Reading: The Three Princes of Serendip
The story has become known in the English speaking world as the source of the word serendipity, coined by Horace Walpole because of his recollection of the part of the "silly fairy tale" where the three princes by "accidents and sagacity" discern the nature of a lost camel. The fairy tale The Three Princes of Serendip is based upon the life of Persian King Bahram V, who ruled the Sassanid Empire (420–440). Stories of his rule are told in epic poetry of the region (Firdausi's Shahnameh of 1010, Nizami's Haft Paykar of 1197, Khusrau's Hasht Bihisht of 1302), parts of which are based upon historical facts with embellishments derived from folklore going back hundreds of years to oral traditions in India and The Book of One Thousand and One Nights. With the exception of the well-known camel story, English translations are very hard to come by.Talmudic version
The fable of a camel blind in one eye is included in the Talmud, attributed to Rabbi Yochanan:Rava relates the following in the name of Rabbi Yochanan:—“Two Jewish slaves were one day walking along, when their master, who was following, overheard the one saying to the other, ‘There is a camel ahead of us, as I judge—for I have not seen—that is blind of one eye and laden with two skin-bottles, one of which contains wine and the other oil, while two drivers attend it, one of them an Israelite, and the other a Gentile.’ ‘You perverse men,’ said their master, ‘how can you fabricate such a story as that?’ The slave answered, and gave this as his reason, ‘The grass is cropped only on one side of the track, the wine, that must have dripped, has soaked into the earth on the right, and the oil has trickled down, and may be seen on the left; while one of the drivers turned aside from the track to ease himself, but the other has not even left the road for the purpose.’ Upon this the master stepped on before them in order to verify the correctness of their inferences, and found the conclusion true in every particular. He then turned back, and…after complimenting the two slaves for their shrewdness, he at once gave them their liberty.”
Sanhedrin, fol. 104, col. 2.[6]
SERMONETTE
There is an old joke that “Unitarian believe in One God – at most.” Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way helped me to give my own personal God a name.As I mentioned, Serendipity is part of the process that Julia Cameron sees happening with greater and greater opening of one’s self to one’s innate creativity – the way in which we become co-creators of our universe. As I thought about the elements necessary to turn my “sermonette” into a full-fledged service, the first words that popped into my head were from the musical dialogue between Noah and his sons from “Two By Two” –“ if God had wanted a rudder, God would have said, make a rudder.” These words were indelibly inscribed in my memory by virtue of the fact that, some thirty years ago, my father sang the role of Noah in an amateur theater production in Wayland, Massachusetts. The God of Serendipity clearly dictated that this should be my choice of music for a church service on Father’s Day, so I could honor my father across the miles.
In “Two By Two,”the author’s conceit was that Noah was a fundamentalist in his faith. When the storm hits, however, the almighty seemingly lacked the foresight that Noah’s sons, with their worldly experience, could provide. Noah’s faith is shaken. By the end of the play, however, Noah has had to accept the reality of human suffering and death, but nevertheless challenges the almighty to respect his offsprings’ foibles and the limitations of the human condition. God, therefore, moderates his wrath, and covenants to limit his destructive powers.
Since I was diagnosed with MS (in January 1994), I have become more and more conscious of how “I get by with a little help from my friends.” While I rejoice in the increased awareness of “the interconnected web of existence of which we are a part,” my ever-increasing level of dependence on others does not necessarily do much to feed my self-esteem. Members of UUYO have been ever obliging, and with the ironic sense of humor which has become more acute with study of Russian culture and my own existence over the passing years, I try to come up with various new takes on what I can offer in return. Our last interim minister, Martha Munson, dubbed me a “Wordsmith,” and indeed language tends to be the vehicle through which I try to make my contribution. But sometimes, the God of Serendipity is operating to connect our needs with the needs of family, friends, and even strangers. And when this happens, a deep sense of gratitude for the mysterious forces in the universe wells up in me.
