.

Blaming the Gods

By: Eric Wodening

This isn't in response to anyone, but simply my thoughts on the whole phenomenon of blaming the gods. It is something I have seen in heathen. There is even an instance of it in Egils Saga, in which Egil blame's Ošinn for the death of his son. My personal opinion is that the gods do not create misfortune people. They do not make things rough for us. They do not give us cancer or make us have car wrecks. IMHO misfortune can be the result of many different factors.

Sometimes it is simply circumstance. The economy is bad so one has a problem finding a better job. Other times we create our own problems. We behave in a selfish manner that puts a wedge between ourselves and our friends. Most often I think that misfortune is the result of a number of factors.

At any rate, I think the reason people sometimes blame the gods for their problems is simply to escape responsibility for them. It is easy to blame something other than ourselves for problems that may simply result from circumstance or even from our own doing. 

Regardless, to me this is not a very heathen attitude. It seems to me (Egil notwithstanding) that the heathen ideal is to accept adversity and to struggle onwards regardless of how hard life becomes, not to blame the gods for our misfortunes.


Welga!

Eric Wodening