Our Indo-European Heritage

A Projected Title

Draft of the Preface

    One of the most important mentors in my life was Edgar C. Polomé (1921-2000). He was my supervising professor in graduate school at the University of Texas at Austin and was one of the world’s greatest Indo-Europeanists. He co-founded the Journal of Indo-European Studies. Above all perhaps he was a specialist in Germanic linguistics, culture, religion and mythology. But he was also an expert in Sanskrit, Hittite, Latin, Greek and all the other languages one needs to be expert in in order to be a true Indo-Europeanist. (Beyond that as well, he was an expert in African linguistics.) I did not become what I would call a professional Indo-Europeanist, but I learned enough to be able to understand the structures of the Indo-European culture from a deeper level. I specialized in Germanic only (German, Old Norse, Icelandic, old English, Old High German, Middle High German and Gothic) with forays into Latin, Old Irish, Middle Welsh. More recently I have undertaken the study of Iranian languages and traditions. These are the sort of things one must do in order to be taken (and take yourself) seriously as a scholar in the field of ancient cultural studies— or at least that is the “old school” approach I learned from Prof. Polomé. The field of Indo-European studies is so broad and deep that one must gain secure points of entry into it. These intellectual portals are the specific languages, cultures and histories attached to particular spheres of the Indo-European world. I spent a great deal of time in classes with Dr. Polomé devoted to an Indo-European approach to myth, religion and culture. These, and subsequent, years of study have provided me with the ability to have a deep-level understanding of the Indo-European mind-set. My understanding may, or may not, be the last word on the subject. I would dare say it is only a partial answer to many of the great questions in this field of study. The presentation found in this book is, however, the result of years of deep-level study, thought and contemplation.

     If anyone expects from this book an attempt to revive an Indo-European-based religion or practical spirituality for today, that reader will be somewhat disappointed. Certainly, the contents of this book will aid anyone in this pursuit. However, it is my position that such reconstructions reaching back as far as several thousand years, with no textual basis are far too uncertain to be reliable enough upon which to base a person’s current individual or communal spiritual practice. I am of the firm opinion that the closest thing we will ever have to a general and authentic Indo-European form of spirituality is contained in the material available to us from the Avestan and other Iranian sources.

     Most current professors of Indo-European studies are far too careful to produce a work of the kind you now possess. I am blessed by the circumstance that I am able to speak my mind unfiltered by concerns of obtaining tenure or securing and retaining employment at an academic institution. Others have used Indo-European studies, or distorted versions of the same, to gain favor of politically correct administrators of institutions of higher learning to gain and maintain their jobs in the ivory towers. I was taught to pursue truth according to my best judgment and with the broadest view of reality and to express myself accordingly. The study of archaic cultures in an academic setting is properly bound by certain scientific or scholarly rules about what can be concluded with reason about topics that are often very obscure and poorly documented. By the same token, empathetic and passionate scholars usually know a great deal more than they are willing to write for public academic consumption. Their rational intuitions tell them with some certainty what the answer to certain questions are, but because they cannot be fully documented these conclusions cannot be expressed, of if they are they are often weighted down with more qualifiers and caveats than assertions. At least in “the old days” esteemed professors would write only what they could reasonably prove, speak in class about some possible expansions, but only in private conversations ever come close to “spilling the beans” about what they think is really going on. This leaves the fascinated layperson extremely frustrated and often confused. Here I want to make those conclusions, take that one step beyond the limitations of academic decorum to make the Indo-European soul come alive in the modern reader. That is the mission of this book.