Fear, strangers as angels, (self-) transcendence, and the usefulness of failure
A number of weeks ago, three of my LinkedIn connections posted some passages from various sources that caught my attention and seemed somewhat related, as if belonging in a cluster - and to which I would add a fourth.
1) Gordana Lekovic shared the following quote from Bertrand Russell (British philosopher, 1872–1970), among other Russell quotes:
“It is normal to hate what we fear, and it happens frequently that we fear what we hate. I think it may be taken as the rule among primitive men, that they both fear and hate whatever is unfamiliar.”
This seems natural or normative, like a survival instinct: We hate and fear our enemies, as we often do strangers.
2) But this brought to mind Hamlet’s words to Horatio: Late in 1.5, upon seeing the ghost again, Horatio says, “this is wondrous strange!” Hamlet replies, “And therefore as a stranger give it welcome.”
Hamlet seems to be thinking of the biblical injunctions to welcome the stranger:
Hebrews 13:2 (in the Geneva translation with which Shakespeare was probably familiar) reads, “Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have received Angels into their houses unawares.”
This is based in part on the older tale of Abraham and Sarah welcoming three strangers who thank them for their hospitality and give them a parting blessing: We’ll visit again next year, and at that time you will have a son.
Abraham and Sarah take this to have been a visitation from three angels of God, and the tale is later used to reinforce the idea of the importance of hospitality toward strangers.
And yet perhaps Horatio is correct to fear the unknown: What if it’s a demon in disguise? In welcoming what is strange, we may be inviting our own destruction (David Proud also notes this in relation to Hamlet and the ghost).
3) Around the same time as Gordana's post, David Proud quoted Hegel (German philosopher, 1770–1831):
“He (Oedipus) who was able to unlock the riddle of the Sphinx, and he who trusted with childlike confidence, (Orestes), are, therefore, both sent to destruction through what the god revealed to them.”
Are the gods out to destroy us? Sometimes it would seem so.
And yet the riddle of the Sphinx reveals that we are all on a path to old age and the grave, so the path of (self-) transcendence is always, at least in one sense, a path to our own destruction.
4) Madalina Dobraca offered a quote from Patrick White (Nobel Prize in Literature, 1973), about how failure may be one the keys for (self-) transcendence:
“The mystery of life is not solved by success, which is an end in itself, but in failure, in perpetual struggle, in becoming.”
So even if the gods conspire to lead us toward failures and our doom, we can still welcome the strange, and it may all be for the good. The path to destruction is also a path toward our evolution and fuller becoming.
Many thanks to Gordana, David, and Madalina for sharing these quotes around the same time!
~~~~~~~
Image credits:
Left/top: Bertrand Russell, image via The Guardian, cropped. Fair use.
Left/bottom: Gordana Lekovic, profile pic image via LinkedIn.
Center/top: Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, painted by Jakob Schlesinger (1831). Image via Wikimedia. Public domain.
Center/bottom: David Proud, profile pic image via LinkedIn.
Right/top: Patrick White, Photo: Ingmar Björkstén, 1973, cropped, via Nobel.org. Fair use.
Right/bottom: Madalina Dobraca, profile pic via LinkedIn.
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Disclaimer: If and when I quote or paraphrase bible passages or mention religion in many of my blog posts, I do not intend to promote any religion over another, nor am I attempting to promote religious belief in general; only to explore how the Bible and religion influenced Shakespeare, his plays, and his age.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thanks for reading!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My current project is a book tentatively titled Hamlet’s Bible, about biblical allusions and plot echoes in Hamlet.
Below is a link to a list of some of my top posts (“greatest hits”), including a description of my book project (last item on the list):
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2019/12/top-20-hamlet-bible-posts.html
I post every week, so please visit as often as you like and consider subscribing.
“It is normal to hate what we fear, and it happens frequently that we fear what we hate. I think it may be taken as the rule among primitive men, that they both fear and hate whatever is unfamiliar.”
This seems natural or normative, like a survival instinct: We hate and fear our enemies, as we often do strangers.
2) But this brought to mind Hamlet’s words to Horatio: Late in 1.5, upon seeing the ghost again, Horatio says, “this is wondrous strange!” Hamlet replies, “And therefore as a stranger give it welcome.”
Hamlet seems to be thinking of the biblical injunctions to welcome the stranger:
Hebrews 13:2 (in the Geneva translation with which Shakespeare was probably familiar) reads, “Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have received Angels into their houses unawares.”
This is based in part on the older tale of Abraham and Sarah welcoming three strangers who thank them for their hospitality and give them a parting blessing: We’ll visit again next year, and at that time you will have a son.
Abraham and Sarah take this to have been a visitation from three angels of God, and the tale is later used to reinforce the idea of the importance of hospitality toward strangers.
And yet perhaps Horatio is correct to fear the unknown: What if it’s a demon in disguise? In welcoming what is strange, we may be inviting our own destruction (David Proud also notes this in relation to Hamlet and the ghost).
3) Around the same time as Gordana's post, David Proud quoted Hegel (German philosopher, 1770–1831):
“He (Oedipus) who was able to unlock the riddle of the Sphinx, and he who trusted with childlike confidence, (Orestes), are, therefore, both sent to destruction through what the god revealed to them.”
Are the gods out to destroy us? Sometimes it would seem so.
And yet the riddle of the Sphinx reveals that we are all on a path to old age and the grave, so the path of (self-) transcendence is always, at least in one sense, a path to our own destruction.
4) Madalina Dobraca offered a quote from Patrick White (Nobel Prize in Literature, 1973), about how failure may be one the keys for (self-) transcendence:
“The mystery of life is not solved by success, which is an end in itself, but in failure, in perpetual struggle, in becoming.”
So even if the gods conspire to lead us toward failures and our doom, we can still welcome the strange, and it may all be for the good. The path to destruction is also a path toward our evolution and fuller becoming.
Many thanks to Gordana, David, and Madalina for sharing these quotes around the same time!
~~~~~~~
Image credits:
Left/top: Bertrand Russell, image via The Guardian, cropped. Fair use.
Left/bottom: Gordana Lekovic, profile pic image via LinkedIn.
Center/top: Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, painted by Jakob Schlesinger (1831). Image via Wikimedia. Public domain.
Center/bottom: David Proud, profile pic image via LinkedIn.
Right/top: Patrick White, Photo: Ingmar Björkstén, 1973, cropped, via Nobel.org. Fair use.
Right/bottom: Madalina Dobraca, profile pic via LinkedIn.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Disclaimer: If and when I quote or paraphrase bible passages or mention religion in many of my blog posts, I do not intend to promote any religion over another, nor am I attempting to promote religious belief in general; only to explore how the Bible and religion influenced Shakespeare, his plays, and his age.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thanks for reading!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My current project is a book tentatively titled Hamlet’s Bible, about biblical allusions and plot echoes in Hamlet.
Below is a link to a list of some of my top posts (“greatest hits”), including a description of my book project (last item on the list):
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2019/12/top-20-hamlet-bible-posts.html
I post every week, so please visit as often as you like and consider subscribing.
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