A Sacrifice for Knowledge (from a Lecture on the Norse Tradition)

Odin made his sacrifice for knowledge to achieve results. Odin needed to gain knowledge in order to rule. A sacrifice for knowledge and the algorithms of governance.

A Sacrifice for Knowledge

Odin made his sacrifice for knowledge but he didn’t seek knowledge just for the sake of knowledge, process for the sake of process. That’s not Odin. He initiated processes to achieve results. The result was to gain knowledge in order to rule. He was given the mission because of the circumstances created by Tyr’s defeat and subsequent loss of rights; Odin had to take over the operational reins and he needed the sacrifice to obtain the algorithms of governance.

In grade school, for example, we learn according to a defined and clear algorithm. There are a lot of other children learning with us, and we are all more or less at the same level, in the same starting position. But suddenly something happens when the standard educational process is no longer viable. In this case a student has to change himself in order to get out of the standard algorithm.

Before Odin became the chief god, it was like grade school. We could afford to study without much effort and according to a common algorithm that was offered to everyone, but then suddenly something happened to the school. There is no more school. Now everyone has to learn on their own, and this requires a shift to a different format of learning, where speed is more important and results have greater value, so that studying in the old way is no longer possible. And that is when sacrifice is required. We always sacrifice something when we have to go against a standard algorithm, when we have to be different from everyone else, when we have to accept a mission and adapt to the mission.

That’s exactly what we’re dealing with here. Basically, what you’re doing now, all the runists and all the students of the school, we’re all in our own way making a sacrifice for knowledge. You sacrifice your free time for knowledge. You sacrifice your rights not to be held accountable in the eyes of the higher power. You sacrifice your right to be ignorant. You sacrifice a lot for knowledge, you essentially recreate the same path. It is a matter of the value of the sacrifice. The degree to which you value the sacrifice will determine the value of the result.

This is what Odin showed us. He sacrificed himself without a doubt. He sacrificed his ability to see like everyone else, to be like everyone else. He gave up his eye for the right to drink from Mimir’s well. He took part in activities for which he would have been condemned if he had not been the head of the Pantheon. For example, he learned witchcraft from Freyja. With the understanding that since he is the all-father, since he is the all-encompassing deity, he must be knowledgeable in every subject. He cannot say:

“Witchcraft is below me, I won’t be doing it. Witchcraft is a female practice and I’m a man, after all. I can’t do that.”

Instead he says:

“Well, yes, since this exists in the world, how could I not study it? How could I deny this dimension of the world? It would mean to deny a dimension of myself.”

The system of the Nine Worlds also shows us that it’s not all rainbows and unicorns. There are negative moments, but without the negatives there won’t be any positives, there won’t be any victory. Because they teach, they help, they are there to lean on to move forward. What can a person lean on to move forward? On their own mistakes. Mistakes are a person’s greatest resource.

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