Asatru Folk Assembly - On Courage (from VNS Episode 16)

00:00:00.000 I've got a couple of questions to start off. First question is from Stephen. Define courage

00:00:13.760 within the AFA and the importance for each member to instill this virtue within themselves.

00:00:21.020 So when asked to define something, it becomes very, you know, almost immediately apparent to try to give examples of courage.

00:00:39.180 That's not really a definition per se. Courage, certainly in an AFA context, is not so much an absence of fearing things, but it's not letting fear dictate your actions, or it's consciously overcoming fear to do right action.

00:01:02.720 And that's part of the Odenshoff motto, to do right and fear no one.

00:01:10.920 So doing right and fearing no one is the essence of what courage within the AFA means.

00:01:18.700 And I think talking about the importance to instill that in our folk is going to come through the rest of the evening's discussions.

00:01:25.620 Rob, how would you define courage, specifically in an ausituse sense?

00:01:30.280 well uh you know there's several different kinds of courage and um you know i was talking to my

00:01:38.920 brother who's a combat marine and he told i asked him i said you know you were you scared of course

00:01:45.120 i was scared i'm not crazy but i still did my job and to me that that's courageous uh of course

00:01:52.200 you're going to be afraid you're going to be worried you're going to be scared but doing it

00:01:55.660 anyway uh overcoming that fear and doing what's right absolutely the courage isn't always the easy

00:02:03.980 route um you know the praise comes afterwards if it comes but in the moment um you know it's

00:02:15.260 it's hard it's hard to overcome fear it's hard to overcome

00:02:19.180 our own minds to do what's right but you know courage is doing that

00:02:25.660 Well, you know, so to more answer the question as far as the importance of each member of the AFA instilling the virtue of courage, there's a reason that it's at the top of our list in the way we're ordering these virtues.

00:02:42.820 Courage is a foundation that adds context and value to all of our other virtues.

00:02:50.160 courage in a way takes idea and puts it into action it's very easy to have high-minded ideals

00:03:02.160 about many things but courage is putting that to the test when there's consequence

00:03:07.920 if there's no consequence or if there's no risk then standing behind something it isn't you know

00:03:15.920 it may be good but it isn't necessarily courageous courage comes when there is risk when there is

00:03:21.840 fear to overcome yet you stand up to it and overcome it and uh it's really the key to all

00:03:29.040 of the values that we hold so very dear in alsatru and it's something that to be very honest and

00:03:37.760 we'll talk about it a little bit more this evening but i've mentioned this a few times

00:03:43.520 and our founder steve mcnalen diagnosed our people as having a soul sickness and i think that's very

00:03:49.920 true um one of the biggest consequences of the sickness in our folks soul is that so many of

00:04:00.800 of our folk especially the younger generations of our folk severely lack courage and i don't

00:04:08.640 say that to be disparaging i say that so we know where we're at and we know how things that we can

00:04:14.560 work on and things that we build because i want all of us to to help each other be strong and

00:04:20.640 overcome and courage is an area to where a lot of our folk are really suffering right now

00:04:27.360 it's something that i am proud of um

00:04:29.680 um i became the else here you go through the astro folk assembly at a very interesting time

00:04:38.680 in the afa's history and i suppose in uh the history of the western world um just the way

00:04:44.740 things have gone there was a lot of fear around that time of being straightforward about our

00:04:55.340 beliefs and about the ethnic nature of our faith, about our position on homosexuality and

00:05:05.120 transgenderism and other mental illnesses, and really owning that and standing by it. And there 0.93

00:05:11.960 was a big fear to say that out loud. There were winks and nods and hoping it'd be all right,

00:05:22.040 But there was a very big reluctance and fear at the time of saying that up front and out loud. 0.98

00:05:29.960 One of the most important things, because I advocated this position when I was the Folk Builder Coordinator, as soon as I became the Ozheriagothi, one of the big things I wanted to do was the infamous white babies posts. 0.54

