Man is the joy of man
and augmentation of the soil
and adorner of ships.
-- Icelandic Rune Poem.

To make sense of this world, we observe it through the light and warmth coming from the Fire. We create and tell stories to and about ourselves, other people, and the world. Become a character in our own puppet theater.

And it works. People cooperate within society by accepting certain roles and identities, by behaving in a certain way, as expected by others. By having a social model, we can count on each other, we can predict and coordinate the future, and make sure nothing bad happens.

We are expected to play our roles, as gears are expected to spin in a well-designed machine. And when you or someone else is suddenly doing something different, it's a disruption. Character no longer fits the story. The future becomes unknown, uncomfortable, and dangerous. It feels like a betrayal. This is what powers the social pressure on people, motivating them to stay within their roles and identities.

But the eternal question is always asking from the central hole of Emptiness, disturbing us. We are feeding this hole with old answers, trying to patch it. We repeat our stories to ourselves to shut this question down and ensure business as usual.

If identities are used this way, attached too tightly, substituting true self, then hidden anger, irritation, exhaustion will accumulate behind, like behind an old patch on the wound which you don't change for months and years.

Repeating old stories promises known results. But repetition is the opposite of creativity. When we create something new, we don't know it yet, that's why it's new. We need to trust the call of the eternal question of Emptiness.

Creation of the universe is happening right now around us. Reality is bubbling and breathing, like a river, and we participate in the creation process, like little conscious whirlpools floating along the current.

Mannaz rune is similar to Dagaz rune. Descending diagonal from the Air to Earth meets ascending diagonal from Earth to Air in the middle point of Emptiness.

Man's heart is the place where Sky and Earth touch. The key difference from Dagaz is deep resonance with Fire.

To do the Mannaz, we will use the gesture resembling a mask.

• Our forearms will play the role of verticals with elbows in Fire, wrists in Earth, and fingers connecting in the central point of Emptiness.
• Mask is perspective, it turns us into a certain mood, a state of mind.
• It's also protection, like a helmet; it hides our vulnerability.
• Mask is an interface between our soul and the material world. It's as alive as we make it so.

We have the power to animate inanimate objects by projecting sense into them.

According to Norse myth, the same happened to us at the beginning of time. Ask and Embla, the first two humans, were created by three gods from trees.
Ask's name means Ash tree, but the etymology of Embla's name is not so clear.

In Völuspá, we read:

17. Until there came three
    mighty and benevolent
    Æsir to the world
    from their assembly.
    They found on earth,
    nearly powerless,
    Ask and Embla,
    void of destiny.

18. Spirit they possessed not,
    sense they had not,
    blood nor motive powers,
    nor goodly colour.
    Spirit gave Odin,
    sense gave Hoenir,
    blood gave Lodur,
    and goodly colour.

In Prose Edda:

When the sons of Borr were walking along the sea-strand, they found two trees, and took up the trees and shaped men of them: the first gave them spirit and life; the second, wit and feeling; the third, form, speech, hearing, and sight. They gave them clothing and names: the male was called Askr, and the female Embla, and of them was mankind begotten, which received a dwelling-place under Midgard.

I found this story to be very true, and here is how you can experience it yourself.

Find a partner to do this exercise.
Sit opposite each other and look into each other's eyes for a long time, without stopping.
You can blink and look away at first, but continue.
Gradually, the face will begin to distort and freeze, and only the gaze will remain.
As if a tree with eyes.

The very principle of gaze is the same for everyone, as is consciousness.
Personalities are different, characters, knowledge, experience, and so on, but all this is just a unique pattern on the bark of a tree.
The color and shape of the eyes, emotions, and feelings, even Fire and Water - this is still a frame around the window.

When you look into eyes, you see nothing, just the dark Emptiness of the pupils, but you feel how it looks back at you. Somebody is looking through the eyes!