On the 1500 year anniversary of documents mentioning the existence of the Baltic religion temple Romuva, 100 year anniversary of Marija Gimbutas and Baltic unity day, I'd like to share a few thoughts and observations on our living unbroken religious tradition.
I have often encountered questions and statements like "so you believe in a bearded man sitting on a cloud", "do you really think trees are god?", "how can you be a religion when god did not write a book for you?", "you know you are actually worshipping Satan", "do you drink blood in your rituals", "you can't be a religion because you are not doing it like it was being done 1000 years ago" and so on... yes one can feel insulted by such questions and statements, but with so much propaganda, disinformation and lack of information on our religion it's no wonder that Baltic religion people have to endure such discomfort.
A way that I explain to people who are not familiar with our religion, is that our gods are the forces of nature and we use metaphors and poetry to describe their "personalities". I think this is a good way to get them started on understanding our religious tradition.
So one might ask what is the difference between our religion and science, atheism or skepticism etc.?
The only difference is that we hold everything in existence to be sacred, and by definition that is why our tradition is a religion.
But then again in their own way scientists hold the truth as sacred. Whether they say so directly or not. Without they themselves declaring so, I personally consider them as a type of Vaidila/ė.
Another interesting difference is that science is a proof-based knowledge. One group prove something here and others try to rediscover that proof in another place to double check if the finding is true or not. We don't have a need to prove truth because truth is always going to be truth and if you are lucky in your work you put towards finding and respecting truth, you will discover it as well and have an opportunity to contribute to benefit from the relationship. I understand this to be a connection to our acceptance and friendliness towards honest religions, other cultures and life forms. This is also seems to be apparent in the uncanny similarities and parallels in different cultures and religions on the opposite sides of the planet, for example Hawaiian cultures Madam Pele and our Gabija, Kahuna and Vaidila, and in China General Quan and our Perkūnas. If this is so, than this is knowledge so valuable that it has been preserved from the times of our common ancestors or that the knowledge was discovered in parallel and that it was elemental to consider these natural forces to have a connection to a particular gender and must be considered gods in their metaphorical depictions. It is very interesting and deserves academic investigation to find the same truths in parallel to what has been preserved by the Baltic cultures since most ancient times. It would be a friendly gesture if the Vatican released all archives of their reports on Baltic religion, but given their political and power existential orientation I would not expect this to ever happen. The christian religion has "copy pasted" much of our traditional knowledge father, son, holy ghost and our Patrimpas, Perkūnas, Piccolus. In the Baltic sense our gods are real things which are profoundly powerful and must be respected, the gods don't care if a human believes they exist or not. For example I could "believe" rocks falling on my head are pillows, but this won't change anything. Chauvinistic attitudes including human superiority have gotten the world into much of it's current problems from wars of aggression to climate change etc.
So one may ask about morality, ethics of the Baltic religion.
For example why should you do good? We are a part of an immense ecosystem made from major gods, lesser gods, supernatural creatures and animals, plants, atoms, quarks and particles etc. which all work together as a super being, a single God which we are inseparable from, we are pantheistic but also monotheistic in a sense. When you perpetuate the healthy processes of this super being everything is healthy and everything benefits . when you do other than that, you will also suffer from it if not in the short term then definitely in the long term. For example hunting and gathering, taking only what you need will most likely maintain a sustainable system that you can more or less rely on. But if you chop down the whole Forest for the quick gain you will not have any trees ever again and will then suffer from various direct and indirect issues caused from that. There is no alpha male that dominates everything it's a pod/gauja/tribe a community that uses its strengths to prop up missing parts caused by the weaknesses or short comings of the group, it's self repairing. So you do to others in the community (not just human) as you would have done to yourself. This creates a sustainability, a "circular ecosystem". So do good and that's the best thing for you now and in the long run ;-)
About roots and time and eras. I'm a person from now I'm not trying to recreate the 10th century or the 14th century or 100,000 years ago. I'm from now, so as a Vaidila when I wear the folkloric and ancient wardrobe this is showing respect to the foremothers and forefathers on whose work we stand as a foundation and continue and grow and live our living religious tradition. So yes it's Indo-European and relatively "very old" but most likely it is built upon even more ancient understandings and tradition that are also built on millennia and millennia of knowledge. The results are from a practice tried and true, continuously developed from the same ancestor which was not just the first form of life on earth but technically this ancestor was most likely the big bang or before. We wouldn't have survived until now without the sharing and building upon this truth and knowledge. Like wearing the ancient clothing styles, fire has been one of our families biggest friends and centers of community and communion. Thus the fire altar and honoring and respecting Gabija the goddess of fire is in amost all calendar and life rites not only is this veneration sacral but also practical, an extremely ancient center of community and communion.
I think one of the most healthy and profound understandings (and thus point of view) of our religion is that humans are not superior to anything else. Not to animals, trees, rivers, fungus or stones or wind. We are part of one divine system, like cells or critical symbiotic bacteria etc. in our own "single" bodies.
Of course it's nice that science corroborates our concept that everything is a familial relative and or an ancestor. Science has found that all "life" on Žemyna, goddess Earth comes from the same ancestor, so trees, flowers, fungus, animals and humans are related but then again we're also made from quarks, particles, etc. Some of which had to be created in explosions of Saulė goddess Suns sisters the Stars. We are relatives of all matter and energies and everything that exists and everything that doesn't exist and everything in parallel universes etc. what ever... According to our religion everything is related, everything is alive and everything is sacred period.... Unfortunately there exist in the world less sustainable concepts…
So some may claim to be Baltic indigenous religion people while also performing actions of chauvinistic political ideologies like Naziism etc. But this is a paradox, or they don't really have much of a grasp of what the Baltic religion is. It is not possible for a person of the Baltic religion to consider themselves somehow superior to anything else, that is missing the point entirely. This a major difference between our religion and some other religions.
In a nutshell I understand our religion to be based on a sustainable balance. The concept Darna, the cosmic harmony is basically "respect". You respect yourself when you respect everything around you. When you respect everything around you you respect yourself. Maintaining balance and allowing things to grow including yourself is darną/respect. Self defense is darną/respect, aggression is not. If you defend yourself, you are giving a great gift to the aggressor in the long run. Kindness should not be taken as weakness. If it is, this is a sign of cowardliness and weakness. That is also not respect/darną. In a direct sense "we" meaning everything in existence are all in this together.
As a Vaidila I cannot forgive you for your sins. you must work to rebalance the imbalance you have caused by committing sins. You do this between yourself and the gods and the victims not through a middleman. I see the concept of having a middleman between "mortals" and "god" as directly inviting corruption and insincerity.
One of the main reasons why I was attracted to our religion since early childhood is because it is based on reality. Our religion doesn't tell you what NOT to do, but the opposite. I understand that the Baltic religion says you have the freedom to create and do anything you see fit within the profound responsibility of respect, maintaining the Divine cosmic harmony and balance by everything you do, including learning from mistakes.
While each temple or community has its particular styles and differences, I see these concepts as very straightforward and logical and I understand all honest religions to respect the same truths as our living religion does. We don't need dogmas, we have responsibilities.
The sacred flame of the temple Romuva has continued to shine it's light for millennia, let us continue to see and learn from the illumination of reality especially in dark times. Let's keep the flame alit in our minds, hearts and deeds.
Bless,
Vaidila J. Kimo Arbas
J. Kimo Arbas is an award winning, patent holding technology inventor, artist, social impact entrepreneur and a Vaidila of Lietuvos Romuva for over 15 years.
