Sir Galahad 1881 | Herbert Gustave Schmalz (1856-1935)

Recommended: “Treasure Trove of Irish Myth and Folklore” by William Butler Yeats.

"No matter how small, a change can still be part of something greater. Even then, when he held a position of power, he fought for all of them to be treated equally. He considered everyone as a human being, even those who stood against him."

The Power of the Powerless
Vaclav Havel
October, 1978

Can they actually change anything? ... The potential of the powerless can only begin with an examination of the nature of power in the circumstances in which these powerless people operate.

Civilizations rise and fall, and cosmic ages come and go.

Look at the mess they have created, look how far they have strayed from the Path and descended into perfect folly.

Look how estranged they have become from Nature and how their ways are contrary to Her. Look how unsightly their carcasses have turned, sickly, infirm.

The purpose of their lives is to satisfy their senses and base desires. They live and die knowing and understanding only that.

But you are different, aren't you? And your soul calls you to higher things.

Therefore, arise on this day and every day and surf that Kali Yuga.

At dawn, when you have trouble getting out of bed, tell yourself: “I have to go to work — as a human being. What do I have to complain of, if I’m going to do what I was born for — the things I was brought into the world to do? Or is this what I was created for? To huddle under the blankets and stay warm?”

So you were born to feel “nice”? Instead of doing things and experiencing them? Don’t you see the plants, the birds, the ants and spiders and bees going about their individual tasks, putting the world in order, as best they can? And you’re not willing to do your job as a human being? Why aren’t you running to do what your nature demands?

You don’t love yourself enough. Or you’d love your nature too, and what it demands of you.

Marcus Aurelius

The Old English term grǣg-hama meant grey-coated or grey-cloaked and was a kenning for a wolf. Tolkien later used the term as a name for Gandalf in Gandalf Greyhame.

The battle frenzy was come upon the Friend of the Raven. He was no more the gray-bearded husband of Frig, but Grim, the Masked One. The All-father, host of the Hall of Happiness, had donned a different aspect. Now was he Fire-eyed, the Evildoer, Blind, Double-blind. Out of decay arises growth; from destruction, rebirth; from fire, fertilization. The god bears more than one face, though he be one behind the masks.

- The Coming of the King. Nicolai Tolstoy.
- Art by Arthur Rackham.

The names Tolstoy uses to describe Odin are all attested - (Báleygr, Bǫlverkr, Blindr, Tvíblindi)