Post by Tautalos on May 25, 2005 17:53:13 GMT -5
Pagan revivalists draw inspiration from Hinduism in their quest to reclaim their own ancestral heritage
In this special report for Hinduism Today, Belgian writer Hughes Henry profiles a leader of Europe's Pagan renaissance
Christopher Gérard uncovered his Pagan past at the age of 14 with his bare hands--literally. A precocious child in a Belgian family which three generations before had parted company with the Christian church, he was fascinated at the age of ten by a book on Greek mythology provided by his father. Two years later, he was learning Greek and Latin and, by 14, ready to explore Europe's Pagan past first hand. He joined in with a team of archeologists in the south of Belgium to excavate a 4th-century Gallo-Roman temple. "When I dug into this temple, which had been destroyed by the Christians, I was shocked," he recounts. "I was barely 15, yet I understood in a powerful hands-on, nonintellectual way, how harsh had been Europe's conversion to Christianity. They burned temples, smashed statues, massacred the priests and established extremely harsh laws. By 392 ce, Paganism died."
Now 36, Gérard stands at his altar to answer my questions. He points out the diverse array of religious objects set in a helter-skelter arrangement. There is a Ganesha which he found in the Ganges, a Cernunnos made of Irish bog clay, the horned god of the continental Gallic celts, and here's a trisula... "The trisula looks just like a Celtic artifact," states Gérard, "but it comes from Nepal. It's unbelievable how certain items which appeared to be perfectly Celtic are found in the Himalayas." What means so much to Gérard is that these artifacts symbolize for him "the vast Indo-European culture that existed from one end to the other of the European and Asiatic continents, from Iceland all the way to Korea." He finds endless inspiration in this idea that our roots--be we European, Indian, Asian--are common and deep. His dedication to that vision earned him little more than derision in his native Belgium. But when he went to India, he found what used to happen in Europe 10,000 years ago still goes on there and can be observed daily at home and in temples.
Gérard is the influential editor of Antaios, a journal of polytheistic studies which he resurrected in 1992. It had been created and directed by Mircea Eliade and Ernst Jünger from 1959 to 1971. Both Eliade, a renowned scholar of religion, and Jünger, a German novelist, had great influence on Europe's Pagan revival at the highest intellectual levels. Gérard counts as among his greatest blessings the compliments on his work paid him by the famed Jünger, who died last year at age 103.
Antaios has become the main publication of the Société d'Etudes Polythéistes. Founded last year, the "Society for the Study of Polytheism" is composed of intellectuals for whom Pagan memories are indispensible in the face of ruinous modern trends. They have a specifically European view of these trends, which needs to be understood to grasp the approach of Gérard and others.
The new Europe: Gérard, like many great European thinkers today (and including Christians), believes that Europe has, in fact, already entered its "post-Christian" and "post-rationalist" phase. The church is becoming decreasingly important. Membership is dropping daily, the priesthood is declining, historical challenges are being made to the theology (such as those which resulted from the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls) and multiple scandals have reduced the influence of the church. The current European mind is no longer significantly shaped in its thinking and activities by the Christian theology, whose basic tenets have become largely irrelevant to modern Euro-life.
"Post-rationalist" means that many have abandoned "rationalism," the philosophical position--popular for the last 300 years--that men should resolve their differences through reason, which provides the most valid basis for action or spiritual truth. Out of rationalism developed science, and the now-abandoned hope that mankind was on the brink of creating Utopia--a socially, politically and morally perfect society--by its own efforts, without the help of Gods or religion.
The waning of both rationalism and Christianity has left a mental, moral and spiritual vacuum. Mostly, say Gérard and others, that vacuum has not been filled, except inadequately by mindless consumerism. The worst aspect of this consumerism is its awful power to obliterate ethnicity and cultures all over the world, making it potentially the most destructive imperialism ever. The only sustainable culture that these elite Pagans can imagine to fill this vacuum would be one based on a return to a conscious polytheism, a return to the Gods. The 19th century French poet, Gérard de Nerval, even prophesied, "They will return, these Gods you have never stopped longing for. Time will bring back the order of ancient days."
Hindu Connection: The term Pagan, which means "of the countryside," was the term applied by the converted Christians of the cities to the unconverted country folk. Later, as Christianity became dominant, it acquired a twisted, negative connotation. Today it specifically means "one who is not a Christian, Muslim or Jew." The term has become so abusive, that many Pagans today will not use it. But because it makes such a clear division with the monotheistic religions, Gerard and others of a like mind proudly claim it.
