Heimdallr is a strange figure standing at the end of Bifröst holding watch over the realm of the Gods. As Loki suggests in Lokasenna 48 this is not a sought after job, he actually calls it „an evil fate“. Now Thrymskvida 15 says that Heimdallr can see the future like a Vanir and Snorri tells us in Gylfaginning 27 that he can hear and see about everything while barely needing any sleep. So that is almost all we know about him if we leave the rather strange claim of his creation of the human classes aside for the moment.
So if we assume that he actually is the watchman of the Gods and can see and hear everything we have to come to the conclusion that he does a thoroughly horrible job. There are several myths where unwanted guests like Skadi or Alviss enter Asgardr and it seems that Heimdallr does absolutely nothing to stop them. Maybe he really sees himself strictly as a watchman and is unwilling to interfere but it seems that he, except for the one time at Ragnarök, doesn’t even bother to inform his fellow Gods about the approaching intruder so they could at least mount a defense. He sees that there is danger coming, identifies it and then seems to be content with a job well done and happily steps aside in case they really want to enter Asgard.
The Censor
So while Heimdallr is obviously a lousy guardian he is a wonderful example of a part of the human psychological complex that I like to call the Censor (There is no connection with the term coined by S. Freud). Every human being can be said to be composed of at least two mental parts, a conscious and an unconscious one. There is no need to be a disciple of Freud in order to see that this is simply a necessity. Our nervous system is constantly bombarded with a myriad of sensory inputs. If the mind were to pay attention to all of them it would be constantly occupied and would have no resources left to deal with even a „simple“ task like taking in food in order not to die. You’ve actually experienced this problem when you learned to drive a car. In the beginning you constantly had to think about what gear to put in next, how to shift in the first place and what lever to move in order to set the blinker instead of turning on the wiper. Besides that, you had to learn how to behave in traffic, how to pay attention to all these signs that were of no relevance when you were just walking around or riding your bicycle and how to navigate through this new landscape without causing mayhem. So whoever taught you how to drive reduced the distractions to a minimum by letting you get behind the wheel in a parking lot at first so you could learn how to shift gears. From there he or she would start to confront you with ever more difficult situations until you could perform most of the things that were so overwhelming in the beginning without even having to pay them any attention. If you had been sent into heavy traffic on your first drive your mind would have been completely overwhelmed and your chances of survival would have been slim at best.
In order to function in this world we have to calibrate the nervous system in a way that enables it to deal with the important incoming sensory input without the necessity for a conscious evaluation by the mind. So what we need is something that does a quick analysis of all the incoming data and makes a preselection for our consciousness so it won’t have to deal with any unnecessary stuff. This „pre-selector“ is what I call the Censor.
Calibrating the Censor: Part I
I think the calibration of the nervous system happens mainly in two stages. This is of course an extreme case of oversimplification as both stages are fluid and to a certain degree lifelong processes but it works quite well for the sake of this argument. The first one starts right after birth when we learn to differentiate on the most basic level. We learn to distinguish between different sounds, smells, tastes, colors, faces, etc. After that we learn basic motor skills and once we have this all down we have generated the necessary capacity that we need in order to start building up our mind. We learn to use language, to interact, to manipulate in order to get what we want, etc. So at that point in time, we have created a rudimentary Censor that can already distinguish between important and irrelevant incoming sensory data and handles it accordingly.
After a while we start the second stage. Now the process is not about the need for basic functionality anymore but about how we want to see the world and our place in it. In the old days this process was largely dictated by the ethnic and tribal group you belonged to but these days this isn’t the case anymore and we have to find an identity all by ourselves. The drama that usually comes with it is not subject of this essay but every couple with teenage kids can tell you an almost infinite number of stories about this process.
Calibrating the Censor: Part II
Once this identity is found the Censor is promoted. It is now not only responsible for handling basic sensory data but it is also expected to filter content in accordance with the newly found identity. If we for example adapt a socialist persona the Censor will immediately refuse any data promoting the advantages of personal wealth and property entry into our consciousness in order to confirm our opinion of how the world works. If one were to adapt a white supremacy point of view the Censor would ignore and delete any content that refers to valuable contributions to the culture of the United States made by African Americans and Latinos since they are subhuman beings and hence, according to the doctrine, simply can’t have contributed anything of value to a culture perceived to be Arian. Especially in the case of the white supremacy view it becomes obvious how thoroughly the Censor does its job as it is a mystery to me how anyone could perceive native American culture to be an Arian one when there are few places on this earth where all the different races have been mixed so thoroughly from the start (and don’t even get me started about the fact that there actually used to be a rather complex and stratified culture before any Arians ever set foot on the continent…).
