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Why the Name of This Blog?

The whole land is in desolation...there is mourning everywhere--all because the the Fisher King is wounded. (1)

Parsifal stumbles upon the Fisher King but stays quiet and misses his first opportunity. His mom or his mentor had told him: "don't ask too many questions."

After being raked over the coals by the "hideous damsel", whacking his way through forests for forty years, and berated by the Hermit, Parsifal again finds the castle of the King. This time he's got enough experience, courage and wisdom to ask a question: "Uncle, what ails Thee?" (2) In some versions, "Whom does the Grail serve?"

I can identify. I once served in a war that I didn't believe in and did so because I was partially ignorant and also fearful of rejection by family and society.

Assumptions

Assumptions, then:

1)Our land and rulers are wounded. Many activists are strong on this point.

2)Each of us carrys the wound, too. Many spiritual and psychological folks are strong on this point.

3)It's the approach of this weblog, following the guidance of Erich Fromm, R.D.Laing, M.L.King, Thich Nhat Hanh, Starhawk, David Edwards, and others, that "liberation", whether individual or societal, needs work on both fronts.

Finally, not irrelevant, Parsifal, a Christian knight, has a Muslim brother, Feirefiz, whom he does not know.

(1)Johnson, Robert. He. Religious Publ. Co., 1974, p. 8.
(2)Campbell, Joseph. Creative Mythology. Viking Press, 1968, p. 561.

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