being eager to actually want to do the
02:32:59.660work of leading not just uh not just to sit on the throne and i don't begrudge anybody that throne
02:33:07.420But if you're going to be there, then be worthy of it. Be worthy of it every single day. Be worthy of it. The two go hand in hand. And I don't know why you'd want the one without the other.
02:33:19.940This is something in modern Ausatru that plagued us early on and still does to a degree in the, you know, unaffiliated crowd out there.
02:33:33.340everybody and this was particularly prevalent in the theodism everybody wants to be the high
02:33:43.420exalted king of their you know backyard kingdom of two guys
02:33:49.920but i saw early on and i had this discussion with friends of mine
02:33:54.380um they would rather be the king of their backyard kingdom than be you know a folk builder in the AFA
02:34:09.080and again that's all about the title and feeling like you're at the top and nobody's above you
02:34:17.300because if it's about the power and I don't mean power in a self-aggrandizing way I mean sure there
02:34:24.320There can be some of that, but I mean power in the ability to affect change and to make things happen.
02:34:30.740That's one of the cool things when people talk about power, we act like wanting power is some kind of bad thing.
02:34:36.700It's not. If you want to use that power to do good stuff with, to make life better, to help move things forward, to help make good things happen, then that's a wonderful thing.
02:34:48.420But most of those people, the backyard emperors, you'd have a kindred of, like, four people in the backyard, and each of them would have some ridiculously grand title, and it would be all chiefs and no Indians, and they never got anything done.
02:35:08.480um early on when i was just a just a member up in alaska you know this group of people that were
02:35:17.720you know hey you could be top three on this new group we're trying to do i could be number three
02:35:22.380in the the heathen folk revival it was called but i'm like no guys how about we join the afa
02:35:28.920they're doing stuff well no no no and that was very common at the time everybody wanted to start
02:35:36.160their own thing so they could be the king of their own little kingdom that they set up
02:35:41.120instead of being part of a hierarchy to where maybe they weren't the top of
02:35:46.480but to where they were moving this forward building out so true and making things happen
02:35:53.200um you know what good is being a king if you don't have a functioning kingdom that's doing
02:36:02.240cool kingdom stuff uh king of the backyard is lame and it's all about you know ego and not about
02:36:11.520actually accomplishing anything in the world so i think leadership is about responsibility but it's
02:36:18.080also about wanting to exercise that leadership to accomplish things or to build and make value
02:36:29.840and make worth for yourself and whatever you happen to be leading or the folk you happen to
02:36:35.680be leading are you helping people are you making those under you you know better are you are you
02:36:43.600contributing and accomplishing in the world or are you just occupying the spot because you don't want
02:36:49.680anybody else to have it and i think that all those things are at play in that question let's skip to
02:36:56.480the last two while we have somebody new in the chat talking with us okay last two uh i went to
02:37:04.400your website curious about what else true is about but it seems to be about mostly what nazis were
02:40:14.540i think uh tribal native american religion is cool i think any ethnic expression like
02:40:22.540any group of people that want to celebrate their folk and connect with their gods and become the
02:40:30.460very best they can be in a way of worshiping their gods with their own you know the greatness of
02:40:37.020their folk that's a beautiful and really cool thing and i'm very supportive of that
02:40:41.980um it is tragic that um Abrahamic faiths have washed away difference and tried to
02:40:57.400make everyone small in order to have this I don't know this shapeless colorless mass of people
02:41:11.980all subservient to you know a jewish god of jewish people i would want every group of people
02:41:21.140including jewish people to have their own gods that they celebrate and are proud of and to
02:41:27.140have dignity as people within their their religion and their relationship to their gods
02:41:34.360into each other i think we've seen throughout humanity since forever there is a something very
02:41:42.680beautiful about a group of people who recognize their difference celebrate who they are take pride
02:41:50.360in themselves and that pride helps them become better and elevate themselves having pride in who
