Is Nature the Religion of Scandinavia? | David Thurfjell

Thank you to professor Thurfjell for being part of the video.
And thank you Zevi from Seekers of Unity for helping out with the thumbnail!
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#nature #religion #scandinavia

[@Wyattinous]

I imagine it had been such a great honor, and milestone to your years of hard work in the field of religion and spirituality, to sit and interview/discuss with your Professor. No less in the great classroom of all, Mother Nature ❤️🏛️🌳🏕️

[@LetsTalkReligion]

Definitely! David was the very first lecturer I had when I started studying religion, so it's a nice moment for sure!

[@thazkithasleem3958]

@@LetsTalkReligion Are you agnostic?

[@tengbeng9756]

I liked the way he mentioned that people feel more connected on their own in the middle of a forest than they do surrounded by people. I think this tells us a lot about the nature of loneliness and alienation.

[@electrosyzygy]

loneliness and solitude are important to distinguish!

[@ktkatte6791]

I moved to the Pacific Northwest to be with a partner, from the central plains of Texas, in 2018. When i saw the mountains for the first time, walked through a state park for thr first time, nature seized me in love and rapture, and I fell in love with it in the way you guys seem to be talking about. To say the forests of the pnw are my church isn't too far off; i prefer those places for spiritual reflection. Thank you for this :)

[@marion6763]

💞🍃...I agree with you! I also live in the Pacific Northwest, near Seattle. Nature here is amazing!

[@dustind4694]

I grew up with the Rockies out in CO, and only realized how much I relied on them as more than a landmark when I left. High places and green places, man. Throw in the coastal rainforest in Olympia or the like and it's hard to imagine not falling in love.

[@zdvj]

​@@dustind4694Same here, grew up in the Alps, and everytime i leave i miss the mountains and forests so much.

[@ktkatte6791]

@@marion6763 I live just outside seattle on the east side these days. So far my favorite experience has been going through the train tunnel at Iron Horse state park. I still need to get out to Mt. Rainier though!

[@jamesmorgan1967]

​@dustind4694 Same here. Grew up in Colorado and though I moved away long ago, the mountains are still with me.

[@nargisalam5437]

So True. It's always such a magical and spiritual experience when you are surrounded by nature.

[@kariannecrysler640]

I live in the woods far from urbanization. I feel like I’m a part of my ecosystem. The wildlife, the plant life, the microbial environment in the soil & my impact on the environment are considered by me before I act. When I make bad choices, all life is affected in my ecosystem. I don’t feel good when I’m in urban environments. The disconnection to living is profound and it aggravates me… I physically respond negatively to that which disconnects from life. I very much enjoy David’s thoughts on all of this. Thank you both for sharing this discussion.

[@lilboi42100]

wait until you hear about Death

[@kariannecrysler640]

@@lilboi42100 I’m always curious about death beliefs.

[@flurnsdale3929]

Straight up one of the best channels on YT. I always look forward to your videos and I learn so much too. I love to learn about the actual in depth beliefs of religions and this is a very accessible place for me to do so. Also LOVE the long form videos. If i have a long drive these are great. Spooktackular was awesome too hope you keep up with the seasonal topics. Thanks for all the work and insights!

[@LetsTalkReligion]

Thank you very much!

[@holydiver3141]

I can relate to this! I live in the south of Sweden but born in the north. I need to head up to forests regularly to reconnect. Old forests are very soothing and a great place to just be an contemplate and maybe bump into some wild animals... like wild boars in Söderåsen forest (the southernmotst forest i regularly go to).

[@graygato]

I love this interview. The subject and the interview style just brings me a smile of joy and happiness.

[@rafaelmelitonrodriguezmigl7509]

Church of the Blue Dome. The sky is the dome; everything under is a church.

[@terrijones1167]

What a wonderful interview - I was captivated throughout. Thank you.❤ I also can affirm that being in nature is a magical experience because it causes us to switch off the mind and just be......

[@mrkba]

I’ve lived my whole life in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwest in the United States. Lake Michigan in particular has become a place of “baptism”. A nice summers day swim in those waters is a renewal against industrial humanity. I’ve found, however, that these grand places, the Great Lakes, the Rockies and PNW forests, or Sonoran Desert, are just a different version of the same dirt I press aside to plant a tree in my small nursery. That dirt under my foot is just as ‘grounding’ to the broad experience of the ‘natural’ world as any picturesque tourist site. With far more familiarity and relationship.

[@josiehc1977]

This is so cool. I agree with all of this. I love to go to Vermont and hike

[@lionkaliban2237]

This conversation is so heart-warming, thank you very much!

[@kuroazrem5376]

This is an amazing and deeply insightful talk. Definitely Filip always bring us amazing content. Keep up the good work man!

