Spirituality - Modern Barbarian

Dogs are not only truly loyal, dogs are devoted and love unconditionally, three traits that men seldom receive, at least in adulthood. This loyalty and devotion, is in my opinion why so many veterans returning home to a society that no longer accepts them, with no brotherhood or loyalty and very few in person connections of any kind, find solace in the heart of a dog.

Why are dogs mans best friend? They fill a hole in many a man’s heart.

These days unless your lucky enough to have found yourself as part of a brotherhood, you have beat the odds and built your own, or you found yourself a good wife, A dog very well may be the most loyal living thing that you have in your life. Even if you have, experiencing the unique bond between you and a dog is a quintessential human experience. One just as important as the experience of having a brotherhood. This experience is heightened even more so with a working dog. A partner that shares a purpose with you, both driving toward the same goal. Raised to an even higher degree with a protection dog. For those that have the knowledge and temperament to work with one there is nothing like the experience of bonding with another predator.

That bond can also give you insights into other people around you. Your dog will be able to size up a person and their intentions 100x faster than you can. Trust them. If they are normally well trained and well behaved and they all of a sudden start acting out or being standoffish with a certain person or even aggressive toward them, trust that instinct. That is a person that you should probably be careful around or avoid entirely.

The level of experiences that dogs offer, represent almost a form of spirituality for some people. They offer/require structure, a source of strength, someone to talk to when there is no one, all things that religious and spiritual people have but that those that have been driven away from spirituality might be lacking.

How do you hold up your end in a relationship like that?

Just like you should a human relationship of that caliber. Make sure that you return the favor. Reward that love, that devotion, and that loyalty in kind. Protect them, take care of them, treat them like a brother, like one of your family because thats how they see you. Don’t abandon them, don’t drop them at a shelter when they get old, or inconvenient. Thats not loyalty, and certainly not devotion.

Most old dogs that go to a shelter end up getting euthanized, remember that. Most people don’t go to a shelter looking for an old dog so they will get past over time and time again. All the while wondering what they did wrong to end up there. You are basically killing your dog, in body and in spirit by leaving them there, if you wouldn’t put them down yourself, don’t send them to a shelter when they are old. While there are no kill shelters around they do fill up and often transfer dogs to other facilities that may or may not be kill shelters.

This also happens to younger dogs as shelters get more and more over populated. So if you are not willing to keep and care for that family member then don’t get one from the start. Many people say you wouldn’t abandon your kids so don’t abandon your dogs, but if you take a cursory glance at the internet I am not convinced most people these days wouldn’t abandon their children too if they got to inconvenient so don’t do either unless your going to see it through.

Now when it is your dogs time to go, don’t leave them to face it alone. Grow a pair and stand there with them, no man wants to die alone and scared and neither do or should your dog. They are already going to be stressed being in a strange cold environment the least you could do to repay all they have given you is to stay with them at the end. This is called responsibilities, don’t shrug them off just be cause you can that doesn’t make you a man. Just because you can doesn’t mean you should. Man up, there is little that is harder to go through than to see the look of confusion, pain, and panic on

the face of your friend when there time has come. It doesn’t matter if its too soon from tragedy or after a long happy life. You have spent a life time building a bond, earning their trust and now they look to you for help and you cant help them. But that doesn’t mean you walk away.

So barbarian you still want your wolf?

Don’t get a dog based only on looks or what breed is popular at the time. That just says your making a status purchase, not looking for a companion. Research breeds, their personality and common traits as well as what they were used for and make sure that they fit in with your lifestyle, family, or needs. If you are looking for a hunting dog you don’t want a chihuahua. If you live in a small apartment a giant breed or high energy breed is not going to work out well. This simple act alone can head off many of the problems listed above.

Once you’ve done that you can start looking for breeders if you are looking for a specific breed. I do, only recommend breeders for people who are looking for a specific breed for a specific working purpose. Protection dogs, hunting dogs, and so on. If you do not have that specific need and are looking for a companion for you or your family, then go to a shelter. In addition don’t shut your self off to adult dogs as well don’t go looking for a puppy only. Not only could it make the learning curve and transition easier for you adult dogs need homes to. They may take a little more time to bond to you after going through what ever landed them there, but when they do it will be bond stronger than any other, If you put in the time.