02:41:57.800they are loving who they see in the mirror and connecting with the gods of their race
02:42:04.200i think is beautiful and i would encourage that of you know anybody that wants to follow their
02:42:09.160ethnic faith now i gotta find where i was at um i'll yell at you if you skip one don't worry no
02:42:24.920no no you're fine i think no i've got it i got it yep i'm i'm i may sort of i may shift on some of
02:42:37.160these um uh so on culture struggle and legacy what is worth sacrificing for a future we may
02:42:54.600never see. I don't pettiness, comfort, small minded, self
02:43:21.800selfishness um i'm trying to think about the question and i think that it in a more nebulous
02:43:29.960way might mean different things to different people but in a very real way what i've seen
02:43:34.440in modern alsatru it's hard to break free of what we're comfortable doing to accomplish something
02:43:43.320there's a lot of people out there who miss the point and i don't think this is a conscious
02:43:48.920calculation they make some of them it may be but i think more often than not
02:43:55.960they don't look towards legacy they don't look towards the future they are not factoring in
02:44:02.040what they are leaving for their children or their grandchildren they are just thinking
02:44:07.160about what is comfortable for them and their friends there is a legacy of you know 1980s and
02:44:15.8001990s also true to where there's a lot of small groups of backyard kindreds to where
02:44:21.960their practice of also true is them and you know three or four other dudes in their backyard
02:44:28.600or you know best case scenario maybe three other families in their backyards
02:44:35.000getting together and practicing their faith very privately
02:44:39.480and that dies with them and then maybe the next generation does the same thing for the course of
02:44:49.200again one generation they don't build anything so i think that what holds people back is discomfort
02:44:56.780well it's awkward to be some of the first people it's awkward to tell people that you do this
02:45:02.200this um you know religion they've never heard of and don't understand
02:45:07.460um it's awkward when we live in the world we do today to where it's you know sexy for the media
02:45:14.440to call everybody a racist or to call you names or to try to shame you for being proud of who you
02:45:20.840are so so many people just go along and get along and they stay quiet they don't talk about what
02:45:27.960they really think and squander life that way. And life goes by quick. But I think that sacrificing
02:45:36.560that immediate comfort to build something, everyone who steps forward and says, Hi, I'm
02:45:42.040Alcitru. I'm a member of the AFA. That makes it that much easier for the next person behind them
02:45:49.960to do the same. But it takes those first people to make those sacrifices. It takes people feeling
02:45:56.140a little bit uncomfortable doing something they've never tried before it takes getting over yourself
02:46:03.100and sticking around in a group if you feel slighted or you feel like somebody's getting
02:46:07.260attention that you think you should be getting or you don't like this guy or you don't like that guy
02:46:12.700or you think that this gothy's a jerk or whatever sticking around because you believe in the gods
02:46:19.660and because you want to build this to be something for your children and your grandchildren
02:46:23.740it takes you getting over petty things that you might be feeling and that doesn't sound like a
02:46:32.280lot but for many people that's a huge thing and they can't get over themselves and I've watched
02:46:37.240a lot of people not be able to I've watched other people show tremendous effort being able to
02:46:43.600withstand anything and then I've seen people who couldn't get past themselves they took some time
02:46:49.300They went away. They thought about it. They matured and they came back. So I think, you know, those things, they seem small, seem like a small sacrifice.
02:46:58.800But to a lot of us, they're a really big sacrifice. Being able to get past your own sense of self-importance and being able to, you know, be offended and not burn it all to the ground takes a lot for a lot of people.
02:47:14.560It's harder than a lot of people think.
02:47:19.300What constitutes legitimate spiritual experience in Ausitry?
02:47:23.920Is personal gnosis, UPG, valid, dangerous, essential, or all three?
02:51:25.600I think you can take somebody seriously who's successful, who's got, you know, a successful marriage, who has a successful family, who is, you know, doing all right by getting their needs met.
02:51:37.820Who's able to have success in their life and success in their relationships with other people.
