The following blogspots center on a variety of subjects, which I have initiated. You are invited to look and respond.

http://esoschronicles.blogspot.com/ Not-Violence main subject

http://melnaysjanis.blogspot.com/ Temple of Janis (John) site

http://the-not-voter.blogspot.com/ Arguments for systems change

http://the4thawakening.blogspot.com/ Sacrificial crisis in Latvia

http://oedipusrexrewritten.blogspot.com/ Oedipus Rex Rewritten

I suggest you look at the links imbedded in these blogs or at the end of the blog as an integral part of my argument.

The 4^th Awakening

35 A Raven Preparing Dinner (3)

© Eso Anton Benjamins

To the extent that the above mentioned “necessary evils” still trouble the Latvians, to the same extent these have to be pushed back by being able to overcome aggressive ethnicism; re-committing the environment of Latvia to green as well as to the democracy of a people who knew how to practice it when living in a forested environment; and re-turning to the Johns Festival its significance as sacred time and space by lifting all restrictions save other directed violence on human intercourse. The length of the festival, too, needs to be stretched beyond its present limit of one eve and a day.

If I read Rene Girard right, the proto-Latvians of the 17^th  century (probably going back to the post-1209 period) were in a state of mind he declares to be that of a time of “sacrificial crisis”. I do not mean to deny the possibility that proto-Latvians of several hundred years earlier might not have turned to live sacrifices. Whether the sacrifices would have been of animals and perhaps also human, I do not know. The sacrifices of domesticated birds (black rooster, for example) are part of the Latvian folk myth. And Latvians have not to this day forgotten the words “Boar funeral” (“Cūku bēres”, given special attention by the Latvian painter Boriss Berzins). It is not that many decades ago when the butcher of pigs, probably a neighbor, stayed after the butchering to join in a drink while waiting for the pig’s (preferably wild boar fed on oak acorns and truffles) liver to be cooked.

The alternative to making a blood sacrifice according to Girard is a kind of “antifestival”. Writes the Professor: “The rites of sacrificial expulsion [I read also ‘slaughter’]* are not preceded by a period of frenzied anarchy [Jahnis Eve Festival], but by an extreme austerity and an increased rigor in the observance of all inderdicts [such as Lent]. Extraordinary precautions are taken to prevent the community from falling pray once again to reciprocal violence.”**

Girard’s emphasis on prevention of community dissolution through the intercession of acts and rituals that resolve “sacrificial crisis” is of great importance. It is this blogger’s opinion that the manifestation of Tourett’s syndrome as a form of verbal expression among Latvians may be seen as an indicator of potential for overt intra-communal violence. The rigorous, even “quixotic masochism” of our age, which as Girard observes is “the result of a long immunity to the violence that threatens primitive societies…” [Latvians being among the masochists] is welcoming of Puritanism and fundamentalism implicit in pietism. The alternative, and there are signs of it having stepped on to the stage, is entirely unpredictable and may indeed be starting its entrance by playing its trumps—overt war and overt riots.

What proto-Latvians paid to try helping the survival of their subjective self approximated the experiences of many other lay people in the West, America especially. I am thinking of the Shakers and Quakers and Latter Day Saints, and of the many self-generating churches among the black people in the Americas. For the Latvians the way led through the puritanical straight jacket of the Lutheran and Catholic churches, and on to a puritanical, a.k.a. ethnic nationalist (I call its present stage “zionationalist”) stance. This presumption finds it expedient to allow the Children of Johns to be forgotten in favor of neo-capitalism and think nothing of Latvians being called “pagans” in order to promote secularism as a religion.

Anyway, there is nothing wrong with the public remembering the past through a festival immortalized as a “Midsummer Picnic”; or is there?

The Story of Crazy Jane and Clever John, Part 3

(…story begins at blog 15),

Crazy Jane continued: “To fly you to the heap gold, the raven will have to fly high, far, and over the sea. You just lie low between her wings and hang on to her feathers.”

“It sounds like a great adventure,” said Clever John.

Crazy Jane however was all business and no banter. She continued: “The first question the raven will ask you is to tell her how large the sea is. And you answer her: ‘As large as a large lake.’”

“The second question the raven asks you will be the same as the first one: ‘How large is the sea?” to which you this time say: ‘As large as a mud puddle.’”

“I am glad that I am not afraid of heights,” said Clever John.

“The third question the raven will ask you,” said Clever Jane, “will be the same as the two preceding ones: ‘How large is the sea?’ To which you answer: ‘As large as a dead horse’s eye’. Is that clear?”

