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Go to the mountains to refresh yourself.
The peace of nature will penetrate you
the way sunshine penetrates a forest.
The wind will give you its briskness,
the storms its strength, and your worries
will fall away like leaves on an autumn day.
John Muir,
American Natural Scientist
Despite of some slight slowing downs of our economic growth, we are still living quite high on the hog. Perhaps that is why many of us may not realize that we are unwittingly standing watch by the death-bed of Nature.
How did this happen? How does Christianity and Nordic Religion relate to Nature?
Let's start by reviewing the present conditions of our enviroment.
Our Earth has a diameter of 7,200 miles, an extremely thin "shell" about 3 miles thick is actualiy livable, 3/5ths of this shell is water, only 2/5ths is land. Subtract the polar regions, desert areas, and similar inhospitable areas, our living area is essentially reduced to two narrow bands along the 50th Longitude. That is our living space - thin and narrow. Yet, the industrial countries, which lie within this region, have progressivly taken much fertile land out of production, requiring this precious treasure for streets, houses, and industrial complexes. We feel this is necessary for our "economic growth", for the well-being of our civilization, for Progress. We've grown accustomed to the "Good Life", for example, many people run to a drug store or doctor for every little thing, expecting that hiqhly-qualified modern day Medicine Men can quickly cure us, and reassue us that we will live a nice long life, in luxury of course. We permit ourselves liberties that no generation before even dreamed of.. Thanks to highly developed technical wonders, time and space have virtually shrunk to nothingness, and we catch unheard of glimpses into outer space and into the bizarre world seen only through microscopes.
We use this mushrooming knowledge, not only to further what we call "education", but also (and primarily) to oil the wheels of Industrialization, Mass Production, of economic growth. All this growth has long since eclipsed a normal desire to satisfy our needs, since we well know what our real needs are. Our knowledge and capital are now used solely to continue an annhilation process we call "economic growth", and the communist economies are only mirroring what the capitalists are doing.
To think and act ecologically means that we must acknowledge and accept that everything in this world is interdependent, that we "can't fool Mother Nature", that we must completely re-orient our civilization within a sensible framework.
Our economy is literally running itself to the ground using up priceless energy and raw materials that took millenia to develop. This is a consumption process that one should not praise to highly despite all the pretty little things we surround ourselves with. Our society produces scarcely anything that will still be "in use" a century from now.
What is most terrifying, is the scale at which we are consuming raw materials and energy. It doubles roughly every 38 years. We realize this, and_we are able to surmise how long yet our supplies of Iron, Aluminum, Copper, Coal, Oil and Uranium will last. Big Business is forever feverishly working to find ways of staving off the inevitable before we finally squeeze the last drop of precious oil our of our planet.
In view of all this, it is a waste of time to think that discoveries of new finds will extend our plundering. The end times, so to speak, of our economy may be extended a little bit, but just a little bit, no more.
In the meantime, we will continue to praise the heights of our civilization and culture.
Theoretically, it is possible for us to call it quits with this exploitation process and return to a nature-economy. For eons we got a long very well using regenerative sources energy such as water power and wood. Our living standard may have to return to a pre-industrial level - certainly no rosy picture - since only a limited number of people could live in harmony with the earth's treasures.
Reality, however, says something else. It's no longer possible, or thinkable, for us to slow down our consumption of the earth's raw materials and energy, because on our comparatively small planet, some 6 billion people must eke out a living, 2.8 billion in the Developing Countries alone. These countries are in no position to feed their own citizens, and reject efforts at limiting the birth rate of their starving millions. Every now and then multi-hued prospects depicting undernourished children arrive in the mail, appealing for our empathy, although whatever help we send only serves to further the birth rate of these starving masses, creating ever greater demands on our empathy. We know that most of these children will die of starvation, yet the birth rate continues to exceed the death rate, and the poverty cycle constricts with ever tightening coils. Nonetheless, our businessmen continue to view these countries as markets for our products, that are so mass-produced that it is not possible to find home markets any more. With never ending preaching, we are told that by helping these poor people, we actually secure our own working places and raise our own living standard.
Is it really worth striving for, to enable 6 billion people on our hopelessly over-populated planet to acquire TVs, refrigerators, 2nd cars, and annual vacation trips? It is not even worth the effort to try, since it would require over 40 years (assuming we still have raw materials?!) to grant these pleasures to today's 6 billions, but by then, there will be 9 billions on earth, and the largest share of the TVs and refrigerators would already be on the blink, necessitating replacements, spare parts, irate consumers, ad nauseum!
It is an exercise in futility to even ponder how to raise the living standard of all the people. The English Professor, Thomas Robert Malthus recognized that 200 years ago (curiously just as the Industrial Revolution was beginning) remarking:
Life on this earth is like a lottery game in which the majority of the participants drew a blank.
A modern day American scientist, Paul Ehrlich has pleaded in vain, that we recognize the main cause of this disaster; over-population of the third world. Thus it was possible for Third World Politicians at the first World Conference on Population to pull a successful coup. Instead of agreeing to a formular that would have slowed down world popualtion growth to 2% after 1985, they managed to avoid having even the word "birth control" mentioned in the closing communique. Many of these politicians believe that birth control is only an euphemism for extermination of non-whites by whites and have even instituted "reproduction programs" in their countries.
Thus, help for developing countries is senseless and a form of suicide since it will boomerang in the form of a gigantic army of starving people begging for even more aid. Help supplied to pregant mothers today, means starving children tomorrow, and wretched refugees by us the day after! In any event, we can't offer much help anyway since our society is already on the decline as supplies of raw naterials gets used up. Result: "A traditional kind of humanism, which placed the individual at the center of its efforts, won't exist anymore, since it prooved to be the cause of Nature's death" (Carl Amery).
60 years from now, 12 billion people will be crowding our planet - assuming the earth is still in one piece and our civilization hasn't collapsed. Very few of us recognize that the Extermination Process which we call Economic Growth relates exponentionally to the population increase of the 3rd World. The degree and size with which we consume the earth's raw materials and energy doubles itself almost as quickly as the world's population - although the white population is frightfully decreasing. Lead astray by incompetent politicians, we think that economic growth is more important than children. This has become practically a fetish, as politicians, demogogues, cardinals, opinion makers and other clowns urge us to kow-tow to the god of economic growth.