This past spring, I participated in Matt Alspaugh in his workshop on “Crafting the Sermon Within You,” and challenged us to take a small incident, describe it in at much detail as possible, and then examine it anew for its potential to teach a more universal truth. I discovered, through successive attempts to find an appropriate incident, that the more seemingly insignificant the detail, the more poignant the process of dis-covery. It was not a narrow escape from a catastrophic auto accident that yielded the most successful results, but an un-covering of the wonders of everyday survival.
Indeed, just getting out of my house in time to teach a class at YSU has become a miracle in my world. The summer course I teach, “Foreign Film” meets for over three hours twice a week and involves a large amount of “show and tell” materials (DVDs, VHS tapes, books, handouts, and notes on multifarious internet links), preparation is nearly equivalent to packing for a short trip abroad. The first day of the summer term, I had made arrangements for a student who worked at the LLRC, Molly, to come by my house at 9:30 to help me get into my car to make sure I got to YSU in time for my 11 a.m. class. Molly had had an 11 a.m. class last fall that corresponded to my schedule, so when I had run into her in the LLRC two days before and said she had to be at YSU on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 10 a.m., I asked her to stop by my house on her way to YSU at 9:30 during the summer term. Since I live less than two miles from campus, I felt comfortable making such a request, and was planning to propose that I compensate her for an hour of her time at $10 per hour.
At 9:30, when Molly had yet to appear, I managed to take care of a few of the tasks I would have handled at the office on my home computer. By 9:45, however, I sensed something was amiss and decided to face the tasks of putting on footwear, setting the house alarm, locking the door behind me, loading stuff in the car, and making sure I had my leg lifter to assist in hoisting my recalcitrant right leg into the driver’s seat on my own. Just as I had assumed my “bag lady” persona, laden with 2-3 canvas bags and two purses (one with cell phone from which I would call the YSU escort service to unload my mobility scooter once I got to campus) and was about to open the back door leading to the garage, the phone rang. It was NOT Molly, however, but UUYO member-neighbor-friend Eugenia Pierce, inquiring whether my offer of space in my basement for some of her collectibles inventory was still extant. I said of course and, ascertaining her immediate availability, I suggested that we continue our negotiations while she “spot” me during my home-evacuation exercise. Gina came over, and helped me load my stuff (and self) into the car. When Molly called from the office at 10:15 with abject apologies for having forgotten me, I could truthfully report that I was in capable hands.
So, I get by with A LOT of help from my friends. But many times, I find this a BLESSING rather than an imposition.
The time I have spent in Russia, where virtually NOTHING can be accomplished without a personal network of support, has moderated my native American individualism so that I can trade a modicum of my independence for the humbling experience of having to ask for help at nearly every (physical) turn. Indeed, I think that the plethora of resources we Americans have at our disposal leads to a loneliness that we can only assuage by gluing our cell-phones to our ears and “friending” people on Facebook. This virtual community, supported by our access to advanced technology, is no doubt a virtue of our American economic superiority in the world. But sometimes the warmth of a flesh-and-blood “helping hand” is what REALLY the highest expression of what makes us human.
RESPONSIVE READING: THE ARTIST’S WAY – BASIC PRINCIPLES BY (JULIA CAMERON)
- Creativity is the natural order of life. Life is energy: pure creative energy.
- There is an underlying, in-dwelling creative force infusing all of life—including ourselves.
- When we open ourselves to our creativity, we open ourselves to the creator’s creativity within us and our lives.
- We are, ourselves, creations. And we, in turn, are meant to continue creativity by being creative ourselves.
- Creativity is God’s gift to us. Using our creativity is our gift back to God.
- The refusal to be creative is self-will and is counter to our true nature.
- When we open ourselves to exploring our creativity, we open ourselves to God: Good, Orderly Direction.
- As we open our creativity channel to the creator, many gentle but powerful changes are to be expected.
- It is safe to open ourselves up to greater and greater creativity.
- Our creative dreams and yearnings come from a divine source. As we move toward our dreams, we move toward our divinity.
