Abstract
The key thing to keep in mind about honor is that it is understood as both a verb and a noun. To honor is the essence of worship, or, to the degree that it might be distinguished from adoration and veneration, at least the most important part of worship. If worship itself refers to the making or creating of value, then honor as a noun, as that almost elusive quality that we have sought to discern behind the various acts of being honorable, is simply worth: the worth or value that is implicitly present in anyone’s acts or deeds of honor. Worship itself has both formal and informal expressions. As a kind of nomenclature shorthand, formal worship is what we understand as ritual – something correctly and properly put together like a work of art or a religious rite. But more informally, ritual or worship may be understood as a good deed: assisting another, expressing gratitude, being kindly, contributing in some way to the human endeavor. Over many years of persistent contemplation on worship and especially on its informal aspects, I have come to recognize the pursuits of pleasure, productivity and generosity as the more spontaneous, ordinary and normal ways of honoring godhead, however it is conceived, and it is these three virtue-values and their pursuance that I refer to as the trivium of worship. It is these three qualities that are discussed in the present chapter. They are in part derivatives of the ethical traditions already examined – especially those of the classical tradition and are here suggested as continuations if not also expansions of the world’s forum of ethical debate. If as I have said honorable acts are based on recognizing the intrinsic value of all humans if not all sentient life and/or nature as our grounding matrix, does it follow that all people are honorable? Obviously not, since we are all equally capable of removing ourselves from commensurate behavior.
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- 1.
Freeman Gunter personal communication 1.8.5.
- 2.
Helvétius, De l’esprit 2.14 (p. 148): “les dieux sont bons; et nos plaisirs sont, pour eux, l’offrande la plus agreeable de notre reconnaissance” – http://www2.ac-toulouse.fr/philosophie/textes/helvetiusesprit.htm (accessed 31.3.6).
- 3.
- 4.
Ibid. 5.6.16, p. 61.
- 5.
Cicero, Discussions at Tusculum 5.25.72 (Grant 1971:91).
- 6.
Ibid. 5.26.73, p. 92.
- 7.
See Cicero, On Duties 2.10.37 (Grant 1971:139).
- 8.
- 9.
Grayling (2003:30f, 176, 179).
- 10.
On Volupia (from voluptas ‘joy’), see York (1986:198f). The goddess appears to have been particularly honored at the time of the winter solstice – again suggesting the foundational aspect of carnality to all experiences of pleasure.
- 11.
Discussions at Tusculum 4.32.68 – vide Grant (1971:174)
- 12.
Cicero, Laelius: On Friendship 21.81 (Grant, 1971:217).
- 13.
- 14.
Cicero, Laelius: On Friendship 5.19 (Grant 1971:187).
- 15.
The Latin word for ‘friendship’, namely, amicitia, derives from amor ‘love’ and amare ‘to love’ – and is expressive of where there is no element of falsity or pretense: ibid. 8.26 & 27.100 (Grant 1971:191, 226).
- 16.
Cicero, Laelius: On Friendship 18.65 (Grant 1971:210).
- 17.
Ibid. 21.78 (p. 216).
- 18.
Cicero Laelius: On Friendship 22.84 (Grant 1971:217f).
- 19.
Ibid. 23.87 (p. 219).
- 20.
Grayling (2003:48).
- 21.
See MacIntyre (1998:59f). Nevertheless, MacIntyre argues (pp. 79f) that Aristotle’s description of the ‘great-souled man’ as characterized purely by goodness, pleasantness and utilitarian practicality has no capacity – due to his self-containment – to love another simply for the sake of loving. But if the great person that Aristotle exalts is not as purely ego-centered as MacIntyre contends, there is still room for him to engage in genuine friendship even if and when the relationship comprises in part “moral mutual admiration.”
- 22.
This non-condemnation, however, does not extend to the government whose very task and responsibility is to govern its subjects and seek to prevent harm to them or assist them when they have been harmed. We are talking here about personal ethics and not about governmental irresponsibility.
- 23.
Whereas in dharmically oriented faiths, consciousness is the supreme achievement, with paganism it may well be conversation that is the ultimate, that is, what opens us up to both community and our fullest humanity.
- 24.
Once again we can witness in this pagan validity the distinction of paganism from those religions that exalt a sacred text as inerrant and ultimate. Over and above any Bible, Koran or Veda is, for a pagan, human dialogue – the open-ended and unconditional conversation with another person; the sharing of ideas and information with all people. The Conversation itself is for the pagan the sacred text that is being written at each and every moment of human duration. Along with consciousness, it is our offering to the cosmos – our gift to the gods that is offered from within our own ephemeral flash through time and space.
- 25.
This question was raised by Lee Gilmore on the Nature Religions Scholars Network (29.9.5) and forwarded to me by Macha NightMare the following day. natrel@listserv.colostate-pueblo.edu.
- 26.
Invocation refers to calling the deity to within, even from within, but certainly into the present locus – whether self, ritual circle, sanctum, etc. Evocation derives from the Latin evocatio, a military ritual by which the Romans implored the gods of the enemy to grant them victory in exchange for being henceforth honored by the Romans. Consequently, evocation suggests a calling forth of the gods from without, from something exterior and, as such, implies their ontological existence. Darshan is a Hindu term that designates the ‘seeing’ of the deity: through revelation, through ecstatic or ordinary worship. It implies that the deity discloses herself/himself to the worshipper as a vision that is considered a gift of the deity.