We should think about that old French children's song, where a water lily in a garden pond doubled itself daily. The animals looked on with joy, even to the next to last day as part of the pond was still open, they did not feel threatened. Next day, the whole pond was covered, and all life in the pond choked to death. That is exponentional growth.
What is Ecology? What is Environmental Consciousness?
Ecology is the "Doctrine of the Home". Meant is the house in which we all live - Nature. Our environment is like a multi-story home: geological, botanical, zoological, and climatological living space. It is all-important that the interrelationships of these dimensions are not destroyed or disturbed. The environment has a very complex character. Every stage: soil, water, plant and animal kingdom even the air has give and take relationships with each other. As long as every thing is in harmony, we've got a healthy, natural environment. Protection of the world around us is the efforts to maintain this balance.
Environmental consciousness is nothing more than being conscious of nature. It's not the ability to recite paragraphs of garbage removal laws, rather it's the ability to recognize the borders of our housing and what it can and can not shelter. Environmental consciousness is knowing just how far we can go. Nature is not a throw-away, not a cheap trinket, but a living space whose area can only be limitedly used, and wisely used.
Animals use their instincts to get along nicely with their environment. Mankind has long since lost these instincts, and has replaced it with "reason". Because we have lost our instincts, we are unsure of ourselves in our relation with nature. Many people live in an ecological disorientation; they have lost all sense of contact with Nature. Environmental consciousness must base itself on an appreciation of Nature. But first we've got to sensibly develop a Sense for the Environment. This is difficult; since whoever doesn't consider polution of the environment (for example, noise) as unwholesome, unnatural, indeed deadly, will never be able to understand the reasons for protecting Nature.
Environmentalism originates also from a definite sense of Esthetics. Who doesn't have an eye for the beauty of the world, can never be won over to the fight for keeping the world beautiful, much less mobilized against environmental polution. First a sense of the world around us must be awakened. This means appreciating plants, animals, geological formations, and people. It means also being able to quickly recognize threats to this beauty. Without well thought out knowledge and experience it's useless to expect a development of environmental consciousness and responsibility.
Environmental consciousness is knowing how far we can go. Just how far will be recognized as soon as people cherish with awe their surroundings.
Respect for Nature is the first commandment of the environmental ethic. The withering of a sense of values ends in losing this respect. And without it, man will never recognize the full and true value of Nature. Nature can not be programmed into a cost-effect-analysis.
People such as our Nordic forefathers who lived fully integrated with Nature, understood this. Agrarian cultures live in trusting relationship with Nature, life and death reflects the ups and downs of Nature. Our industrial culture has decided to cannibalize Nature, believing that they have overcome Nature and no longer need Nature. From this, however, a new lifestyle has developed which appreciates and treasures Nature. An appreciation rooted in awe and respect of the ecological rules - a return to the one-with-Nature lifestyle of our forefathers.
Our Nordic people have successfully, and with originality, solved problems in the past. Today, we have been somewhat blinded by false phantasies, and it will take almost every thing we have to again utilize out spirit, mind and creative talents to find a way out of our present deadly rat-race.
Let's leave the "Is Condition" for a moment, and review the relationships of Christianity and Nordic Religion to Nature.
Whereever Christianity goes, it destroys or severely alters the established culture. It must do that, since, quite simply put, Christianity can not live in harmony with other belief structures. The Church recognized that very early, and for the last 1500 years has terrorized the western world with unheard of brutality. For this reason, Christianity is solely responsible for our tragic slide to the abyss of ecological disaster, since Christianity has no respect for Nature. (See for example, their famous biblical quote: Subdue the Earth).
In order to understand how this happened, let's look at the sources. Not so much at actual bible, but more at the actual historical happenings. Christian theologians have always resisted attempts at presenting the Christian teachings in a neutral light, fearing that in so doing, most people would reject the teachings. A couple of decades ago, it was deadly to even question the historicity of "Jesus". Today, it is possible to do that, not because the Churches have become tolerant, but because a few brave souls have left their lives on the battlefield of freedom of expression.
There is virtually no accurate historical proof that a Jew by the name of Jesus actually lived some 2000 years ago, doing his thing with miracles and rising from the dead. Practically everything we "know" about Jesus comes from the Gospels - all of which were written decades after his alledged death and resurrection.
Curiously, no literature is existant from that period that questions the gospels and its bizarre tales. And even if the gospels are correct, it is interesting to note that even the Churches acknowledge, there is only tenous proof that organized Christianity can trace its history to the Last Supper.
Even if we ignore the religious implications of his life, and view Jesus as merely a political opponent of Roman authorities, we hard put to find any evidence that he existed. To be sure, there were some religious leaders in those days, Josephus Flavius, born in 37 AD, and a historian by profession, developed the concept of modern Jewish history. In his writings mention is made of several "sons of god" and "wondermen", eg Honi - put to death in 65 AD and even a man called John the Baptist. But Flavius writes nothing about a Jesus.
Years later, the Churches discovered that Flavius wrote nothing about Jesus. Found that hard to believe, and concocted a "Testimonium Flavium" as an appendix to his writings which conviently (of course) gave delayed recognition that a certain Jesus of Nazareth actually lived.
But let's keep with historical facts only. It is proven that around 70 - 80 AD, that there were Jewish communities outside of Palestine that were in spiritual opposition to Jerusalem. One of these sects, was the Essenes, of which we learned much when the "Qumran scrolls" were unearthed in 1974. These scrolls do give some information that a Jesus did live and was more than likely a member of this community. It's possible therefore, that since Jesus did not live in Palestine, that may be the reason why Flavius knew nothing of him. Curiously, as soon as the Churches discovered that, their jubilation over the foundings of the Scrolls quieted very sudden.
The actual founder of the Christian religion was a man named Saul, later renamed Paul, also a foreigner and one in standing conflict with Jerusalem. He is the chief historial witness for the 2000 year old fire-and-sword message of Christian fabels. To Paul we are thankful for much: although the Historian can find no solid evidence of a Jesus of Nazareth, all Christians know of all the details of his life thanks to the "unexcelled love of truth" with which Paul wrote - although he had never personally met Jesus, knowing of him only through an " apparition" .
Paul is quite a character. It was he, not the actual apostles who allegedly knew of this Jesus personally, who developed the Christian belief structure and spread it like wildfire throughout the known world. It will forever remain a mystery why the Jewish god Yahweh was not satisfied with the apostles and had to recruit a stranger to work out the message! Since Paul is so important, let's take a close look at him.