00:05:44.860 And not having it in front of me, I think that it went something like, in the AFA, we're extremely proud of our feminine ladies, our masculine men, and our beautiful white babies. 0.85

00:05:58.520 and that's the thing that started the whole declaration 127 and it threw down the gauntlet to

00:06:06.240 really polarize those of us who believe in also true the way that we do and the other folks that

00:06:17.700 have a progressive social agenda and claim to follow our gods

00:06:24.000 um but it was scary because there's a reason people didn't want to do that before is you know

00:06:30.540 that's that shook a lot of things up and uh and it did we lost members over it we had members for

00:06:36.820 the wrong reason and so it was good those people parted ways but you know at that time one wrong

00:06:43.500 move and and there was a very real fear that everything had come crashing down and it uh

00:06:48.680 was meaningful to me. We lost some members, but we gained members two to one compared to the

00:06:54.400 members that stepped away. And it's been kind of a defining moment in a lot of the progress

00:07:01.700 that we've made. And that means a lot to me. And I'm very committed to doing the right thing

00:07:07.280 as the Ulsteria Gothia, not just the easy thing. And that can be very difficult sometimes,

00:07:14.000 But it's something that I. Very much meditate on and focus on because it's so very important to me.

00:07:24.440 Absolutely. Don says tear, the bravest fettering, the chaos wolf is one of my favorite stories about courage from the lore.

00:07:37.120 What would be one of your favorite stories of courage from the lore?

00:07:40.520 Rob what's your favorite story of courage from the lore you can't take the

00:07:44.580 tier one oh because I already said it ah let's see I've got one but it's from a

00:07:57.000 saga well it's from the Saga Sigurd and actually my daughter her middle name is

00:08:07.740 is named after this lady. Her name is Guthrun, and she was a loyal wife, a loyal mother, a

00:08:15.640 loyal woman, and she got a raw deal because of some magical happenings and whatnot, and

00:08:25.060 she walked into the ocean rather than be disloyal, and she stayed true to her heart.

00:08:36.360 You know, she survived it, but she did walk into the ocean rather than compromise her value.

00:08:43.300 And that, to me, is a shining example of courage.

00:08:47.760 And I'm paraphrasing because it's been a while since I've read it.

00:08:57.220 So my story is going to also be not from high edict lore.

00:09:03.040 on my my favorite example of courage and this is a different kind of courage in a way is the

00:09:13.120 example of uh of king radbot and this meant a lot to me when when i and he became he was one of the

00:09:21.120 heroes that i first became aware of and it meant a lot to me when i first started in aussitrew um

00:09:26.800 he was at a point intellectually to where he could accept that perhaps the Christian God was

00:09:36.260 the only all-powerful God of the universe, and that that must be the way things are.

00:09:43.060 And he saw the power and the might of the missionaries and the Christian armies.

00:09:49.240 And he was about ready to get baptized and go through that. And then 0.50

00:09:56.220 And he asked at the last minute, he said, okay, but where are my ancestors?

00:10:03.580 And he was told that his ancestors were burning in hell.

00:10:09.460 And so if you can imagine for a moment, if your mindset is already to the point where

00:10:17.800 you believe that that's real that the christian heaven exists and the christian hell especially

00:10:26.840 as presented in the medieval times exists to where it is an eternity of torture

00:10:36.760 when he heard that his ancestors every last one of them was burning in hell 0.82

00:10:42.760 he stepped out of the baptismal font and said you know i i'd rather i'd rather burn in hell 1.00

00:10:50.800 with my ancestors than be in heaven with a parcel of beggars at that moment when those 0.99

00:10:57.740 consequences were very real to him he chose hellfire over the the easy path that took him 0.94

00:11:09.220 away from his kin and away from his ancestors. And that's always meant so much to me and still

00:11:14.080 does to this day. Can you talk about the difference between courageous femininity versus the pop

00:11:21.580 shield maiden phenomenon? Tell us your thoughts, Rob. Well, I mean, from a purely archaeological

00:11:35.060 standpoint, the whole shield maiden thing isn't really supported. You know, but I mean, read some

00:11:44.540 of the sagas, you know, women were right there on the battlefield, you know, encouraging the men

00:11:51.820 and in the saga, I think it was saga of the Greenlanders, one woman when the men were faltering

00:11:58.200 got in front of them and spooked the natives away. There is courage in femininity. And honestly,

00:12:12.040 these days, I think for women to be feminine is courageous in modern society. That alone

00:12:19.000 is an act of courage, in my opinion, because all the popular culture is telling them to do otherwise.

