Warrior Myths

A key feature of the Far Right is its glorification of violence. Its identity of course is rooted in division, tribalism, blame, and the upholding of toxic gender stereotypes. Many men on the Far Right are drawn to old Norse culture and a particular view of the Vikings as conquering hordes, upholding the “Might Is Right” maxim. Yet, the sensitivity and delicacy explicit in Viking art is often overlooked, as is an old Scandinavian definition of a man - not as a warring, alpha-male brute, but rather as defined by three achievements:

building one’s own house, planting a tree, and becoming a father.

Particularly worrying in our Internet age, is that the old lies of Warrior violence have morphed into an addiction to images and ideas – and practices - of nihilistic destruction for the sake of it. We now have a Far Right in some of its more extreme factions glorifying rape and child abuse. That these things have grown from the original source is an indication that the seeds for this nihilism were there in the Far Right from the beginning, whatever claims it may have to its own ethics rooted in “culture”.

For those of us once involved in the Far Right, these developments obviously provide deeply troubling personal reflection.

This total disregard for life is a logical step for an ideology rooted in hatred and lies. As with any cultic phenomena, the lies of racial ideology are simply accepted by followers without question. But once freed, you can see clearly: if one starts with the premise that “race” actually exists, then it is as sub-divisions of one species. This species – the Human - is derived from Nature, and in Nature mixing is often occurring, creating new sub- divisions of one species, and this evolving is constantly changing. So it is with Human Beings, so that a “race” cannot be fixed in time or imbued with fixed qualities.

Anyone who claims to be “Pagan” – someone who venerates our origins and fundamental connections to Nature - should understand this. Much evidence now exists to suggest that if we were to travel back to the time of Stonehenge, we would not recognise the builders of that monument as “Aryan”, but rather as people of colour.

Cultures and traditions may serve positively as a description of the variations created by Nature, but there is something far more important to consider. No one “race” or culture (or indeed “Nation”) has a greater and distinct sense of what is Good; of what is intelligent, profound, inventive, creative, spiritual. We – all Humans – also share an “Otherness”, which some – myself included - may describe as our shared nature with God (with the Mystery which lies beyond our knowing).

We are closer to those migrants risking their lives crossing the English Channel than with the likes of Tommy Robinson, Right wing Politicians in the mainstream and elsewhere, and those powerful figures in the media intent on sowing seeds of fear. It seems to me, we now live in a peculiarly Right Wing society with echoes of the 1970s and 1980s in the mainstream, where the truth of our shared nature is cynically buried beneath divisive ideals of a Nationalist warmongering “Culture” set at odds against, in particular, Islam and migrants. We are a Human culture, and we need to understand that our power as

individuals to change things for the better lies in this unity.

One of the keys to this unity lies in rejecting the old archetypes of violence. For me, this means supporting the global Peace Movement and striving in our individual lives to not cause harm to any living thing. Whatever violence we do to others, we do to ourselves. I would personally recommend interested readers consider Veganism, because our shared unity – because we derive from Nature – is not just with other humans but with all manifestations of life.

This striving to not cause harm is rooted in an ideal which can never fully be attained, but it is this striving, this trying our best, which is the ideal in practice. After exploring different spiritual ways of life, I have personally found that the essence of Christianity best describes such an ideal. Following this essential, simple message of Love, one finds that “race”, culture, gender, gender stereotypes, Nation, are all irrelevant.

As we learn every day in this digital world, young people in particular are progressively losing a sense of positive purpose, with their souls being eaten away by nihilism to the point that their sense of the sanctity of life is being eroded. It is so important that this future generation understand how this nihilism (including male “warrior” violence) – most prevalent in the Far Right – is not some heroic rejection of authority, but a manipulation by a powerful, influential few to sow discord, division and death for their own ends.

As a former follower of the Far Right in my youth, I, like so many people, was drawn into it because it uniquely feeds on the individual’s sense of isolation and dis-Unity which in turn produces self-loathing and anger.

Violence and destruction are not tools of liberation and rebellion, or expressions of “true” gender stereotypes, but rather an Evil: a means to imprison and destroy the individual and collective Human soul. Love and compassion on the other hand will bring peace both globally and within the individual.

Edward.