Slow Havamal: 30

[kylec]

In the 30th verse, the first part cautions us not to ridicule a visitor, while the second points out that men seem wise when we don’t question them, letting them brood with dry skin.

This verse is a bit of an enigma. Crawford notes that the two halves don’t seem to go together, and that there may be some corruption. The first is also phrased in a way that sounds as though it says we shouldn’t ridicule a man, “even if he comes visiting,” which suggests that visitors are normally a prime target of ridicule. This conflicts with a lot of earlier verses. Crawford suggests it probably means that we should not make fun of visiting strangers’ customs and errors just because they are unfamiliar to us. This is how I’ll take it.

Regardless, we have a firm piece of advice to never ridicule others. Ridicule is something we do when we see events that are bizarre, or abnormal. We point out how odd they are in a funny or abusive way. What we miss is that our ways may seem just as odd to one who lives so differently. There is no absolutely right or wrong way to live. Our norms are other people’s circuses. At best, what we’re saying is that one has failed to observe the context and act accordingly. When in Rome, he continued to behave like a Carthaginian. Those who live among us should know better, we think. There is great social pressure to conform to common behavior, because it makes life easy on us. We know what to expect, and those behaviors are proven to uphold whatever standards of relating to one another we’ve chosen. Ridicule is an effective way of policing a system—a set of rules to live by, which have strengths and weaknesses for those who participate.

Havamal would prefer we consider that our perspective is not absolute, and that we watch, listen, and learn. There is value in being conservative and upholding tradition. There is also value in exploring novelty and seeing others’ sides of the story. In fact, this seems to be where wisdom comes from. New wisdom is gained from strange encounters, that are then integrated into conservative systems that provide value. This process is necessarily always ongoing. We should approach the bizarre with interest, at least until we know what it’s about.

The second half of this verse hearkens back to recent verses, where men can seem wise if they shut up. Maybe in this case, we’re being invited to question. Don’t assume one is wise because he broods with dry skin. I take that to mean a traveler who arrives dry, probably from easy travels, and attempts to withdraw from the social scene. A stranger—as well as any strange thoughts, words, events—need to be questioned. We should not blindly assign wisdom where a few simple challenges may prove this is no road-wise wanderer but a petty impostor.

In a desperate move to integrate the two halves, I’ll sum it up by saying that when strange strangers arrive, we should neither make fun of their ways, nor assume those ways are wise without examination. Remember, this stranger may be literal, or it may be a passing feeling, a passion, a new book, or anything else that happens upon us. The best approach is to learn as much as we can with an open mind by asking the right questions and genuinely listening with a intention to learn, rather than trying to spot something foolish by which to dismiss it entirely.