“When the Sacred becomes Common, it stops being Sacred.”

“When the Common becomes Sacred, it all becomes Sacred.”

Ahh the great conundrum. (Well…one of them, anyways. There’s a lot of these things isn’t there. We need to de-conundrum things, I think. Oh crap there went the topic).

Anyways, back on topic. How do you balance the sacred and the common. It can be a real problem. Do something special too often, and it loses the special feeling. This can happen with the sacred. I think we’ve all been there. Go to church every week and…suddenly you’re wondering how many times you can fit a game of tic tac toe on those little cards they’ve got for…something. Do it long enough, and you’ll actually figure it out.

Then you become an expert at it…

Suddenly the sacred is…boring. It’s a lot of stuff you really don’t understand, going on about things you don’t care for, and…

Wow…think I actually bored myself there.

So making the sacred too common can have a detrimental effect. But there’s also the flip side to that. Do it too rarely and you get out of the habit. It loses its meaning, because you never get filled up spiritually, so what was so special about it in the first place?

You have to do it often enough to make it worth while.

The simplest answer is that for those who can, you seek the sacred in the common. Half the idea behind turning to Paganism and Heathenism is to do this. After all, the Gods and Goddesses rule after all aspects of life and death, so there’s a sacred energy in everything. But being able to get in touch with this can be difficult. For example, I can get more enjoyment out of a cup of coffee than most people can out of an entire dinner of fine dinning, according to my friends. I am apparently very different.

So how do you find the balance. Well, we as Heathens have a bit of a leg up. We have personal altars, and we tend to be the masters of our own rituals and worship practices. No one makes us go but ourselves, and we are the ones doing the doing. So if you’re not getting anything out of it, you can’t blame anyone. You have to look at what you’re doing and why you’re doing. But that said, it also gives you the control, it gets you up and moving. Too much of religion lately is sitting around, listing to someone else droning on and then a plate to put money in. Heathenism isn’t about that. It’s about actions. You have to get to know the Gods, and you have to do the rituals. Even when you get into a group later on (or start your own) for the three main ritual styles of the Heathen paths, the Blot, Sumbel, and Fainning, You are going to be taking an active part in them.

This is something that can help make the sacred more common in your life, and make your common life more sacred. Less talk, more action. You have to invest your faith into everything you do. Literally live your faith. When you speak, do it with honesty. When you act, do it with passion. I’m reminded of my favorite line from the anime Bleach. I paraphrase here”

When you defend someone, you cannot be “I am afraid they will be hurt,” you must be “I will not let them be hurt.” When you fight it cannot be “I am afraid to die,” It must be “I will win.” When you strike, it cannot be “I am afraid of hurting someone,” it must be “I will kill.”

So to it must be when you live with faith. It cannot be “what if the Gods do not exists?” It must be “The Gods EXIST.” When you act, it cannot be “what if I fail?” It must be “I will succeed!” And if you give your word, it cannot be “If I can.” It must be “I will keep my word!”

This is how to live your faith in your everyday life. Do this, and the sacred will flow through you and make even your common actions resonate with sacred energy. 🙂