02:51:42.780um i think you are not spiritually literate if you talk about what a great you know
02:51:49.360rune magician you are but you live in squalor and you don't have a girlfriend and you are
02:51:58.040you know single and penniless and whatever else your your magic's not working your magic's not
02:52:04.460effective i think that a lot of the seriousness and the spiritual literacy you see is if that
02:52:11.920person is living a whole life or if they're you know fragmented and all the things that they do i
02:52:20.160think whole the wholeness of their life is the marker of that and i don't think post-industrial
02:52:26.880global has to do with it i think at any point in our people's history if you've seen somebody whose
02:52:32.400life is congruent and part of that congruency is their house of true practice that speaks volumes
02:52:38.960on their spiritual literacy does the afa have an emergency contingency plan in place if slash when
02:52:48.720a mass awakening of the folk spontaneously occurs
02:53:00.080no not in like break glass and pull out the plan kind of a way but it is something that we do
02:53:14.900discuss and it's something that we discuss seriously and I kind of this feeds onto an
02:53:20.880earlier topic tonight too so you know you want to keep doing all the little things right to win
02:53:26.980the little victories but you also want to be prepared if and when that big you know lightning
02:53:33.100strikes moment happens to where all of a sudden 100 million of our people awaken and want to come
02:53:40.020home to house a true what do you do and i think that when you deal with a certain
02:53:46.360It is very easy for that to become a ludicrous exercise in whatever, because if you talk
02:53:58.780about millions of people, I don't think you can speculate on that type of thing with any
02:54:53.000do you think the average outsider is more or less prepared for emergencies slash disasters i know
02:55:01.080there are some communities that place a huge emphasis on preparedness and i personally do as
02:55:06.040well? Yes, okay, I will say that I do think the average Ausatruar is more prepared. But
02:55:23.200I think in a different way. I think the average Ausatruar is just as physically prepared
02:55:29.860as most people out there. What is true is the average house of true arm may talk a real
02:55:36.820big game about preparedness, or fitness or anything else. I don't think that they're
02:55:43.100any more prepared or any more fit or any more stocked up than the average person. I think
02:55:49.620that's something they would like to tell themselves. But I also don't think it's true. What I do
02:55:54.020think makes them more prepared is i think the average also true or has contemplated preparing
02:55:59.860this a lot more has given a lot more you know the a lot of the people out there in the world that
02:56:07.700are not practicing also true and that are you know quote unquote normies
02:56:15.380they just float through life they don't critically think about much they don't prepare for things
02:56:21.460they don't go through the mental exercise of gaming things out because they are you know
02:56:27.460they're npcs to use you know the kids term i think that also true are awakened to realities
02:56:37.940of the world that they live in and i do think they give thought to it i don't think in reality
02:56:44.340there's this huge prepper thing amongst house to true are though i think that a lot of people
02:56:50.340would talk like they are but i do think they've given that thought i think they game things i
02:56:56.580think they frequently and fantasy is important that way going through scenarios in your head
02:57:03.140even if they're fanciful it trains your mind to think critically and it trains your mind to
02:57:09.380you know think about different options to think outside the box so i think there is a mental
02:57:15.620preparedness there that is at a much higher rate than society at large um yeah
02:57:28.420matt what does being austro mean to you
02:57:34.340it means everything to me and i don't say that in a in a blow off the question way
02:57:38.820i believe fundamentally that our faith is a holistic faith and it needs to encompass
02:57:46.040all parts of your life it's not to say that i don't ever you know do things that aren't
02:57:52.160overtly ouster true related or screw around or have hobbies or have whatever else but
02:57:56.880ouster true is woven into the kind of husband i am the kind of father i am the kind of you know
02:58:08.040how i interact with people at the store or at the park or at the gym or literally anywhere
02:58:16.200with the son that i am with all of the relationships and all of the things in my life
02:58:24.060are done through an also true lens and so
02:58:28.440i think that literally everything is what it means to me but i also think what it means to me is
02:58:36.160It's a constant awareness that the ancestors and the Aesir are, I have a, it's my response, it's my duty to make them proud of me and to behave nobly so that they're proud of me and find me to be worthy of their association.
02:59:03.540and it's wanting to be worth that every day.
02:59:11.640So it's a daily awareness that I'm part of a whole
02:59:16.460to where my ancestors and my gods and my folk
02:59:32.400And so I think that focuses in on, you know, how I act to other people, how I take care of myself or how I don't, what I accomplish, am I accomplishing things, or am I worthless, all of those things, I think, factor in.
02:59:54.800What advice would you give to an average man who feels directionless, yet knows deep down he's meant for more?
03:00:32.140So, of course, that's my advice. But one of the really important things about that is if they feel directionless and they know that there's something more to be involved in.
03:00:43.340So many of our folk, almost all of our folk are atomized and they don't have a big effect on other people.
03:00:51.700They may have a small friend group they're having effect on. They may have a family, you know, a wife and a couple of kids they can affect.
03:01:02.140But most people feel very powerless not being able to be an important piece in a really, really big puzzle.
03:01:12.360In the AFA, we are small enough at the stage of our development to where individuals can have a huge impact on the development of the Ausatru Folk Assembly, of the development of Ausatru, and specifically on the life of, you know, hundreds of people.
03:01:32.140Most individuals don't have the ability to be meaningfully impactful to hundreds of people.
03:01:39.980But if you're in the AFA and you volunteer and you step up and you become very active, you can make things better for hundreds of people.
03:01:50.060You can potentially make things better for thousands of people, of your people.
03:01:55.380That's not an opportunity that you have in most walks of your life.
03:01:59.820And I would encourage them to do that.
03:02:04.320That's absolutely what I did and has brought tremendous direction and meaning to my life.