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.  * text between [ ] is not part of quote.

The 4^th Awakening

43 Boots and Nettles

© Eso Anton Benjamins

Herewith ends the series of blogs called The4thAwakening. I may add in due course a Conclusion if it comes to mind. Those who have followed the argument will probably have realized that this series has argued for a history of Latvia with obviously severe shear marks, leaving however open the possibility that these are connected by a meme hidden within the language and able to project a kind of Forward Look that the last twenty years of renewed independence (1991-2011) have ignored in favor of reactionism against an enemy (the Soviet Union) long replaced by the European Union. Unsurprisingly, this has moved me to suggest Riga, the capital city of Latvia, as the capital city of Europe in the Europe of tomorrow, which Brussels knows nothing about. However, I present this latter argument as a discussion rather than a blog topic.

The Story of Crazy Jane and Clever John, The End

(…story begins at blog 15)

Boots and Nettles

Thus, while Rozinante and a messenger were galloping to the seashore of Livonia to fetch Clever John’s brothers, and while Clever John was converting the value of the heap of gold into money, King John 1^st and Queen Ragana continued with wedding preparations.

The first thing King John did was go to his cobbler and have him make a new pair of boots, since Rozinante would return with the old pair all worn. Since he wished to dance as if he were still a young man, the King asked that his boots be inlaid with the feathers of a crane.

For her part, Queen Ragana had her hatmaker make her a crown of a crane’s black tail feathers. Everyone at the court made preparations for the event. Clever John, of course, did nothing, but count money; the princess, as promised, was not to be seen anywhere; while Crazy Jane was worried that someone should steal her dress while she danced among those who danced undressed. Just so that no one was inhibited from dancing their best, everyone was to wear a mask.

After seven days the six brothers from Livonia came riding in, this time, on the backs of six flying crickets which upon entering the King’s garden turned into six black flies.

 

The wedding ball was a big tent affair with jet fighter pilots from India among those present. All the men kneeled before the curtain behind which Princess Wonderful was hid and spoke to her words of love. Clever John almost danced his heart out.

Unfortunately, King John 1^st, he whose enemies called him the Devil, did. His boots of crane feathers were too much for his age. He died in the middle of a hop for the unreachable.

Queen Ragana was in shock when the Devil died. She threw her hat of tail feathers off her head, and her true nature became revealed.

The ballroom was lit up with so much sunlight as when the Sun is at noon. The woman (whoever she was), whether the Sun or everyone’s Dearest Goddess, hovered as a witch would right over everyone’s head, scalped them with her heat, and declared with a queenly scream:

“You, John, are now the Devil! Hell is your kingdom, the dead are your slaves, and my daughter is your bride!”

John was taken aback by how quickly things were changing and how momentous events were not only taking place, but had overtaken him.

Not daring look anywhere else, he turned his head up to the Sun and asked: “Mother, where is your daughter?”

“Ask your brothers,” answered the Sun as she went behind a cloud, ashamed she had brought one such into the world.

Clever John turned to his brothers. “Brothers,” said Clever John, “I know that I never yet have asked you a question, because I always knew better, but do not hold this against me. Tell me where is Princess Wonderful?”

His six brothers started laughing, and all the maids of the kingdom who were at the wedding party laughed along with them.

The oldest brother of Clever John stepped forward: “Clever John, if you really do not know how to find a bride by yourself, she is waiting for you in that room,” he said and pointed to a door in the middle of the longest wall in ballroom.

As Clever John sought out the door with his eyes, everyone in the ballroom also pointed to the door and shouted: “There! There!”

Clever John started for the door. His oldest brother went to his side and offered encouragement. When they had come to the door, the brother whispered to Clever John some last minute instructions about what to do. He explained that the room had no light, and as soon as he was inside, the door behind him would be shut and locked. If he wanted his bride as hot as a hot pan, he had to jump into the bed without any hesitation—else the bride might cool off.

The brother of Clever John took him be the arm, opened the bedroom door, shoved Clever John inside, and closed the door fast behind him. Clever John jumped for the bed, which he had seen while the door had been open and was real enough.