Saul was born in Tarsus, Turkey, the son of a Jew who had Roman citzenship. Blessed with a good education, including studies at Jerusalem, he quickly identified himself as a dyed-in-the-wool Pharisee, demanding unconditional obiedience to the Mosaic law. When the new Essenes sect arose, and opposed Jerusalem Saul persecuted this sect passionately. Evidently, however, he must have done a little thinking and perhaps spoke with or read the writings of, some of these Essenes. Gradually, he came to realize that this sect, and not Jerusalem, was really bent on renewal of Judaism. Further, this renewal also had traces of possible political liberation from the Roman yoke. Suddenly, on the road to Damascus, "his eyes were opened". Then, realizing that as a Roman citizen, he could travel freely throughout the known world, he would be the ideal vessel for spreading the message of Jewish renewal. As citizen, he had connections through out the Roman Empire, and as a Jew was acquainted with the Jewish "Chosen Race" philosophy. Later he would claim that all this was "divine" revelation, that it was bound with the name change to Paul, and that this revelation gave him the courage to preach his message independent of the wishes of the original apostles. Through all this he hit upon the idea of converting an obscure member of the anti-Jerusalem community into the "son of god" and "redeemer" of the Jewish people. It speaks volumes that Paul avoided, at virtually all costs, any contact with people who were contemporaries of this legendary Jesus and that he remained almost exclusively outside of Palestine. His opinion was that the apostles should stay in Palestine, fighting with the traditional Jews, while he would conduct a missionary journey among the foreign Jews and heathens.
Fanatically, Paul used the old testament to prove the events of his "new testament". And nothing changed! Just like the old testament, the Christian era is a continuation of war, murder, persecution, and rape. All justifiable, after all it was done "in the Name of God". Their relationship with Nature also reflected that they must synchronize all their experiences with what is "dictated" in the so-called holy writings. Whether it is a crusade called by a pope, or the destruction of rain forests, everything could be justified, since the bible gives "evidence" that these things are the "Will of God".
Originally, these new Christians did not even attempt to develop their own ethic. They were satisfied to mimic the Mosaic law, hoping that "redemption" was actually a political movement, freeing Jewry from the Ronan yoke. Gradually, it dawned on them, that the Jews were rejecting them, and that political liberation from Rome was not feasible. Thereupon the Christians began to develop their own ideology. All people are sinners, not through what they do in life, but merely through birth! The "original sin" was invented, bounding even for already dead people. No one liberates himself from this sin, he must be redeemed. This longawaited redeemer, coming from the Chosen Race, would redeem all people, Jew and Heathern alike. But this had first to be proven and all sorts of "gospels" were written and concocted, many actually contradicted each other. The early churches recognized this, and quickly opted to recognize only 4 gospels, which conveniently echoed each other, more or less. These 4 books were judged as having apostolic approval, and thus became the "Holy Writings" and the "Word of god" for all believers.
Naturally, many intelligent people, especially those who observed the threat to society's general well-being, tried to hoist warning flags. The Greek philosopher, Celsus, wrote:
"The Christian religion is a dumb, simple faith,
one which can only attract uneducated and narrow-
minded people, coarse and simple-minded who don't
possess the ability to reason what they do."
The Churches did not even try to counter this claim, indeed, they even said the same thing. Church Father Origines observed:
"No learned person, no intellectual person, no wise man dare attempts to come to us. We consider intelligence, knowledge, and scholarship as Evil! But whoever is simple-minded, whoever is uneducated, whoever is a child or a fool, comes trusting to us."
As the churches attained power, they quickly burned all the anti-Christian writings, and we have only scant tidbits, which survived this "Book Burning". Some of these writings criticize the actual gospel stories. What divine thing did this imaginary Jesus accomplish? If he was god, why did he flee? Can a god let himself be bound and carried away? Why must he constantly threaten people "Watch and be prepared, for the time is coming". Can't this god find some other, more pleasing method for attracting and convincing people? Why did this "god" sweat blood out of fear of his impending death? Can a god die? Why did he plead with his "father" to spare him this painful death? Why wasn't he strong enough to push away the stone himself, why did he need to recruit two angels? Why did he have to hide himself from his own friends after his resurrection? And where is he hiding now?
Don't these question ever stop! One of the most hardest: how can the death of this god be so special, how can he take upon himself all the punishment of all people for all time? The philosopher Rudolf Bultmann answered this question: "Which primitive mythology having an anthropological god-figure did not sacrifice this figure to atone for their sins."
Here, let's pause for a second and list some points of Christian teachings:
Invention of original sin, to convince people that they're hopelessly guilty.
Placing people in a master-slave relationship with a god of revenge and hate, who has declared:
"I will eradicate mankind from the earth. Everything I made from people to cattle and birds I will eradiacte because I regret that I ever made them." (1 Moses 6:6-7)
Banning the human race to a world of dark powers, a place of condemnation "weeping and gnashing of teeth" which he created and only a certain Jesus can free them from.
But even this Jesus wanted to destroy family relationships so he could better handle the people:
"Don't think that I came to bring peace to the earth.
I have not come to bring peace, but the sword.
I came to set father against son, daughter against mother,
and step-daughter against step-mother.
One's own colleagues will be one's own enemies.
Who ever loves his mother or father better than me,
is not worthy of me..."
(Matthew 10, 34-37).
In this utterance, we find the roots of intollerance, revenge and hate that has characterized Christianity to this day.
At the start, this new religion attracted servants, slaves, social outcasts, and potential political dreamers, all who saw in the "Redeemer", some kind of redemption for their personal selves, be it freedom from slavery, or what have you. With these kinds of people, the early Christians could not, alone, make it within the Roman Empire. Lying and cheating, ruses and fraud were necessary to get a foothold. Suetonius, a contemporary Roman court reporter, observed: "Emperor Claudius banned the Jews from Rome, because they were being politically motivated by the Christians."
Lucian from Samosata, Greek writer 120-200 AD commented:
"...Those wretched people are convinced that they are immortal and will live forever. They do not fear death, and many freely welcome death. Further, they quote their first law writer, Paul, who claimed that we are all brothers if we would but renounce the Greek gods, and pray to a crucified Sophist, a pseudo-intellectual, and live according to his laws. -They look upon everything with scorn, and consider everything vain, without a satisfying reason, and because of their opinion, will have nothing to do with anything. Should a thief come among them, knowing how to use them to his advantage, he will become a rich man in no time, because these people are so easily led by their noses."