[@salvadoremarinaro6350]

I WISH I could go visit the forest in Scandinavia, maybe I'll dream of it tonight...❤

[@Gwmanc]

Thank you for ths... i needed to hear all of this tonoght, it resonates with me so much right now in what i'm going through.

[@tamhaye3114]

Wow mind blowing interview! Thank you

[@abdullahmoiz8151]

Great channel! Do you have any plans to cover the religions of Indigenous North Americans like the mikmaw, Iroquois etc?

[@TheBloodyKnuckle]

I love your videos, but this is my favorite by far. Thank you!

[@albert1688]

Excellent video! :) thank you

[@iesureloaded6139]

Beautiful analogy❤️

[@onefeather2]

Absolutely enjoyed this subject and hearing another thoughts about their beliefs.

[@SolvitaLux]

What a great conversation. As someone who's moved to Scandinavia after spending my whole life in the Baltics I have to say that we also love nature and our cultural identity relies on roots laid in pantheism, but nobody does it quite like the Scandinavians. It's truly something you can't explain and do justice to with words, so I deeply encourage people to come and experience it for themselves.

[@kaisersozay99]

Thanks!

[@pedrogorilla483]

Interesting. The experience of nature in Scandinavia is much easier to romanticize than in South America where nature can be ruthlessly dangerous.

[@mattisvov]

I can't help to think about "Allemansrätten." A piece of legislation in Sweden that basically states that enjoying nature is a human right. The name literary translates to "All men's right". In short, you are allowed reasonable, non-disruptive use of any natural area for hiking, camping and so on, regardless of who owns it. So basically, if a logging company owns a piece of land. As long as you don't get in the way of their actual business, you are entitled to still go there for a hike, and they cannot stop you. But the REALLY interesting thing. This is a piece of legislation we learn about in school. From a young age, you learn the ins and outs of Allemansrätten. Not many legal codes are taught to everybody in this way. My local game club, where people gather for Warhammer and DnD and whatnot, there is a collection of board games and card games. One of those is an educational game about Allemansrätten, that somehow found it's there. So this legislation is itself very much a part of our culture.

[@EponaDreams-AmbientDreamscapes]

Forests and mountains can create a sense of calm because they express a settled quality. Through this wild natural calmess, the stillness of God's presence is more clearly felt.

[@sns8420]

Pantheism - "I believe in Spinoza's God"- Einstein

[@cheri238]

Beautiful!!!!🙏❤️🌎🕊🌿🎵🎶

[@sagandalya108]

Yes it is fairly common to hold nature and all the factors related to it such as silence, emotions, maternalism, compliance in high esteem and curiously relate to and express those values in a stuffed-up patriarchal manner.

[@josiehc1977]

I think this is very important. Let’s continue to work on this in the scientific way. Because if the facts are true I think this would change the world. I think this is a big deal. I think you’re on to something

[@dteun]

When I gave a Muslim a ride he said we didn't believe in god I told him I believe god is living in the lake the mountains and trees and isn't that how your book start?

[@sns8420]

Flaws - Wabi Sabi - Nothing is Perfect, Nothing is Compete, Nothing Lasts Forever

[@ninamartin1084]

I would love go on a pilgrimage in nature with this professor

[@profpartout6609]

Thisis a fantastic interview and an a super insightful understanding of nature as religion, but as someone far from he nordic countries is the forest equally accessible for all Nordic people?

[@peterjorgensen1086]

There are some implications of this that I would recommend Schwerpunkt's videos on Traditional religion (Scandinavia but not only) to integrate with

[@yoggerzzz]

If only all people could honor and revere nature.

[@lmzaadi]

How unifying, thank you. 🍂

[@SillyBoydo]

I'm sure many of these people would feel that Ritual and Spirituality does not equate to religion; The consensus would be that religion is a social guideline to spirituality, more about rules and restrictions - dogma, symbols and a system with authoritative figures sharing information and passing judgment. Spirituality doesn't need to have supernatural aspects either. People can (and IMO should) break away from these ideas, having their own spirituality as individuals, connecting themselves to the world and finding peace within themselves as they like. distance themselves from dogma and bigotry.

[@saimbhat6243]