Clever John barely had time to nod that he understood, when Crazy Jane disappeared from his sight. Clever John did not know what to expect next. However, it was not long before he found himself standing before the raven. It came into his eye-sight just as Crazy Jane had done before.

The raven had seen Clever John first and cawed: “Kraw, kraw, Clever John, how are you! Did you ask the Sun when it is that I can leave?”

“You can go almost right away,” answered Clever John, “just let me burry your meal. Then you can take me to the heap of gold.”

“Who told you about the gold?” asked the raven.

“Crazy Jane,” answered Clever John, “she said you knew where to find it, somewhere by the sea, I think she said.”

“That is right, Clever John,” answered the raven. “But you come and first bury my meal. It was Crazy Jane’s son by the way—if you want to know the truth.”

“I thought it was the King’s son,” said Clever John, remembering how he had not yet gone far from the king’s castle where this very raven was yet bound to the pine tree.

“You are close, but not quite on the mark,” answered the raven. “It was the Devil’s and Crazy Jane’s.”

“Good, God John,” exclaimed Clever John, “I thought that the Devil was Crazy Jane’s father.”

“The Devil is father of many daughters and sleeps with all of them,” informed the raven. “Besides, he lives for ever and has a very long story. This is only one of them that I know of. As you see, it has even been my meal.”

(To be continued.)

Asterisks & Links of Interest

* text between [ ] is not part of quote.

** Rene Girard, Violence and the Sacred (p.120,121), John Hopkins University Press.

Unchanged Feature: What is reality, what is myth?

http://www.voltairenet.org/article167588.html

Changing Feature: In the preceding posts, I started a compilation of video clips, which when seen as a linear sequence tell a story in a context which I hope will become apparent. This is a continuous story. If it began in the past, it is now moving parallel to the day we live in. Watching the film may or may not contribute to your understanding of my meaning. Put this clip as a tail to your http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6t1fQzTOdO4&feature=related  so others may see. The origin of this post is at http://the4thawakening.blogspot.com/ 

The following blogspots center on a variety of subjects, which I have initiated. You are invited to look and respond.

http://esoschronicles.blogspot.com/ Not-Violence main subject

http://melnaysjanis.blogspot.com/ Temple of Janis (John) site

http://the-not-voter.blogspot.com/ Arguments for systems change

http://the4thawakening.blogspot.com/ Sacrificial crisis in Latvia

http://oedipusrexrewritten.blogspot.com/ Oedipus Rex Rewritten

I suggest you look at the links imbedded in these blogs or at the end of the blog as an integral part of my argument.

The 4^th Awakening

34 A Raven Preparing Dinner (2)

© Eso Anton Benjamins

As the link (here) proves, pietism has many interpretations. This writer, too, has one, one that is perhaps more embracing and friendly one than the others.

I am convinced that the word “pietism” is unduly neglected due to too many negative interpretations wrongly attributed to its very nature. The negative arises not because of any inherent faults in pietism, but because of the anarchistic tilt propagated in public space is to the advantage of predatory competition. Anarchistic or “extreme” freedom (as opposed to responsible freedom) is encouraged by capitalism in order to be able to sell just about anything to just about anybody at just about any cost to the environment. Irresponsible freedom has been practiced for so long that many people believe that “freedom” heightened to the n^th power is as much an individual’s right as it is tomorrow and forever. Pietism does not however speak on behalf of irresponsibility or extreme freedom.

I have been arguing that the subjective half of the Latvian language is an example par excellence of piety. I am predicating my conclusion on what I call the “endearing word”. The plainest example of the endearing word is when John is called “Johnny” or when someone dear becomes “dearie”. To endear means (to coin a new word) to en-love, except that en-love is not a word in use. In any event to endear or to en-love a rock implies an emotional relationship between the subject and the object, even if I, the subject, stub my toe against it and my address is one full of irony. Children enlove their mother when they address mother not as “mother”, but as “”mommy”, or as in the case of Latvian as “māmuliņa”. The very fact that I make an address using the endearing inflection sets up the object for endearment whether I endear out of habit or not.

The Latvian language can endear any noun and also sensitize verbs and actions or events. For example when Latvians describe the arrival of guests by saying “sasabrauca ciemiņi” (a-arrived guests) instead of “sabrauca ciemiņi” (arrived guests),. That extra “sa” or “a” puts a special emphasis on the event. It emotes; it puts greater heart in it. The American poet Robert Frost once said that it is impossible to write poetry unless one was familiar with the idiom of the language one was writing in. In the same way, one does not use the Latvian language to its fullest extent if one forgets to use the endearing word.

