• Grail Quests
• Downsides to the Grail
• Themes Covered in this Old Grail Quest

Grail Quests

Boys [were] snooping around, in the most conscientious way, though none of them had any idea where the Holy Grail really was, and I don't think any of them actually expected to find it, or would have known what to do with it if he had run across it. [Mark Twain]

The legend combines a dash of Christian lore with imagery of early Medieval romances that draw on a Celtic myth of a cauldron that has special powers: Bran the Blessed's life-restoring cauldron, of the Mabinogion, a work of early Celtic myth and folklore.

The term "grail" comes from the Latin gradale, which meant a dish brought to the table during various stages (Latin "gradus") or courses of a meal, says the Camelot Project [1].

The Grail is first featured in the incomplete poem "Perceval, The Story of the Grail" by Chrétien de Troyes. The influential poem dates from the late 1100s. The grail in it was a bowl or dish and not particularly holy. The idea that it was holy was added in later verse romances, which were heavily associated with legends spun around the fabled King Arthur and his court, where the quest for the Grail was the highest spiritual pursuit.

"What were they going to do with the Grail when they found it, Mr Rossetti?" [Max Beerbohm]

Others of the late 100s and later centuries got other grail ideas. The results of it all include many cups claimed to be the Grail in several churches. Also, in Wolfram von Eschenbach's telling, the Grail was kept safe at the castle of Munsalvaesche, entrusted to the first Grail King. This grail was a stone which provided sustenance and prevented anyone who beheld it from dying within the week. Other stories claim that the Grail is buried beneath Rosslyn Chapel or lies deep in the spring at Glastonbury Tor. Still other stories claim that a secret line of hereditary protectors keep the Grail, or that it was hidden by the Knight Templars in Oak Island, Nova Scotia's famous "Money Pit", while local folklore in Accokeek, Maryland says that it was brought to the town by a closeted priest aboard Captain John Smith's ship. Turn of the century accounts state that Irish partisans of the Clan Dhuir (O'Dwyer, Dwyer) transported the Grail to the United States during the 1800s and the grail was kept by their descendents in secrecy in a small abbey in the upper-Northwest – and so on.

The grail fairly often identified with a dish, plate, or cup used by Jesus at the Last Supper. Medieval minds spun legends around the blurred concept, after the the Roman church was beginning to add more ceremony and mysticism around the sacrament called Holy Communion. The Grail legends were outcomes of the Western church, one may say.

Mark Twain: "It ain't those parts of the Bible that I can't understand that bother me, it is the parts that I do understand."

In most versions of the grail legend the hero must prove himself worthy to be in its presence. Not unlike God's grace, the grail may be available to all but fully seen only by those who prepare themselves.

James Russell Lowell's "The Vision of Sir Launfal" was one of the most popular American poems of the 1800s. In it, he gave a democratized notion of the Grail quest as something achievable by anyone who is truly charitable, according to the Camelot Project.

[Main source: Wikipedia, s.v. "The Holy Grail".

Secondary source: The Camelot Project, University of Rochester.]

Downsides to the Grail

A father was reading Bible stories to his young son. He read: "The man named Lot was warned to take his wife and flee out of the city but his wife looked back and was turned to salt."

His son asked: "What happened to the flea?"

Every tub needs to stand on its own bottom, says a proverb. Dare to ask, then, "What does the Grail stand on? What is on the downside of it?" A possible downside: You cannot all use the Grail while remaining unhealthy human beings. Even if you do come across it, you cannot do much with it unless you qualify for the use of it. Likewise, to handle a truth you have to qualify for it, be up to it.

Study those vital issues to draw your own conclusions if it is not too late for that. A little book reading to assist such mental work could do you good. Reasons why: [Link].

As you go on to consider the fit way of life for yourself, dare to state what you prefer, adding "enough" to the choices (or items) too as you wish.

How will you be?

Write down your sincere responses. Here is the tip again: Go for the things in boldface before you come to harm.

FIGURE. Six choices on six slide scales. Mark off along the horizontal bars - the higher the numbers, the higher intensity, the stronger and more emphatic the "yes!". Then count your scores. Study your informal profile. Less than 4 on any score suggests that you are vulnerable to derangements or negative influences.

On a Quest for the Grail it may be normal - conforming to holistic health - to want 5 on each parameter (score). Now consider each dichotomy (pair) in the light of the Bible:

1. Healthy: Jesus said to them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous [not morally depraved ones], but sinners." [Mark 2:17; cf. Matthew 9:12-13].

