Metal Religion

I had two thought-provoking cultural experiences this past week. I saw the movie “Religulous” and I went to a Heathen Folk Metal concert.

Religulous was frankly hilarious. If you aren’t familiar with it, it’s Bill Maher, poking holes in people’s religious beliefs. It was mostly aimed at hypocrisy and fundamentalism, and was targeted mainly at the dominant religions of our era. However, I have no doubt he would have given my own religious beliefs the same treatment!

Although I know many folks from my religion who would have had ore intelligent answers than I heard in this show! A large part of what made this so funny is the people he interviewed being given enough rope to hang them selves. He had his agenda to be sure. His points on fundamentalism and hypocrisy were made. It got me thinking though – Would this have been offensive to me if it were my own religion? Insofar as my own religion has it’s tendencies toward fundamentalism and hypocrisy, no. Insofar as the “fairy tales” from my own religion seeming true and the ones from Christianity seeming ridiculous…well, still no. And what makes the difference? I don’t need for the myths of my religion to be “True”. That’s not what religion is for me. For me religion is a way that we organize our own brains, in order to perceive a wider array of the energies in the Universe. (i.e religious symbolism is a construct we create in order to develop awareness of the forces of nature we call Gods.) The mythologies are not to be taken literally, but to be understood as representing the flow of cosmic forces. Beyond that, it comes down to personal experience – working with these symbols and myth cycles create an opening in the mind that create some very interesting experiences, that feel deeply satisfying, relevant and right. How I would have liked to have been interviewed by Bill! Or better yet, have him on Thorn’s podcast. It would be interesting indeed to have him talk with some folks who actually have a well-thought-out relationship with religion!

Speaking of forces of nature – turns out there is Heathen Metal, Viking Metal, Folk Metal and Pagan Metal. Damn! All this time I’ve been wondering why there isn’t more Pagan music out there, when the Pagan movement in general seems to be thriving, and the Europeans are cranking it out with a vengeance! Powerful driving hard rock with medieval and folk instruments, singing about their ancestors. What a feast! Many of them sing in that typically metal toneless growl that I call Satan Voice, which I really don’t like. But some of them, such as Tyr, are much more melodic. Tyr are from the Faroe Islands and declare themselves to be reviving the folk traditions of their pre Christian ancestors. And they do an admirable job. I’ll be writing more about them soon, I am sure, as I delve into this fascinating new cultural development. You can be sure that if I can find a way to bring some of these bands to America I will do so. I’d love to do a Pagan music festival with some of these folks. So much to do, so little time! Why do we not live at least 200 years?

~ by Sharon Knight on March 23, 2009.