Looking out for number one
Published: Wed, 11/23/16
Body, mind and spirit can sound terribly new agey and airy fairy but I really don’t know why. I would suggest that we have physical bodies and we can accept that as a working concept. (lets leave aside discussion on whether or not ‘reality is just an illusion’ for the moment.) We have minds which think, remember and imagine. We have the image of Odin’s two ravens, Hugin (thought) and Munin (memory) ranging far and wide into remembered past and imagining possible futures. Then we also have values because we make decisions (a mind processes) and manifest action (body process) according to the value we give to something. If you really stop and think about it. (Assuming you put any value on thinking. However, if you are reading this then I suspect that you are a reasonably thoughtful person. ) Then you will realise that your real motivation comes from your values.
The couch potato values the comfort of junk food, TV and inactivity. The athlete values the effort and hardship of training and the opportunity to compete and perhaps win.
A shy person may value a job where they hardly come in contact with other people at all. Perhaps a shepherd or night watchman. An ambitious politician relished the chance to speak to large crowds and engage in vigorous debate.
Which raises three big questions:
Where do values come from?
What the process by which our values change?
What happens when values, thought and action are not in alignment with each other?
I will attempt to answer first and second question another time, for the moment we just need to accept that we have values and the important thing is to become aware of ours, not self-critical, just aware.
The answer to the third question is that we create our reality according to our values at a particular moment in time. Then, having established a physical reality and associated thought patterns it can take a lot of effort and quite a long time to adjust the physical and mental life in alignment with a different set of values. Again, the most important thing is to be aware of the situation and be willing to let it change.
In Stav we have the five principles and the ethical bind rune. The first principle is the Trel or slave principle. In the ethical bind rune this principle is represented by the Thor rune. Each principle and associated runes represents a different value. The principles are simple enough, the question is whether or not we express that value consciously or unconsciously. In each case our level of self-awareness makes a very big difference to our experience of life.
On the Trel level the effect is that if unconscious, then we may experience reality as a prison which cannot be escaped from. A common response to a sense of captivity is a mind full of anger and frustration.
If conscious then the Trel experiences the value of freedom from responsibility or obligation. The primary Trel value is simply one’s own well-being and there will be many situations where this is all we need to be concerned with. If there is an issue for which you have no responsibility and there is no conceivable benefit in your getting involved then don’t. In a conflict situation the only imperative according to Trel values is self-defence, with the emphasis on ‘self’. Just focus on taking the best care of yourself that you can. Your first value is your own well-being, but that only relates to one out of five principles, one out of six runes in the ethical bind rune. I will look at the Karl principle next, in the meantime you might like to read my article which includs an exploration of the Ethical Bind Rune http://iceandfire.org/
regards
Graham
PS I am also very pleased to announce that Fox Walters has agreed to come to Somerset on the 8th and 9th of April to do another CQC weapons course. I am still working on the calendar list but you can see what we have so far here http://iceandfire.org/calendar.html