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tower m ottotower m ottotower m otto

Relate to the practice of meditation: tower m otto

A human being is a part of the whole, called by us "Universe," a part limited in time and space.  He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness.  This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us.  Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.  Nobody is able to achieve this completely, but the striving for such achievement is in itself a part of the liberation and a foundation for inner security.

Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)  Mathematical Circles

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Pay attention, then you will know there are other options. It will actually be within your power to experience a crowded, hot, slow, consumer-hell type situation as not only meaningful, but  sacred, on fire with the same force that made the stars: love, fellowship, the mystical oneness of all things deep down.

David Foster Wallace, Commencement Speech

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Love alone can unite living beings so as to complete and fulfill them... for it alone joins them by what is deepest in themselves. All we need is to imagine our ability to love developing until it embraces the totality of men and the earth." 
~ Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

Dass Guided Imagery

"LOVE AND DO WHAT YOU WILL"  St. Augustine

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#1-24 Gawain and Perfectionism 2;  Quiz in class on Brown and Second Half of Gawain; "; extra credit for all for coming in costumes from the Arthurian/medieval period

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Gawain and the Green Knight: The Challenge of the Gothic North

Gawain

 

 

TODAY'S GOALS: “to know thyself.” To know one’s strengths and weaknesses . Self-awareness is essential not only for leadership and ethics, but for good writing for it enables self-management of time and emotional as well as intellectual resources.honi soit motto Goals for Best and Worst: see list

TODAY'S TOPICS:perfectionism; Gawain;

 TODAY'S ACTIVITIES: QUIZ ON GAWAIN AND BROWN, PERFORMANCE OF END OF GAWAIN POEMS, APRIL DATE FOR TANAGUCHI GARDEN, DISCUSSION OF QUIZ AND BLOGS, ETC. 

 

Recommended Reading:

original ed. J RR Tolkien  stanzaic trans Deane 1999     trans. Neilsen audio


 

 

UP TO 10 PTS. C.P. EXTRA CREDIT FOR ANY STUDENT COMING IN ARTHURIAN COSTUME

UP TO 12 PTS. C.P. EXTRA CREDIT FOR  PERFORMING ON OF THESE ROLES (FROM A SCRIPT)

Narrator: ?

Green Knight:?

Gawain: ?

Items supplied by instructor: paper crowns, toy axe, green giant mask, plastic ivy, king's robes (white)

    SCRIPT FOR CLASS PERFORMANCE 1-24

    NA, WITH GK AND G ACTING OUT THE WORDS:   

    Then the Green Knight made him ready, and grasped his grim weapon to smite Gawain. With all his force he bore it aloft with a mighty feint of slaying him: had it fallen as straight as he aimed he who was ever doughty of deed had been slain by the blow. But Gawain swerved aside as the axe came gliding down to slay him as he stood, and shrank a little with the shoulders, for the sharp iron. The other heaved up the blade and rebuked the prince with many proud words:
    GK:   

    "Thou art not Gawain, who is held so valiant, that never feared he man by hill or vale, but thou shrinkest for fear ere thou feelest hurt. Such cowardice did I never hear of Gawain! Neither did I flinch from thy blow, or make strife in King Arthur's hall. My head fell to my feet, and yet I fled not; but thou didst wax faint of heart ere any harm befell. Wherefore must I be deemed the braver knight."

     

    SECOND STRIKE: NA: The Green Knight “heaved aloft the axe with fierce mien, as if he were mad. He struck at him fiercely but wounded him not, withholding his hand ere it might strike him.


    THIRD STRIKE: NA: He lifted the axe lightly and let it fall with the edge of the blade on the bare neck. Though he struck swiftly it hurt him no more than on the one side where it severed the skin. The sharp blade cut into the flesh so that the blood ran over his shoulder to the ground.

    GK: First I menaced thee with a feigned one, and hurt thee not for the covenant that we made in the first night, and which thou didst hold truly. All the gain didst thou give me as a true man should.

    The other feint I proffered thee for the morrow: my fair wife kissed thee, and thou didst give me her kisses--for both those days I gave thee two blows without scathe--true man, true return.