All that being said, the dog you need or that you are meant to have is the dog that you are going to get. Whether you evaluate a litter and carefully select one, pick one blindly or go to a shelter and let the dog choose you, you will get the one that is meant for you. The dog that you need is usually to teach you a lesson of some kind, usually to teach you patience or how to be loyal.

Care and keeping of your wolf

Nutrition

It is just as important for dogs as it is for you, if you are not willing to put the effort into learning what dogs need then again don’t get one. Most kibble is horrible for dogs If you just buy kibble because its cheap and throw it down in front of your dog. You will either end up having a dog with a shorter life span or one ripe with heath issues just like a human who eats nothing but processed foods. Now there are some much better kibbles out there than others but you have to find them. Little hint, they will not be at the grocery store, and most likely not at any big chain pet stores. I recommend a book called forever dog that explains this topic in depth as well as raw feeding, and the process to finding a good kibble or choosing between kibble and raw.

My family started feeding our dogs a raw diet 8 years ago, and have never seen anything make such a big difference in a dogs quality of life. We currently have dogs on both a raw diet and kibble diet, and some that eat both kibble and raw meat. You will likely get push back from most veterinarians because their entire education was at schools funded by pet food companies like most human medical schools are funded by pharmaceutical companies. Do your own research on how to do it safely for you and correctly for the dog if you go down that road.

Research and understand what a healthy dog looks like. It is called their body condition and there is an easy 9 point scale https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/body-condition-scores to understand what is healthy and what is not. Another helpful tip most dogs today are at unhealthy weights so don’t look to what you see around you as normal, and use it as your guide, unless you belong to a dog club that has healthy dogs. Fat people have fat dogs, if for no other reason than to make them selves feel better about their own bad life decisions. So make sure both you and your dogs are healthy and you’ll both live longer happier lives.

Purpose

Finally your dog needs a purpose in life just like you do. Especially so if you get any working breed dog. If you got a working dog for that purpose then its purpose will be fulfilled most likely as you got them for that reason. The more you can give them that purpose or jobs inline with their breed instincts the better off they will be. Hunting dogs will need to hunt, herding dogs nee to herd, breeds like Belgian Malinoise will need to herd or do protection work, or scent work as well as run 5-10 miles a day, live stock dogs need something to protect, huskies need to be able to run, you get the point.

Conclusion

Barbarians need their wolves, just like they need their tribes. But getting a dog is not something to be taken lightly. It takes time and responsibility, and you have to be the kind of person the dog deserves. People don’t like the comparison that dogs are like children but they are in way more ways than people want to admit. So if you are not going to put in the effort just like anything else that should be done right don’t do it at all. The only thing that irritates me more than seeing unfit unhealthy untrained dogs being dragged around by or dragging around their fat owners is dogs being abused, and allowing your dog to get over weight and unhealthy and not letting him live a life in line with his instincts is just another form of abuse, only a more accepted one by most of society.

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I was raised Lutheran but it never felt right for me. I rarely went to church unless back east with my grandparents but even then it felt like it was just missing something for me. Like many society and the system pushed me into a state cynicism toward Christianity specifically but spirituality as whole. This went on for years until recently when I felt a pull back to spirituality. Though not back to the Lutheran church.

Now. The Empire today likes to push you towards no religion or spirituality if it can. This is because it makes it easier to assimilate into the system as one of its cogs, if your not going to grind gears with the other drones over religion. Second only to that it wants you into one the typical religions that doesn’t offer any disruptions to their systems while it deteriorates them into just another marketing demographic to make money off of. Just look at the mega churches these days for an example.

Now if you look in the liberty community or masculinity sphere of social media today your going to get the impression that in order to be a man you need to be christian. But that is not the case, there is no one set path to spirituality, and no one means you are a man and other that you are not. No one knows if one religion is right or wrong until you die. No one can know for sure any other way.

