WEBVTT 1 00:00:13.640 --> 00:00:16.559 Hello, and welcome to Mythic Mind. We pursue wisdom of the past between 2 00:00:16.600 --> 00:00:20.000 primary and secondary world. I'm your host, Andrew Snyder, and I am 3 00:00:20.039 --> 00:00:31.559 always grateful for your company. All right, welcome back if we finally get 4 00:00:31.559 --> 00:00:34.000 back to Beowulf. Now, this is going to be a bit of a 5 00:00:34.039 --> 00:00:37.799 shorter episode, but reducing the scope of what I'm doing in each episode may 6 00:00:37.840 --> 00:00:41.920 help me to keep things going on a more regular basis. So in the 7 00:00:42.000 --> 00:00:45.000 last episode of this series, which I admit was some time ago, we 8 00:00:45.079 --> 00:00:48.240 took a look at the lead up to the confrontation with Grendel. Grendel had 9 00:00:48.280 --> 00:00:52.119 been haunting the lands of growth car unabated as the Danes lived in utter tear, 10 00:00:52.600 --> 00:00:56.600 dread, and shadow. Word of this plight eventually moved across the sea 11 00:00:56.679 --> 00:01:00.399 to the ears of Beowulf of the Giats. With glinting arms and the sun 12 00:01:00.479 --> 00:01:03.519 sparkling on the sea, Beowulf became a light in the darkness, a prince 13 00:01:03.519 --> 00:01:08.439 of fairy come to re enchant the disillusion with proper vision and valor. He 14 00:01:08.560 --> 00:01:12.159 was warmly received by Rothgar, but Unfirth, a warrior of the mead Hall 15 00:01:12.200 --> 00:01:17.280 Hero, questioned his abilities, referencing a swimming race that Beowulf had lost, 16 00:01:17.480 --> 00:01:21.599 and Beowulf readily puts Unfirth in his place, rebeaking his vain words of petty 17 00:01:21.719 --> 00:01:25.799 envy with the substance of his feats. Yes, he may have lost a 18 00:01:25.840 --> 00:01:30.000 swimming race against Brecca, but that was because he took a detour, pulled 19 00:01:30.040 --> 00:01:34.239 in a torrent into an abyss of sea monsters, which he readily slew. 20 00:01:34.680 --> 00:01:37.879 Once he gained this glory, were told that light came from the east, 21 00:01:38.239 --> 00:01:41.760 God's beacon bright, so that I could descry the headlands out to the sea 22 00:01:41.879 --> 00:01:46.120 in windy cliffs. Fate oft saveth a man not doomed to die when his 23 00:01:46.280 --> 00:01:52.680 valor fails not, and this continued the ongoing interplay between personal responsibility and providence 24 00:01:52.799 --> 00:01:56.760 or fate. Beowulf had a part to play. He had to make the 25 00:01:56.840 --> 00:02:00.079 choice to fight, but as one who was carried by providence, his light 26 00:02:00.239 --> 00:02:05.079 is a gift which he receives that he himself might be a beacon of divine 27 00:02:05.120 --> 00:02:08.319 light in a world given over to shadow and brutes. He himself is a 28 00:02:08.360 --> 00:02:13.159 beacon of divine light that is rising up from the east. Unfirth, on 29 00:02:13.159 --> 00:02:15.680 the other hand, has no great victories in battle to recount. If he 30 00:02:15.759 --> 00:02:21.039 had any heart with which he might boast against Beowulf, Beowulf says, Brothgar's 31 00:02:21.080 --> 00:02:23.800 halls would not be plagued with Grendel. In other words, Beowulf is only 32 00:02:23.879 --> 00:02:29.800 there because Unfirth has nothing but empty words. Beowulf, on the other hand, 33 00:02:29.960 --> 00:02:35.039 has substance, which in turn gives substance to his words. Now Beowulf 34 00:02:35.039 --> 00:02:38.560 prepares for his battle with Grendel with confidence that is true, confidence that is 35 00:02:38.759 --> 00:02:44.719 confide with faith, for his strength is not his own by nature, but 36 00:02:44.719 --> 00:02:49.719 by grace. As it's written verily, the Gaddish knight, trusted confidently in 37 00:02:49.759 --> 00:02:53.240 his valiant strength God's grace to him. And a little further down, Beowulf 38 00:02:53.280 --> 00:02:58.599 says, let the foreseeing God, the Holy Lord, adjudge the glory to 39 00:02:58.599 --> 00:03:02.800 whichever side seemeth meat. And so Beowolf is not responsible for winning in this 40 00:03:02.879 --> 00:03:08.400 contest against Grendel. Beowulf is responsible for choosing to fight. Choosing the good 41 00:03:08.520 --> 00:03:13.080 and embodying virtue is his task. The results are in the hands of the 42 00:03:13.159 --> 00:03:15.240 Lord, where they've always been, and so too is always the case with 43 00:03:15.439 --> 00:03:20.639 us. We cannot guarantee outcome that is not ours to decide. What is 44 00:03:20.680 --> 00:03:24.360 ours to decide is how we are going to relate to present