2. Human: "How much more valuable is a man than a sheep!" [Matthew 12:12]. Compare "I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me." [John 10:14]. "My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me." [John 10:27] - "Simon . . . Take care of my sheep." [John 21:16]. Being human is better than being a sheep anyway, he says.

3. Self-possessed: Development into maturity consists in getting more and more steered from within, by such as a maturing conscience. Further, Abraham Maslow's study of outstanding persons confirm that they are far more inner-directed than conform ones he compares them with. There is much research that shows that meditation helps being self-controlled (self-possessed), whereas being taken over or ridden by some demon or other entity marked by glossolalia suggests being possessed (in a biblical sense), judged from the symptoms [More].

4. Artistic: Artistic ones manage to be independent of mind in some areas, at least. Ensnared, conform and duped ones on the other hand, may end up dry, barren or sterile. Many get focused on glamour instead of become nice craftspersons and so on, few master the educational ways that keep and develop zest for learning rather than becoming "dog-trainers" that molest young persons into conformism.

5. Safe: Do you follow Jesus if you don't do all he demands? Not that you have to, though [Acts 15 and 21:25]. But how can you be a Jewish-Christian follower without giving away to the poor all you have and own, since such largely self-destructive conduct is part of what he insists on for Jews? (Jesus said he was only for Jews, remember.)

   If you do abandon all property and take no heed for tomorrow, you are mightily unfit for the tough business world, to say the least, where money and planning strategies are at its very core. Make sure you make no mistake, if you are under the Deal of Gentile followers. Acts 15 is about that. That Deal dispenses with all but four requirements. The commands of Jesus were not required, and the Bible not required reading either (There was not New Testament back then.)

   If you pay lip service to gospel sayings, doing one thing and saying another for Sunday uses, that cannot be good for you either. Stop that, for being whole-hearted counts a lot, and eases integrity as well.

   Among men and in variable non-generous climates, general safety is had by handy rules of living that are followed day in, day out, whereas lots of commands by Jesus make you self-maiming, self-impoverishing victims of what looks like destructive plots. But perhaps you decide to be one of those condemned to hell by Jesus for hypocrisy by telling you "follow Jesus" without actually doing it in all matters? Well, those who called Jesus "Lord, Lord", without doing what he said, he condemned to hell, frankly.

   But rejoice it this: there is hope anyhow, for words and deeds by Jesus were intended "for Jews only," he said. However, when the Father's plan with Jews failed, and Jesus was killed to very little avail as compared to those plans, the sect spread to Gentile guys. At the same time the requirements were reduced to only four for non-Jewish followers. [Acts 15, confirmed in Acts 21:25]. The four essentials for non-Jewish Christians, are no-no to blood food and adultery, no to eating certain remnants, and no to food from animals who had died without being slaughtered. But paying attention to self-maimer sayings of Jesus and other demands that are too hard are luckily not required (most of his disciples deserted him for that reason. The twelve that remained with him, did not dare to stand up for him when he was caught in the garden of Getsemaneh.).

   Anyway, you don't have to profess vainly, boastingly, while you don't really live up to it more than a bit. You should be glad that you don't have to profess and fail, profess and fail, considering what hypocrisy does to a man or woman.

6. Sincere in main dealings: Jesus blamed Pharisees heavily and repeatedly for being hypocrites, he said the Law of Moses was valid, and broke it. Later followers followed up by blaming others, for example for adultery, while they themselves kept on eating blood food against the word of God and all the apostles [Acts 15] . . .

   Restrictive, confused persons are not good role models, and they do not get really better when they crucify and sacrifice innocent victims. That is the main failt with the Christian: he or she hails vicarious sacrifice as splendid, while it is brutish, corrupt, and against the law in civilized societies.

SO: From this you should get an inkling of what you are up to . . . or do you? First, all the apostles and the Holy Spirit dispensed with all of the commands of Jesus for Gentile followers - they were not there -, and ended up with just four requirements for non-Jewish followers. It is in the Bible. Acts 15 is about that, and it is conformed in Acts 21:25.

You should know what deal is yours: Unless you are a circumcised, Saturday-resting Jew, there should be no reason to chew on sayings and commands of Jesus, for he "was only for Jews," he informed. He aspired to save them together with his Father, but it failed so badly. Afterwards, the "fisher net" was cast over Gentiles. Acts tell of it. And as there is no good reason to say you follow Jesus, accordingly, you must say no to being looked on as a regular "hypocrite who says yes to Jesus" but without doing significant things he commands (in vain). As it is written, it is uncalled for to say you follow Jesus if you are a reborn Christian with your foreskin intact . . .