It is a religion, albeit a different one. From where I see, every one is religious, even atheists are religious. Having metaphysical beliefs and other beliefs based on faith counts as a religion, having beliefs about purpose of humanity, about how societies should be run, about how one should conduct one's moral life, having things which signify something divine, something transcendental etc. etc having these all elements constitute a religion. A fully convinced communist is more religious than an average christian. In its final analysis, every ideology that encompasses vast areas of human affairs is a religion. But i would say a traditional religion, if one has faith in it(not just cultural thing), is a much more efficient religion than the different neo-religions. There is a reason, why every single society in human history, from mighty empires to hunter gatherer tribes, always organically develop/construct/invent a religion for them. I see modern atheists, who live ordinary lives(are not celebrities of some kind but average living guys) and it is just not appealing at all. Whether you believe it or not, but just as beavers have a way of living, chimpanzees have a way of living and ants have a way living and honey bees have a way of living. Take these animals out of their natural way of living, you can keep them in lab, feed them well and water them well and keep them healthy and long lifespans and they might seem happy, but it is not comparable to their "natural" way of living. Similarly humans have a natural way of living. In absence of natural way of life, human life is a pessimistic enterprise, a lifelong boredom, a lonely existence, dangling nihilism and a life of psychological misery. People usually discard psychological misery and background levels of psychological miseries in different types of cultures. We, most of the times, just focus on the material and bodily misery. A person, who was born in a prison and never got to learn or know or hear about the possibility of life outside prison, will grow up in prison and adopt to it and accept the prison as the world as it should be. He will never know what he is missing and he will never be sad about his lack of freedom because he doesn't know freedom. But it is not his natural way of living even if he has no complaints about his prison way of living. Similar is the case with modern humans and our way of living. It is quite erroneous to assume that the people in past had inferior lives because they had less food, shorter life spans and hard professions. But maybe we are in prison and we dont even know the possibility of a religious life, who knows if religious life is part of our natural way of living. But most of the modern humans are incapable of having a religious life. God in quran says that "he blesses some people with faith, and he denies faith to others". Who knows a religious faith might be a blessing, a natural way of living for human species. But I am quite sure, our culture has reached to a point where having a religious life is impossible. We might be in prison and might not be even able to imagine freedom. All these neo-religions are poor coping with the condition of human existence. I am sure no one in traditional religious societies would face any existential angst.

[@Shouryavardhansinghtawar-qv4uk]

@@saimbhat6243 GOOD observation BUTin reality MOST ATHEIST/AGNOSTICS/SKEPTICS FROM EASTERN COUNTRIES LIKE CHINA AND JAPAN KOREA VIETNAM MONGOLIA ETC.WORSHIPS GODS DIETIES AS AN ATHEISTS EVEN IN INDIA NEPAL AND ATHEIST THEY VIEWS AS DIFFERNET FROM ABHARAMICS AND VISITS SHRINES TEMPLES EVERYDAY READ RELIGIOUS BOOKS AND EVEN HARDCORE ATHEIST/AGNOSTICS WORSHIP GODS AND PRAYERS DIETIES BOTH IN PAGANISM AND POLYTHEISM AS A CULTURE AND TO ANCESTORS AND 99%OF THEM ARE SPIRITUAL EVEN THE COMMUNISTS COULD NOT DESTORY IT IN CHINA THEY MAY BROKE DOAIST AND MOSTLY BUDDHISST CHRISTIANS ISLAMIC MOSQUES TEMPLES CHURCHES BUT REBUILD IT after 1976 thaks to spiritual leaders AND MOSTLY CHINESE DON"T VIEW RELIGION AS ABHARMIC DID THEY VIEW IT AS SPIRITUAL AND CULTURE THE SAME WAY THEIR DESCENDANTS THINGS IN AMERICA EUROPE US EVEN THE NONES ARE CHINESE JAPANESE BUT MOST OF THEM ARE SPIRITUAL AND WORSHIPS FAMILY DIETY AND VISITS TEMPLES AND SHRINESE EVERY DAY SO THE IRRELIGIOUS COUNT IS 500+ONLY IN REALITY EVEN IN CCP THEY ARE SPIRITUAL 92%of chinese population have fol/tribalsycretism of buddhism daoism/taoism sometimes same sometimes not even Confucianists in china and east aisa mostly and also east asia view them as spiritual not religion like paganism and polytheism does and they view religion as political social construct which western countries[ europe americas ocenia as abharamic view thinks of religion] they view shintoism and folk native indegenous religion as spirituals philosophical cultural view

[@augustodelerme7233]

Mother Nature is divine!

[@erfanghasempoor3193]

Hi You don't upload anything on your castbox anymore?

[@salvadoremarinaro6350]

The Garden of Eden, he is always there waiting to touch our lives... God and Spirituality is so much more complex than any religion of man can present inside a building.

[@NoeticEidetics]

His book on nature and secularism sounds good. Is it available in English translation?

[@LetsTalkReligion]

Sadly, no. Not yet!

[@NoeticEidetics]

@@LetsTalkReligion thanks, I will save his book in my wishlist and wait for a translation. I'll look for any papers he has written in English until then. His book sounds very important, imo. great video!

[@LetsTalkReligion]

@@NoeticEidetics Thanks! Yes, it is definitely important research!

[@No1WillMakeItOutAlive]

I relate to thjis I’m not Scandinavian tho but just these sentiments Particularly the part ab the leaves and dirt and shit in the forest being more true and real than the fake shit of life… I feel like I live in a daze a lot of the time. Being alone from other humans breaks me out of my self consiousness my fears about human society and makes me think of all the other life surrounding me

[@timgeary9089]

Have you ever discussed the philosophy behind statements, “We are stardust”? Is there a particular region that this can be traced to?