I am not going to go into my specific religion/spiritual practice because really it doesn’t matter its a personal choice and preference. However I do believe every man needs a spiritual practice of some kind in his life. It can give a man someone to talk to when there is no one else, it can give a man confidence, or just some needed reassurance in a very dark and turbulent world.

Now that does not necessarily mean a man needs religion. Those things are two different concepts In my opinion, they do relate to one another, but you can be spiritual without being religious. Religion implies dogmas and a set structure that you must adhere to. Now there is nothing wrong with that, some men need that structure in their life. Its the same reason that some men thrive in environments like the military, university, or prison for that matter. But that also makes you vulnerable to deception and control From those who form and hand down that structure. And lets be fair that is exactly what religions have been for through out time. For good and for bad, they have been control systems, and many evils have been done through the centuries in the name of one religion or the other.

You also need to remember that all regions were made by man. Men had to physically write or transcribe the holy books no matter what the source material came from, and in many cases man edited the holy books. For instance the King James Bible that many people keep as THE Bible. Is called the King James Bible because it is the Bible that King James AUTHORIZED for the peasants to own and read. Now does this mean that he removed or changed info or section of it? no, but It is a red flag that he may have and many religions scholars who have compared the King James to older versions have testified to that fact.

This does not mean that what these holy books teach and talk about is wrong or inaccurate, but the religion it self and the books were made by a human being that is capable of fault and/or corruption, and therefor is a something you need to consider. You only need to look at modern religions themself as proof of that. How many forms of christianity are their? It has changed and split multiple times over the centuries as culture changes and today barely resembles anything I remember it as in my childhood.

What does this all mean?

Find and follow the religion or practice that speaks to you. You will often feel pulled to one or another or one may present it self at the moment you truly need it. Some will require more of you than others and some will make you sacrifice more than others, mentally, spiritually and sometimes physically. If you have no idea where to start, then start with your culture and heritage, but remember to keep an open mind toward other faiths as well.

Has your culture historically followed one practice or another?
How about your family/bloodline specifically?
What are faiths of people you know? It can sometimes help to know people in the faith when you enter it. Start there and see what it turns up.

You want to make sure that your values and code if you have already developed them match or at least mesh with your spiritualities values, or vice versa if you have your spiritual values and are working on your code. Other wise you will always be conflicted and it will hinder you ability to make decisions, and move forward.

If family is important to you then your spiritual practice should emphasis family or at least not hinder it. If your trying to build wealth then your religion shouldn’t always be telling you that money is evil as a couple examples. This could simply be difference between churches of the same faith as well as difference between faiths.

Keep in mind your spiritual practice is meant to better yourself, protect you, bring you a more full life. Not take anything from someone else, so remember these principles when your evaluating spiritual paths or even just deciding between churches or sects, If they go against these principles or require that you violate them against someone else, than you should consider another option.

1 – All people are created equal.

2- All people have individual rights.

3 – All interactions between people should be voluntary

No one has the right….

1 – To harm you.

2- To threaten you,

3- To steal from you.

4- To violate your rights

Nothing says that you cannot give up any of these rights that follow in order to adhere to the faiths code or be part of the organization if you want to but the organization should not call on you to force others to make the same decisions. All should be voluntary.

Everyone has…

1 – The right to liberty – We can do what we want, as long as we do not

violate the rights of others.

2 – The right to self-defense – We can defend ourselves, our property,

and our individual rights,

3- The right to own and carry weapons – So we have the ability to

defend ourselves, our property, and our rights.

4- The right to self-ownership – We own ourselves. No one can claim

even partial ownership over you without violating your rights,

5- The right to free speech – We can communicate our opinions and

ideas without fear of government retaliation or censorship.

6- The right to privacy – No one has the right to violate our privacy.

Any law that violates our rights is null and void. Anyone that violates

our rights is a criminal.

As a final note

Always trust your gut if something feels off to you. It could be small it could be big but if something feels wrong then it probably is And you may want to keep some distance. True cults and extremest groups are dangerous and you don’t want to get tied up with them or what they bring with them.