Living with Honour : A Pagan Ethics
By Emma Restall Orr (Bobcat)
£11.99 from O Books
Five Reviews submitted
Reviewed
by Julia Minnear
The subject of ethics reaches deeply
into our experience of being human. It is messy, gluey, inescapable and a
fundamental fact of life. Its challenge is both simple and complicated: On what
basis do we make our decisions?
Emma Restall Orr has broken new
ground as the first author to dissect, examine and critically position natural
Pagan ethics within its broader cultural and philosophical context. Scholarly
and comprehensive in its depth of examination, the author adeptly navigates
through the rich heritage of influential philosophers and thinkers whose work
has sculpted and continues to shape our understanding of nature, reason,
humanity and relationship. From Immanuel Kant to Arthur Schopenhauer, Peter
Singer, and many more, each thinker provides a touchstone for exploring how a
sensitive relationship with nature can form the basis of a Pagan ethics.
The book tackles some difficult
questions and dilemmas: How does the nature-revering Pagan, grounded firmly in
their philosophy, respond to issues such as abortion, euthanasia, or animal
exploitation? How have we formed an understanding of consciousness, freedom,
sanctity, responsibility, and how are these expressed in the way we live? Faced
with global environmental crises, how can we craft our nature-based values into
sustainable relationships that form an intelligent and effective response to
the problems?
Restall Orr may come across as
authoritative at times, and readers should prepare to have their assumptions
challenged. This is not a comfortable book. It is intentionally provocative,
deeply questioning, and essentially motivating. It expertly addresses a gaping
hole in the Pagan literature, and as such, its significance should not be underestimated.
For the practitioner, this book
asks: What does 'walking the talk' really look like? And, importantly, are you
ready for it? Though of certain interest to scholars and academics, this is a
crucial read for every nature-honouring Pagan committed to a critical
reflexivity of their Craft.
Honest, courageous, wholly
necessary, and probably one of the most important texts on modern Paganism to
come out of the 21st century. This book carries enough bite to stir us all
into wakefulness.
by Professor Ronald Hutton
author of
'The Druids' and 'The Triumph of the Moon' among other books
This is an excellent pioneering
work, erudite, courageous and imaginative, that provides a new kind of ethics,
linked to a newly appeared complex of religions, which are founded on some very
old human truths. and many other titles.
by Mary Midgley
philosopher,
author of 'Science as Salvation' and 'Beast and Man' among other books
This is a lively, sensible and
careful attempt to make sense of some very confusing, and yet important, areas
of modern thought. I particularly like the clear style and the attention that
the author gives to parts of the historical background which are usually
misunderstood. The book should interest a wide audience.
by Brendan Myers
My first feeling, on hearing of this title, was excitement and relief – at last, one of the pagan community’s best respected leaders was speaking about ethics from a point of view other than the Wiccan Rede. I therefore had high expectations, and may I say from the beginning, these expectations were entirely fulfilled. Restall Orr says she is not an academic (c.f. pg. 62), and by her own admission this is not a scholarly treatment of the subject. Yet I think this book should count as one of the best non-scholarly treatments of ethics by in print today.
Restall Orr defines ethics as:
…the line we draw that articulates what is acceptable in terms of behaviour, and what is not, from a profoundly personal and individual standpoint. Putting aside any notion about where that line should be, more basically our ethics are an expression of our needs. Bluntly, they declare what we feel the world owes us and what we feel we ought to give in return. (Restall Orr, Living with Honour, pg. 63)
Restall Orr says she formulated this definition of ethics after discussing the matter with many gatherings of Pagans over many years. This definition, therefore, may be interpreted as an account of the view of ethics which happens to be current and generally accepted in the pagan community today.
The title, ‘Living with Honour’, suggests that the concept of Honour will be a current theme throughout the text. Indeed this is the case, but before offering a direct examination of the concept, Restall Orr takes the reader on a tour of the history of ideas in ethics. And this tour is a personal one; the relevance of each place where she takes the reader is demonstrated by relating it to a moment in the story of her own life. From there she introduces us to Aristotle, Immanuel Kant, David Hume, Arthur Schopenhauer, Mary Midgeley, Jeremy Bentham, Emmanuel Lévinas, and others. I was impressed at how well someone who admits she is not an academic was able to describe the complex ideas of these important philosophers. I, who am an academic, found myself wishing she had gone into further detail with each author. But this is not an academic book, and can’t be faulted for not doing what it did not set out to do. At any rate, I appreciated the effort that must have gone into crafting each discussion. Furthermore, most stops on her tour are discussed in relation to a contemporary reality. It might be something from her personal experience. It might be a reference to a present social or political concern. (Her remarks about George W. Bush’s America are particularly revealing here!) So if there is anything missing in her analytic examination of the complicated ideas of the great philosophers, it is well compensated-for by the connection to people’s lives, problems, and experiences, both individually and socially. And if there is anything too quick and dismissive about her treatment of philosophical ideas she dislikes, it is compensated for by the earnest honesty of her emotional expressions. For her purpose, it seemed to me, is primarily to explain the relevance and the necessity of a ‘tribal’ model of ethics in the contemporary world. And her strategy for accomplishing this purpose is to deliver an intimately personal discourse, using narrative storytelling, internal experience, and even the occasional humorous anecdote.