[@Duiker36]

It comes from Carl Sagan, an American astronomer and science public educator.

[@DrewKane]

8:06 - both of your postures speak volumes. Usually it's the listener who is leaning into the storyteller.

[@gabrielleangelica1977]

People who have NDEs say that, yes...God is found in nature!

[@moumous87]

@LetsTalkReligion you misspelled the hashtag for nature

[@LetsTalkReligion]

Oops! Thanks, fixed!

[@dustind4694]

If any of you folks are into video games at all, I recommend UnReal World, which is a freeware game about the life of various cultures in Iron Age Finland, and has a lot of respect for the belief systems thereof, especially the Sami people, who are typically kind of glossed over by history.

[@dustind4694]

Obviously not covering all of the Scandinavian countries, but it definitely examines the way people interacted with the world through the lens you might find similarly in the area around the Gulf of Bothnia and the Baltic.

[@claudiodeugenio]

Basically, this is a Lutheran kind of Protestant thinking, as Martin Luther himself said: "Everyone has set up a god of his own, by which he looked for blessings, help and comfort." in The Large Catechism. It's nothing but a nordic version of Sheilaism, so to say. That's what remains in a today's society, when you abolish collectivism, rituals, traditions ecc., while having preached sola fide, sola gratia and sola scriptura in a nordic climate. Honestly, is there so much to research about?

[@karrieforsling3388]

My ancestors are from Sweden. I have always said nature is my church. I wonder if it’s in my dna?

[@BillMurey-om3zw]

Animism

[@mdzmzm]

Filip, do you live in Stockholm? You are not that far from me.

[@ChildofGod98765]

Through my struggles I found Jesus he has carried me this far. I keep faith. Even as I continue to struggle to support my children and myself I trust in you Jesus. Being a single mom things can be hard raising them alone. My husband passed years ago. Both of my children are autistic. I started homeschooling them last year and they are now thriving but unfortunately my hours to work are limited. I suffered a heart attack two years ago and Im battling lupus Lord I’m overwhelmed please heal me and give me strength. As I struggle to pay my rent each month and as I struggle to buy groceries. Honestly I want to give up. But I know God will make a way. Where there seems to be no way. I have faith! God has not forgotten me. Faith First!

[@heinmolenaar6750]

Stop your scam

[@_AI_Shah]

Brother if you don't make a video on Iman Ahmed Raza Khan Barelvi r.a then you cover nothing because he r.a have make sunnis with mixing sufism the whole sect for sufis please cover about him

[@highviewbarbell]

Uhhhh because they're also humans?

[@artis2355]

11:30 Well it's an interesting perspective, but I personaly wouldn't agree on the conclusion that diabetes is a flaw. Ofcourse we are not perfect, but diabetes is not an diseas it just somebody giving up on life and eating away his health and mind. It's more of a disorder and big pharma decided to capitalize on it. It would be great if all the medications and procedures made people healthy again, but it doesen't! It's just sombody (god) who has lost control. Hopefuly only on food choices and not on everything else. When you can control your eating and sexual, drug urges you become one with god! Fasting and abstinance set you free and makes you a king!

[@kennethgraves9662]

Spinoza had it right.

[@lilboi42100]

Odinns the King. Odinn is above petty nature, the seas will boil away, the soil will be incinerated, the magnetosphere will fade with the earths core. Then there will still be Odinn.

[@Rynewulf]

You know he literally doesnt survive Ragnarok? I have great respect for the king, but lets not be silly and pretend he's prophesied to outlast everything. Fenris eats him during the end of the world and then he is avenged, and the survivors start afresh

[@lilboi42100]

@@Rynewulf He's died before

[@Rynewulf]

@@lilboi42100 fair point, the whole self sacrifice on the hanging tree for magic knowledge thing does allow for a repeat process. You could bring up Baldr's return from the dead as well. I suppose its open for interpretation since the original religion came to a close and conversion, so you know what your idea is fair

[@TheAgathist]

Well...this settles the matter for me. Daoism is the religion/philosophy of the world. 😂

[@habibi87131]

Great interview ❤ as Shia myself and Persian from Afghanistan i appreciate his hard work and thanks a lot from your channel mr and i hope God guide him in true way to don't follow the Jewish mindset all over the west

[@faristasairuv5143]

You interviewed atheists who are afraid of religion. I don’t think they would understand the true ineffable and transcendental nature of our Parent.

[@bjarkiengelsson]

What you call atheism is not true atheism.

[@dteun]

When I gave a Muslim a ride he said we didn't believe in god I told him I believe god is living in the lake the mountains and trees and isn't that how your book start?