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causticusHistorically, pre-Christian polytheistic religions of Europe were all about the tribe, the clan, the family, and the land. There was no such thing as social atomization or abstract notions of individualism back in those days. The people around back then would have seen atomized living arrangement as being totally alien to their own way of life and probably an abomination. Most of the attempts of our atomized contemporaries to practice the the Old Ways (in which connection to the land has long been severed from the everyday reality of the ordinary person) is just a recipe for the "religion" being little more than some petty intellectual or aesthetic indulgence, or some weekend diversion for bored, affluent people.
If we're to rekindle the "real deal" today, it seems like we must form new “tribes” and “clans” based on the practical and spiritual needs of today; as opposed to looking only to the past to get a sense of tribal identity. In Europe, clans ceased to exist as tribalism gave way to feudalism and the ideological hegemony of the Roman Church. Yes, there were a few mostly-Celtic nooks and crannies where clan societies held on for quite awhile, but this was the exception, not the rule once Christianity spread and took over everything in its path. Christendom became the great tribe, and the church parish and the fiefdom/lordship became the replacement for the clan. Nobility Peerages became the class-tribes of landed aristocrats.
Guilds, Fellowships, and Fraternities
As Europe urbanized and became affluent, the trade guild functioned as the de-facto clan organization for artisans and merchants. The industrial revolution eventually rendered those associations obsolete, as machine-driven mass production replaced handcraft as the primary means of producing goods. In 19th century America, a great variety of Fraternal Orders and Mutual Aid societies sprung up to fulfill the needs of the people. These fellowships and brotherhoods did a remarkable job of instilling clan-like community bonds in the hearts, souls, and hands of Americans. These organizations operated in tandem with the countless church denominations that altogether formed the basic foundation of American social life. Eventually those associations mostly disappeared thanks to the runaway growth of centralized government and the many social "services" this behemoth now doles out to people who are financially destitute or between gigs and without much in the way of family support. Because of the metastatic growth of impersonal bureaucratic institutions, people have had less and less of a practical need for intimate social networks.
From a psychological and spiritual perspective, such a development has most certainly been not a good one! We could say that humans are wired to thrive in small trust networks consisting of people whom one has established face-to-face relationships with. The face connection usually ensured some sort of system of natural accountability is in place. We can use the Old English word Frith to describe this type of relationship.
Peace is a product of Reciprocal Relationships
Frith is often mistranslated as “peace.” Peace is certainly an aspect of Frith, but it’s nothing approaching the whole concept. Frith is a state of social stability and general wellbeing that results from mutually-beneficial (i.e. reciprocal) relationships between people belonging to a community. Because we lack no concise term for this concept in Modern English, trying to elaborate on Frith without a singular term becomes quite the mouthful of abstractions. Frith was in essence the social contract of our ancestral societies. Under this arrangement, things like rights and liberties have corresponding duties and obligations. One must give to receive, and vice versa. Outside the protection of the community, lofty abstractions like “rights” and “the law” simply didn’t exist. The English word “outlaw” used to literally mean a person outside of the law. In other words, without the benefits of belonging to the community, the only law for the outlaw was the law of the jungle.
If we're to rekindle the "real deal" today, it seems like we must form new “tribes” and “clans” based on the practical and spiritual needs of today; as opposed to looking only to the past to get a sense of tribal identity. In Europe, clans ceased to exist as tribalism gave way to feudalism and the ideological hegemony of the Roman Church. Yes, there were a few mostly-Celtic nooks and crannies where clan societies held on for quite awhile, but this was the exception, not the rule once Christianity spread and took over everything in its path. Christendom became the great tribe, and the church parish and the fiefdom/lordship became the replacement for the clan. Nobility Peerages became the class-tribes of landed aristocrats.
Guilds, Fellowships, and Fraternities
As Europe urbanized and became affluent, the trade guild functioned as the de-facto clan organization for artisans and merchants. The industrial revolution eventually rendered those associations obsolete, as machine-driven mass production replaced handcraft as the primary means of producing goods. In 19th century America, a great variety of Fraternal Orders and Mutual Aid societies sprung up to fulfill the needs of the people. These fellowships and brotherhoods did a remarkable job of instilling clan-like community bonds in the hearts, souls, and hands of Americans. These organizations operated in tandem with the countless church denominations that altogether formed the basic foundation of American social life. Eventually those associations mostly disappeared thanks to the runaway growth of centralized government and the many social "services" this behemoth now doles out to people who are financially destitute or between gigs and without much in the way of family support. Because of the metastatic growth of impersonal bureaucratic institutions, people have had less and less of a practical need for intimate social networks.
From a psychological and spiritual perspective, such a development has most certainly been not a good one! We could say that humans are wired to thrive in small trust networks consisting of people whom one has established face-to-face relationships with. The face connection usually ensured some sort of system of natural accountability is in place. We can use the Old English word Frith to describe this type of relationship.
Peace is a product of Reciprocal Relationships
Frith is often mistranslated as “peace.” Peace is certainly an aspect of Frith, but it’s nothing approaching the whole concept. Frith is a state of social stability and general wellbeing that results from mutually-beneficial (i.e. reciprocal) relationships between people belonging to a community. Because we lack no concise term for this concept in Modern English, trying to elaborate on Frith without a singular term becomes quite the mouthful of abstractions. Frith was in essence the social contract of our ancestral societies. Under this arrangement, things like rights and liberties have corresponding duties and obligations. One must give to receive, and vice versa. Outside the protection of the community, lofty abstractions like “rights” and “the law” simply didn’t exist. The English word “outlaw” used to literally mean a person outside of the law. In other words, without the benefits of belonging to the community, the only law for the outlaw was the law of the jungle.
(no subject)
Date: 2022-02-14 07:27 am (UTC)I've been interested in the idea that modern folks are missing a default unit of human interaction/belonging equivalent to the clan/tribe for quite some time, and the more I've learned about historical societies, the more I've been convinced. I rather like the thought of using "frith" to explain that state that obtains when everybody around does have such bonds to rely on.
I don't have particularly good answers for how to get more frith these days other than "make an extra effort to join in-person social groups with definite obligations".
One possibly interesting take is this Twitter thread (I know, I'm not the biggest Twitter fan, and given the topic of this post, it's perhaps especially ironic) that discusses how a Japanese neighborhood created a "quasi-required" interaction space by putting neighborhood recycling collection in a communal space: https://twitter.com/wrathofgnon/status/1410948121186553857
In general, I'm very interested in the idea that "trying harder" is a useful, but rather limited prescription for solving problems. Often, it's more fruitful to look for ways to make "doing the right thing" easier. For most of human history, you knew and relied on your kith and kin because otherwise you died. For this particular historical period, things aren't quite so stark, so how do we make knowing and relying on our friends, neighbors, and family easier to do, rather than telling folks to try harder?
(no subject)
Date: 2022-02-14 04:15 pm (UTC)I think that example you provided from the twitter thread is a wonderful example of how these "old time" type interactions can work in the here and now. I think a 6-7 day a week neighborhood-scale (or town) flea market and recycling center is an awesome concept and would certainly provide a great "excuse" for people from the same local area to hang out and interact in a manner that's something a notch above strictly-transactional.
I love examples like this because it's things that can actually work and not just some weird/eccentric LARP or "fandom" subculture meetup that only appeals to a select number of people who happen to share the same hobby or aesthetic interests.
Now, if we didn't have 10000 and 1 byzantine and obnoxious regulations here in the US, setting up one of these wouldn't be too difficult ;)