Limitations of the Censor
So now we come full circle. If an individual is faced directly with content that discredits its views (for example a rich man giving money to a beggar or a black artist writing beautiful music) then the Censor is powerless to stop that. It will try to restore the balance though by offering a way out like saying: „Oh he just did that to quiet his guilty conscience so he can keep the real money all to himself,” but in a way the damage has already been done and the Censor can only try to repair and contain it as well as possible. This would explain why Heimdallr is powerless to stop the intrusion of unconscious forces, represented by the Dwarves and Giants, if they are really determined to enter like Skadi for example who has come for revenge (Skaldskaparmal 4). The Censor can only deflect and hope for the best but once the mind or in that case the Aesir become aware of the subconscious content then there is nothing it can do to deny it entry into the mind.
In this context it also makes sense that Heimdallr actually sees all and hears all while almost never sleeping because that is exactly what the subconscious does. It stores all the incoming data somewhere it is just very difficult to retrieve it once a certain piece of information has been stored under „irrelevant, please ignore“. In order to store these vast amounts of data it probably also has to be severely compressed which would require to unzip the data before being able to access it once more. In that context it is interesting that people who were involved in accidents in which they lost consciousness before any helpers arrived oftentimes could reveal stunning details about what happened after they were unconscious if they were put under hypnosis. They could sometimes remember the names written on the paramedic’s name tags, the number of people that were in the operating room, etc. This shows that all the data is saved somewhere even after consciousness is lost. Threatening data is still sent to the conscious mind, even if we’re asleep which is why we sleep through the noise of a train passing by close to our house or to church bells ringing in the immediate neighborhood but wake up when our dog suddenly starts barking at night. The sound created by the barking dog is no louder than the ringing church bells but the Censor simply knows that the bells are harmless while the barking dog could indicate danger. This shows that the Censor is even active when our conscious mind is asleep.
The “Real World”
Now what does this all mean on a practical level? First and foremost, it means that the thing we firmly believe to be “the real world” is to a large extend simply our personal interpretation of the incoming sensory data as presented to us by the Censor. So the fact that we live in an unfair world that is filled with horrible and selfish people, which is doomed to be destroyed by natural disasters in the near future says very little about the actual state of the real world but first and foremost tells us a lot about ourselves and how we choose to see the world we live in. People can be horrible which you truly know to be true not just because people have done bad things to you but because you yourself have treated people badly many times. There is a good chance that you’re a nice person despite of that as far more often than not you’re actually friendly and generous if you’re not under a lot of pressure or just experienced a major setback in your personal life. The world is unfair and could be destroyed by a natural disaster but there are also many positive facts to counter that view. Child mortality, hunger, poverty, violent conflict and illiteracy are on the decline all over the world while the ozone layer is recovering, America has more trees than a decade ago and honey bee populations are once more on the rise.
I’m in no way advocating a “hear nothing, see nothing” approach to reality just so you can live in a happy bubble that is untouched by all the problems we face at this time in history but I’m firmly opposing the postmodern assumption that if you’re even slightly optimistic in regards to the future of our species and our planet you obviously must be deluding yourself. This idea is to a large degree caused by the fact that articles about murder, mayhem and natural disasters get the most clicks and thereby allow the website that publishes it to get more money for the ads they publish alongside it. Being bombarded by these kind of news makes us believe that what these media outlets feed us is actually an accurate depiction of the state of the whole world and the mindset of all human beings. This view is then adopted by the Censor and therefore it starts to sort out any information that could contradict that view as that is an important part of its job. You’ve actually just experienced your Censor at work while reading the positive facts that I presented above about humanity and the environment. I’m pretty sure your Censor went nuts shouting things like: “No! That can’t be true!”, “It is so sad that there are still people out there that just can’t face reality!”, “What an ignorant asshole!”. The funny thing is that it raved and ranted so loudly that you didn’t even take the time to google any of these claims before reading on. That is the power of the Censor.