00:12:28.200 You know, I, it's courageous to be authentic and something that I've seen in almost every

00:12:40.500 incarnation of it. Whenever I have seen a woman that pretends to be a shield maiden 0.84

00:12:49.120 or talks about how much of a Valkyrie and a shield maiden and whatever she wants to say 0.75

00:12:54.180 that she is. I know to some of us at first, it can become very off-putting, but on further

00:13:05.100 examination and getting to know some of those ladies, it is a, and 100% of the time, this is

00:13:13.460 what I've seen. It is a mask to hide inherent brokenness and inherent weakness. The people, 1.00

00:13:21.360 the women that I've known that have pretended so hard to be shield maidens are the weakest people.

00:13:29.140 And I don't mean that insultingly. I mean that in a pitiful way. They're people that are very,

00:13:36.200 very broken inside. And this is a persona they can take on to distract themselves from

00:13:43.600 inadequacies that they feel. And I think that facing those things and overcoming

00:13:50.440 inadequacies is much, much more courageous than pretending to be somebody that you aren't.

00:13:57.900 Rob mentioned that being feminine in today's world is courageous because the people out there

00:14:05.060 in society so often now want to completely twist and distort the image of our women to make them

00:14:13.540 something they're not. It's as if the only way they can have value is by pretending to be men,

00:14:20.100 and that couldn't be further from the truth. Our women that live femininity and embrace their 0.94

00:14:26.200 femininity, embrace their roles as wives and as mothers and as grandmothers, those women are very

00:14:34.020 courageous. The ability to tell truth to men to encourage them to act right and to do the right

00:14:42.640 things when maybe they would falter is historically one of the best ways that women have

00:14:48.240 exhibited courage is by holding their men to account to make sure their men acted honorably

00:14:54.940 and acted courageously rather than, you know, shirking their responsibilities. Women encouraging

00:15:03.820 that and instilling that in our young men, it means everything and it's so very important.

00:15:09.940 And it will be a great day when our women stop with this shield maiden nonsense and can get, be truly proud of who they are and their inherent value.

00:15:23.700 And I want to see them have that. And the more women in the AFA that I've watched develop that and hold their heads high as beautiful women, it's really special to see.

00:15:34.920 And I look forward to seeing more of that.

00:15:39.940 Steve asks, how do you want your members to move forward with courage and use this virtue to

00:15:47.300 continue building and paving the way for the AFA? Rob, go ahead and go first on that one.

00:15:55.860 I think we touched on that earlier is just live an authentic, also true life. Live it,

00:16:03.220 live your truth and live it uh out in the open don't be don't hide uh be proudly in pictures um

00:16:12.100 you know proudly use your name um just live a real asa true life and that that is how you

00:16:19.860 be courageous is just be authentic easy yeah exactly we want

00:16:28.180 that's the thing the courage that we're asking for isn't big showy courage it's that everyday

00:16:37.780 courage of being proud of who you are being proud of us being proud of our gods and being proud of

00:16:45.080 the afa um the more of our people that are good people with good families who do good things

00:16:55.100 and our publicly AFA members, that builds our reputation amongst everyone.

00:17:02.060 It makes it that much easier for our children and for our children's children to be proud AFA members.

00:17:11.220 When folks hide, they look like they're doing something wrong because they're acting like

00:17:18.300 they're doing something wrong. We're not. We're doing something right. And standing together

00:17:24.660 putting your face and your name out there and saying, hey, I'm a proud member of the AFA.

