I shared this before - a long time ago as away for a small group to start talking about an elephant in the living room (the obvious problem) no one is talking about - the fly in the ointment - sand in the lubricant :-)
Parzival’s Dilemma Parzival, a young bumptious Knight of the Round Table finds his way to King Arthur’s court and the most solemn quest imaginable * the quest for the Holy Grail. At the most pivotal moment in his travels, Parzival visits the castle of Anfortas the Fisher King, the keeper of the Grail. The king is borne on a pallet into the great banquet hall. He has been wounded by a spear in the groin. He cannot stand or sit. He can barely lie still. The room glistens with luxury and expectation. It has been foretold that the spontaneous act of a knight’s noble heart will cure the king. For his part, when he sees the prone figure surrounded by weeping attendants, Parzival feels drawn to rise to his feet and cry out: “What afflicts thee, uncle?” But Parzival holds his tongue. He has been taught that a knight refrains from asking too many questions. It would be dishonorable and improper. The festivities continue, albeit with a melancholy air, for by keeping still, Parzival has missed his chance to heal the king. Behind his politeness was a universal fearful desire, spawned in all of us by civilized manners: the desire to figure out the rules and be safe, to know ahead of time whether our actions will damn us. Parzival had worked all his life to master the knightly training. He couldn’t leave all the training behind * could he? The Age of the Heretics * Art Kleiner http://placer.networkofcare.org www.placer.ca.gov/cfc First 5 - Placer CFC Don Ferretti - Director 530.886.1824 530.886.1810 (fax) * * ========================================================== [email protected] ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of [email protected]: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist
