Sir Gawain and the green knight

Home

Sir Gawain & The Green Knight

Sir Gawain was one of Arthur’s Knights, on a crusade to find purity of heart, and eventually the Holy Grail. In his travels he came upon a castle, where a beautiful Lady lived, with her Lord. He became acquainted with the woman, and if I remember correctly, he learned that she was seeing a lover without the knowledge of her Lord. Gawain’s position was compromised. By withholding the truth, he was supporting the lie of this woman. Eventually, when the moment came when he had to decide whether to support the falsehood or damage the Lady’s marital relationship, he decided to protect her honour, and he also lied to cover up her infidelity. Against his own spiritual path.

When he went on his way, he traveled through a forest and came upon the Green Knight. The Green Knight was a fearsome adversary of super-human strength. He wielded an axe. The Green Knight refused each person who stumbled upon him to continue without first passing a test. The would be traveler was forced to place their neck upon the Knight’s block and he would bring down his axe upon the victim. Only those of perfect virtue would pass the test, and for these fortunate few, the axe would fail to penetrate their flesh. Gawain took his place on the block, and the Green Knight held his axe aloft. He brought it down. The axe did not severe Gawain’s head, nor did it stop short of his flesh. Instead it cut a short way into his neck, causing Gawain to bleed, but his life was spared. The lie he had told was white. His heart was not totally pure, but the lie was for the benefit of another, and consequently the axe only partially penetrated the flesh.

Gawain paid a deeper sacrifice than at first is apparent. He sacrificed his purity of spirit, part of his soul, to benefit someone else. In a strange reverse feedback mechanism, his soul became purer because he intended to deliberately sacrifice that same purity.

Incidentally, who really did murder Lennon? Government getting rid of the leading peace campaigner? In an interview he said “They think I’m mad, but I think they’re mad”. This is a common experience for people who, for want of a better description, are spiritually highly developed. Enlightenment. It was acknowledged in Scott-Peck’s book on the psychology of love, spiritual growth and traditional values “The Road Less Traveled” – that people who have reached a high degree of enlightenment appear to be mad to those people who have not traveled through the chain of thought processes to reach that enlightenment. The less developed people see an eccentric character high on a cloud, but they haven’t spotted the steps on the ladder which got the person there. It is often said that genius is close to madness – close perhaps, but different. And when you get enlightened, the few number of people who understand you is a bit of a downer.

To change is to gain power.
To change is to admit weakness
Love creates change.

This site relies on visitors to help it to improve. If you have gained from The Quest For Truth, please consider - placing a link to www.thequestfortruth.co.uk, or provide feedback, or sponsor the site, or just discuss truth & change. Best wishes...