00:17:30.500 That's what we want. That's what we need. And that's to a large extent why we've moved forward.

00:17:37.280 The advances in the AFA have been, there's a lot of factors and I would never discount

00:17:45.520 how big of an impact our God's blessing us has been. Certainly that's the biggest factor,

00:17:50.700 but on our end, having pictures of wonderful people doing wonderful things is what's bringing

00:17:59.600 our folk home. They see that it's real and that it goes on in the real world with people who

00:18:04.940 they can see look like great people that are smiling, that are happy, that are engaged in

00:18:10.700 something spiritual. So living proud of who you are and your beliefs is what we want from our

00:18:17.660 people. And it's not necessarily, it's not just what we want from our members. It's what we want

00:18:22.980 for. We don't want you to have to always look over your shoulder wondering if somebody's going to

00:18:28.940 discover your, your secret religion. No, we want you to be proud and to hold your head high and

00:18:35.920 to feel confident with who you are and what you believe. And we're here for you and we're here

00:18:40.680 for each other. Agreed. Cliff says, so we're talking about courage. Can each of you share

00:18:50.980 a moment in your life in which you wish you were more courageous or that you regret you

00:18:57.560 were not courageous? Do you have any off the top of your head, Rob? Yeah. There's a few

00:19:09.720 And I guess one I'll speak about because it is something that haunts me to this day, and I've never really shared it with anyone.

00:19:18.480 But when I was a teen, I was just 18, and my oppa that I've spoken about before, he was passing away.

00:19:31.800 And I didn't handle that as well as I should.

00:19:36.220 instead of confronting i mean i said my goodbyes and whatnot but i didn't stick around i immediately

00:19:42.140 joined the military and left and i think i could have handled that a lot better and i could have

00:19:47.580 been more courageous about that instead of facing my feelings and and being there uh i i i left and

00:19:57.100 i i regret that greatly i wish i had the courage to to face that better

00:20:02.540 i appreciate you sharing that i it's going to sound silly but i remember it because it stuck

00:20:12.920 out to me so much um because it happened when i was a kid i can't remember how old i was but i was

00:20:21.220 at uh camp gorsuch this uh boy scout camp in alaska and there was this repelling um

00:20:31.440 i don't know repelling thing we were all doing and uh i mean it was this it was a really large rock

00:20:41.720 thing it wasn't like a cliff or something huge it was like a really big rock it was like i don't

00:20:48.860 know 40 foot high or something nothing you know shocking but i was terrified and i couldn't do it

00:20:58.500 and a bunch of the other kids did it and my dad was there and i was so embarrassed that i was too

00:21:04.100 scared to to go down that and it's silly because i know better like but i i regret that and feel bad

00:21:12.980 about that to this day um on a side note but kind of partially an interesting story that just came

00:21:22.740 to mind was something that rob said um when my grandfather passed uh my my uncle and i had a

00:21:32.180 troubled relationship he was he was a very severe alcoholic and we just had a lot of things that

00:21:38.820 we struggled with when i was in high school um but my grandfather when he passed

00:21:43.780 my uncle would disparagingly say that i was cowardly that i didn't go and look at his at

00:21:53.020 his dead body after he'd passed and that wasn't the case that was never something that was offered

00:21:58.980 to me i didn't do that consciously but what i did make sure to do is when my uncle passed i i made

00:22:06.060 very sure that i went there and did a viewing of the body and stood with him and viewed as he went

00:22:14.140 into the the crematorium so not that that's either here or there it's just an interesting thing i

00:22:20.620 thought of when uh something came up that i thought of on it because it was you know referred to

00:22:27.580 i guess irreverently afterwards but not intentionally so as taking the dead body

00:22:31.820 challenge is uh you know being willing to go be there when that was something like that was

00:22:37.180 that was the first and first and only um dead person that i've ever seen

00:23:01.820 Thank you.

Asatru Folk Assembly - December 10, 2023

On Courage (from VNS Episode 16)

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