Tribal Paganism
A community of free people, who all care about their continued liberties, and their children's future.
The Opposite of Chaos.
Most people hear the term Pagan, and instantly they picture a lawless society of heathens. This idea could not be farther from the truth. When a group of people have a common set of beliefs, be they social, or religious the community they live in tends to be more peaceful than any large and authoritarian system of democracy. Before you laugh at the idea of an Authoritarian system of democracy, just think about it. The majority vote on something innocuous, and it becomes law. Let's use the example of the prohibition of alcohol. The man making beer at home, is hurting no one. Yet his system of democracy has deemed it illegal. He didn't vote for it, and neither did 45% of the citizens. Yet for brewing a keg of ale, or mead at home, he gets reported and arrested. On its face, that is authoritarian. But it goes much deeper also, because now the 45% that agree with him are now forced to foot the cost of his arrest, detainment, and trial, with their paid taxes. Now a man has lost his freedom, and the populace has to pay for it. Without a victim other than the State itself, every crime that is enforced or punished is Authoritarian. Even the laws and rules are voted in by a “plurality” of the democratic populace, they are Authoritarian to the portion that didn’t, and even more so if there is no victim.
Tribal communities do not have deal with that. They agree on most ideas, and have a meeting called a “thing” where they discuss them as a tribe, everyone is involved in some of the nuance that affects their lives directly. Very different from the bureaucracy of a modern city, where a 1% minority can alter the lives of millions of citizens, if they are the ones with the loudest or sadly the most annoying voices. The city wants to quiet them back down.
When self sufficiency, and personal liberties are forsaken, everything else that follows that is blatantly Authoritarian. This is why America was founded as a Republic, and not a Democracy. It was an attempt to side step the Authoritarian rule of a monarch. When you look at the “Bill of Rights” or a majority of the Amended U.S. Constitution, there are no crimes without a victim. All of those are implemented at a State, County, or City level.
If you take a deep look at any Indigenous tribe, be they Native American, or Aboriginal Australian, they almost all operate on the basic principals of personal liberty, similar to what is written plainly in the bill of rights. If a person in one of them does something, and another tribal member, or the whole of the tribe is hurt by it, then it is considered a crime. There is not one centralized group that enforce the laws within most tribes, instead the entire community does.
In my opinion, you can boil all effective laws down to one main principal and that is simply, don't be an asshole. The same goes for the 10 commandments, all 10 can boil down to the same principal. Thou shall not covet thy neighbors wife… don't be an asshole. Thou shall not kill… don't be an asshole. It works the same way all the way down the line.
Imagine this idea.
A small community is formed. All of the people in this community have the same religious beliefs. Because of the shared religious morals, they all have very similar community goals. They all agree that the only “Law” in the tribe is a simple one. Do not victimize others. Under that umbrella, they live in peace. Person A farms cattle, person B grows corn, and person C is a metal smith. They all trade among each other, and nobody within steals from, or physically harms another person. They all own their land, and have similar property rights. It may not be the perfect life for everyone, but those within the tribe are happy. Does this sound impossible?
I assure you, it's very possible.
There are multiple tribes of people still living this way. The Sami, native to Northern Sweden, Finland, and Norway have been living this way for at least 4,000 years. The Aboriginal Australian tribes have been doing this for as many as 65,000 years. They have both had contact with the modern world, and had its influences imposed upon them, but they still have their laws, and traditions. This is not because they reject progress, in reality it's because they are just holding on to traditions that work for them. Things that have been tried and true for millennia.
These tribes have continued to live their lives in the same way, while there were Empires around them, that had been built up and then eventually had fallen. While new religions were born, and faded away, they stayed the same. New political structures like communism, and socialism are born, and it affects their lives in no detectable way. The birth of the printing press, and the following industrial revolution, and these ancient Tribes still hand weave their fabrics. The genocides of the 1900’s in China, Russia, and Nazi Germany happen, and they didn't even notice. Traditional annual celebrations happened in the British empire, and these tribes never even knew. They still live their lives the same way.
We should strive to be more like these tribes.
Than you for reading.
If you believe the possibility of the things explained within this article, then you need to go find your Tribe. If there is not one that fits your beliefs, then create one. You will find your people.
If you build it, they will come.