Slow Havamal: 103

[kylec]

In verse 103, we’re advised that if we want to be wise, we should be happy at home and cheerful with our guests; cultivate wisdom, memory, and eloquence; and speak kindly, often. If we can’t say much it will reveal us as unwise.

Much of Havamal deals with how to treat guests, and after a side trek, we return to that advice in this verse. It’s important, first, to be happy at home. If we’re restless and feel like our daily lives are a prison, desiring to leave it all for something better, or if it isn’t the road that calls us but a more lavish living space, a change of dwelling, it sets us up to be poor hosts. How much easier is it to be cheerful when guests arrive if we love our home, our time there, and want to share it?

Our home in this case can be out literal house, but I think it’s useful to expand it to all spaces and processes of daily support. That includes our habits, our beliefs, ideas, thoughts, rituals, hobbies, associates, and more. If we’re not happy, we should make a change. If we can’t, or won’t, we should learn to accept this place as ours for the time, and find a perspective that allows us to be restored here, rather than counting the days and hours until our release.

There is no mention of hosts, but I have to think that when we find ourselves as the guest, the prescription of cheer also applies. Even a forced cheer is better than being a grump.

There are many components to wisdom in Havamal, and the advice to cultivate it can apply to the whole palette mentioned in previous verses. In addition, Odin recommends a good memory and eloquence. It would be hard to be wise if we forgot our past experiences, and to speak wisely requires that some of what we learn be retained. It isn’t enough to simply live, or to remember the lessons, though. It’s also important that we can articulate ourselves to others in a manner that they appreciate. Be not curt or loquacious, clumsy or conceited, but say what we mean so that the other can find it in that lump of words. Words are not truth or wisdom. They can convey it, but they can also conceal it.

If we have nothing else to say, no wisdom to pass on or smart remarks, we can always fall back on kind words. These should be genuine. There’s hardly a person or a place without a single decent aspect. Even the lowest creature has a glint of dignity. The wise can look around and find something worth praising. We can greet each other politely, listen compassionately, and offer support. We can tell the truth when it’s kind, and a white lie when it isn’t. Or at least say please and thank you.

And if despite our best efforts we can find nothing good or cheerful, we must accept the mark of the unwise, return to our home, learn to be happy there, and cultivate wisdom.