The first direct account of the meaning of ‘honour’ appears on page 124. There the word ‘honour’ is defined mainly in terms of its etymological origin. It is never defined directly, but there are a number of indirect associations which enable the reader to understand her meaning. She associates it with actions that preserve the dignity of a tribe (pg. 126), with the spiritual significance that old Celtic custom attributes to the human head (127), and with a person’s sense of dignity and social standing. The problem she confronts here, and I am glad she confronts it directly, is that ‘honour’ can sometimes motivate people to harm each other. “With its historic connotations of pride and vanity, its provocation of irrational violence, how can the word have any ethical value in twenty-first century spirituality?” (pg. 127). Part of her solution is to argue that honour should be understood today as a compound idea, made of three inter-related virtues: Courage, Generosity, and Loyalty. These are the primary qualities of good character taught by the old Celtic tradition. Much of the second half of her book demonstrates how these three qualities can find expression in practical problems and realities. She discusses human relationships, within one’s own tribe, especially including children, lovers and partners, and those who are ‘strangers’, or ‘others’. She inter-weaves honour with existentialist notions of freedom. She discusses the honour to be found in environmental protection. There is even a discussion of contentious topics in medical ethics, for instance euthanasia, and stem cell research. It’s a very impressive tour, and I’m very happy that she has addressed herself to these socially and politically important topics. Paganism would become an insular and ignorable religious movement if it restricted itself to discussing spellcraft and magic and its own internal problems.
Restall Orr understands humanity as a tribal species; therefore, however each person defines honour and ethics, it will in some way be associated with the history and the needs of one’s tribe. The tribe she defines as “any social unit within which we seek acceptance”. (pg. 64) And every once in a while, she expresses sympathy for relativism and anarchy. According to Restall Orr, relativism “…inspires tolerance, and indeed the attitude that steps beyond toleration into the celebration of pluralism. The ethical relativist is awake to the intricacies of difference, fully exploring circumstances in order to find understanding about a choice or action.” (pg. 76) She also implies that the only alternative to relativism is absolutism, which must be rejected since it does not respect diversity and can serve only to justify domination and oppression. (pg. 76). I do not share this view. It is simply false, as I see it, that the only alternative to relativism is necessarily a domineering and oppressive absolutism. Some of her discourse, therefore, seems to suffer from a tension between the desire to preserve a relativist, individualist, or anarchist perspective, while at the same time asserting definite values that derive their force from more than just individual choices. Ironically her discourse already suggests a way of thinking about ethics which are non-relative, non-anarchist in nature, and yet at the same time non-oppressive and non-domineering. That suggestion appears, for instance, in her claim that people must overcome self-centeredness and learn to live for the sake of others, the tribe, the Earth, and indeed for the sake of a worthwhile experience of life. In her discussion of medical issues, she says, “In Pagan terms, the work of a doctor, a healer or carer is measured by the quality of peace, not in days of breathing.” (pg. 211). Well, I couldn’t agree more. But against utterances of wisdom like this, her endorsements of relativism seemed distracting and out-of-place.
But that is only a minor complaint in what is otherwise a very fine effort. I’m pleased to recommend this book to anyone who wants more, and better, food for thought than is available in the regular run of Pagan publishing. It is high time that Pagan writers addressed themselves to the really important, universal questions, as Restall-Orr has done. Indeed this is a book to offer to non-pagans who are skeptical, or worried, about what paganism stands for. 'Living with Honour' recognises the things that matter, and stands up for them.
by Clare Long
My first thought on stepping into 'Living with Honour' was that so many contemporary members of pagan society are NOT going to like this book. It is indeed sorely needed, as it challenges the current trend for woolly thinking and blindly following 'tradition' (spiritual, political and social). It demands from the first that any readers WILL pay attention and relate the questions being asked to their own situations, in order that they may truly live with honour, plotting an honest and unique path through the tangles of modern life.
Without going into too much unnecessary academic detail, the book takes us on a journey through traditional modes of thinking, so ingrained that we don't even notice them but which are instantly familiar. The reader is inspired to ask themselves why they hold their beliefs, from everyday issues to deep fundamental philosophies of life. Pagan 'traditions' (old and new) are naturally a yardstick, but the need to question is paramount, to investigate in a manner that should be familiar from Bobcat's previous work, but which is easy to forget when stuck in a 'normal' 21st century environment.
It takes time to absorb - regular pauses are necessary during reading, to go away, consider, sometimes come to realizations, and then continue. So much is contained in these pages, that a second reading is already on the cards!
Bobcat's Paganism demands to be lived, with all of its pitfalls and promise. It is not light and easy, but can be dark, bloody and difficult - but then, so is life. While her previous works were guidebooks, this takes the next step, asking the hard questions that must be addressed if we are to live in a truly 'pagan' way, with everything that entails. As representatives of our beliefs, and so of our own selves, ancestors and land, we cannot live by blinding obeying as we are told. We make our ethics, and this book gives us the equipment with which to do so.
Is it worth it? Absolutely.
Available from Amazon.co.uk
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