Other writers, such as Tacitus, Aristides from Mysia, Emperor Julian, Libanius, etc, expressed themselves similarly on this topic. Often quite sharp, as they recognized that this mob is seeking only power and the destruction of the State. History gives evidence.
Reflecting their negative appreciation of this world, the Christians rejected the Roman State, Society and Family. Among their members, they instituted a provision prohibiting Christians from accepting employment in the service of the Emperor or of the Roman gods. In other words, the more converts the Christians were able to win, the more difficult it would be for the State to maintain an army, or to employ necessary officials. The philosopher Celsus was concerned about this, and feared for the survival of Rome. Origines, the church father, replied to these fears characteristically:
"If all Rome would accept the Faith, they would achieve victory over their enemies using prayer and supplication alone. Indeed, they would have no more enemies, since divine power would protect them."
Paul was intelligent. He knew, from his experiences and education, that the Jews could never destroy Rome with military might, but only through the development of ideas that would undermine and weaken the State. Jesus, in fact, preached that "Who lives by the sword, dies by the sword". It is no accident, that Paul preached mostly among Roman citizens, who were not Jews. Could that be the reason why Saul joined up with the Essenes because he saw in their message, the ideal weapon for liberating the Jews from the hated Roman occupation?
If he really did think along these lines - and the Christian position vis-a-vis the State of Rome was exactly that - than Paul calculated rightly.
Further the rejection of science, preached by the Christians, is more than just a kind of envy or resentment of ignorant people against highly educated people, it was a studied manouver to deny the State the education, knowledge, and technical help it required to maintain itself. In this light, the words of Tertullian can be well understood:
"What the Athens of antiquity with our Jerusalem had to create, what the academy with the church...Since Jesus we are not allowed to research or investigate, since the Preaching of the Gospels.As long as we believe, we need not go beyond the beliefs...Not knowing anythin outside of the belief structure, means possessing all knowledge."
The famous theologian, Adolf von Harnack, identified this attitude as pseudo-philosophy and wins with power over the spirit. "She stupifies the person - her highest triumph - kills all sense of reality and destroys the function of other senses."
By rejecting everything associated with the State, even art and stage, all the ties binding a civilization are cut. The State begins to whither. Old Rome was characterized by a desire to learn, healthy competition, and the nurturing of State pride. A monotheistic redemption religion defeated it, offering in turn, nothing more than a bunch of fairy tales about a certain Jesus who may never have even existed. It is a naked commentary, that when the Christians reestablished themselves in Constantinople (following the collapse of Rome), they, as the state religion, quickly abolished all these "rejection of the State" ideas. Meanwhile in the western lands, in Europe, the End of Reason, ushered in by Christianity, marked the beginning of the Christian victory march into Nordic Lands.
As our germanic ancestors overwhelmed the western Roman Empire, they came into contact with Christianity. It has been often remarked, with authentication, that the Germanic people, from princes to paupers, stood in amusement of this religion. But they failed to realize that the simplicity the religion publicly exhibited, was offset but a degree of power, murder, cheating, threats, and double-talk that our forefathers never before ever dreamed of. With these weapons, the Christians were able to confound the Germanic peoples, removing or converting princes as the case may be. By the time the West Frank, Carolus Magnus, arrived at the gates of Rome, the victory of Christianity was no longer stoppable. Since then a bloody trail has weaved its horrendous path through the centuries.
Our ancestors, didn't give up easy. Throughout the years, they offered resistance and many Nordics were condemned by the "Religion of Love" to painfully slow and bloody deaths. The litany of our sorrows is long, here are a few examples:
313 Emperor Constantin I. states the "Tolerance-Edict" of Milano. Christians consider this as permission to start the persecution of heathens.
341 Emperor Constantin II. states the Edict "Nostra Mansuetudo" (Our Gentleness!). All the veneration of the old gods has to be stopped.
Feb, 20th, 356 Death penalty on veneration of the old gods.
Jan, 25th, 357 Death penalty on asking oracles.
Sept, 9th, 364 Death penalty on making sacrifieces to the old gods and using the old heathen songs.
Feb, 20th, 373 Death penalty on all persons beeing anababtists.
Apr, 22nd, 376 Destruction of all heathen cultural buildings.
Aug, 3rd, 379 Death penalty on all person who are of different opinion.
380 Gratian, Valentinian and Theodosius state, that all persons have to be baptized. Death penalty on all refusers.
415 Archbishop Cyril of Alexandria burned the famous Library of Alexandria, one of the greatest achievments of the ancient world. 900,000 hand written scrolls containing the wisdom of the thinkers, philosophers and scientists of the ancient world were lost forever.
Feb, 6th, 459 Confiscation of all heathen properties.
527 - 565 The christian Emperor Justinian renews and strengthens all the laws against the heathens.
597 Augustine arrives at England. He describes our ancestors as members of a barbarous, fierce and unbelieving nation.
601 Pope Gregory writes to mellitus about converting the English: "It is immpossible to efface everything at once from their obdurate minds."
640 Eorcenberth of Kent orders destruction of Odinist altars.
681 Conversion of Sussex, last of the pagan kingdoms in England.
746 The Christian Frankish Duke Karlmann murdered thousands of Alemannics near the town of Cannstadt.
782 4000 Saxons were beheaded by the Christian Emperor Karl. 10,000 more deported.
937 - 999 The Christian Dukes, Boleslaw of Poland and Bolesalw of Bohemia slaughtered 10,000 peansants in Pommerania.
1100 - 1200 Over 2 million German men and women in what is today Austria, Switzerland and southern West Germany were pitilessly slaughtered because they would not convert. This was Church orders.
1209 - 1229 Pope Innocent III and King Louis of France organized a crusade against the Albegensians, exterminated thousands, because they were "heretics".
1212 50,000 German and French children town from their families and pressed into military service, the fool-hardy "Children's Crusade". Many died of hunger, sickness, and misery. Very few came home.
1232 Pope Gregory IX took over responsibility for the Inquisition. Almost a million were brutally murdered.
1234 Over 10,000 German men, women, and children were killed at the command of the Bremen archbishop, because they were "heretics".
1260 - 1327 Meister Eckart von Hochheim, German philosopher. The Christians forbade and burned his writings.
