Ancient Greek Art of Happiness That May Surprise You

We live in a world more depressed, anxious and unhappy than ever, which makes no sense because, historically, humans are living better than at any other time. We have far more in the way of necessity and luxury than our ancestors of a hundred years ago even dreamed of. Yet, we are led to believe they were happier. Why? While many of us are overworked and underpaid, the fact of the matter is that life is significantly better than ever before. Over all, there is no good reason for so many people to be so worked up. 

In my life as a Hellenist, there has been immense joy, but also a lot of unique hardships and challenges, some that the average person will never go through, such as having a premature child. But Hellenism has also taught me how to live happily, and it is that knowledge, in part, that I wish to share with the reader of this entry. 

Before I begin, I want to say that I think I am different than most other people who claim to champion the subject of happiness. I will not tell you that wealth and riches won't make you happy. As Dan Pena would say, "If you think money can't buy happiness, you don't know where to shop." These things certainly can bring you happiness, it's just that they are not the only things that can. There are many other avenues to the goal. A mansion is a wonderful way to have a home, but you don't have to have a mansion in order to still have a nice home. 

Now an art is always a practice throughout your life. I have certainly not mastered this yet. However, it has helped me internally a lot more than most people may realize. One beautiful summer day, I was driving down a Wisconsin country backroad when a revelation came to me that put most of my worries and fears to rest forever. Most of us find ourselves in mental and emotional anguish because we try to fight the universe. Life can get so hard and frustrating that we want to just swing at the air, knowing that we will hit nothing. In other words, it's out of our hands.

The Greeks believed in the concept of Fate. Now before you presume to know what I'm talking about, read further. Fate does not mean we have no control over our lives. It means we are created each for a unique purpose. Just because you haven't done what someone else has, doesn't mean you're stupid or worthless, or that you cannot accomplish other great things. It just means you have a different purpose.

I began to realize that there is a significant level of peace with accepting Fate. It doesn't mean you should sit on the couch the rest of your life or let your friend drown. It means to understand and accept that there are certain courses for our lives that we cannot change. The pivotal moments are already ordained. For example, it was meant for me to move from North Carolina to Illinois. That was my fate, and there's nothing I can do to change the fact that it happened or that I am now here. So what can I do? I can take this road that has been laid out for me, accept it, and do great things with it. 

Whenever you feel yourself getting mad, scared or frustrated, try saying this to yourself, Don't you fight the universe. You won't win. Just go with it. You may just find that this affirmation sends a wave of peace and wisdom over you that you've never felt before, and relieves you of the emotions that make you feel the worst. Secondly, you'll stop beating yourself up over successes that other people have, and that you yourself haven't achieved. 

When I wake up in the morning and have to take care of my son and work on my home and career, it gets tiring and annoying really fast. Sometimes I want to lash out. But I try to stop and understand that I am here for a reason. This is what Fate has laid out for me. The Gods are not against me, and neither is life. This is just where I am supposed to be at this time, so how can I take what I have been given and make it the greatest that I can? Or, at least, understand that the Gods are wise and be at peace with my life? Equally important, are there things in which I can find peace? For me, that's my temple. There will always be something there for you as well. 

In the Goodness of the Gods,

I'll see you at the next Herm down the road,

Chris Aldridge.

Humans Aren't Gods, and Pagan Groups Need To Stop Telling People They Are

Many people come to Paganism out of a longing for the old Gods, to find community where they otherwise would not, and to reach their own unique sense of purpose and achievement. Most people find the Gods, their purpose, and equally important, themselves. These are all fantastic things. 

But perhaps in an attempt to raise people above the levels they came from, or out of delusions of grandeur, or perhaps even out of actual belief, there are Pagan systems that tell people they are Gods, equal to Gods, work with Gods, and are the same as Gods. 

Whenever I hear someone say they are a God, or that some other person is a God, if prompted I always say, "Oh, yeah? Make it rain." I don't respond this way to be a jerk, but to wake them up to an important reality that can become dangerous to neglect.