Clever John felt a body beside him. He reached out his arm to embrace it.

It felt warm, but—then Clever John realized with an awfulness one can live without—it was inhuman. He had not embraced a Princess, but a warm plastic covered canvas bag.

Clever John screamed as if he was having a nightmare. At that very moment another door sprung open, and in strode Crazy Jane holding a huge candelabrum with dozens of burning candles. In her other hand she held the dead King John 1^sts pair of crane feather boots.

Crazy Jane set the candelabrum down on a stand, then threw the boots on the bed. “They are yours now, Clever John,” she said.

“Crazy Jane! Oh Princess Wonderful! What do I do with crane-feather-boots in bed?” asked Clever John.

“Put them on and never take them off,” ordered Crazy Jane.

When Clever John hesitated, he felt a swish of leaves of nettle across his bare middle. So, he pulled on the crane feather boots and felt a warm blush seize him. A shower of sparks shot through him.

“Stop it, Crazy Jane,” Clever John begged.

All those who stood behind the door of the wedding chamber roared with laughter. Rozinante neighed.

“I am not finished,” screamed Crazy Jane and whacked Clever John with the bouquet of nettles once again.

“Help!” screamed Clever John.

“It will be okay,” suddenly all tenderness offered Crazy Jane. “Let us now run to the sauna,” she said as she pulled Clever John out of the bed.

Everyone behind the door roared with laughter once more.

Clever John followed Clever Jane. It was quite a hop he did. Those who know to look know that he was holding an object or something in his hand.

(End of story.)

Asterisks & Links of Interest

Text between [ ], when within a quote, is not part of the quote.

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.  * text between [ ] is not part of quote.

The 4^th Awakening

42 Seven Brides for Seven Brothers

© Eso Anton Benjamins

The Story of Crazy Jane and Clever John, Part 3

(…story begins at blog 15)

Mrs. W. Ragana and her daughter Crazy Jane helped Clever John load the hoard of gold into the wagon. Rozinante, the mare, snorted in alarm as she watched how much gold she will have to pull.

Soon, King John 1^st arrived at the gate. This time he was not bare foot, but wore polished boots. He wore bright green pants, a red vest ribbed with gold buttons, his suit topped off with golden epaulets, his sword, and on his head a nine tiered crown of gold inlaid with red rubies and green sapphires.

The King ordered his guards to open the garden gates and then help load onto the wagon the last of the gold.

“You have proven yourself to be the right man for my daughter, Clever John. Princes Wonderful will be pleased,” said the King. “I could not have found her a better man than you.”

“Yes, Sir King John 1^st,” answered Clever John, “I have been looking forward to this moment. Perhaps I could meet your daughter and propose to her?”

As soon as Clever John had said this, he heard a low growl from the mother of Crazy Jane, the witch Ragana. It was not quite a human growl, but one like that of a lioness. The rumble made an echo in her stomach which—it was apparent—was empty.

Clever John looked up and saw Mrs. W. Ragana look at him with a menacing eye. Crazy Jane, too, stood as if frozen to the ground.

“Did I say something wrong?” asked Clever John and turned his head toward King John 1^st.

“It’s alright, Clever John,” said the King and waved Crazy Jane off. He could not do so with Mrs. W. Ragana, because by now it was apparent that she was not just a witch, but the Queen herself. Clever John had mistaken her plain clothes for that of an ordinary woman. He now understood that it was a disguise all the more to fool him, which the Queen had done very well indeed.

Crazy Jane (Clever John had decided that she was the Queens Bedchamber maid), too, relaxed, but before leaving she gave Clever John a “ahahabighero” laugh. “What is your rush, Clever John?” she asked as she took Rozenante by the reigns, “We do things here in an orderly fashion. First things first, else, I will take Rozinante and lead her in the opposite direction from the castle gate.”

The King spoke. One could see that he was worried about what Crazy Jane might do. “You see, Clever John,” said King John 1^st, “the custom here is not to show the bride to the groom except after the wedding ball. You will have to be a little patient.”

“That is a very strange custom,” said Clever John.

“Not so strange if you think about it,” answered the King. “The wedding ball is to get you all worked up to want to marry.”