The fact that the origin of pietism is ascribed to the Germans is not all that surprising, because German like Latvian is a language that is able to endear. That the Germans are said to be the originators of pietism as a religious movement may not be true, but it helps emphasize the idea that the endearing word is in some sense to be identified with religion itself. To endear an object is to help charge it with the charisma of religion.

The reason why a people’s internalized religious sensibility should suddenly rouse itself and become an explicitly religious movement, suggests that what had once come to mind naturally was being repressed by overt violent means. Overt violent means often invite an overt violent reaction in defense. Unfortunately, while such a defense may be more than justified, it often becomes “reactionary”, that is to say, a blind reaction. Ever since the French Revolution the word has acquired a negative connotation, even though on technical grounds this is a prejudiced and political taunt.

The Latvian historian Kaspars Klavins in his book “apSTĀVĒŠANA” (Holding Fast-to) points to the role of the Herrnhuter movement in bringing pietism to Latvia and Estonia, two places in former Livonia where endearing, gentling, enloving had long been endangered and was facing a crisis of survival. These Livonian neighbors eagerly grasped the helping hand, because Herrnhuters appeared to offer organized resistance to the vulgarization of language as well as emotions. Unfortunately, Klavins does not ascribe to the movement its immediate causes, which more than likely are to be sought in the demoralizing consequences to the region of the Great Northern War (1700-1721).

As Professor Klavins states, Herrnhuter ideas had a long and enduring affect on Latvians; re (p.46): “In short, we are talking about a complex and reactionary (pretrunīgu) world of ideas, which long troubled the minds of many socially active Latvians…. ” It must be pointed out, that the Latvian word “pretrunīgi”, like the word “reactionary” has—depending on context—a self-contradictory meaning.

The various perspectives on Herrnhutism settled, on balance, on its negative aspects. Not that the movement was in any way dishonest. It brought Latvians together by organizing choirs, thus bypassing political polarization. It advanced democratic ideas by siding with the lottery system of elections. All the same, the times were more complex than the Herrnhuter movement of earlier days was designed to deal with. Mercantilism had made inroads into social consciousness and had become for many the object of desire for itself alone. This is probably the reason why pietism eventually came to be resisted by the propertied, who after having been helped out of the rubbish pit looked to find fault with the helper. To this day we hear that pietism stands for self-righteousness, false witness (liekulība), conceit, a fundamentalist religious perspective, an exaggerated sense of honor, exaggerated radicalism, and more such to better keep one’s self from discussing the subject.

Desire for overt political and mercantile power is probably the main reason why the Russian tsar, the German barons, and the secularizing neo-Christian ministers were in a hurry to repress the Herrnhuters and replace them as their betters. All three institutions were the very cause of the destruction of the endearing word and of the forces that brought forth pietism. All were angels of secular conceits.

Still, some of the negative aspects of the Herrnhuter influence served (at least for a time) as a kind of “necessary evil”. It turned reaction to the tsarist repression into nationalism; it reacted to the exploitation of labor by the barons into, both, communist immaterialism and capitalist materialism; and the Lutheran ministers played a more significant role in holding together the Latvian diasporas, because Latvian Lutherans (as perhaps not the German Lutherans) were largely formed by their reaction to the popularity of Herrnhutism. The Latvians who later fled from the occupying Soviet Union, found the Lutheran ministers welcomingly accepting of certain remnants of “native” culture. Among these remnants was the Johns Day Festival (emptied of its sacral content of course) and folk art. The last came fetishized, at the same time that it retained vague associations with the Children of Johns, payans, though mind cripplingly associated with the uncertain meaning of what ever is meant by the word “pagan”).

The Story of Crazy Jane and Clever John, Part 3

(…story begins at blog 15) Unfortunately, I have once again exceeded any reasonable blog limit and will have to delay the exciting adventures of Crazy Jane and Clever John for the next time. For those who may not recall the point where the story ends, the following are the last few paragraphs of the previous presentation:

Clever John was about to do as Crazy Jane advised when Crazy Jane interrupted him by putting her hand between his. “There is one more thing, I should tell you. Since you no longer have my father’s boots, the raven will fly you to where the gold is. You leave Rozinante in my care until you come back. ”

“Yes, but who will drag the gold to the castle?” asked Clever John.

“There are other magic ways,” answered Crazy Jane. “You will find them when the time comes. However, you need to know how to answer to the three questions the raven will ask you. Listen!” (To be cont.)