circumstance. In 45 00:03:24.400 --> 00:03:30.199 so doing, we establish a proper relation to fortune, accepting whatever spins our 46 00:03:30.280 --> 00:03:35.199 way in this great wheel. As Marcus Aurelius writes in his Meditations, good 47 00:03:35.360 --> 00:03:38.919 fortune is a good disposition of the soul. If you want to have good 48 00:03:39.000 --> 00:03:43.159 fortune, then what you don't want to do is spend your time focusing on 49 00:03:43.240 --> 00:03:45.840 things that are outside your control. What you do need to do is focus 50 00:03:45.879 --> 00:03:47.439 on what is in your control, such as the way that you relate to 51 00:03:47.599 --> 00:03:53.479 fortune. And so truly, good fortune is a good disposition of the soul. 52 00:03:53.800 --> 00:03:57.800 That is the fortune that we have responsibility for handling appropriately. And so 53 00:03:57.879 --> 00:04:00.800 Beowulf finished men await in he wrote for granted to descend upon them as was 54 00:04:00.879 --> 00:04:05.039 his way. Grendel began by attacking a sleeping knight and gorging on his blood. 55 00:04:05.120 --> 00:04:10.120 And so Grendel's clearly a vampire like figure. He's feeding on the life 56 00:04:10.159 --> 00:04:13.800 of men, even as evil must feed on the good to exist, for 57 00:04:13.919 --> 00:04:18.160 evil is a privation. Evil is a lack in order for evil to exist, 58 00:04:18.199 --> 00:04:21.839 which isn't even really phrasing because evil doesn't exist, but in a manner 59 00:04:21.879 --> 00:04:27.600 speaking, in order for evil to exist, it must borrow its being from 60 00:04:27.680 --> 00:04:30.639 that which is good. Even death would not be a reality but for the 61 00:04:30.720 --> 00:04:35.439 reality of life. So too, as a brute with no honor, Grendel 62 00:04:35.639 --> 00:04:40.600 consumes the sleeping night. He then moves to beoulf, but quickly finds that 63 00:04:40.639 --> 00:04:44.399 he has met a warrior prepared for battle. Not desiring to meet with the 64 00:04:44.399 --> 00:04:47.680 glory of genuine combat, Grendel attempts to flee, but he's forced into combat. 65 00:04:47.800 --> 00:04:51.439 Beowolf's nights encircle Grendel with their swords, but there still cannot pierce the 66 00:04:51.480 --> 00:04:56.920 hell Ronan's hide as he had already intended to do. Beowulf must engage with 67 00:04:57.079 --> 00:05:00.800 Grendel in hand to hand combat. This victory against evil could not be won 68 00:05:00.879 --> 00:05:05.680 by sharpened tools, but only by the strength of his own god given valor, 69 00:05:05.920 --> 00:05:10.079 which had already been well stewarded for the task at hand. And so 70 00:05:10.199 --> 00:05:14.839 with this strength Beowulf quite literally disarmed Grendel. As then he ripped his arm 71 00:05:14.879 --> 00:05:17.759 off at the shoulder and the helfiend escape the hall, but he was mortally 72 00:05:17.800 --> 00:05:21.720 wounded. Whimpering back to his foul dens to die in the presence of his 73 00:05:21.879 --> 00:05:27.439 mother. Grendel's bloodied arm was raised in Herote as a trophy of the victory 74 00:05:27.480 --> 00:05:30.560 of Beowulf, slayer of the Helrunin, and beacon of light that can dispel 75 00:05:30.639 --> 00:05:34.560 the shadows of hell. There was great joy and merriment in the halls of 76 00:05:34.600 --> 00:05:39.120 Herote and throughout the lands of the Danes, and a poet recounted the tale 77 00:05:39.120 --> 00:05:42.959 of Zigmund, the dragon slayer in Beowulf's honor, exalting him to the company 78 00:05:42.959 --> 00:05:47.120 of the great epic heroes and foreshadowing Beowulf's path ahead. Now, Unfortunately, 79 00:05:47.160 --> 00:05:49.879 and a little bit surprisingly, Tolkien, at least in the book that I'm 80 00:05:49.959 --> 00:05:54.600 using, doesn't have any direct commentary on this passage. And so what can 81 00:05:54.639 --> 00:05:58.000 we take away from this? Well, first, we see that reliance on 82 00:05:58.120 --> 00:06:01.920 providence does not deny personal risks reponsibility. God is responsible for the outcome, 83 00:06:02.079 --> 00:06:05.560 be an earthly victory or an untimely at least as we might call it, 84 00:06:05.639 --> 00:06:10.720 an untimely meeting with the fate of all mortals. The reality is we're going 85 00:06:10.759 --> 00:06:14.279 to die, and that time is fixed before we are born. We cannot 86 00:06:14.279 --> 00:06:17.199 control how the wheel of fortune turns. But we can determine how we relate 87 00:06:17.240 --> 00:06:20.959 to fortune. We can decide to play the hero. We can choose the 88 00:06:21.000 --> 00:06:26.199 path of valor. We can stand strong against the hell, runin against those 89 00:06:26.279 --> 00:06:30.959 irrational, neihilistic forces of hell. After all, are we not called to 90 00:06:30.040 --> 00:06:34.199 participate in the war of the heavenly places. Sometimes we will win the battle, 91 00:06:34.319 --> 00:06:38.600 and sometimes we will lose, at least in the way that our eyes 92 00:06:38.639 --> 00:06:42.399 can see. But even losing in the right way is a kind of victory. 