Slow Havamal: 56

In the 56th verse, there’s another repetition of the first half from verses 54 and 55, then we’re told that it’s better not to know what will happen to us ahead of time. That ignorance will make us happier.

For the third time, we’re admonished to be only a little wise. The second half of this week’s verse focuses on knowing our fates in advance. That suggests to me a connection between wisdom and the ability to predict the future. Of course, one of the things Odin learned in his search for wisdom was the runes, and runes are a popular divinatory practice today. I don’t happen to know if they were used like that in the 10th century, and I doubt it. That said, even if this is a caution against the overuse of oracles, an ability to interpret signs of futures to come from an oracle isn’t that different from being able to look around you and guess where events are heading. Both rely on associating certain signs, whether a rune or a sequence of events that you’ve seen before, and connecting it to a type of outcome witnessed in the past. A man teetering on a balance beam can be a warning of a potential fall, for example.( Read more... )