10 thoughts on “The keenest sorrow”

  1. In context, this quote is spoken by a bit player in S’s play Oedipus Rex or Tyrannus Rex, which is a long scripted play about the anguishing myth of an innocent child ‘meant’ to be king of Thebes, but cursed not by his own actions, but by the powers that be, to murder his father, and marry his mother.

    He comes upon his father on a bridge and will not yeild to the veiled warrior , causing the death of Laius: one version. The king does not know his own mother and thus marries her. He seeks the murderer of his father Laius, not knowing he himself is the one who by not yeilding to ‘the stranger’ brought the end of his father.

    Jocasta, his mother’wife hangs herself when learning all that has occured to fulfill the curse. Oedipus gouges out his eyes.

    The leitmotif of the play is human inability to avoid strong fata/destino/curses from greater. THe play is thereby considered a tragedy, as indeed it is, somehow to my .02, similar to Romeo and Juliet in that without or without curses, the realizations come too late and cause deaths of otherwise innocent and very human people

  2. er, it would be hard to believe that innocent people invaded by savage people intent on destroying them, are the sole cause of their agonies just by existing.

    That’s what werner earhard [sp] taught back in the what? 70s? and he was a snake. I remember him saying in some article that the native americans in the usa had ‘created their own reality’ … that it was their choice.

    Sure. If one can create one’s extreme travails than one ought to also be able to create complete safety, joy and fabulous wealth. That hasnt worked out for most of the world, and it’s not because they dont have ‘the right attitude.’

    TS is right; the innocents of Dachau, Bergen Belsen, Treblinka, Auschwitz, Sorbibor and more, did NOT cause their adversities. Not even close.

    • I was thinking of it more along personal lines rather than groups.

      An interview where a person will never understand or admit to themselves that their own actions were what caused them to be rejected.

      A (now ex-) sister-in-law that never figured out that her domineering/control was what caused their divorce (my parents ran into her years after and she still had no idea ‘why’ it had happened.)

      I’ve made many of my own mistakes, most of which I look back on wishing I’d thought things out and held back my tongue/action. I think that’s what Sophocles was trying to get across, but like everything else, things can be taking more than one way. (And it’s interesting to see how some will look within and others without. 😉 )

      • Your ex-SIL reminds me of an old day job — the best thing about the passage of time is how far it takes me from that job 🙂 I saw many like your ex-SIL who refused to recognize how their poor values, priorities, judgment, and behavior led to the outcomes they experienced. On the flip side, it fascinated and frustrated me how willing people were to stay with people like your ex-SIL, people who made them miserable. Isn’t life just too short for that?

        I read the quote as Sophocles saying that you are the common denominator in your relationships; a fancy way of stating the “if you meet jerks all day” rule.

        I don’t know who Werner Earhard is. I probably don’t want to. But he sounds horrible.

        • Heh, jobs … been so burned out on a couple that being let go was like getting released from prison. Then there was this one job …

          Got fired for something they’d thought I done (but hadn’t), got hired on at another place nearby, went by the old place on my lunch hour and said hello to the old gang, saw my old boss and went over and shook his hand saying, “Tell whoever got me fired I said thanks! I making five bucks more an hour and the work is great!”

          I later helped get several of the old gang hired at the new place – including my old boss! 😉

  3. Which just goes to show that the BS of The Secret has a long, long history.

    I’m sure the gas chamber at Auschwitz would have been a much better place if only Sophocles had been there to lecture the victims about how it was all their own fault.

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