Brendan Myers

AM – Our first Featured Author of 2010 is Dr. Brendan Myers, a philosopher, writer, and public speaker from Canada. He is going to be chatting with us today about his books “A Pagan Testament” and “The Other Side of Virtue.” Thank you for joining us today Brendan!

BM – Thank you!

AM – Please tell us a little more about yourself.

BM – I grew up in a small town. There was green space everywhere, and a river and a swimming hole in a former quarry, and a large conservation park just a ten minute walk from my door. I think it was among the rocks and the cedar trees of the conservation area that I began to understand the environment in a spiritual way, even as a young lad, long before discovering Druidry. Although I was initiated into a British Wiccan lineage, I have never been overmuch interested in practicing spellcraft or magic. Mythology and storytelling and folklore is what drew me to the divine. Since then I’ve visited or lived in many different places: I’ve participated in pagan culture in six different European countries, and four Canadian provinces, even if only briefly. Right now I live in Ottawa, the capital of my country, where I work as a professor of philosophy.

AM – How did you come to be on the Druid path? Who has been your most influential mentor on that path?

BM – I have been part of the pagan movement for almost two decades now, and when I look upon my life I don’t see a single moment when I “came to be” on the Druid path. My spiritual life began at a very early age, when my father taught Irish mythology and folklore to my sisters and I when we were children. Similarly, there is no one single person who has been my most important mentor me in that sense. Rather, I find that I was mentored by a whole village of people, in various different ways. I suppose the members of my first pagan “clan”, which I joined almost twenty years ago now, were the most profoundly influential people at that formative age. Although I live rather far away now and don’t see them so often anymore, I am still friends with most of them, and I visit as often as I can. I would also cite some of the philosophy professors I knew when I was a student at various universities.

AM – Congratulations on your teaching post at Cherry Hill Seminary! What are you going to be teaching? How can our readers get more information and enroll in your class?

BM – I will be teaching a course called “Introduction to Ancient Philosophy”, which will examine the origin of philosophy as a discipline in ancient Greek society, and then move to Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, and then to a few Roman philosophers like Cicero and Marcus Aurelius. More information can be found on the Cherry Hill web site, and its admissions page.

AM – Tell us more about “A Pagan Testament.”

BM – I wrote this book because I grew frustrated with the way many pagans claim that paganism is “not of the book”. But it is clear to me that our tradition is a path of the Word. We have a language, and we use language for religious purposes all the time. We even use words to state the claim that we don’t need to use words for religious purposes at all – an inherent contradiction if there ever was one. We use the written word more often than is usually acknowledged, and also the spoken word, when we pray or make magic or perform rituals, and we especially use the word expressed in music and song, to assert who we are, and what our highest values are. I wanted to know what our words were really saying, and whether they were meaningful. I also noted that the way we use words is different when we sing, than it is when we speak. Most religious communities find that one of the most important things their people have in common is a literary testament. I therefore wanted to know of the modern pagan movement has a literary testament, and what it had to say, and how it came to be, and how it may be changing and growing. I wrote the book in the hope that some day, if Pagans decide that they want a literary testament to call their own, they will have one; and more than that, it will make them proud.

AM – Tell us more about “The Other Side of Virtue.”

BM – “The Other Side of Virtue” was inspired by a few curious experiences that I had while living in Europe, back in 2004. My partner at the time and I were exploring a forest in Germany, on what started out as a lovely sunny day. But a few hours later we were caught in a vicious thunderstorm. This got me to think that there are certain immensities in life, which everyone must encounter once in a while, and that our lives exist in complex yet definitive relations with them. Being alive, being embodied, and immersed in the ecosystems of the earth, is one of them – even when that entails threats and dangers like the thunderstorm! But there was no one single inspirational event that inspired my books.

AM – What was your inspiration for writing these two books?

BM – At the risk of sounding elitist, the main inspiration for my work was the huge number of very poor quality books available in the pagan publishing market. There are far too many “Wicca 101″s now, and none of them are all that distinct from each other. A new kind of ritual, or a new interpretation of the elemental correspondences, or a new description of “my personal spiritual experience”, is not good enough anymore. Like many others, I wanted more challenging, more interesting, genuinely progressive material, which actually engages substantial problems concerning reality, knowledge, beauty, and ethics. It’s time for pagans to write about topics that matter to the whole world, not just to our own small movement. And I decided not to wait for someone else to do it. There is an essay on my web site called “Why I Write”, which explains this in more detail. Many people in the pagan movement believe that higher education and intellectual enquiry is impractical or unnecessary for the spiritual life. Indeed some influential people have gone so far as to absolutely deny any and all value to “book learning” and even rationality itself. But I believe that such things are absolutely essential. There is no one whose life would not improve if he was able to think with greater clarity about the things that matter most in life. And our movement will stagnate and die if it does not have an intellectual tradition. I want to help make that tradition happen.

AM – Do you remember how it felt to have your first book published? Do you still get nervous with new releases?

BM – I do remember: I felt very excited and elated. How could I not? A publisher had just decided that my book was worth presenting to the public. Today I still get excited when a new book comes out. I don’t feel nervous anymore, since I have confidence in the quality of my work – but I do sometimes get nervous when public speaking, for instance at a conference or festival where I’m promoting my books, even though as a teacher that’s what I do for a living.

AM – Do you have any new books coming out this year?

BM – Yes. “Loneliness and Revelation: A Study of the Sacred” will be released in 2010. I’m addressing some of the deepest and most taboo topics in human thinking: loneliness, isolation, abandonment, solitude. Everyone experiences this in their lives, but few are willing to talk about it. Indeed most people will deny feeling any loneliness at all, even while they cry themselves to sleep at night for lack of someone to talk to. But this line of thinking led me to a new understanding of the divine, and a new understanding of what it is to be human. If the gods communicate to us through nature and human relations, what do they really say? “Loneliness and Revelation” will be my fifth book so far. Now that it is in the formatting and layout stage, I’ve already begun work on the next one. There’s no rest for the wicked!

AM – What do you think is the most important piece of advice that you would give an unpublished Pagan writer?

BM – Naturally I would advise unpublished writers to write, every day. It’s important to have the habit of writing. I also recommend that the new writer must not neglect her reading: there is never a time when the research is done. Finally, do not settle for what is easy. Ask the questions which are both difficult and yet uplifting. For there is no real accomplishment in simply re-packaging what has already been written before. To write and to be published, and to have others buy your book and read it, is a great privilege. Therefore take your time with your writing; do not rush it; be careful and critical of yourself; and let your book come to you. When the time comes to publish, offer your readers your very best work, and nothing less.

AM – Where can we go to learn more about you and purchase “A Pagan Testament” and “The Other Side of Virtue”?

BM – Each of my books has its own information page on my web site (http://brendanmyers.net), where you can find some anecdotal remarks about my writing process, some reviews, and places to purchase the books online.

AM – We really appreciate your time today Brendan! Good luck with these and all future releases.

BM – Thank you so much!