It's a Pagan world with some Christian ideas (possibly belatedly), stuck in there. Why is it an important text? It survived. Was it initially & primarily an oral text, passed on over the years, lips to ears, or was it a written text that was passed on hand to hand? No one knows for sure. One copy survived. It's a glimpse into a long ago Pagan world.
I am enjoying it immensely. Funny, that. I think there was a time this text would have left me cold.
Still, I came across a line last night that just totally cracked me up. "Behaviour that's admired is the path to power among people everywhere." My immediate reaction: "Not today!"
I mean, maybe in the past it was good behaviour was the behaviour that was admired, but not today. The Olde code: Slay the dragon, defeat the forces of Evil, live with honor & integrity bask in the admiration of your people. The New Code: Steal, cheat, lie & attack Paper-tigers, and unreal Straw-men, bully and beat up the poor, the weak, the defenseless, and bask in the glowing admiration of your fevered, deluded, proudly-deplorable mob.
Ha. Today it is all bad behaviour on full display. That's what gets everyone's attention and admiration. We have become the society, the culture, the people, that rewards Bad Behaviour. It's all grotesque spectacle.
You know, the money, the bling, the bragging, the flaunting of laws, norms, and decency; that is the way of the Rich & Powerful now. And the really stupid, no-nothing people those Dunning-Kruger folks who think they are fucking geniuses, with no integrity, conscience, or shame, and can never admit they are ever wrong, well, those folks put their arrogance & stupidity front and center for all us to wonder at & admire. Folks whisper to themselves, "If only I too could be that shamelessly, unknowingly fat, clueless, stupid and rich."
And it seems most of the common ones only really envy and admire the rich greedy fucks now. "If only it were me with all those riches and no cares." Fabulously rich, and don't give a fiddler's fuck for anyone else; isn't that the Libertarian, Tech-Bro utopia? That's the way to do it now.
Honor, Dignity, Integrity, Heroism, Bravery, Good Action, Honest Words and Honest Deeds? Ha! That is so Olde World. Beowulf, sure, he was a cool & awe-inspiring Pagan dude who had his shit totally together, but he'd be so out of fashion today. You know, too brave, too good, too noble, too honest & true, too self-less, too happily Pagan.