Finding new Settings
So we still haven’t really arrived at the practical part but we’re getting close. Now that you have experienced the way in which the Censor works first hand, it is time to recalibrate it. This leads to one of the most annoying questions that you will be confronted with many times over if you truly want to transform your Self: What do I want? This question is far more difficult to answer than it might seem as there is a vast difference between wishes that originate in your brain stem and wishes that come from your cerebrum. The postmodern consumerist society has taught us that all we have to do in order to be happy is to satisfy our brain stem personality, so all we need are more things, more fame, more sex, more money. These things aren’t bad at all, it’s actually quite nice to have many things, to be famous, not having to worry about money and to get laid a lot but no matter how much that you have, it will never be enough. Remember that time when you were a kid and you really wanted something with an intensity that is rarely found in grownups anymore? You pestered your parents for days, weeks or even months until they finally caved an bought you that thing that you so desperately wanted. Now your birthday finally arrived and you unwrapped that gift which contained the thing you had worked for so hard and you were so incredibly happy to finally hold it in your hands… and in this instance you realized: “Oh, that thing that I saw at my friend’s house, I really want to have it!” and the whole cycle started all over again. The cerebrum personality wants different things. It wants a partner that really understands you, a job that really fulfills you, it wants friends that are actually loyal, no matter what, it wants your life to have a purpose. These things are even harder to achieve than the wishes that originate in the brain stem.
Recalibration
Now it is time to get to work. Choose the settings for your Censor but do so carefully. Once they are in place the Censor will happily defend the new status quo but this time it will do so under your command and not just as a reaction to outer circumstances.
Reprogramming your Censor is not an easy task but self-transformation is not supposed to be easy. There are actually many ways that you can choose from simply paying more attention to your thought-processes to repeating cunningly clever worded phrases as they are often used in NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming). Another way to get lasting results is to use Myth and Magic. The psyche is a truly complex thing and doesn’t respond very well to abstract commands born only out of rational thought. You will rarely find a smoker who is unaware that smoking isn’t healthy yet the rational realization of that fact doesn’t change the corresponding behavior. Myths are directly linked to the more creative, right hemisphere part of our brain which is something the subconscious part of our Self understands very well and the same goes for abstract symbols that contain a lot of condensed information like the Runes for example.
Always use all the tools that might deliver results and best keep a journal in order to keep track of what works best for you personally. In order to make use of the Myth and Magic approach I would suggest for you to start by building up a relationship with Heimdallr. He is a good example for a Censor and since Myth originates in and corresponds with your subconscious, he is the perfect figure to help you gain conscious access to this elusive part of your Self. How you do that is up to you. There is no general formula and you simply have to find the method that works best for you and the psychological make-up you’re working with at the moment. If religious sentiment works well for you then try to establish the connection through traditional blots where you sacrifice mead or other fitting substances to Heimdallr and use other forms of veneration. If you’re more artistically inclined create a symbol for or a statue of Heimdallr, write some powerful poetry and recite it with passion in the light of a single candle. If you’re more of an introverted person use meditation to reach the realm of the Censor. Do whatever works for you in order to stop your inner dialogue and focus all your attention on one single thing, Heimdallr. Once you have managed to connect you can use Runes in order to implement the new settings you have chosen for your Censor. You can create a Bindrune and turn that into a Taufr if you want to repeat the working from time to time. Connect to the Censor, then focus your attention on the Taufr or Bindrune. In the beginning, it will probably be easiest to use only one Rune at a time instead of a Bindrune. Check the results a few weeks later by paying close attention to your behavior. Has anything changed? Have the new settings taken hold? If not repeat the working a couple of times and if you’re still not successful, adjust the working.
Using that approach has many advantages as it corresponds with many aspects of your Self. You will have to use your emotional faculties to find the method that works best for you, your rationality in order to determine what new settings you want to implement and your intuition in order to truly connect with the Censor. You will need to apply your observational skills to learn how the Censor actually works in the first place as well as in order to evaluate possible results. You will need your motor skills in order to create a painting or a statue, your semantic skills in order to put together a decent poem, etc.
At the moment your Censor is one that is programmed by circumstance. It pays close attention to how you act over time and then creates a reality tunnel based on its interpretation of the results. Unfortunately, the Censor has no understanding of emotions and so it constructs your reality tunnel based on how often you engaged in a certain behavior and not on what behaviors are actually good for you. If it sees you shouting at other drivers a lot whenever you are on the road, it will start to pay special attention to all kinds of bad driving in order to allow you to engage in this activity as often as possible. If it realizes that you complain a lot about politics then it will draw your attention to every piece of information relating to the topic that it can find, so you can complain some more. If it understands, that you don’t like any facts that contradict the views propagated in a certain book then it will draw your focus away from any that would actually do so.
If you start to understand and work with your Censor, your world will change drastically but if it changes for the better or the worse is entirely up to you…