Customer Reviews

Living With Honour: A Pagan Ethics

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have loved Orr's other books and looked forward to enjoying this one. It is perhaps the most intellectual of her volumes, discussing various philosophical ideas relating to ethics and morality, their influence on society, and asking hard questions about what it means to live one's beliefs rather than just express them. The early chapters lay the foundation by exploring philosophical concepts relevant to ethics and can make for tedious reading if you aren't that interested in the history of philosophical thought. This is, after all, supposed to be a book on Pagan ethics. The latter half of the book is arguably the more interesting, as Orr zeroes in on particular issues and applies the worldview she has crafted to such areas as suicide, euthanasia, use of animals for food, and environmental stewardship. Unfortunately, the second half also takes on more of a propagandist feel by using misleading and inaccurate statements to support Orr's positions. This, along with a pervasive criticism of all aspects of Western society (apparently, she finds nothing praiseworthy about it. Personally, I think modern dentistry and surgical techniques are two darn good advances) and a tendency to make broad statements without citing any supporting evidence, completely put me off this book.

Let me be clear, it isn't the underlying positions themselves that I take issue with. I actually agree with many of them, and where I don't, I still respect her point of view. Rather, it is her use of unfounded assertions and distorted or inaccurate information that bothers me. Just a few examples: out of the blue, she claims that telecommunications companies are "corrupt," but doesn't explain why she thinks this. She writes that "protests against corporate abuses of the environment," (among other things) "have been squashed as compromising national security," but provides no justification for this position. In addition to the general comments, some of her more specific statements do not hold up under investigation. She says that calves are castrated without anesthesia, yet a websearch revealed that in the UK, anesthesia is required when they are older than two months, and that many European countries require anesthesia at any age. She also doesn't mention that non-surgical methods exist which don't necessitate anesthesia. She claims that excessive protein consumption causes kidney disease, obesity, and calcium deficiency, when in fact, protein causes NONE of these. High protein diets are only a problem for people who already have kidney dysfunction. Healthy kidneys can handle it. The dietary culprit involved with obesity is excessive intake of sugars and fats, which pack a large number of calories in small doses, and, in the case of high fructose corn syrup, is problematic for the body to metabolize. Calcium-deficiency is caused by inadequate intake. Here, Orr is confusing calcium deficiency with bone loss, which does occur with high protein diets, but only when calcium consumption is too low. Research has shown that in the presence of sufficient calcium (800-1200mg per day), bone density actually increases with a high protein diet because protein stimulates the production of cells that create new bone. My point with all this is that Orr makes a number of assertions in this book that are debatable if not outright wrong.

"Living with Honor" started out as a promising treatise on ethics, morality, and honorable Pagan living, but is ultimately marred by her bias against Western society and numerous instances of distorted and unproven assertions. I give it three stars for the premise, but otherwise did not like the book.

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!

Emma'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.

Emma Restall Orr has presented us with a marvel of a book, at the same time scholarly and spiritual, that accomplishes several broad tasks at once: First, she offers Pagans the first serious work at defining and exploring a system of ethics which can speak to such a far-flung and varied community. Second, she offers to those who have never explored Paganism a reason to view such spirituality with respect. Finally, she offers to the world community at large a fresh new approach to ethics liberated from religious dogma on the one hand, and scientific materialism on the other. Her "third way" unfolds a pround respect for creatures and creation based upon a spirituality that honors life and the web of interrelationships that bind all things. Reader beware and rejoice! This is not a "how-to" book, and there is not an ounce of fluff to be had. It is a well researched and well thought out work by a woman who is at the same time deeply spiritual and exceptionally well-read. Whatever your spiritual or religious background, you owe it to yourself to read "Living with Honour." (For those who have read her mystical tale of "The Apple and the Thorn" -- a collaboration between us -- "Living with Honour" is also a scholarly exposition of the ethics lived by Vivian, Lady of Avalon.) The Apple and the Thorn

If you're looking for a book that tells you how to be a Pagan, which postures to strike and which attitudes to engender then look elsewhere. This book is a passionate discussion on the nature of what constitutes true ethical authenticity. Restall Orr achieves a remarkable balance in the book. Firstly it is probably the best work on Pagan Ethics around and as such should feature on the shelves of university and college libraries. Secondly, through well rehearsed analysis and intriguing discussion it subverts many of the well-informed notions and traditions that feed into the modern Western ethical experience. Thirdly the book manages to touch a personal nerve. If you think you're a fairly OK person leading a responsible and morally commendable life prepare to be challenged!

If you're looking for a work that sits broadly within the Western ethical religious and cultural milieu but which subverts the accepted and cuts away at cultural accretion this is the book you're looking for. Read it, delight in it and learn from it.

I received my copy of 'Living with Honour, a Pagan Ethics' by Emma Restall Orr. She is a 20+ year druid of OBOD and has written an incredible book on the values and ethics of Paganism. As this is a tricky subject, all may not identify with every statement, but she deepens the conversation and draws on enough common ground to really enrich the foundation of Pagan spiritual practice as well as setting down some leadership on what it means to be a Pagan in the 21st century. I really find her way of talking to the philosophical issues while taking moments in her narrative to enlighten the spiritual aspects incredibly novel. It reads like a manifesto at times while contrasting foundations with society and even within Pagan practice itself. All the while connecting the reader to the emotional aspects of spirituality. Of all my reading, this is a unique book that every Pagan should read time and time again.