007: Mind

Before I go too far into the misty abyss of abstraction and dancing shadows of my own mind, it’s important that I restate the basic purpose of these essays, in effect to tether myself to something simple and concrete, grounded in the reality of everyday experience, as Eric Cartman famously did before entering the smug-filled city of San Francisco where people are lost in the vapor of their own farts. I like learning things. The problem is often that I’m not sure how much I actually understood. I can read a book and feel I’ve made total sense of it, but ask me to explain what I got in a few crisp sentences, and I fall apart. That’s not necessarily to say that I didn’t get anything from it, but that whatever it was is still in gaseous form, not yet distilled into something you can put in a mason jar and share. Of course, when it’s in that gassy form, there can also seem to be much more of it than I’ll get from the drip. In other words, half the time I know what I mean but I can’t say it, and the other half I have no clue what’s going on.
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Slow Havamal: 4

In the fourth verse, we are told that the man arriving needs water and dry clothes. That a warm welcome from a friendly host will do him well. And beside his basic needs, it would be good to share our stories, and listen to his.

Odin once more reminds us to tend to the basic needs of the guest—apparently those dry clothes are worth a second mention. But the main thrust of this verse is the social aspect. The man at the door needs water. He’ll be parched from a long journey. From a physical standpoint, thirst is primary to all the other requirements while we still draw breath. I have no idea if the Norse had elemental systems the way that the Greeks or the Chinese did, but water meant more than just the cold liquid running over the cup in those latter. It also symbolized healing, and connection between things—whether a river to travel by, a meeting place, or the words people exchange. The emotional life and that which can be shared by two individuals would have all been “watery” to a number of past cultures.
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