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I have been thinking about concepts in heathenry that I enjoy the most. One such thing is that heathenry is a very world-focussed religion, as opposed to Christianity, which is very world-rejecting.
In Christianity, you behave well because you want a reward, & the reward is never something you will experience in the form you are in. It's designed to make you feel better about living in bad conditions, because bad conditions don't matter so much when heaven awaits.
Heathenry teaches us that there is no life we know for certain except the one we wake up into every day. Heathenry teaches us that what matters is what we do, not so that we might get the chance to live forever directly, but so that we'll be remembered well.
What happens after we die is whatever happens, & it's best not to focus overmuch on goals that cannot be realistically promised, or what we can't (see as being under the illusion of our) control. Heathenry teaches that some things are bigger than us, and nothing is permanent.
Even the structures we see as eternal - humanity, nature, the world, the sun, the galaxy, the universe, the laws of physics & those beings that live beyond them - the gods - all have an expiry date of their own. Something begins, & ends, or at very least, transmutes.
Heathenry to me teaches that whilst many things matter in the day-to-day, & it's OK to get caught up in that from time to time... In the most beautiful way possible, nothing matters. Nothing lasts. What we have are these moments, perceived as good or bad, it doesn't matter.
I do not do my best to be a good person because someone told me that if I don't, I'm going to get a smacked ass for the rest of eternity. I do good for goodness' sake, I try to cultivate positivity in those around me & hold fast my principles because it's the right thing to do.
Heathenry is very much a system of thought that encourages that, I feel. Focus here, & now, because counting on what nobody really knows is for chumps.
