...sort of.
I watched a very interesting program on History International last night that opened with an investigation of the Kensington Runestone. The Kensington Runestone is a large slab of rock with enigmatic runes carved into the surface on several sides. A farmer, Olof Ohman, found the stone entwined in the roots of a tree he felled on his farm in 1898. The Ohman farm was located about two and a half miles northeast of Kensington, Minnesota.
What does this have to do with the Grail?
It was late, and I was tired, but as best as I could follow, the Kensington Runestone is purported to have been buried in Minnesota in the year 1362. You heard right - 130 years before Columbus discovered the New World, some other Europeans were in MN. It's pretty clear that Norse explorers had been to what is now known as North America prior to Columbus but again, what does that have to do with the Holy Grail?
As near as I can tell, the program on History International made the case that it was actually the Templars that buried the stone. The program investigated various sites in Newfoundland and the United States where artifacts and other runestones have been found. This included a trail of clues that led to the storied Oak Island Money Pit in Nova Scotia.
No one has been able to breach the ingenious booby trap that floods the pit with sea water when explorers get to a certain depth. There are many theories about what lies at the bottom of the pit - money, jewels, priceless documents, and yes - even the Holy Grail.
I started thinking about that this morning. Let's say one day someone devises a way to beat the trap and recover whatever lies at the bottom of the pit. Let's allow that it is an ancient cup of Hebrew origin. What will that mean? People will accept it as the Cup that Christ used at the Last Supper. Others will argue unto death that no one can prove he actually drank from it.
In the end, what will be gained?
It is not the cup that holds meaning for us - it is the search within all of us for life's meaning. What is God's plan for our lives? The Grail is just how that search is objectified for some.
Now, if they find the Ark of the Covenant, that would be a different story!
What do you think?
X
There is a difference between the physical grail and the "mystical" or holy Grail. The mystical Grail exists is all times and all places and may appear in many different forms. And while the search for "the Grail" may begin as or appear as a physical journey, it is also, or becomes, a spiritual journey, a healing journey, not only for the seeker but for the wasteland or "the world" both within and without. As I said, the mystical Grail exists in all times and in all places and when the right person, at the right time, asks the right question and also answers the Grail question correctly, then the "power" of the Grail is released and received. That power heals the wasteland by revealing (not a strong enough word to describe the experience) to the seeker the Grail's true nature and that is why all true Grail champions spend the remainder of his/her life in service.
ReplyDeleteMy two cents. -- Joanne
Joanne's written a great two cents there. I've nothing to add.
ReplyDeleteThis is why I write this blog - to have people respond like Joanne...Thank you!
ReplyDeleteAnd thank you Sherry for stopping by and affirming that yes, if a tree falls in the forest and there is no one around to hear, it still falls.
:-)