    But the third time thou didst fail, and therefore hadst thou that blow…..I sent [my wife] to try thee, and in sooth I think thou art the most faultless knight that ever trode earth …. But thou didst lack a little, Sir Knight, and wast wanting in loyalty,"

    G: For fear of thy blow cowardice bade me make friends with covetousness and forsake the customs of largess and loyalty, which befit all knights. Now am I faulty and false and have been afeared: from treachery and untruth come sorrow and care. I avow to thee, Sir Knight, that I have ill done;

    GK: thou hast made such free confession of thy misdeeds, and hast so borne the penance of mine axe edge, that I hold thee absolved from that sin, and purged as clean as if thou hadst never sinned since thou wast born. And

    this [WRIST BAND] that is wrought with green, like my raiment, do I give thee, Sir Gawain, that thou mayest think upon this chance when thou goest forth among princes of renown, and keep this for a token of the adventure of the Green Chapel,

    G: as for thy [WRIST BAND], that will I take with good will, …. in sign of my frailty. I shall look upon it when I ride in renown and remind myself of the fault and faintness of the flesh; and so when pride uplifts me for prowess of arms, the sight of this lace shall humble my heart..

    GK PUTS THE GREEN [BAND ON] BALDRIC ACROSS GAWAIN’S [WRIST] CHEST

     

    BACK IN ARTHUR'S COURT

    N: he bare the shining [WRIST BAND] girdle as a baldric bound by his side, and made fast with a knot 'neath his left arm, in token that he was taken in a fault--and thus he came in safety again to the court…. He showed them the wound in the neck which he won for his disloyalty at the hand of the knight, the blood flew to his face for shame as he told the tale.   

    G: "this is the bond of the blame that I bear in my neck, this is the harm and the loss I have suffered, the cowardice and covetousness in which I was caught, the token of my covenant in which I was taken. And I must needs wear it so long as I live, for none may hide his harm, but undone it may not be, for if it hath clung to thee once, it may never be severed."   

    N: Then the king comforted the knight, and the court laughed loudly at the tale, and all made accord that the lords and the ladies who belonged to the Round Table, each hero among them, should wear bound about him [HER WRIST] a baldric [BAND] of bright green for the sake of Sir Gawain.

    And to this was agreed all the honour of the Round Table, and he who ware it was honoured the more thereafter.

    KING ARTHUR NOW ASKS EACH MEMBER OF THE ROUND TABLE IF S/HE RENOUNCES PERFECTIONISM.  IF THEY ANSWER ‘I DO’ THE KING KNIGHTS EACH MEMBER OF THE ROUND TABLE AND THE GREEN KNIGHT BESTOWS THE GREEN BAND ON EACH. NEWLY KNIGHTED, EACH MEMBER PROCLAIMS LOUDLY

     

    "HONI SOIT QUI MAL Y PENSE"


The Orders of the Garter and the Thistle

 

Gawain and the Green Knight: The Challenge of the Gothic North to Arthur's Round Table:

Gawain

Gawain

 

BBC DOCUMENTARY

WARD DOCUENTARY

AUDIO VERSION  FIRST NINETY LINES

AMATEUR MOVIE VERSION

ANIMATION PART One

 

 

ANIMATION PART TWO

ANIMATION PART THREE

Gawain

A green man looks down on the Christians at Christ Church cathedral, Oxford

"Green Men" sculptures at Winchester, at York, and at Oxford: Balliol Library, the Bodleian Library, Merton Chapel, and City Hall

"Green Women" on the tomb of St. Frideswide, Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford

Green Giant in the home of the Vikings

Online Resources

Gawain

 CONNECT, HAMMER INTO UNITY: Your Head and Your Heart

honi soit motto

“Stress Recess” Stressed by papers? Tests? Relationship issues? For these and other stressors, take a few minutes to check out a new interactive website called “Stress Recess” at http://www.cmhc.utexas.edu/stressrecess, a component of the UT Counseling and Mental Health Center. This site is loaded with videos, animation, video games, body scans, quizzes, clickable charts and graphics and practical information tailored to YOU. Learn what causes stress, signs of stress and—most importantly---what you can do to manage stress in healthy ways!

     

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