An author interview with a good perspective?

Question

I recently read an author interview in which the author was asked why she decided to portray the coming of Christianity to the Viking world. The book, by the way, is a historical fiction. I thought it very interesting what she had to say....
"All cultures pay a heavy price for the loss of any perspective, a different way to interpret the world and the lives of all its creatures. Like taking a single color out of the myriad shades of the spectrum, we suffer from a kind of blindness, a narrowing of scope. "
One of her main characters had this to say, the last line, incidentally of the book "It matters not - not what they are named, so long as they are called."
What do you think about it? Does it make you feel saddened that so much heritage is lost?

T D good point...the line was a seeress speaking of Gods....

Soul..little did I need a lesson in "truth"...thanks for answering though

Answer 1

I can't judge the meaning of the last line out of context, though I guess it has something to do with ne-naming after baptism.

It is sad when heritage is lost, but our attitude to heritage is probably more reverential now than at any other time. For instance, many old buldings are protected by law from alteration, and languages and dialects are recorded for posterity.

I'd also add that just as we lose things, so new things are created.

No culture can be static, all cultures must chage to survive and an element of change iis destruction.

Perhaps you would enjoy reading K. Clark's "Civilisation" (also a tv series)?

Answer 2

"What do you think about it? Does it make you feel saddened that so much heritage is lost?"

One day King Solomon decided to humble Benaiah ben Yehoyada, his most trusted minister. He said to him, “Benaiah, there is a certain ring that I want you to bring to me. I wish to wear it for the Sukkot festival, which gives you six months to find it.”

“If it exists anywhere on earth, your majesty,” replied Benaiah, “I will find it and bring it to you, but what makes the ring so special?”

“It has special powers,” answered the king. “If a happy man looks at it, he becomes sad, and if a sad man looks at it, he becomes happy.” Solomon knew that no such ring existed in the world, but he wished to give his minister some added humility.

Spring passed and then summer, and still Benaiah had no idea where he could find the ring. On the day before Sukkot, he decided to take a walk in one of the poorest quarters of Jerusalem. He passed by a merchant who had begun to set out the day’s wares on a shabby carpet. “Have you by any chance heard of a special ring that makes the happy wearer forget his joy and the broken-hearted wearer forget his sorrows?” asked Benaiah.

He watched the elderly man take a plain gold ring from his carpet and engrave something on it. When Benaiah read the words on the ring, his face broke out in a wide smile.

That night the entire city welcomed in the holiday of Sukkot with great festivity. “Well, my friend,” said King Solomon, “have you found what I sent you after?” All the ministers laughed and Solomon himself smiled.

To everyone’s surprise, Benaiah held up a small gold ring and declared, “Here it is, your majesty!” As soon as Solomon read the inscription, the smile vanished from his face. The jeweler had written three Hebrew letters on the gold band: Gimel, Zayin, Yud, which begin the words “Gam zeh ya’avor — This too shall pass.”

all is transient -- all cultures all heritage will one day be dust. even the life of mother earth is finite (and would be without mankind hurrying it along).

Finity is both a curse and a blessing. Heritage may be lost, but not Truth, for Truth lives only in the soul. Cultivate Truth in your soul to best serve both heaven and earth.