Our religious and social ancestors had no problem with worship or religion. In fact, to the Greeks, there was no word for religion because life was religious. They were not Christians nor Abrahamic, and yet, they still realized that their Gods were greater than themselves. They still prayed, worshiped and sacrificed to them because they held status, power and wisdom far above their own.

Humans are not the same or equal to the Gods. If we were, we would not be called humans. We do not take their places nor work with them, because we are not on the same levels at all. We are mortal, we hurt, we bleed, and we die. Gods do not. 

The idea that Pagans did not worship is simply incorrect at best, and a lie at worst. However, it did not mean they saw themselves as degenerates. Quite the contrary, they could be Heroic to the point of eternal glory. Simply put, the Gods had their place and mankind had theirs. Nothing deplorable about any of it.

There are many reasons humans should not consider themselves Gods, but here are the core ones to my mind.

1. Humans simply aren't. Truth has a place in human life.

2. It gives a false sense of achievement; people don't have to do anything else in life.

3. It can create dangerous self-righteous authority over other people and things.

4. Self-harm can follow from thinking you're something you're not.

5. To not give the Gods their proper place is an affront to the sacredness of Divinity.

It does not matter how big, strong or successful you are, you are not a God. But you also don't have to be. Who in the world ever thought or assumed that human beings couldn't be great as a human? 

Ikaros was, mythologically, among the first two men to achieve flight. That in itself was greatness. But because Ikaros failed to understand his proper place and tried to soar higher than a mortal should, he fell and drowned. 

It was not that he didn't reach greatness, but that he didn't acknowledge what greatness was for a man. He had achieved all a man could, filling his cup of glory to the top, if only he hadn't tried to make it hold more than it naturally could.

Imagine it. He could have brought the knowledge of flight to mankind, made himself rich, loved and admired for eternity. There would have been nothing inglorious about his life. If only he had understood the difference between Gods and men. In the picture above of Ikaros, notice to the left that Athena has Her back turned to him. 

"Didn't some of the Heroes become Gods after death?" Yes, but it was after they had transcended the physical realm, and many of the Heroes were part Divine to begin with. And not all Ascended people are Gods either. They are more powerful than physical humans, but still not Deities. 

In closing, I will say that when it comes down to personal belief, should others really concern themselves with that? I'd say normally not. If someone believes they are Superman, who cares? But if they put on the costume and go to jump off a building, should we as a community tell them that they are indeed Superman and to go ahead? 

In the Goodness of the Gods,

I'll see you at the next Herm down the road,

Chris Aldridge.

Why Live On? The Gods Give Us Plenty of Reasons

God almighty Zeus, I normally say, when I look at how depressed, anxious, angry and fearful people are in my time. 

Certainly, even the most positive among us have hard times, even if in a smaller measure. But when I see how hopeless and even suicidal my fellow human is, I can't help but ask, why?

Statistically, people are more fraught and unhappy than ever before in human history, which makes no sense on the surface because we have it better than any other time preceding us.

Our ancestors of 1,000 or even 100 years ago did not even have the vaccines we do today, to say nothing of readily available clean food and water, education, clothing, housing, entertainment, freedom and protection. Yet we would be led to believe they were happier than us. 

It's true that we are also probably more overworked and underpaid than they were at times, but even so, I find it so lamentable and disheartening when I hear people talk about giving up, saying things like, "Why live on? What's the point?" My friends, the Gods give us plenty of reasons.

When I say they give us plenty of reasons, I don't mean they write out a list and directly hand it over to each individual. I mean to say that the Gods and the world, being wonderful and joyful to delight in, beget life. The Gods are life. The world is a reason. 

 

The Gods gave you a body to perfect, not destroy. They gave you a day to seize, not sleep through. They gave you women and men to love, not neglect. You are part of the reason to live on. If you do your best every day, if you become as successful as you can, and if you get yourself strong, healthy and focused, you'll find purpose.

 

In some of Greek myth, you find that one of the purposes of humans is to please the Gods. If you're not doing your best each day, you're not pleasing the Gods. That may sound selfish, but let me explain more.