You can go for not letting widespread hypicrisy and confusion be your lot, or the chances are you degenerate. That is what I am telling you. The Bible tells that if you want to be healthy and have a good life (the old pact is very much like it), then Jesus-Christianity, also called "original Christianity as taught by Jesus Christ" is largely not for you, for sane humans don't need Jesus, he teaches. And why? He is just for scoundrels, that is, sinners and that ilk, he says, and also that he came for Jews only, not for others. That is what the gospels tells. What is more, his "missionary command" at the end of Matthew is a later addition, and a forgery according to Joseph Wheless. As you can see if you follow the link, there is solid back-up in the New Testament for a conclusion like that.

You do well to aim for a higher life. Maybe you don't believe Jesus in the matter in order to keep on saying that you "follow him"? To be ridden that way could be the sign of being screwed up and confused, among other things. [Mark 2:17].

But since you are not really bound by the demands of Jesus (they were for Jews, he tells), but think that the real deal for non-Jews (described in Acts 15) is all right, then shun adultery as much as having black pudding and blood sausage for dinner.

There is a disputed quotation by Winston Churchill: "Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened." In Denmark, black pudding is Christmas food. Should we laugh or cry or both? At the very least we should stay awake to to that "following Jesus" has been outdated for nearly 2000 years. Beautiful Christianity is about getting the Holy Spirit and follow the four requirements for non-Jews. Along that road we may adjust to the Second Vatican counsil as we feel guided to it. It decrees the Church rejects nothing that is holy and true in such as Buddhism and Hinduism:

In Hinduism, men contemplate the divine mystery . . . through an inexhaustible abundance of myths and through searching philosophical inquiry. They seek freedom . . . through . . . profound meditation . . .

Buddhism, in its various forms, . . . . teaches a way by which men, in a . . . confident spirit, may be able either to acquire . . . perfect liberation, or attain, by their own efforts or through higher help, supreme illumination. . . .

The Catholic Church rejects nothing that is true and holy in these religions . . . [For many] ways of conduct and of life, . . . precepts and teachings . . . often reflect a ray of that Truth which enlightens all men.

The Church, therefore, exhorts her sons [and daughters to] recognize, preserve and promote the good things, spiritual and moral, as well as the socio-cultural values found . . .

5.

. . . This sacred synod ardently implores the Christian faithful to "maintain good fellowship among the nations" (1 Peter 2:12), and, if possible, to live for their part in peace with all men [etc.].

Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions. Nostra Aetate. Proclaimed by HH Pope Paul VI on October 28, 1965. B. [◦More]

Now, maybe we should read on, although a word to the wise might have sufficed - there are times and conditions when an allegory may serve well too, and tales.

On the next page is shown how surprisingly much of regular Christianity is of Paganism. The early Church absorbed it all, and sheepish followers followed and were herded.

Themes Covered in this Old Grail Quest

Here are main areas covered on the pages of this collection:

Astrology ❇ Bible absurdities ❇ Bible history ❇ Bible inconsistencies ❇ Black pudding ❇ Christian and saving sex ❇ Cults ❇ Divination ❇ Farcical divorce ❇ Gnostic texts ❇ Gross cannibalism and church sacraments ❇ Hebrews were Canaanites ❇ How to hinder the end of the world ❇ Hyssop ❇ Invented tales of the Old Testament ❇ Jesus insanity and diagnostic tests ❇ Jesusism, the inferior religion ❇ King dangers ❇ Ogre righteousness ❇ Omens ❇ Pagan sides to Christianity ❇ Paul against Jesus ❇ Penance ❇ Pigs and Jesus ❇ Portents ❇ Prophet abuse ❇ Road test ❇ Saving sex ❇ Silly faith ❇ Surveys of insanity ❇ The faulty sayings of Jesus about mustard ❇ The greatness of Buddhism by contrast ❇ The two Bible versions of the death of Judas ❇ The unrighteous God ❇ Thomas ❇ Tongues ❇ Unsound Christianity ❇ What the Bible's God is like ❇ Wisdom.

Notes

Alan Lupack and Barbara Tepa Lupack, eds. The Camelot Project, the University of Rochester. Last update 2011.
http://www.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/grlmenu.htm