1415 John Huss, Rector of the German University of Prague. Condemned by the Council of Constance. Shortly after burned. His death sparked the succeeding Hussite war conducted by the "Religion of Love". Ushered in the hate that has poisnoned relations between Czechs and Germans to this day.
1473 - 1543 Nicholas Kopernikus, German Thinker and Astronomer. His writings were banned and burned by the Church.
1475 - 1541 The Christian Francisco Pizarro conquers the Incas, commits genocide against them, and destroys their culture. All with Church "approval", using the 1198 issued Bull "Sanctum Officium" against heretics and unbelievers.
1489 The papal inquisitors, Henry Institoris and Jacob Sprenger publishes a booklet against witches. It causes a flood of witchhunts in all Europe.
1556 - 1596 The Christian General Alba, with the approval of the Christian Spanish King Philip II, murders 10,000 German and Flemish "heretics".
1559 The famous Catholic Index of Forbidden Books is first published under Pope Paul IV.
1571 - 1630 Johann Keppler, German Thinker and Astromoner. The Christians condemned and burned his writings.
Aug. 24 th, 1572 The infamous Bartholomew Night Massacre - 30,000 Hugenots were murdered by Catholics in France.
1600 Giodano Bruno, Italian Philosopher, was burned at the stake, at the command of the Church.
1618 - 1648 30-year Christian War of Annihilation in Germany. Population reduced from 30 to 7 millions.
1642 Galileo Galilei, Italian Astronomer. The Church condemned and forbade his writings. He was persecuted, forced to deny his sceintific works.
1100 - 1820 Over 4 million witches were persecuted by the Church and burned at the stake in America and in Europe.
The tragic never-ending list of Crimes Against Humanity committed by the Christian Religion, the self-styled Religion of Love, has no equal.
To govern all these unatoned acts of "mercy"(!), the Church has had 266 popes from the year 67 to 1982 with an extra of 39 unrecognized antipopes, for a total of 305 Holy fathers. Only recently, since the mid-19th Century has efforts at controlling this blood-thirsty machine known as Christianity been somewhat successful. Still one wonders about the thousands and thousands of young men and women who languished a whole life long behind the thick forbidding cloister walls. It will never be satisfactorily known, how much society lost through these criminal actions. Tragically, no monument exists anywhere in the world, commemorating the victims of Christian genocide. We must and will remember them in our hearts.
Perhaps, this barbaric activity can be explained by viewing the content of this religion:
Christianity maintains that it is the Religion of Love. They even go so far as to claim that they "introduced" the idea of Love of neighbor. That is categorically untrue. This kind of love is in-born, it is perfectly natural for all people to love their own kith and kin. If that was not true, than our ancestors could never have possibly survived the era when they were but hunters and gatheres. Christianity, thus claims to usurp a human trait that we have natually, from Nature.
Christianity professes a concern for the "poorest of the poor", the downtrodden, the wretched incometents, and similar creatures. Regularly, the church implores that the better-off people should held the helpless, that the rich should give their money to the poor, preferably, of course, by way of the Church. What others can't (or won't) accomplish, should be handed to them by those who are achievement-oriented.
Presenting human failures as models for others - that is contrary to Nature! Nature, from which we stem, and which has existed for countless millions of years, operates on the principle 'To the Victor Belong the Spoils'.
Nietzsche identified Christianity as the Religion which says "No" to life. It idealizes such destructive tendencies as withdrawal from the world, resistance of natural drives, and abasement of genuine spiritual studies. Thus it is a negative religion, and undivine religion, one that does not speak to our senses.
As the gospels themselves tell us, the first "converts" to this Jesus of Nazareth were thieves, sinners and scorners. Jesus, himself, is reported to have said that sinners who believe on him will get to heaven, sooner than the just.
The unwelcome harvest of the original sin theory is that it nurishes the evil tendencies in people. People are influenced by their surroundings. If someone tells a person "You are stained with original sin, everything you do and all your good works cannot blot out the stain, just belief on Jesus", than the person would be discouraged to lead a decent life. In fact, why should he? After all, according to the Christians, the only determining factor is belief on Jesus and his "redemption". What ever moral fibers may still be present among us, is present not because of Christianty, but in spite of it. The philosopher, Sören Kierkegaard, called Christianity "Satan's Invention":
"...in order to be a Christian, one must abandon
oneself, jump into the unknown, and with faith
deal with the irrational".
To this day, especially in the Southern States such as Tennessee and Mississippi, Christians actually initiate legal proceedings against the teachings of evolution. Despite all the overwhelming evidence of evolution, Christians insist on believeing that all creation was always there "because the bible told me so!"
Some 2300 years ago, a Greek thinker, Empedokles, outlined a theory on elements and suggested the possibility of an evolution process, which differed very little from that advanced by Darwin just over 100 years ago. Regrettably, the "Dark Age" of Christianity intervened between the lifespans of these two men. "As a result of ideas of a nomadic goat herder from Palestine, we lost one and one-half thousand years in our mental development", wrote a famous author, writer of several books on enviromental protection. That these "Dark Ages" don't return, is our mission!
Indo-Germanic religions, such as our Nordic Religion, have always preached achievement, a search for knowledge, have always offered their people natural models. In antiquity, it was Hercules and his extraordinary deeds. Prominent distinguished people will always remain immortal in memory. Among Christians, striving for knowledge and wisdom has always been condemned. Already in the Old Testament, the so-called First Parents, were chased out Paradise...because they desired knowledge and wisdom. This god certainly could not be a Germanic god, since it is a Germanic trait to want to help their offspring gain in wisdom and knowledge. Only with these skills can one sucessfully lead a good and wholesome life. One should look around at Nature, study it, observe how it all works, then one will appreciate what we are saying. People, Nordic as well as others, have an in-born desire to learn. The Christian effort at stifling this desire, promising a happy after-life if we would only put up with ignorance and poverty now has been the downfall of many societies for the past 2000 years.
But, the institution of the Church itself? Does it live by its own message? Can one detect ignorance and poverty among their cunningness and riches? It is no wonder that the christians are regularly accused of preaching "Do as I say, not as I do."
As he was entering Jerusalem, preparing to announce his kingdom, Jesus entered sitting on an ass (somewhat uncomfortable but innocently disarming - the first clerical subterfuge). Ever since then, the Church has preached Poverty. But has it practiced poverty? Let's take a look at the intricate maze of clerical entanglements in the world of finance.