Asterisks & Links of Interest

Rene Girard, Violence and the Sacred (p.120,121), John Hopkins University Press.

Unchanged Feature: What is reality, what is myth?

http://www.voltairenet.org/article167588.html

Changing Feature: In the preceding posts, I started a compilation of video clips, which when seen as a linear sequence tell a story in a context which I hope will become apparent. This is a continuous story. If it began in the past, it is now moving parallel to the day we live in. Watching the film may or may not contribute to your understanding of my meaning. Put this clip as a tail to your http://www.huffingtonpost.com/don-lattin/harvard-psychedelic-club-1950s_b_809392.html  so others may see. The origin of this post is at http://the4thawakening.blogspot.com/ 

The following blogspots center on a variety of subjects, which I have initiated. You are invited to look and respond.

http://esoschronicles.blogspot.com/ Not-Violence main subject

http://melnaysjanis.blogspot.com/ Temple of Janis (John) site

http://the-not-voter.blogspot.com/ Arguments for systems change

http://the4thawakening.blogspot.com/ Sacrificial crisis in Latvia

http://oedipusrexrewritten.blogspot.com/ Oedipus Rex Rewritten

I suggest you look at the links imbedded in these blogs or at the end of the blog as an integral part of my argument.

The 4^th Awakening

33 A Raven Preparing Dinner (1)

© Eso Anton Benjamins

The Story of Crazy Jane and Clever John, Part 3

(…story begins at blog 15),

“That is very smart of you, Clever John,” said Crazy Jane. “If I can think of a thousand more impossible things before breakfast than the Queen, can you imagine of how many things I think before I go to sleep? I am sure that I think of you at least once.”

“I hope that you think of me all the time, Crazy Jane,” said Clever John. “I need your help if I am to marry the Princess.”

“Why, Clever John,” answered Crazy Jane, “how could I do other than think of you all the time? You see, I hope, you see that somehow my head got screwed backward, and my neck is always turned half a screw except when I sleep.”

“How can you sleep with your face in the pillow?” asked Clever John.

“Why do you keep hanging yourself, Clever John?” asked Crazy Jane.

“I am trying not to do that,” said Clever John.

“For that same reason, I sleep with my head turned to one side,” said Crazy Jane. “However, you called me to ask about gold, did you not?”

“Yes, it occurred to me that with all the dipping you did with that empty bucked of yours, you could dip me up some gold flakes, which I could then present King John I with so I could marry the Princess.”

“As I said, Clever John, that would take more than a thousand years. Besides, you are the kind of person who likes to hang himself at least once a year. I will spare you that. There is a simpler way,” said Crazy Jane.

“I do not see how gold will hang me, Crazy Jane,” answered Clever John. “It will get me the Princess and a real step up in life.”

“Do not worry, Clever John,” answered Crazy Jane. “Remember the raven, who promised to help you if you untied her from the tree?”

“Yes,” answered Clever John, “it stunk to high heaven there. So Rozinante and went past there as fast as we could.”

“That goes to show how little you know, Clever John,” said Crazy Jane. “The raven likes not only corpses, but also shiny things. It is a smart bird. It knows that the more things shine, the more stink and corpses are likely to be nearby.”

“Much obliged for your wisdom,” said Clever John, “but I am in a real hurry now. Is there anything else I need to know?”

“Not really, Clever John,” answered Crazy Jane, “just go clap your hands together thrice and call out: Raven, Raven, dear, I am ready to become your next meal!”

Clever John was about to do as Crazy Jane advised when Crazy Jane interrupted him by putting her hand between his. “There is one more thing, I should tell you. Since you no longer have my father’s boots, the raven will fly you to where the gold is. You leave Rozinante in my care until you come back. ”

“Yes, but who will drag that gold to the castle?” asked Clever John.

“There are other magic ways,” answered Crazy Jane. “You will find them when the time comes. However, you need to know is how to answer to the three questions the raven will ask you. Listen!” (To be cont.)

I will continue with the story of Crazy Jane and Clever John in the next blog. Having mentioned “other magic ways”, I am here reminded of guanjon and guanxi, which I mentioned in the previous blog. I discussed the two principles in connection with why the Chinese have it, but the Latvians no longer have any idea what Jahnis means and why Johns Eve was celebrated comes midsummer.

