Beowulf for Beginners-4

Lessons in Tragedy –

Heroism or Ageism?!

Useless

father-

protector-

leader!

Eat your heart

out Inception!

Adults aren‟t that different from children, especially those who didn‟t grow up originally!

Heroes, like

parents, are

role-models,

a must for...

...socialisation, making kids into adults!

“Above all, happiness

depends

On wisdom. It is never

right

To sin against the

gods. Great blows

Repay great words of

boasting men,

And teach us wisdom

in old age.”

--- Herodotus

recounting the story

of Polycrates

“They guard it because they have

hope. Faith and fading hope that

one day it will flower. That a king

will come and this city will be as it

once was before it fell into decay.

The old wisdom that was borne

out of the West was forsaken.

Kings made tombs more

splendid than the houses of the

living and counted the names

of their descent dearer than the

names of their sons. Childless

lords sat in aged halls musing on

heraldry or in high, cold towers

asking questions of the stars. And

so the people of Gondor fell

into ruin. The line of Kings failed,

the White Tree withered, and the

rule of Gondor was given over to

lesser men.”

Another (deliberate) inaccuracy was

putting the blame of the dragon on

Beowulf, since in the story a young

boy stumbled on the dragon’s ‘gold.’

Good old

days

I think this is

a French

restaurant!Shabab akhir

zaman!

“Thereafter, would that I were

not among the men of the fifth

generation, but either had died

before or been born

afterwards… Men will dishonour

their parents as they grow

quickly old, and will carp at

them, chiding them with bitter

words, hard-hearted they, not

knowing the fear of the gods.

They will not repay their aged

parents the cost their nurture,

for might shall be their right: and

one man will sack another's city.

There will be no favour for the

man who keeps his oath or for

the just or for the good; but

rather men will praise the evil-

doer and his violent dealing.

Strength will be right and

reverence will cease to be; and

the wicked will hurt the worthy

man, speaking false words

against him, and will swear an

oath upon them.”

--- Hesiod, Works and Days

Check out of

the trajectory!

Nostalgia is a

memory illusion,

where you

remember the

past to be better,

because the

present is bad –

for you. Hence,

2050 nostalgia for

the year 2000!

Hence the silly

idea, common

to many

ancient

peoples, that

the ancients

before them

were giants –

an older ,

superior race

of men, gods

or aliens.

They just had

more time and

money!

The ancient Egyptians were like the Romans, thinking that they couldn‟t match the

greatness of the „ancient‟ pyramid builders – so they stopped building pyramids!

“Seek freedom

and become

captive of your

desires. Seek

discipline and

find your

liberty.”

--- Frank

Herbert

“It pertains to

all men to

know

themselves

and to learn

self-control.”

--- Heraclitus

Makes you wonder

why Americans are

so hostile to kings

since their own

president is an

„elected monarch‟

and they always

cry for them after

they get killed. It‟s

almost like they

secretly don‟t want

to be restrained!

Upside democracy

in the West!

Tragedy for the Greeks, or Melancholy for Anglo-Saxons, was all

about EXCESS and MODERATION!

I guess modern-day Westerners aren‟t

quite into the ancient Greek frame of

mind – especially Americans!

Monica

Bellucci

Hence, I can‟t stress how important it is to

stress the importance of this „old-fashioned‟

excess/moderation way of thinking as it

places morality centre-stage.

Machines and industrialisation have

changed the rules of the game, as you

can see.

Nicole

Kidman

One of Giger‟s

paintings

This whole

(silly) idea of

the „sins of the

father‟ is

meaningless to

Vikings

because they

didn‟t have any

conception of

regret and guilt

and internal

conscience. All

they did believe

in, though, was

saving face!

This is may all be very „Arabic‟, very but

is very unIslamic. I mean, whatever

happened to al-nafs al-lawama?!

“Non-Western cultures emphasise social

integration rather than autonomy. When

affiliation is more important than achievement,

how one appears to others is vital, and shame

becomes more of a driving force than guilt. ...

The behaviour of individuals in Arab culture is

determined more by group needs and thinking

rather than by those of the individual, so that

the source of control of behaviour is external

rather than internal.”