Practically right from the start, the Christian leaders rob pagan temples of their treasures. The institutional church's efforts at converting (read: believe or die!) our forefathers was also characterized by unheard of robbery as well as murder. All the death verdicts of the Augsburg Bishopric ended with the formula: "All your property shall go to the treasury of his princely magesty, the right reverend father Marquard, Bishop of Augsburg and prior of Bamberg". One of the most tragic examples of clerical financial cunning and one of the best ways they would make fools of our ancestors, occurred next to the death bed. Before a priest would perform the sacrament of Extreme Unction (Last Rites), he would graphically depict all the horrorful things that will befall the hapless peasant because of unatoned sins. But, lucky for the poor old man, the priest would promise to say many masses for him...providing, of course, that he be endowed with some earthly remembrance. "Oh, an acre or so will do!". The poor uneducated peasant, frightful at spending eternity shoveling coal into a bottomless furnace while being taunted by wierd beings, was only to glad to put his X on a sheet of paper promising the priest everything. Even the wife's share of the will! Over a period of years, the Church found itself owning practically half of Europe.
In Europe today, the churches are supported in various means by the States, particularly in western Europe. Outright grants, "clerical welfare funding", and other taxes levied to support the church, mean that the religion gets billions. With so much, what does the church do? Give it to the poor? No. They invest in all sorts of enterprises, regardless of the "moral" character of the firm. A good example is the Italian clothing company "Jesus Jeans". This company, owned by the Vatican, produces sexy Jeans and similar items. Their advertising is highly erotic. Yet, the same religion that tells its members to be "pure of heart", sees nothing wrong in selling "impure of heart" wares to the general public.
The financial portfolio of the Roman Catholic Church makes Rockefeller look like a ragged pauper. The list that follows is but small sample: Part of the gold at Fort Knox, goodly shares of US Steel, Sharon Steel, Bethlehem Steel, General Motors, AT&T, Prudential Life, McDonnel-Douglas Aviation, etc. The Jesuits own 51% of the Bank of America.
Of course, the Vatican also has controlling interests in many European companies as well. Besides Jesus Jeans, it virtually monopolizes the banking world in Italy, and has large shares of Fiat, Alitalia, and 90% of the Italian steel industry. In West Germany, the Catholic Church is the Insurance Magnate (owns three largest companies), plus BASF, BMW, Siemens und Halske, Hamhurg Electric Power (in the Protestant North, no less!) and many other large companies.
While the Church constantly begs in well-to-do countries that these citizes should help the poor unfortunate people of the third world, the financial arm of the Church is the actual owner of some of the worst violators of human dignity in the third world. The Bolivian Zinc Pits, being just one example.
To be sure, the Church does spend some of its take for good causes. But, when one compares the astounding wealth of the Church, and compares it to philosophical message (Sell what you have, give it to the poor, and come follow me) the realization of the hypocritical attitude of the Vatican only begins to emerge. Selected individuals within the Church will argue that the money is needed, to finance the Church. But, that also does not jive with their philosophy (the Church preaches, that we - i.e. them also - should not worry what we shall wear, or eat, as God will "take care of us").
Is it possible for an "Exploitation machine" such as the Church, which owns many of the industries that are destroying the environment, to be concerned about the welfare of Nature? Surely not. Since any concern for Nature, would reflect in lower profits. Reflecting on the Church's sordid record of trampling Mother Nature, one is hard to put to find a noble reason in the Vatican's efforts at denouncing Atomic Weapons.
The Protestant-Christian theologian Thielicke quipped shortly after World War II: "Christians who exercised their military service under the eye of God, have understood their handiwork for Death, as having done it in the Name of Love". His colleague Künneth remarked 13 years later "Even atom bombs can be a means of loving your neighbor". This outburst was a commentary on Hiroshima. The Jesuit Gundlach, Rector of the Papal University, claimed that an atomic war and its aftermath would be the "conscientious acknowledgement of divine revelation", since "we know first of all the world will not last forever, and secondly, we are not responsible bor the end of the world..." These comments were expressed during the 1950s, when an atomic war was "winnable" for the western world. Today, since it is popularly accepted that no one can "win" an atomic war, the Church has officially revised its attitude and now speaks of "arrangement" with the Nuklear States.
Despite the recent introduction of sports at Christian schools, one should not forget that the Christian religion has never expressed much interest in Health and bodyily well-being. This is more the ample revealed in many parts of the bible, and in the lifestyles of many early Christians (eg the Syrian monks who went around naked, eating grass) often presented to us a model to follow. Interestingly, the abolishment of the Olympic Games by Theodocius I in 393 AD was a "victory" of Christianity over paganism. As long as the Christians held sway, the Olympic Games were never resumed. Finally in our modern era, as the power of the Church began to ebb, was it possible to renew this Competition of the Body.
It is possible that the originators of Christianity did not fully comprehend that their new religion would destroy man's relationship with Nature. For this reason, it is even more tragic, that the present day leaders of the Churches do not (or will not) acknowledge that their religion is destroying Nature. This anti-Nature position runs through all Christian sects. The Catholics profess a disgust with the world, while the Protestants are the ones who initiated the Industrial Revolution, which has done more to upset the harmony of Nature, and man's relationship with Nature, than anything else. It's really impossible for the Church to become ecological. They has some 2000 years, with a monopoly of power, to teach markind to respect Nature, and they did nothing (Surprising, since the Church also teaches that god made Nature.)
A key to understanding why the Christian Churches have made no effort at developing an awareness of Nature is that their alledged Founder commented "My kingdom is not of this world." Since Christians believe that this world is just a short stopping place on their journey to eternity, then why should they express any interest in the welfare of Nature?
Since both Jews and Christians consider the bible as their Book of Rules, people should be very cautious of pastors who are pro-ecology. The bible is full of anti-Nature and anti-ecology verses. Throughout the 2000 year history of Christianity, no concerted effort was ever untertaken to teach people that we can not live without Nature. In fact, to the contrary, the Church has long preached that the world ( i.e. Nature) belongs to Satan. All the "bad" things of the world were put here as revenge by god for the "sin" of Adam who only wanted to learn, to exercise his god-given(?) brain.
"To be a Christian, means to acknowledge, that we are sinners incapable of good actions. This self-condemnation can only be redeemed through the death and resurrection of Jesus."
Paul considered all human urges and drives to be sinful and must be overcome. In reality, of course, it is completely different. These drives are Nature-endowed. Without it there would be no life. Even Paul would never have been Born.