“You mean that I must dance by myself?” asked Clever John. He was in real disbelief.

“Yes,” said the King. “There will be all kinds of beautiful maids there,” the King continued, “and they will do what they can to get you to touch them. Some of them will not be wearing clothes. But you must desist touching them. You can only talk to them and dance around them, and save the rest for the Princess. If you touch any maid, the guards will chop off your hands. The same goes for Princess Wonderful. She has to stand behind the curtains and listen to the maids tempt you, even as my young officers on the other side of the curtain make proposals to her. If she opens the curtain to look, she will lose a finger.”

“That is a crazy story,” said Clever John. I have never before heard anything so crazy in my life.”

“Don’t doubt, Clever John, my man of gold,” said the King. “If you do, you may lose your head. You see the right hand of Queen W. Ragana? Her pinky is missing, no? On our wedding ball, I made her so jealous and danced for so real that she simply had to look. Of course, my father was kind, and she lost her finger after we were married. Neither will I spoil for Princess Wonderful her wedding night with you, Clever John. But perhaps while you dance, you will address all your words of love not to the maids, but to Princess Wonderful.”

Clever John saw that King John 1^st was not fooling, and neither was Queen W. Ragana. He quickly changed the subject. “When is the wedding, your Highnesses?” he asked.

“As soon as your six brothers can get here. They must come and see what comes of bathing seven crickets in the sea. The world is a marvelous place!” he said and clapped his hands in joy.

The mare Rozinante neighed. She was the only one who could protest to King John 1^st so directly. She was protesting the King saying that she had been born of a cricket. The King saw that he had hurt the mare’s feelings and pursued the subject no longer, but continued to address Clever John.

“I will send Rozinante and a messenger to your family’s seaside farms,” said the King. “Rozinante can continue wearing my boots for a while yet,” King John 1^st offered graciously.

Clever John paled when he discovered whose boots he had. However, the King did not let on that John had suddenly grown wise. He would let Clever John be “clever” a while longer.

“While your brothers come (and I trust that they also will bring us grand presents),” said the King, “you, Clever John, will count all the gold that we have in terms of dollars, rubles, euros, juans, and lats. It will take you a few days.”

(To be continued.)

Friday evening on “100. panta Preses Klubs, this blogger saw and heard three reporters question three distinguished Latvians, one a University professor, the other two former politicians with considerable experience. The talk centered or, better, came near to, then backed off from the theme of President, the Latvian Saeima, and the Dictator.

While the word “dictator” was mentioned only once by the philosopher, the onceness signaled that the word “authoritarian” was included in the word meme as a synonym of dictator. The two politicians were wedded to parliamentary democracy, though one believed that the current president “has no liver”, while the other said that he stuck to “figures” and was rather unemotional about being a leader. Putting it together, all the participants—reporters including—signaled that the State was dysfunctional and backed to the wall by financial destitution brought by the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank.

Meanwhile, “Al Jezeera English” released a report on the state of Latvia's forests. While the English PM spoke of Latvia as if it were the forest reserve of Europe and the PM of Latvia mumbled, the report showed the extent of the physical decimation visited on Latvia’s forests…. And of the decimation by the state of the Latvian population.

Asterisks & Links of Interest

Text between [ ], when within a quote, is not part of the quote.

*The call by one of the former Latvian Prime Ministers, Šķēle, for the federalization http://www.delfi.lv/news/national/politics/skele-rosina-diskusiju-par-es-federalas-savienibas-izveidi.d?id=36492333 of Europe may be interpreted as a surrender of Latvia to “administration” by whoever the administrators may be.

** http://politika.lv/blogi/index.php?id=62177#c ? Etimoloģija: ? Nepieklājīgi = ne + pie + klājīgi = ~ neklanīgi?

*** Rene Girard, Violence and the Sacred, The John Hopkins University press, 1977; originally published 1972.

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. No, I do not yet know where it is going to lead. This is a story with no end. If it began in the past (it must have), 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 tail to your communication http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRKyDU4eRsw&playnext=1&list=PL84D9DF75487929AD do 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

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

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/