Europe's Pagans have not failed to observe that Hindus, too, are Pagans. Gérard has been to India many times. He said, "India is a conservatory of traditions going back into our most ancient prehistory. The Paganism of our ancestors has miraculously survived there in spite of Muslim invasions, Christian missions and all the other agents of ethnocide [the systematic destruction of a culture]. The brahmins, brothers to our Druids, have never stopped offering ritual worship as we used to do 40 centuries ago. Pilgrimage to India is basic for every European Pagan because it allows him to reconnect with the living tradition, which is moreover Indo-European.
"Yes, India is the land of the Gods par excellence," he went on. "The experience of the divine presence in India is within the reach of anyone who searches even a little bit. The temples are full of flowers and offerings, and you only have to flow along with the crowd, melt into it and place yourself in the hands of the Gods. I do not advocate conversion to Hinduism, but I do recommend its inspiration. I told this to the brahmins that took me into their homes. One said, 'Establish your reawakened Paganism on a valid foundation and there'll come a day when it will catch on. It won't be long.' As true Pagans, they feel no need to convert anyone. "
While still in Europe, Gérard developed a correspondence with the late Ram Swarup, one of the great Hindu thinkers of our day. They met on Gérard's first trip to India. "This extraordinary person and delectable Indian gentlemen was one of my only contacts. He welcomed me as his son. We had long conversations in his Delhi house, and he introduced me into Indian society that would have been closed to me otherwise. He helped me take my first steps toward a more real and concrete knowledge of the Indian concept of karma." In 1996, two issues of Antaios were dedicated to the Hindu renaissance which seems to Gérard to exactly parallel the Pagan renaissance in many important ways. It included interviews with Ram Swarup, Sita Ram Goel, Alain Daniélou and others.
His personal life: Christopher Gérard is a classical philologist and studied ancient languages, including Sanskrit. He has been trained through three academic specializations: literature, philosophy and linguistics into which he immersed himself at the l'Université Libre de Bruxelles, a liberal, non-Catholic "positivistic" university. He has published in French a highly acclaimed translation of Against the Galileans written by Emperor Julien, the last Pagan emperor of Rome. Today Gérard teaches languages, a professional career which he separates from the philosophical itinerary that brought him to create the Society for the Study of Polytheism. "The Society is my personal unfoldment which I am sharing with others who have made the same choice. One can convert to the major, organized religions or to a school of ethics, but one cannot convert to Paganism. One simply belongs to it.".[/color]
In this special report for Hinduism Today, Belgian writer Hughes Henry profiles a leader of Europe's Pagan renaissance
Christopher Gérard uncovered his Pagan past at the age of 14 with his bare hands--literally. A precocious child in a Belgian family which three generations before had parted company with the Christian church, he was fascinated at the age of ten by a book on Greek mythology provided by his father. Two years later, he was learning Greek and Latin and, by 14, ready to explore Europe's Pagan past first hand. He joined in with a team of archeologists in the south of Belgium to excavate a 4th-century Gallo-Roman temple. "When I dug into this temple, which had been destroyed by the Christians, I was shocked," he recounts. "I was barely 15, yet I understood in a powerful hands-on, nonintellectual way, how harsh had been Europe's conversion to Christianity. They burned temples, smashed statues, massacred the priests and established extremely harsh laws. By 392 ce, Paganism died."
Now 36, Gérard stands at his altar to answer my questions. He points out the diverse array of religious objects set in a helter-skelter arrangement. There is a Ganesha which he found in the Ganges, a Cernunnos made of Irish bog clay, the horned god of the continental Gallic celts, and here's a trisula... "The trisula looks just like a Celtic artifact," states Gérard, "but it comes from Nepal. It's unbelievable how certain items which appeared to be perfectly Celtic are found in the Himalayas." What means so much to Gérard is that these artifacts symbolize for him "the vast Indo-European culture that existed from one end to the other of the European and Asiatic continents, from Iceland all the way to Korea." He finds endless inspiration in this idea that our roots--be we European, Indian, Asian--are common and deep. His dedication to that vision earned him little more than derision in his native Belgium. But when he went to India, he found what used to happen in Europe 10,000 years ago still goes on there and can be observed daily at home and in temples.
Gérard is the influential editor of Antaios, a journal of polytheistic studies which he resurrected in 1992. It had been created and directed by Mircea Eliade and Ernst Jünger from 1959 to 1971. Both Eliade, a renowned scholar of religion, and Jünger, a German novelist, had great influence on Europe's Pagan revival at the highest intellectual levels. Gérard counts as among his greatest blessings the compliments on his work paid him by the famed Jünger, who died last year at age 103.