- 27.
Watkins (1992:2103) (1969:1516). *genə- (‘to give birth, beget’; with derivatives referring to aspects and results of procreation and to familial and tribal groups) > Latin genus, stem gener- (‘birth, race, kind’) > Latin genrōsus (‘of noble birth, excellent, magnanimous’) > Old French genereux > English generous > generosity.
- 28.
Strictly speaking, the protective procreating divinity of the male is the genius while the designation of the same for a woman is termed the juno. See York (1986:51, 64).
- 29.
It takes no great stretch of imagination to understand how these associations might have developed historically. The first generous people, those with the ability to accumulate surplus along with a proclivity to share it, would most likely have been those that became the rulers. It is the generous nature of the noble person, enabling his or her reputation as ‘known’ throughout the relevant community, that distinguishes the aristocrat from the mere bully or warlord.
- 30.
Among the Romans, the goddess who most personifies ‘abundance’ is Ops whose feriae fall on the 19th of August and 19th of December. Her latter festival, as part of the Saturnalia, is associated with the strenae or yule gifts that form the precedent to the gift-giving exchange of Christmas. See York (1986:57f & 193) for, respectively, Ops and the strenae. For the Sabine personification of the gift, the goddess Strenia (the Roman Salus or personification of health and wealth), see ibid. p. 149 f.
- 31.
- 32.
For instance, a hurricane-relief fundraising auction on E-Witch (http://www.e-witch.com) was organized that featured items donated by Pagan authors. Between the time of the disaster and Samhain, Witchvox (www.witchvox.com) donated 100 % of its membership and renewal fees that it received to hurricane relief. Likewise Ruth Barrett’s Temple of Diana (http://www.templeofdiana.org/) donated all the funds it raised for the recovery efforts. A Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund was also established by the Ancient Order of Druids in America (http://www.aoda.org) on behalf of the entire Druid community and not just the AODA alone.
- 33.
Nietzsche, Thus Spake Zarathustra 1.22 (vide Common [1962]).
- 34.
In Christianity, the Golden Rule is found in Matthew 7:12; in Judaism, Talmud, Shabbat 31a. It also appears in Islam (Sunnah) and Zoroastrianism (Dadistan-i-dinik 94:5) as well as in Hinduism (Mahabharata 5.1517), Buddhism (Udana-Varga 5.18) and both Taoism (Tai Shang Kan Yin P’ien) and Confucianism (Analects 12:2, 15:23). Will Durant stressed this principle in his writings. See also http://infidels.org/library/modern/richard_carrier/ought.html (Carrier 1999/2004) for an agnostic perspective, namely, “be a hero, not a villain. For this is the way to be happy” (accessed 8 April 2014). For Rabbi Hillel the Elder's version. “Do not do to others what would be hateful if done to you,” see Lacey (2006): http://www.ijs.org.au/Hillel-the-Elder/default.aspx (accessed 31.3.14).
- 35.
Aristotle apud Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers 5.21. For Seneca, see his Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium 94.43. See also Publius Syrus, Sententiae 1 and Epictetus apud Aulus Gellius, Noctes Atticae 17.9.6.
- 36.
Leviticus 19:18, Matthew 19:19 & 22.39, Mark 12:31, Luke 10:27, Romans 13:9 and Galatians 5:14.
- 37.
John 13:34 & 15:12 & 17, Romans 12:10, 1 Thessalonians 4:9, etc.
- 38.
Matthew 5:44, Luke 6:27 & 35.
- 39.
Loc. cit. (note 34 supra).
- 40.
We find a similar notion among the Ten Principles of Burning Man, namely, that of Gifting: “Burning Man is devoted to acts of gift giving. The value of the gift is unconditional. Gifting does not contemplate a return or an exchange for something of equal value” (http://www.burningman.com/whatisburningman/about_burningman/principles.html – accessed 4 August 2006).
- 41.
York (1986:238f).
- 42.
We might note that Joseph Campbell could have titled his Masks of God, covering Primitive, Oriental, Occidental and Creative Mythology, respectively, published in 1959, 1962, 1964 and 1968, the ‘Idols of God’. Because, however, there is a much greater negative connotation concerning the words ‘idol’ and ‘idolatry’ in Western society, the folklorist opted for the much safer word ‘masks’ in titling his four-volume series.
- 43.
Gombrich (1998:44), in reviewing Jean Starobinski’s Largesse, argues that “even the ritual of Largesse … partakes of the nature of sacrifice and need not be seen in a purely negative light.”
- 44.
See MacIntyre (1998:181). Helvétius’ De l’esprit appeared in 1758.
- 45.
Ibid. p. 163. Hutcheson, Inquiry into the Original of Our Ideas of Beauty and Virtue (1725) 3.8.
- 46.
MacIntyre (1998:164f). Joseph Butler, “Sermon I: Upon the Social Nature of Man--Rom. xii. 4,5” (http://anglicanhistory.org/butler/rolls/01.html – accessed 30.3.6).
- 47.
Mackie (1990:190).
- 48.
The article was forwarded to me by email on 4 November 2005 as “an article by Chris Hedges that no major publication would print.” Hedges, holding a Master of Divinity degree from the Harvard Divinity School, is author of War is a Force that Gives Us Meaning (2002), Losing Moses on the Freeway: The 10 Commandments in America (2005) and Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt (2012).
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York, M. (2016). The Trivium of Worship. In: Pagan Ethics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-18923-9_10
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