The chief error of Christian teaching is that they have preached that all human drives are tabu. Thus tabu-izing of natural human urges had led to all sorts of neuroses and mental illness.
Perhaps the most sinister facet of Christian teaching is the kind of "re-insurrance" doctrine. For example, if someone tries to discuss with a convinced Christian the various dogmas and teachings, and during the discussion lets it be known that he wishes to find logic in the teaching, than the Christian feels threatened, and gets the feeling that he is being "tempted by the devil". Any recognition that the other person may be right, will cause quilt feelings in the Christian. Christians have duped themselves into believing that they have a monopoly on truth, and no one should even dare upset them with facts. Curiously, a professed enemy of the church, the Communists, have also developed an identical attitude!
Simple Nature-folk, such as our forefathers treated plants, animals, rivers, trees, etc as if they had their own consciousness. Christians look upon this belief-structure as primitive, although from such a belief-structure it is impossible to have a burning river (eg the Cuyohoga River in the 1970s by Cleveland).
The Indian Chief, Seattle, once penned a criticism of North American Christians:
"We know for a fact, that earth does not belong to
mankind, but mankind belongs to the earth.
We know that everything is bound together,
like the blood of a family. What attacks the earth,
attacks also the sons of earth.
Mankind doesn't create the web of life,
he is merely a thread in the web.
Whatever he does to harm the web, he does to harm himself."
Nowhere in the bible or in Christian tradition can a similar or identical commentary be found. The bible even claims that man was made separate from Nature. From the world's dust, but with an extra-terrestial soul.
The Calvinist-Protestants introduced the idea that this sinful world should, like sins, be defeated rather than merely endured patiently. That shocked the few remaining heirs of our ancestors. The Christians had waited almost a 1000 years for the "second Coming", nothing happened, so now the Christians, in the aftermath of the Reformation, have decided to rearrange the world to suit their thinking. This led to more persecution. Our forefathers wanted, as we do today, to walk down a happy road, free of redemption ethnic and other anti-human and anti-Nature imports from the Eastern world. We wanted a strong recognition of our Responsibility for Nature. Then and Now.
Christians who want to be ecologists are trying to serve two masters. They are actually lost, since they are over-looking an essential ingredient of Christianity, doveteling the belief in an imaginary "out there" (which allows for trampling people "here") with the attitude that this world has no value in and of itself. And anyway, so goes the Christian message, everything is the Will of god. So why really get concerned? Christianity's relation to Nature is similar to Communism's relation to aristocratic lifestyles - perhaps well meant, but basically in violation of its own ethic. A religion that views natural catastrophes as acts of god punishing a sinful world, can never really develop a pro-Nature philosophy.
"If god sends troubles, he sends endurance also" say Christians. And this attitude underlines their belief that everything is controlled by some higher order, we, therefore, have no real control....or responsibility. And since we have no real responsibility, we are free to do as we please, since god controls everything anyway. Or as the Jesuit Gundlach observed: "They don't sow or reap, and god feeds them just as well".
To ascertain how a religion relates to Nature, one must study the relationship between natural things and man as understood by the religion. With our forefathers, before the invasion of Christianity, we had a happy wood-Culture. The forest was our all. We obtained food, building material, protection, grazing land, everything we wanted came from the Forest. Understandably, trees were ennobled, we saw in it all phrases of the life cycle. Seedlings, young twigs, full-grown trees, and fallen trees, as well as renewed growth. Our sacred groves were often marked by stately old trees. Certain elderly trees were often used a meeting places. Trees weren't looked upon as people, but as the symbol of life.
Perhaps that is why the Christians made such a scene at chopping down and burning our sacred trees, since such trees could not relate with a philosophy of a religion of death and of "out there". The Christians justified their actions with the bible: "Destroy their altars, smash their gods, uproot their groves" (2 Moses 34: 13). So viewed this oriental religion the belief-structures and Nature-love of other peoples.
Regrettably little has survived, and today, we have only a handful of wooden objects carved by our ancestors. Everything was boldly destroyed by the "Religion of Love".
Our forefathers viewed the sun as the source of life, and original source of energy. Fire was considered a relative of the sun, and within the framework of the raw northern climate, fire was protected within the center of our villages. During the Night of Consecration, as the symbolic world fire was put out we would gather around to light the new fire of the New Year. Each would then take a lighted branch home, ignite their stove fire, and thus share in the eternal death and rebirth of all things in the world.
Christianity doesn't appreciate any of this. In Palestine, birthplace of the eastern religions, there are no "Sonnenwend"- fires (Solstice fires). Interestingly, the Christians were never successful in uprooting our Solstice fires customs . So they changed the "interpretation" of the fire. The winter solstice fire became the Christmette (Christmas eve carolling) and the summer solstice fire became the Johannesfeuer (to honor St. John the Baptist - who never even witnessed a Sonnenwendfeuer!).
The Easter celebration was originally our Feast of Spring denoting the lengthening days. It had nothing to do with biblical fantasies. The Christians' were also unable to destroy this custom, so they also changed.the meanings. The regrowth of Nature in Spring was equated with the Resurrection of Christ. Of course since no one can prove that Christ ever lived, what is the sense of worrying whether he rose from the dead. Nevertheless, our forefathers have maintained their Easter customs (Easter egg, Easter rabbit, drawing of the Easter water) to this day and we will always practice these customs. Always.
Pentecost, known to our forefathers as Holy Mayen, was our way of celebrating the full unfolding of Nature in all its summertime beauty. The Christians, of course, tried to destroy this meaning, attempting to replace it with the recollection of an apparation of a holy "ghost" to 12 men, descending upon them as tongues of fire. An eastern concept, that may make sense to orientals, but means absolutely nothing to western man.
The shrovetide and carnival times were also our holidays. The Christians comandeered them and altered their meaning. For us, particularly the Germans along the river Rhine, it meant the blessing of the Spring god Nerthus. Our forefathers would pull a cart in the form of a ship through the land, announcing that the grip of the Ice Giant was broken. Today, the burning of scarecrows at this time, are carry-overs of this old custom. As an example of how sinister the Churches changed and altered our customs: The original Latin word for our carnivals (carrus navalis = cart ship) was written as carne vale (goodbye to meat).