 

The Heroes became Heroes because they refused to accept failure, to settle, to sit at the bottom of the mountain instead of climbing it. And the laziness is why most people never became Heroes either.

 

It's going to get hard, it's going to hurt, it's going to anger you, and there's going to be times when it gets hopeless; keep your eyes forward. You don't think it's hard for me to work, write and practice martial arts every day? If you spend your life only doing what's easy, you'll see no reason to live on.

 

In the Goodness of the Gods,

I'll see you at the next Herm down the road,

Chris Aldridge.

Poseidon's Lost Temple PULLED From The Earth!

Even before Hellenism was my official religion, Poseidon was a God of tremendous interest to me. Perhaps partially because He was one of the first Greek Gods I encountered when my high school English class studied The Odyssey, but I have also always loved the water of the world. Growing up in a coastal state where horses run wild on the beaches (North Carolina), tends to put one into contact with the Earth Shaker. In fact, one of my favorite books in my temple's library is Poseidon and The Sea: Myth, Cult and Daily Life, which I have recently been inspired to read once more considering today's wonderful news.

It seems that my beloved history book will now have to be amended a bit, because in Elis, Greece, on the far west of the Peloponnese, archaeologists have verified the writings in Strabo (who was another geographer like Pausanias), by unearthing the lost Temple of Poseidon Samikon. The ruins of this latest discovery of the Hellenic identity have been found to date all the way back to the Archaic Era (700-480BCE). What's more interesting is that Strabo described this particular temple and sanctuary as being a Cult Center for the Delphic League, whose job was to see to the protection of Apollo's Temple at Delphi, a topic I have covered on my blog before when discussing the Sacred Wars.

Considering all of the extensive history now coming to the surface in this lost region of the ancient Greek world, I cannot wait to see all of the amazing artifacts and knowledge we will have the pleasure of as the excavations continue into the coming years. I equally hope that Ethnic Hellenes in Greece will perhaps find their way to the location for worship and sacrifice to the God once again, and also help protect and liberate the temple. 

In the Goodness of Poseidon,

Mighty Earth Shaker and God of the Sea,

Chris Aldridge.

Greek Reporter Article Found Here

Palace Of Odysseus FOUND At Last!

When the Greek Reporter released an article this week about modern Greeks having Mycenean DNA, it made me think about the elusive Odysseus and the search for Him that has been by far one of the hardest.

But a few years ago, I became fascinated by the quests of modern adventurers like the late Tim Severin who proved the voyage of Jason possible, and then I moved on to the geographical research into Homeric Ithaka. Like Severin, I refused to accept the analysis of "myth busters," mainly because they've been proven fools numerous times. I was not content with the conclusion that Homer's Odyssey describes an island civilization that didn't exist. Because the problem with this analysis is that Homer's world was not set in stone, but one forever in motion due to earthquakes. Even Troy was only accepted as factual when Schliemann dug it up from the earth and matched it to Homer's descriptions. And Schliemann, among others, also visited Ithaka during his time as an archaeologist and mythologist. Not only were coins discovered depicting Odysseus, but a sanctuary to Apollon from 1,400 BCE, before the Trojan War (the specific worship of Apollon on Ithaka is mentioned in Homer). But of course, evidence of life on the island goes all the way back to 3,000 BCE, with findings that prove Mycenean civilization was there at one time. So there is no debate whatsoever that Ithaka was notable during the Iliad Era. 

It was perhaps only a matter of time before we either found the location of Odysseus' home or declared it lost forever. Indeed, Greece has always been a very seismic region, especially on the islands. Sometimes earthquakes completely wiped out the town or village and sent part of it plunging into the sea. Some things from Homer may be unfindable simply because they were destroyed not only by the Christian church, but through natural movement and erosion. I suppose I've always been fascinated by Odysseus and Ithaka because The Odyssey was my first taste of ancient Greece when my English high school class watched the film. I was captivated at that point. I even dressed up like Odysseus during Hero Day, one of the days held during School Pride Week. In truth, I never doubted the story for a minute. I always believed it.

