Here are nine definitions of “Heathen” that go together. Anyone out there have any other good one’s they’d like to add?
Heathen: literally a “heath dweller”. A person who lives with a sense of roots, reverence for nature, curiosity for the past, appreciation of depth, and love of mystery.
Heathen: a way of doing, feeling, thinking, acting, and being – which can be characteristic of philosophies, spiritualities, religions, traditions, cultural milieux, and more besides.
Heathen: the whole-grain way of life in a world of sugar-soaked white bread.
Heathen: one who prizes courage, generosity, and good humour.
Heathen: one who can bear suffering without slandering the reputation of life.
Heathen: one who celebrates the sacredness and the interweaving of all things.
Heathen: an ideal that we cannot own, but from which we can borrow on very generous terms to the enrichment of our whole lives.
Heathen: a well which offers abundant nourishment to those who tend it with love.
Heathen: once a term of narrow-minded abuse; now being reclaimed by those who are intrigued and nourished by the histories and heritages of Old Europe.
Folks, my good friend and regular Elhaz Ablaze commenter Volksfreund has undergone a major – near death – health emergency. Anyone who cares to, please send him good thoughts and healing spells. He needs it!
