I know that humans make sense of their reality by telling stories. Supposedly. So why are most stories...you know...fake? Why does most gnosis sound like copium or hopium? What exactly are we trying to "understand" here?
C S Lewis once quipped that most reports of supernatural events are wrong, and most reports of natural events are also wrong. Dude! The story above seems to straddle the natural and the supernatural. It´s obviously fantastic. Yes, it´s the usual hokum about Eisenhower being on a first name basis with different races of space aliens, and so on.
Let´s put it this way. If we can´t even trust most reports of mundane events, why should we trust the fantastic, the supramundane, the supernatural...?
Now...the "Y" Files ! Fantastic! That he puts so much effort into concocting this video is worthy of a salute. To what end...who knows?
ReplyDeleteAt least we have a Truce with interdimensional alien conglomerates!
I thought X-files squared or X-files cubed might be "more better" than y-files but I can't make exponents on this keyboard...
ReplyDeleteWow, I never got that pun. Yes, of course, Why Files must be a reference to the X Files. Many also wonder if the acronym WF is a subliminal reference to WTF...
ReplyDeleteIt´s an entertainment show, and the moderator (AJ) usually doesn´t believe in the stuff. Still, it could be interesting as lore (or even fakelore). That is, what is it people *want* to be believe in...
ReplyDeleteIt´s interesting for another reason too: why do so many people (including true believers) treat the supernatural as entertainment? "The chase is better than the catch". They don´t want to find the aliens, it would be boring or something. It´s the mystery that counts. If somebody would find Atlantis, they would stop caring about it the day after, trying to find Lemuria instead...
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely...my imagined outcome in pursuit of my goal has the naive charm of not knowing the truth...or at least actual reality. If I am "in search of" then life has meaning...when I am "in possession of" Uh-oh...look out.
ReplyDeleteIn the Sir Gawain and the Green Knight story...Gawain had to choose between the old hag by day or the beautiful fair maiden, with the opposite in the evening... When she asked him which he would prefer he had a wise reply...and therein lies the moral of the story.
I had to check that one with ChatGPT! ;-)
ReplyDeleteI asked ChatGPT its opinion of Gawain and the Green Knight also and was into an interesting repartee when my third response to its questions launched the sign-up screen and I never got back to where we were. I'll have to think about signing up. Not a big fan of putting data out everywhere though it's probably all there already.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteThis is what ChatGPT said:
ReplyDeleteWhat is the meaning of this reference: "In the Sir Gawain and the Green Knight story...Gawain had to choose between the old hag by day or the beautiful fair maiden, with the opposite in the evening... When she asked him which he would prefer he had a wise reply...and therein lies the moral of the story."
ChatGPT sade:
The reference you're mentioning is not from the original Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, but it borrows elements from another Arthurian motif — namely the "Loathly Lady" tale, most famously found in "The Wife of Bath’s Tale" from Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. However, the confusion is understandable, as these motifs often overlap in Arthurian stories and folklore.
🌹 The Tale of the Loathly Lady (with Gawain or other knights)
In versions of this story — sometimes told with Sir Gawain and sometimes with King Arthur — a hideous old woman helps the hero in some way (e.g. solving a riddle or saving his life), but demands marriage as her reward. The twist is this:
Once married, she gives him a choice:
“Would you rather I be beautiful by day (and a hag at night),
or beautiful by night (and a hag during the day)?”
🧠 Gawain’s “wise” response:
Instead of making the choice himself, Gawain replies:
“The choice is yours.”
By granting her sovereignty — the ability to choose for herself — he breaks the enchantment. She becomes beautiful both day and night, and his respect for her autonomy is the moral key.
🧭 Moral of the story:
This tale is often interpreted as being about:
Sovereignty and free will (especially for women),
Chivalric humility and wisdom,
The idea that real beauty and goodness come when respect and agency are granted.
So in your quote:
"Gawain had to choose between the old hag by day or the beautiful fair maiden, with the opposite in the evening... When she asked him which he would prefer he had a wise reply..."
…it’s drawing on this "Loathly Lady" motif, not the Green Knight per se, and the wise reply — “You choose” — is what lifts the curse and seals the story’s moral lesson.
Would you like me to find a specific literary version of this story featuring Gawain?
Yes, thank you! That is the version I was looking for, the Loathly Lady. I just searched the bookcase for the version I knew from an article called The Disenchantment of the Dragon by Martha Heyneman in:
DeleteA Journal of Our Time
Number 2,1979
Traditional Studies Press
Toronto
ChatGPT stated the motif therein perfectly!
The riddle that the Hero must answer is "What is it that a woman wants most in the world?" He finally answers "sovereignty" and his life is spared by the Green Knight
DeleteAmazingly, it is found here:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.gurdjieff.org/heyneman1.htm