For a long time, Odysseus' palace remained the only Homeric royal residence that had not been located. But by 2018 and on into today, it has been declared found by archaeologists on Ithaka. The Greek government was so sure of this that the Prime Minister sent 120,000 Euros to continue funding the excavations. The large building found in Agios of Ithaka has been confirmed to be a Mycenean complex, which existed at the time of Odysseus' rule and fits perfectly with Homeric details. The archaeologists and professors responsible for the find are not leaving it to mere interpretation either. They believe it proves Odysseus was real. The final piece of the palace puzzle has now fallen into place. Homer is history. With so much discovery and truth of the ancient stories, and now one more added to the pile, one may wonder how long it will take before the Greeks realize where they truly come from.

In the Goodness of the Gods,

Chris Aldridge.

Sources

Picture: Fresco of a Mycenean Woman, 1,300 BCE. Image is in the public domain in the United States because it is PD-Art and the copyright term therein has expired 100 years after the author's death.

Article 1 (Ithaka Archaeology)

Article 2 (Excavation of Odysseus' Palace)

Google (Palace Landmark and Visitation)

Hellenism Lost Is Honor Lost

During the last few years, part of my Hellenic studies has been the examination of modern Greece and its people (who are predominately Orthodox Christians). In any case, most Greeks today are not Hellenists, and there is no debate whatsoever that ancient Hellas was far stronger, far more prosperous, and far more successful in government and economics. But on a personal level, I have also routinely noticed the decline in human character.

I was talking with a friend and fellow Hellenist who actually lives in Greece today, and I happened to ask if there are any ancient cemeteries still standing. It's a part of history and archaeology that I find very intriguing as you can learn a lot about a person, their family and community. For me, there's just some kind of unexplainable mystique to it all. I ask myself, who was this person and how did they live and die? I remember when I visited Lincoln's Tomb in Springfield, Illinois. Standing before the burial chamber where Lincoln's remains rested just a few feet beneath me, not only did I ponder the president's life and times, but thought that if I could see the bones today, Lincoln's skull would still have the hole from the assassination. I know it may sound morbid, but to me it's simply a fascinating idea to be in the presence of such relics.

So when my Hellenic friend responded to my question by saying that, yes, indeed there are some ancient burials still visible, but people have littered them because they don't care, it saddened me at how far the culture has fallen. I secondly remembered a few years ago when I saw images of a ruined temple of Aphrodite in between two apartment buildings that was also covered in trash. 

In ancient times, people wouldn't have dared to desecrate a temple or a cemetery. Not only because they feared Divine punishment, but because it was simply wretched. People had real honor, character and respect in the old times. To the ancient Hellenes, not only were graves considered to be active places of the deceased, but each year in Athens they would hold days of honor called Genesia, starting on September 5th, during which time they would adorn graves and give an abundance of food, drink and sacrifice to the dead. They even believed that during the festive days in discussion, the spirits of the deceased would return to visit the Polis. To show any kind of disrespect toward places of burial would have been unimaginable to say the least.

But when humans lost the honor and dignity that Hellenism brought to the Hellenic people, they also lost their sense of sacredness, even of their own personal human life and behavior. It is this loss of the spiritual world and of the physical self that has greatly aided in the decline of Hellas and her people. I'm not saying that only Hellenists are honorable, but it clearly brought a world of difference to the Greeks that they no longer have, and their culture has paid the greatest of prices.

In the Goodness of the Gods,

Chris Aldridge.

Source - Burkert, Walter, Greek Religion, Harvard University Press/Blackwell Publishing, Malden, MA, 1985.

Being Hellenic Isn't Just About Blood

When my DNA results came back last year, I was very disappointed that it did not reveal any known Greek lineage, even though I still came from the over all Classical World. Not being specifically Greek, at least in part, was an emotional blow to someone like me who is devoted to the Greek Gods, and who at one point thought for sure they had Greek blood somewhere. Before the results came back, I stated that it wouldn't change who I was, and it hasn't. But I also got to thinking what it really means to be Hellenic, and I realized it's about more than just blood.

People who were born Hellenic have the easiest time being it, but not necessarily acting like it. There are countless ethnic Greeks today who are basically the Stockholm Syndromes of their people, who side and have a relationship with their Christian oppressors who teach them to hate the original Greek society they came from. It's basically a hatred for self. So just because someone has Hellenic blood, doesn't necessarily make them a real Hellene. Being an authentic Hellene is a mentality, a worldview, and a lifestyle.

It's about an undying love for the original Gods, for Hellenic virtue, honor and piety, for life and all of its wonders and pleasures, and for your ancestors. And it's also about having the mentality of a Hellene - meaning that your worldview does not oppose, destroy or contradict what it meant to be Hellenic. Sadly, Greece and her people have not been governed by the Hellenic mindset or values, and it doesn't take much to see how far the country and society has fallen since the time of Christian obstruction.

Blood is great, but it only goes so far. Your birth you had no control over, but the way you think and live is something you have complete control of, and therefore the latter is where you make your choice as to who you are, and who you are not.

In the Goodness of the Gods,
Chris Aldridge.

Why Are Greeks Returning To The Ancient Gods?

Pagan and Polytheistic revivals are popping up all over the world, and Greece isn't an exception. More and more Greeks, perhaps slowly but also surely, are returning to the worship of the Gods of their ancestors, aka the Greek Gods. While it's important for Hellenists and Pagans to celebrate, it's equally important to know and understand the reasoning behind this emerging societal shift. It will help us understand our past, be solid in the present, and push on into the future.

Recently, I went online and caught up with Vlassis G. Rassias, a leading spokesperson in Athens, Greece for the modern ancient Greek religious movement and founder of the YSEE (Supreme Council of Ethnic Hellenes), to ask him what he thinks about the resurgence. According to him, when freedom and democracy began to regain a foothold in Greece in the 80's after the nightmarish military dictatorship of 1967-1974, the ethnic Greeks began to resurface. In fact, he said, religious freedom had been oppressed ever since the formation of the Neo-Greek Christian State in the 1830's after Greece won independence from the Ottomans. In short, a serious lack of oppression has allowed the ancient religion to come back. I finished by asking Vlassis about his personal devotion and what brought him to ancient Greek religion. According to him, the final straw came in 1976 when a Christian monk literally smashed apart the statue of Zeus outside the Ministry of Education in Athens. Thus began his rebuking of Christianity and his allegiance to the ethnic religion of Greece.

I noticed that in talking with Vlassis, two things stand out. One, that Greeks are returning to the old Gods because they are now free to do so, and two, they have seen what the Christian church has done and wants to do to Greece. They are realizing that their ancestors were converted by force, which was still being applied in the late 20th Century. This realization, I think, also makes people realize they have been lied to and enslaved by the present establishment, and it makes them want to seek their true identities that were taken from them. To this day, ancient Greek religion continues to grow, with 5,000 to 10,000 in Greece (which can't account for the number of people who may still be in hiding), and among the Pagans of America that number over 1 million, there are certainly many who worship the Greek Gods as well, if not exclusively like myself.

I feel I should include my own self in the topic as well, since I am also a Greek Polytheist. Although I'm not from Greece, I am still part of the ancient Greek religious movement abroad. In spirit, mind and deed, I am certainly a Hellene. Of course, mostly everyone knows of my conversion story from 2009, when the Greek Gods answered my prayers in the time of my family's greatest need, but I can also relate to the things said by Vlassis. I grew up Christian, and learning about how so many parts of the world had been forced into conversion, lessened my trust in the church and the religion. Not to mention the persistence, especially in the southern states, of trying to force Christianity on everyone, whether they wanted to accept it or not. There was still, of course, freedom of religion, at least on paper. But many parts of society and even the state and local government officials don't always want to respect it. Then, of course, there's the simple fact that Christianity just isn't the right religion for many people.

In the Goodness of the Gods,
Chris Aldridge.