While the Latvian government is attempting to force the Latvians to speak in Latvian, it remains singularly unsuccessful in its effort. Not only do many Latvians continue to speak with people of Russian descent in Russian, but Latvian children read the least amount of books of any country in Europe, and what passes for communications in Latvian on the internet are often so vitriolic about any subject that can be found between A to Z as to suggest that the country is suffering from a collective Turret's syndrome  . A radiologist of Latvian descent in the U.S. is even suggesting that Latvians take another compulsion pill and all speak Latvian by the end of a set date a.s.a.p., exceptions not desired. Given the realities and the dim future prospects of the Latvian language in the future, the suggestion serves to highlight the fact that the policies of the Latvian government during the past twenty years have been notably unsuccessful in charging up the batteries of the language with charisma.

I have pointed to the sad demographic prognosis, the rapidly declining population of the country, which over the next forty years is projected to decline by one million, while the European Union is likely to expand to 500 million people. The best way that I know how to impress the point is that no Latvian writer (exceptions always possible) will in the future write novels, because the maximum number of book purchases will most likely never exceed 6000, the average number being somewhere around 2000. It simply does not pay to write fiction in Latvian.

What gives a language its charisma are not only the number of citizens of a given country. This is clearly shown by the number of people who wish to learn the language who are born to another language. A hundred years ago most Latvians who moved to Riga or other major Latvian cities also spoke German. Those who immigrated to Brazil spoke Portuguese. When the tsar fell, many Russians fled to France, because most of Russian nobility spoke French. What is the compelling reason why the citizens of Latvia must speak Latvian?

True, the government has passed a law that says that the law in Latvia must be written in the Latvian language. That makes it compulsory that before one becomes a Latvian citizen one passes a language examination. The great majority of schools in Latvia teach children in Latvian. This is all as it should be, except that when a language begins to lose its charisma, it rapidly deteriorates. One reason for the deterioration of the language is the deteriorating quality of the meme that disciplines the mind to being attentive to what it does and then doing it well. Slip shod thinking is just one more contributor to the aforementioned Turret’s syndrome. Don Quixote’s mare Rozinante never failed her knight because Sancho Panza did slip shod work on her hooves.

But if the Latvian language is not worth having fiction written in? Alright, let us allow for short pieces of fiction, because such take little time and may come with lots of internet links and illustrations. But then what? Should I be speaking/writing Latvian for reasons of patriotism? Am I to be compelled to read Latvian for reason of punishment? Because the government sponsored Latvian Language Institute flexes its muscle and insists to sabotage the addressing and cataloguing system of the internet by denying a family to use one version of its last name? That you cannot write your last name with two oo, when some outworn grammatical system says it must be only one o. And she cannot end her last name with an s, whereas he can end it with any vowel he comes by.

In earlier blogs, I pointed to the discarded subjective half of the language, accomplished through restricting the uses of the endearing word in public media and providing no encouragement for its use among students. Indeed, there is a lot more to say on the subject.

(To be continued.)

Asterisks & Links of Interest

Unchanged Feature: What is reality, what is myth?

http://www.voltairenet.org/article167588.html

Changing Feature: In the preceding posts, I started a compilation of video clips, which when seen as a linear sequence tell a story in a context which I hope will become apparent. This is a continuous story. If it began in the past, it is now moving parallel to the day we live in. Watching the film may or may not contribute to your understanding of my meaning. Put this clip as a tail to your http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8vA8Xu_QAw&feature=related so others may see. The origin of this post is at http://the4thawakening.blogspot.com/ 

The following blogspots center on a variety of subjects, which I have initiated. You are invited to look and respond.

http://esoschronicles.blogspot.com/ Not-Violence main subject

http://melnaysjanis.blogspot.com/ Temple of Janis (John) site

http://the-not-voter.blogspot.com/ Arguments for systems change

http://the4thawakening.blogspot.com/ Sacrificial crisis in Latvia

http://oedipusrexrewritten.blogspot.com/ Oedipus Rex Rewritten

I suggest you look at the links imbedded in these blogs or at the end of the blog as an integral part of my argument.

The 4^th Awakening

32 Another Helpful Whisper

© Eso Anton Benjamins

A recent lengthy “letter from Shanghai” in Rīgas Laiks (January, 2011) by Inese Lielmane, and titled Binding Activity (Saistoša rosība), discusses the Chinese principles of dougong and guanxi.

The first word, dougong, is an element in Chinese architecture that binds all the elements of a structure into one system. Guanxi does the very same thing for the Chinese, except it is a function of human relationships.

