Awakening Sleipnir by Denney Michael

Author:Denney, Michael [Denney, Michael]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Published: 2013-03-10T16:00:00+00:00

Mother Earth

Possibly the most notable difference in thought between modern Westerners and our pre-Christian animist ancestors is our attitude and relationship to the Earth and Nature.

Moderners see themselves as separate from the Earth whereas our tribal Germanic ancestors saw themselves as inseparable from Her. Today most people seek to live in large cities. City living is a foundation of all empirical societies. The Roman historian Tacitus notes that the traditional tribal Germanic lifestyle in 98 A.D. was in sharp contrast to the Roman style where he notes:

“It is well known that the nations of Germany have not cities, and that they do not even tolerate closely contiguous dwellings. They live scattered and apart, just as a spring, a meadow, or a wood has attracted them. Their village they do not arrange in our fashion, with the buildings connected and joined together, but every person surrounds his dwelling with an open space...”

If one were to replace the word “Germany” in this quote with the name of any other “primitive” tribal culture, it would fit perfectly. What Tacitus is saying here is that the pre-Roman Germanic people were no different than any other aboriginal tribal people who lived in harmony with their natural

surroundings.

And yet, the modern, stereotype of someone of Germanic descent is the opposite. Modern Caucasians are universally seen as people completely out of touch with Nature and dependent on modern technology to survive. Unfortunately, in many cases I have to agree. But, as with any racist generalization this is not true in all cases nor does it represent our essence but rather the choices we have made.

Recently, I watched a documentary about a rash of grizzly bear attacks on campers in Glacier National Park during the 1960’s. One of the interviewees present during that tragedy was a Native American man who said, “These white people don’t know how to interact with bears.”

As someone of European descent who has spent a lot of time in the wilderness dealing with wild bears and successfully avoiding them while keeping my food hidden from them, I was immediately offended at the racist generalization in that remark.

But, in the case of those campers, his remark was absolutely true. And I would have to agree that many average “white” people have no clue how to deal with wild animals as a result of living in urban and suburban communities.

From the personal experience of this Native man, “white” people were so disconnected from Nature that they had no idea how they had created this disaster. For decades, visitors to the park (mostly urban dwellers) had been feeding the grizzlies their uneaten food.

Visitors to the lodge were encouraged to watch the bears eat the lodge’s discarded food as a nightly “show.” This was, in fact, one of the main attractions to the backcountry lodge. This nightly show for the visitors trained the bears and their offspring to be accustomed to humans and depend on them for food.

The Native American watching this could easily see the disaster in the making.

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