Antaios has become the main publication of the Société d'Etudes Polythéistes. Founded last year, the "Society for the Study of Polytheism" is composed of intellectuals for whom Pagan memories are indispensible in the face of ruinous modern trends. They have a specifically European view of these trends, which needs to be understood to grasp the approach of Gérard and others.
The new Europe: Gérard, like many great European thinkers today (and including Christians), believes that Europe has, in fact, already entered its "post-Christian" and "post-rationalist" phase. The church is becoming decreasingly important. Membership is dropping daily, the priesthood is declining, historical challenges are being made to the theology (such as those which resulted from the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls) and multiple scandals have reduced the influence of the church. The current European mind is no longer significantly shaped in its thinking and activities by the Christian theology, whose basic tenets have become largely irrelevant to modern Euro-life.
"Post-rationalist" means that many have abandoned "rationalism," the philosophical position--popular for the last 300 years--that men should resolve their differences through reason, which provides the most valid basis for action or spiritual truth. Out of rationalism developed science, and the now-abandoned hope that mankind was on the brink of creating Utopia--a socially, politically and morally perfect society--by its own efforts, without the help of Gods or religion.
The waning of both rationalism and Christianity has left a mental, moral and spiritual vacuum. Mostly, say Gérard and others, that vacuum has not been filled, except inadequately by mindless consumerism. The worst aspect of this consumerism is its awful power to obliterate ethnicity and cultures all over the world, making it potentially the most destructive imperialism ever. The only sustainable culture that these elite Pagans can imagine to fill this vacuum would be one based on a return to a conscious polytheism, a return to the Gods. The 19th century French poet, Gérard de Nerval, even prophesied, "They will return, these Gods you have never stopped longing for. Time will bring back the order of ancient days."
Hindu Connection: The term Pagan, which means "of the countryside," was the term applied by the converted Christians of the cities to the unconverted country folk. Later, as Christianity became dominant, it acquired a twisted, negative connotation. Today it specifically means "one who is not a Christian, Muslim or Jew." The term has become so abusive, that many Pagans today will not use it. But because it makes such a clear division with the monotheistic religions, Gerard and others of a like mind proudly claim it.
Europe's Pagans have not failed to observe that Hindus, too, are Pagans. Gérard has been to India many times. He said, "India is a conservatory of traditions going back into our most ancient prehistory. The Paganism of our ancestors has miraculously survived there in spite of Muslim invasions, Christian missions and all the other agents of ethnocide [the systematic destruction of a culture]. The brahmins, brothers to our Druids, have never stopped offering ritual worship as we used to do 40 centuries ago. Pilgrimage to India is basic for every European Pagan because it allows him to reconnect with the living tradition, which is moreover Indo-European.
"Yes, India is the land of the Gods par excellence," he went on. "The experience of the divine presence in India is within the reach of anyone who searches even a little bit. The temples are full of flowers and offerings, and you only have to flow along with the crowd, melt into it and place yourself in the hands of the Gods. I do not advocate conversion to Hinduism, but I do recommend its inspiration. I told this to the brahmins that took me into their homes. One said, 'Establish your reawakened Paganism on a valid foundation and there'll come a day when it will catch on. It won't be long.' As true Pagans, they feel no need to convert anyone. "
While still in Europe, Gérard developed a correspondence with the late Ram Swarup, one of the great Hindu thinkers of our day. They met on Gérard's first trip to India. "This extraordinary person and delectable Indian gentlemen was one of my only contacts. He welcomed me as his son. We had long conversations in his Delhi house, and he introduced me into Indian society that would have been closed to me otherwise. He helped me take my first steps toward a more real and concrete knowledge of the Indian concept of karma." In 1996, two issues of Antaios were dedicated to the Hindu renaissance which seems to Gérard to exactly parallel the Pagan renaissance in many important ways. It included interviews with Ram Swarup, Sita Ram Goel, Alain Daniélou and others.
His personal life: Christopher Gérard is a classical philologist and studied ancient languages, including Sanskrit. He has been trained through three academic specializations: literature, philosophy and linguistics into which he immersed himself at the l'Université Libre de Bruxelles, a liberal, non-Catholic "positivistic" university. He has published in French a highly acclaimed translation of Against the Galileans written by Emperor Julien, the last Pagan emperor of Rome. Today Gérard teaches languages, a professional career which he separates from the philosophical itinerary that brought him to create the Society for the Study of Polytheism. "The Society is my personal unfoldment which I am sharing with others who have made the same choice. One can convert to the major, organized religions or to a school of ethics, but one cannot convert to Paganism. One simply belongs to it.".[/color]