The acute ear and eye will immediately recognize both words as related to the name of “John” (Jahnis) before the name was repressed and denied its functions and turned into merely a name of an individual by neo-Christianity. This is not to say, that the word disappeared immediately. Dougong is still easily recognizable in the word “donjon”, from which also dungeon. If we assume that the letter d in “don”, too, may on occasion be pronounced as j in “jon”, then what we have “John of Johns”. The word “guanxi” may be read as “jan”xi. While the word does not at this time bring to mind any other association in Latvian except “jancihga”, i.e., haughty, it is enough to make think that the meme of “jan” remains alive both in Latvian and Chinese.

The festival of Johns, especially Johns Eve, is considered the most important Latvian Festival of the year, surpassing the Winter Solstice Festival which the Hebrews call Hanukkah (Yannukah?) and Latvians Jandahlins (Johnsdance+noise). While Latvians claim Johns Eve to be of such great importance to them, it is curious that at the very same time there are few Latvians who know anything about the festival except that it is “very old”. Whence the word John or Jahnis, the Latvians have lost all memory of, which is why neo-Christians are substituting all kinds of other names for it: Midsummer, Solstice, Green Grass, Lihgo, etc.

This brings me back to the dougong, guanxi, and jahnis. If the words have such binding connotations in Chinese, why has the principle of binding lost its connection with Latvian, except as haughty, off putting, the very opposite of coming and holding together?

The answer to that question is a long one. The4thAwakening is all about it. However, if we pick up the story at about the time of the 1905 Revolution, we see how the Herrnhuters (and through them the meme of the Hussites, Lollards, Cathars, Bogomils, etc,) has transformed itself into the Bolsheviks. Let us remember that at this time the Bolsheviks are yet pure idealists. They have not yet smeared their hands with the blood of scapegoats. They want the same thing that the Herrnhuters and those before them want, except that their want is so much more desperate.

By the time of the arrival of the Herrnhuters (1729), the forest cover of Latvian ancestors has been cut down, and the natural democracy possible when living in homesteads among trees has left Latvians standing in an open field. Latvian farm laborers are abandoning their land in droves, just as now many are leaving for Ireland and elsewhere. Those who earn their living by the pitchfork and axe are escaping from the farm to the city, where they hope to make a better living as “workers”. Now these Children of Johns have no trees to protect them—by design. The trees of the land of their forebears were turned into walls of forts and battleships.

Those who order the building of the forts and battleships took from the forest people control of the work they did and what was to be worked, which of course gave the “manufacturers” (uzņēmēji in Latvian) a chance to control the wages as well. Moreover, the wage earners were dumbed down, which is an awful image, but acceptable to those who bring it about—if one can get away with it. The trouble is that as a result of being raised irresponsible, the Children of Johns take and keep growing in numbers. Soon there are so many of Children of Johns, and they are so dumbed down (like a “couch potato”) that they no longer remember anything about Johns except that it is “a very old festival”. It is interesting how a very old festival, which has also been called “the most important festival” can be stolen from right before the eyes of the Latvians.

It is no less interesting that with the theft the community dispersed. Some went to Ireland or some like country abroad, but others dispersed inwardly. Increasingly the Jahnis Festival is being forgotten for something else, for example, a picnic. The Chinese may afford to go on a picnic when they come to a Latvian Johns Festival, but the Latvians cannot afford to. If this is not the day that binds them, what day does?

The principle of Johns ought to be at least as bonding as Dougong, guanxi. If Latvia is Jahnisland (even if for one day out of 365), who has control over corruption either then or any other day? The government at this time almost completely disconnects itself from the people through the mechanism known as “parliamentary democracy”. The Guanxi or Jahnis principle may work in China, but it does not work in Latvia. This is not to speak in symbolic terms. If the trend of the last twenty years continues twenty years into the future, what will remain of Latvia is 1.3 million people (out of the present 2.2 million) and little chance that the Latvian language will still be either a realistic or unrealistic survivor. The name of Jahnis will then be replaced by Han, who is unlikely to be able to imagine how an H can be the same thing as a Y or J.

Clever John, the hero of our story is at a point at a stage in his adventures, where a certain gullibility born out of despair actually seems to him to be an advantage—if he is to ever get himself a wagon full of gold. Clever John’s haughtiness, his bravado born of sheer stupidity, brings him to trust Crazy Jane, the Raven, and the Ocean in return for nothing more than a promise, risk has no stop sign.

The Story of Crazy Jane and Clever John, Part 3

(…story begins at blog 15),

“But… but Crazy Jane,” said Clever John, “how can I? I am over here, and you are over there.” Clever John did not quite know where “over there” was. There was a dark fog before his eyes. “I mean,” he continued, “Where are you?”