93 00:06:42.639 --> 00:06:46.480 Note that Mars is the influence over noble knights of Marshall prowess as well 94 00:06:46.519 --> 00:06:50.680 as martyrs. You can even see the name Mars within that word martyr. 95 00:06:51.040 --> 00:06:57.480 The noble victory and the noble death both involve standing firm against external forces that 96 00:06:57.519 --> 00:07:00.480 would do you and the world that you love, or better there yet, 97 00:07:00.639 --> 00:07:04.399 the world that you should love harm. So guard yourself for battle. Stand 98 00:07:04.439 --> 00:07:09.319 against evil first and foremost, the evil within your own soul, where Helrounin 99 00:07:09.399 --> 00:07:13.519 may roam unknown, as well as the external evils that plague your kin and 100 00:07:13.560 --> 00:07:16.879 your neighbors. To quote the Great Mary Brandybuck, it will certainly mean fighting. 101 00:07:17.319 --> 00:07:21.079 You won't rescue Lotho or the Shire just by being shocked and sad. 102 00:07:21.319 --> 00:07:29.279 My dear Frodo. If you enjoy this episode and you'd like to take a 103 00:07:29.319 --> 00:07:32.079 deeper dive into Beowulf along with a great community, be sure to enroll in 104 00:07:32.120 --> 00:07:35.839 the Life, Death and Meaning with Beowulf and Boethius course that is starting up 105 00:07:35.959 --> 00:07:40.439 next month. I'm currently in the midst of my first public facing study on 106 00:07:40.519 --> 00:07:43.079 the fiction and philosophy of C. S. Lewis, and that's going really 107 00:07:43.120 --> 00:07:46.680 well. We have sixty participants and regular discussions in our discord chat as well 108 00:07:46.720 --> 00:07:50.879 as our weekly Zoom meetings. It has really just been a great community formed 109 00:07:50.879 --> 00:07:56.319 around this study. And as with that course, the Beowulf and Boethis course 110 00:07:56.360 --> 00:08:01.920 includes weekly course exclusive videos, ongoing Discord Chad, and weekly live meetings. 111 00:08:01.079 --> 00:08:05.199 To enroll, you can go to Andrew Snyder dot Patia dot com and you 112 00:08:05.240 --> 00:08:07.519 can also find that link in the show notes. And also because I'm getting 113 00:08:07.519 --> 00:08:11.240 back into this podcast series on Beowulf, I'm currently running a deal through the 114 00:08:11.319 --> 00:08:16.439 end of July use the Code podcast to enroll in the Beywolf and Boethist course 115 00:08:16.519 --> 00:08:20.480 at half of the normal price. Now. I also have several other projects 116 00:08:20.759 --> 00:08:24.199 in motion, including a potential book deal on a Tolkien project. But as 117 00:08:24.240 --> 00:08:28.399 always I struggle to find the time for all the things that I want to 118 00:08:28.439 --> 00:08:33.000 do as I balance out these passion pursuits with things that are going to pay 119 00:08:33.000 --> 00:08:35.960 the bills. And so if you would like to buy me some more freedom 120 00:08:35.000 --> 00:08:39.919 to better keep up with this podcast, my often neglected substack, this book 121 00:08:39.960 --> 00:08:45.639 project, and other ventures, I heartily welcome your support on Patreon at patreon 122 00:08:45.679 --> 00:08:48.200 dot com slash Mythmind. Joining it as little as five dollars a month will 123 00:08:48.200 --> 00:08:52.120 provide you with early and ad free episodes of this podcast, as well as 124 00:08:52.159 --> 00:08:56.120 the more or less monthly Mythic Mindfellowship podcast, which would also be invited to 125 00:08:56.120 --> 00:09:00.919 participate in as a supporter other tiers of support. 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Whether 133 00:09:26.840 --> 00:09:28.600 you offer financial support or not, you can always help me out by giving 134 00:09:28.639 --> 00:09:33.279 me a five star review and maybe a positive comment on Apple Podcasts, Spotify 135 00:09:33.360 --> 00:09:35.279 and wherever else you can do that. All right, that's it for now. 136 00:09:35.440 --> 00:09:39.919 Until next time, I wish you Mandy, meaningful roads ahead and glorious 137 00:09:39.000 --> 00:09:41.600 victory against any hell runin that may haunt your path.