The Christians were not content to misuse our holidays. They also set about to introduce totally new meanings to all our Nature symbols. The Owl, symbol of the goddess Freya and protectoress of home and stove, was degraded to a bird of death. The Ravens of Wotan became birds of bad luck. His horse as "impure". The eating of horsemeat, a popular source of nourishment for our forefathers, was forbidden under punishment of death.
The cuckoo bird, which for our forefathers was the rain bird, was condemned as the bird of the devil. Luckily, however, many of our old sayings have survived and in Germany, we still have phrases such as "hol's der Kuckuck" (catch a falling star).
The number 13 was a lucky number for our forefathers, recognizing the 13 revolutions of the moon in one year. The Christians made the number an unlucky number.
There are many other examples of how the Christians, expressing their hatred of things of nature, turned and twisted the meaning of all our precious customs. Wotan himself, the fame bedecked Rupprecht, symbol of life, was degraded to servant Rupprecht with the belief that no decent North European would ever consider praying to a "servant".
Our forefathers lived in harmony with Nature. Our religion reflected that. None of our gods were viewed as personalities, this heresy was concocted by the Christians, who think their god is a personality. It is important, that, as we observe the impending collapse of Nature, that we rediscover who we are, what we are, and reawaken our desire to live as free men, to live as our forefathers did.
In pondering the relation of a religion to Nature, we must also investigate what kind of relation it has with women.
For our forefathers, the vessel and nourisher of life was held in very high esteem, considered an equal, a peer. Roman and Christian contemporaries of our forefathers remarked with astonishment that we considered women as equal with men. Older women, those beyond child-bearing years, were especially highly praised, were viewed as prophets. Their place of honor at an assembly was attractively adorned. The German expression of this place of honor was "die im Hag Sitzende" (one who sits in a special enclosure). As an example of how the Christians twisted and destroyed our customs, this phrase gradually found its way into the
English-speaking world. The word Hag also means bush or grove, hence the derogative Christian-English expression for old women: old hags.
With the arrival of Christianity, the old beliefs were changed. Women, according to Paul, should not say anything in the community, should shut up! Women was the source of
sin, and a piece of impure dirty meat. At the council of Nicea, the Christians actually discussed with all seriousness whether women were people or animals! At the Synod of Macon, Burgundy, it was determined that women are animals (October 23rd, 585). The Church fathers such as Ambrose, Augustine, and John Chrysostomus said that women are sub-human, created only to serve men. Thomas of Acquinas, named by the Church as its primary teacher, preached that women are men that did not get fully formed! Girl babies were considered so unlucky, that the Church went through all sorts of philosophical contortions to explain how such "mistakes" could happen: mal-formed male sperm, defects in the womb, damp south winds, too much rain (women have more water than men!). The highly appreciated "Hag" of the Germans evolved into the witches of modern day Christianity. And witches, of course, had to be burned at the stake.., one million alone in the 17th century. In the 18th century a Swedish protestant bishop, Troilus, lamented that his flock was not active in persecuting witches.
As recently as 1918, the Roman Catholic Church's Canon Code permitted a husband to starve, beat, bind and lock up his wife (till death do us part, presumably) .
The act of love was viewed by the church father Augustine as "abnormal, ndevilish, burning tumor, disgusting passion, corruption, loathing slime". Church father Bonaventure said loving was stinking. Church teacher Bernhard of Clairvaux claimed that people who had intercourse, descended to depths lower the swine. For 2000 years, the Church has constantly condemned marriage, holding up eunuchs such as Origines and Tertullian as models rather than married men.
The idea of using women as things to sell like cattle is an eastern idea, one foreign to western people. Yet the Religion of Love (love but don't touch?) grafted this horrendous practice onto the western scene.
Of course the Church did make one exception, the so-called Mother of God. This Mary, which the churches used as a substitute for the dust that we came from, was given as a model for females. Alledgedly, Mary was "overcome" by the Holy Spirit, but there is increasing evidence that she was actually fooling around with some Roman soldiers stationed in Palestine. According to the Matthew gospel, Joseph, her husband, wanted to leave her because of this (1 Matt 18/19). The soldier who Mary loved was named Panthera, and the outcome of this union was "Jesus ben Panthera".
In 1950, Pope Pius XII proclaimed the Doctrine that Mary was literally taken up to heaven after she died. Of course, he never remarked about why she had to die in the first place. And why is that no man has been so priveledged? Is it because more women than men go to Church?
Seeing how the Church has strapped women over the past 200 centuries, it is a little easy to understand the emancipation effort, the feminist movement, of recent years.
For us it is a self-understood given that women are equal with men. The equality granted women in American elections was essentially the rebirth of an old Nordic custom.
Monotheistic religions are desert religions. Their background is the eternal fight against a harsh environment. Christianity, which stems from this desert region, developed a Nature-hating philosophy which is solely responsible for today's grim condition of Nature. Without a revival of our old Religion, we stand in the real danger of not being able to stop the destruction of our planet.
Orientalism in the form of Christianity swamped us in days of old. We are the sole survivors. It is up to us to renew in people a respect for the world, a respect for Nature. We can't give up, we owe it to our children...and to the memory of our forefathers who heroically tried to stop this nonsense from destroying their (and our) world. Heathenism is our salvation. Now.
We must do everything we can to resist and win back lost ground. Luckily, Christianity has no philosophy that can withstand intelligent arguments. But they do have money, wealth, prestige, and political influence. We have, in comparision nothing but honest convictions. But we must continue the battle. Speak with "Christians". There are actually only a very small number of "real" Christians. Most who claim to be Christian, have not even the foggiest notion why they are members of this Oriental relgion.
Today, the traditional oriental religions such as Christianity has lost some of its appeal. In its vacuum, however, have come other profit-oriented relgions out of the mysterious orient.
As Christianity begins to whither and die, a new thinking process has set in, especially among the youth. What will become of us. What will follow Christianity.
If we set ourselves, today and now, to preaching our religion, we will succeed. Of course, in opposition to Christian methods of "preaching", we do not engage in any kind of subterfuge, no hoodwinking, no threats, no persecution, no hate. We merely engage in sensible discussion with other Northerners, other people who trace their ancestry to Northern Europe, other people who can fully appreciate and understand what we are saying, what we believe.
We surrvived 2000 years Christian persecution, that alone gives us hope for the future.
Christianity, as religion of death and disrespect for Nature, gave us symbols such as the cross, an executioners instrument. The Nordic Relgion, the religion of life and respect for Nature, offers us a symbol of a living tree, the symbol of Irminsul.
W. H.