“I am right here before your eyes,” answered Crazy Jane. She indeed was there. “I told you to just rub the ring with the kerchief. Now hand those boots to me, please.”

Clever John leaned down, lifted up Rozinante’s leg and took the pair of boots off her legs and handed them to Crazy Jane. “Here they are, Crazy Jane,” said Clever John.

“Thank you so much, Clever John. I see that you are learning to be honest. Now for the other lesson.”

“What other lesson?” asked Clever John. “I don’t understand. I just gave you a pair. Rozinante really flew with them. That was quite something.”

“That is why my father now wants them back,” said Clever Jane. “He really gets off on them.”

“I see,” answered Clever John, “I am much obliged to him.”

“Clever John,” said Crazy Jane, “why do you think you are so clever when you are really not? You are no longer on that side of the mountain, which you may think you are. You are on this side of the mountain, the other side from where you rode up”.

Before Clever John could answer, Rozinante spoke. This is the only time in the whole story where Rozinante says anything. “Do you need to be reminded that you also owe her a head?” she asked.

Clever John heard the mare. He raised both of Rozinante’s hind legs and took off the other pair of boots. “Of course, Crazy Jane,” he said as he handed the boots to her, “I was just testing your memory.”

(To be continued.)

Asterisks & Links of Interest

Unchanged Feature: What is reality, what is myth?

http://www.voltairenet.org/article167588.html

Changing Feature: In the preceding posts, I started a compilation of video clips, which when seen as a linear sequence tell a story in a context which I hope will become apparent. This is a continuous story. If it began in the past, it is now moving parallel to the day we live in. Watching the film may or may not contribute to your understanding of my meaning. Put this clip as a tail to your http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zajdE5U2e8&NR=1 so others may see. The origin of this post is at http://the4thawakening.blogspot.com/ 

The following blogspots center on a variety of subjects, which I have initiated. You are invited to look and respond.

http://esoschronicles.blogspot.com/ Not-Violence main subject

http://melnaysjanis.blogspot.com/ Temple of Janis (John) site

http://the-not-voter.blogspot.com/ Arguments for systems change

http://the4thawakening.blogspot.com/ Sacrificial crisis in Latvia

http://oedipusrexrewritten.blogspot.com/ Oedipus Rex Rewritten

I suggest you look at the links imbedded in these blogs or at the end of the blog as an integral part of my argument.

The 4^th Awakening

31 The Whispers of Crazy Jane

© Eso Anton Benjamins

The debates over the great migrations of the European people of a thousand and more years ago are by no means over. Contrary to the map provided by the Wikipedia link above (great migrations), I keep an ear open to the arguments of Anatoly Fomenko. I quite admit to borrowing from both Scaligari's and Fomenko's chronological sketches and using these according to my intuition. I make no guarantees to myself or anyone else over the ultimate accuracy of my “picture”. Still, like most everyone else, I seek to discover a coherent scenery out of a present that I distrust.

I tend to accept Fomenko's thesis—more or less—that so-called “ancient Egypt” is a geographical area in the dessert straddling the Nile valley, which served as a cemetery for ancient kings, and that many of these kings came from about the Black Sea region, though not exclusively.

I also agree that there never was an “ancient” Jerusalem, but that there were many. These were more or less urban centers that served as sacrificial centers and, thus, were generetrixs of proto-modern societies. My logic is based on my own studies, given a liberal mixture of various readings, lately much contributed by Rene Gerard and his theory of the role sacrifice played in the creation of a community. Incidentally, I believe that Jerusalem is a cognate of Yaroslav, Jersika, and no doubt other yet to be discovered place names. The name arises from the name “lamb”, which is pronounced “yehrs” in Latvian. The other half of the name “salem” quite matches that of “slav”, the first lending itself to be interpreted as “peace”, the second as “holy” or “praise be”. The name of Jerusalem may contain a distant echo of the name “avis” (Ave!), sheep in Latvian, re Ram-ava, the “Ram” part possibly echoing to a distant “Jeru”. The English word “ram”, meaning a male sheep, as well as the act of butting through, and making way.

As for the city of Jerusalem as it is today, I am impressed by a map of about the time of Napoleon on which the city of Jerusalem does not appear. This map is probably an overlooked sample of the hundreds of maps that were burned along with books by the neo-Christian rewriters of history. As we know, the Arabs call Jerusalem as Al Quds. If the dry sands of the desert in Egypt were in fact the preferred burial ground for ancient kings, Al Quds may have served as a stopover point for those who transported the dead. The city may have served as much as a hospice as a trade center for spices much in demand by the embalmers trade. The embalmers’ magic was as if restoring the body of the dead to eternal life.

