Cormac McCarthy on Beowulf and the True God

Today we will be analyzing Beowulf's influence on Cormac McCarthy's "Blood Meridian," "Suttree," "The Gardener's Son," and "The Crossing." There will be a breakdown of the pagan VS Christian elements in Beowulf and how they influenced McCarthy, McCarthy's use of Melville's Weaver God, an explanation of how McCarthy integrated different modalities of thought into his life to transcend Christianity, and why we all need to follow suit on that journey!
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[@brennanxyz]

God, the point about the potency of Buddhism vs Christianity is so good. I went really hard and really committed in high demand Christianity from ages 12 - 23. I did have a handful of mystical experiences that were impactful, but once I even played at the edges of Buddhism, I realized I could call forth phenomena at those heights every time I could carve out 30 minutes for a serious meditation. And it wasn't long before I was meditating twice daily and getting deeper into embodied mystical phenom. that blew any experiences I had in Christianity out of the water. Made the transition out and away from the church possible and easy.

[@PeterLambert2211]

Can I ask what phenomenology is? I was raised Mormon so transitioning out of that had made me what to learn about mystical experiences and how to tap into spiritual experiences. Honestly any advice or books to read would be very appreciated.

[@brennanxyz]

@@PeterLambert2211 It's the study of experience. What I should have said was *phenomena* - like the actual internal subjective states of meditation and heightened awareness.

[@EntertheGam3]

Gnosticism is fascinating. Hans Jonas has a great article about Existentialism, Heidegger, and Gnosticism. Great video brother! Cormac always seemed like he was a gnostic. He claims he's a materialist sort of, but when I read his works I always get the feeling that God is hiding in the distance beyond the void. The Alien God Gnosticism talks about. Weird cause Gnosticism is about as far divorced from nature as you can get. Just my two cents.

[@apokalupsishistoria]

4:17 I’m currently reading “Elder Gods of England” by Stephen Pollington and he shows that OE versions of stuff like Beowulf and Dream of the Rood are filled with pagan homages and context through the etymology.

[@justinpeiffer9188]

Were you ever out to see the Grand Tetons in person? If so, what year(s)? I worked at Signal Mountain Lodge in the years 2017 and 2018, and had pretty cheap housing out there. I am currently reading Gene Wolfe's Soldier of the Mist. I had heard you mention Wolfe in one of your previous videos and decided to check out some of his work.

[@joedenby2645]

Can you do a review on the Musashi book behind you? (if you haven't already that is) great channel man!

[@calb6109]

Ian you forgot to put on the link to news of the universe just letting you know.

[@WriteConscious]

Got it in now! Thank you!

[@ca-fletcher]

What are your thoughts on whether Seamus Heaney's translation gets close to the animism you think pagans had?

[@sethrakes1991]

"God is a man-eater." --Gospel of Philip

[@WriteConscious]

That line was first translated into English in 1977 when Cormac was writing all of this stuff!

[@spiker1923]

you should make more videos about outer dark

[@penelopegreene]

That's cool. I also used to giggle about the idea of The Judge and The Kid being a weird inversion of Huck and Jim! As a side note, even though a simple analysis would tell us that Judge Holden was literally "The White Man", he's an albino, and he has an appearance (Baby, Pillsbury Doughboy, Stay Puff Marshmallow Man) that's hard to interpret from our own superficial "racial" beliefs. What if he was in fact Indigenous, or Black? Wouldn't it be a real hoot if that were true, during Holden's discourse on City-based societies versus Nomadic societies, when we re-read that line where one of the men tells The Judge the once mighty civilization of the Anasazi was "just savages", and Holden's amused response is "Really!", even though he's educated and cultured and the other scalphunter is not!!! But I know what you would tell me. The point is, of course, moot, and Holden's obvious facetiousness towards the other member was his knowledge that The Glanton Gang, as Scalphunters, was a band of actual savages (and largely "White" savages at that), while many of the people they attacked lived in towns and villages, might read (Catholic Mission work), engage in trade, and were descendants of civilizations as compelling as Greece or Rome. That's cool too!

[@zachbuschman3105]

Do you think that we are too aware of science and analytics and things like that and that has caused a by now complete ignorance and erasure of what our conscience is supposed to be fully engaged with which would be nature and connection with all life on earth and the garden and stuff?

[@zoobee]

Beowulf may be the mother text of English literature

[@apokalupsishistoria]

19:37 My man, how do you say Shakespeare n crowd are terrible writers then you quote from McCarthy who is using a Shakespeare line! “Though a glass darkly” Which Chance has shown there’s some more lineage to this line, from either Sidney or Lyly I forget off the top.

[@eglspl425]

It's worth remembering that Beowulf was written by a Christian and is abundant with Christian themes and imagery

[@justinluther2924]

I'd be interested to know if you've read anything or listened to anything by Martin Shaw. He's a wilderness rites of passage guide and was good friends/a student of Robert Bly. I'd point you towards some of his work if you're at all interested in the idea that Christianity is a wilderness religion. (See his series SEEKING A LITURGY IN THE WILD.) The idea sounds funny, especially in the sterilized and nearly-monolithic way Christian culture has manifested in the West, but the tradition of wandering in the wilderness is seen on both the individual and collective levels in the Bible and there's a vast, rich history of desert fathers and mothers that the American church barely even scratches. (Mostly because the majority of Christians in America are basically just materialists.)

[@kmelefoster6257]

Thanks!

[@WriteConscious]

Yo, thank you so much for the support! I really appreciate you spending your hard earned money and will put it toward my trip to the Cormac McCarthy archive in June! Thanks again!

[@thomassimmons1950]

There is too much shallow interpretation here. Are you familiar with Pseudo Dionysious, Meister Eckhart, Teresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross...just to name a few? All mystics of the first Water. I have no axe to grind with other traditions like Vedanta, Budhism, Sufi Islam and the like; but Christianity is every bit as varied and profound as these other traditions. The mind soap scrub so many younger people have endured is disheartening. Oh well..."And the beat goes on"... McCarthy is an unmitigated genius. But I get the feeling, if I spent too much time with'em, I'd end up crackin him... gnostic, Budhist, Scientist...whatever.

[@willieluncheonette5843]

" Dionysius is a Christian, and one of the real Christians. It seems Friedrich Nietzsche was not aware of Dionysius and his Mystica; otherwise he would not have said that the first and the last Christian died on the cross two thousand years ago. In fact, there have been a few more Christs in the tradition of Christ. Dionysius is one of the most beautiful of them all. Then there is Meister Eckhart, St. Francis, Jacob Boehme and a few more - not many of course because Christianity became such an organized religion that it became impossible for mystics to exist, or even if they existed they went underground. They had to; there was no other way."

[@thomassimmons1950]

@@willieluncheonette5843 Cheers!

[@SatSingh-mm4gg]

"Dante...is a terrible writer." -some writer no one knows

[@WriteConscious]

I meant that regarding the integration of nature into his work. You must not have been listening! Obviously he is a great and influential author. But, Browning really does suck though lol