In any event, if the proto-Latvian Jersika (possibly a fort, a castle, a market) has its origins in a sacrificial center and if it still was that in the 13^th century, there are innumerable reasons why the Germanic invaders and the secularizing priests they supported wanted Jersika off the map. It is no secret that Bishop Albert hoped that he could turn Riga in a Jerusalem. Had he succeeded, perhaps he would have renamed it Star-ost.

The proto-Latvian Jersika-Jerusalem was effectively removed from the map around 1209 by Bishop Albert. The bishop sent into oblivion what may well have been a centre of Johns, an arch-Christian center. With it went  the left wing of Christianity (Krust + Jahni), which was founded on sacrifice. In came the right wing of Christianity. It facilitated the advance of the current secular age by eliminating sacrifice altogether.

If we follow this rough outline of history, then it is to be expected that the consequences of the elimination of sacrifice should bring society to its apocalyptic margins at which we find ourselves today. Girard calls it “sacrificial crisis”. As bankers rake in money right and left from the poor, Jesus, the Son of God, sits on his throne in heaven and wonders what name he went by among the living.

So, trying to help Jesus out a little, I now come back to Clever John and his visit to the Sun Mountain, the story I left several blogs behind. As we then saw, Clever John was not only making use of the gullibility of his brothers and having an adventure or two at their expense, but he was also ready to let Crazy Jane be killed as if it were no great matter—as long as it advanced his cause.

Meeting no serious obstacles, Clever John then decided to visit with the Sun Herself. He had, after all, fooled Crazy Jane and stolen a number of valuable aids from her: a ring, a neckerchief, two pair of the Devil’s boots; and, not least, he exchanged a horse for a cricket by taking advantage of his brothers’ gullibility.

However, his mother the Sun, gave Clever John his comeuppance. As soon as John came into Her garden atop Sun Mountain, She presented him with a coat of a brown bear. In the language of myth, this effectively turned Clever John into a bear. And if we remember something of ancient stories, a bear was the sacrificial scapegoat—right or wrong—of a community wronged and seeking someone to blame.

I am sorry to say that what remains of the fantastic tale which I have been attempting to reconstruct (some may say with too much creativity) is all down hill from now. If the first and second parts of the story was part of the Via Dolorosa of Clever John going up the mountain, we are now on the Via Dolorosa of Clever John going down.

The Story of Crazy Jane and Clever John, Part 3

(…story begins at blog 15),

Clever John rubbed the ring with the kerchief for all it was worth. For a long time nothing at all happened. Clever John was ready to throw the ring and kerchief away, when he saw right before his eyes Crazy Jane. She was not standing before him as if she had come at his bidding, but Clever John saw her emerge out of the fog of his own eyes, She stood in the Ahdere river and lifted and poured bucket after bucket of water in and out of the river.

“Oh dear!” exclaimed Clever John, “why did I not think of it before. Of course! Crazy Jane! I love her!”

Then Clever John explained to himself why it is that he loved Crazy Jane: “If I but put a sieve across the empty bottom of the bucket, Crazy Jane will soon collect me as much gold as I need and more. She will get me my Princess in no time at all.”

But by then Crazy Jane had caught up to her involuntary image and appeared before Clever John in person.

“I read your thoughts, Clever John,” said Crazy Jane, “and they are not good. Yes, there is gold in the river, but there is so little of it that it would take a thousand years for me to get as much as you need. You see, the gold sifts down to the bottom of the river from the thin golden film that the Sun lays across the Ahdere on sunny days. Besides, most of it is used up by Mother Death, who collects it to cover the dead with.”

“That is bad news,” said Clever John.

“Do not despair, Clever John,” said Crazy Jane, “there is another way if you only hand me back my father’s boots.”

(To be continued.)

Asterisks & Links of Interest

Unchanged Feature: What is reality, what is myth?

http://www.voltairenet.org/article167588.html

Changing Feature: In the preceding posts, I started a compilation of a series of video clips, which when seen as a linear sequence tell a story in a telling context. This is a continuous story. If it began in the past, now it is moving parallel to the day we live. Note what is happening around you. Put this clip as a tail to your blog http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCctqbRrsBQ so others may see. The origin of this post is at http://the4thawakening.blogspot.com/