There will be no spoilers. I think. But if you haven't seen the latest episode and plan on it, take no chances.
The Long Night was indeed that as the walls of Winterfell braced for the forces of the dead armies. Who would make it through to see the dawn and who would see the eternal night - Valar morghulis - All men must die. And the bets were placed.
"I see a darkness in you. And in that darkness, eyes staring back at me. Brown eyes, blue eyes, green eyes. Eyes sealed shut forever. We will meet again" -Melisandre
All men must. But what of the women, what lessons are there to be learned from so much death? With this installment of Lessons from GoT, it is personal. Let me tell you a story.
Once there was a young woman who had known a life of strange experience and at 18 years of age as youth is prone to do, she was searching for answers, searching for herself. It was the early 1960s and she chanced upon an opportunity that she took, an encounter with a fortuneteller came her way and she sat for a reading, a glimpse into the future or a passing fun experience soon to be forgotten, she had no idea but, there she was, expectant. The fortuneteller plied her trade and looked into what was passed as the future, a parlor trick, a cold read, a mentalists sleight of hand and mind as the words tumbled out, before she stopped mid-sentence, fell silent - and would say no more. The woman was strong-willed, curious and demanding and said, "why stop, what did you see, please go on.." and after a deep breath the stranger and purveyor of future hope said, " You will not live to see sixty".
Destiny or Deception?
I heard that story as a child and didn't think much of it but, she believed. Fifteen years ago that curious young woman searching for answers passed away from a decade long relationship with cancer, at the age of 59 and four months.
She was my mother.
The question is, did the fortuneteller see the future or, did she plant a seed that took root in the mind to manifest in the body, to eat away at the fiber of the soul for four decades, a psychosomatic condition made very real? Maybe, it was just coincidence. Although I know, she did not think it as such.
The seeds we plant change our perspectives of life, thoughts take root to become our narrative, our story becomes our action and, it doesn't matter if the story is real. Our imaginations are creative forces that will things in reality but, they can also escape us, we can lose control, it can run wild and our nightmares become our experience.
Tell me, if the words do not matter, do you tell a child they can be anything or, do you tell them they are nothing, useless, insignificant and unable to ever accomplish even the simplest of tasks - Which empowers them, which makes them act well - can that seed be planted?
If it can, why do we hold self-defeating narratives, why do we carry the words of those that despise us, criticize us and want to do us harm; rather than those who uplift us? Are you a victim of manipulation or, is your destiny your own creation? Are you watering the seeds of flowers and trees, or weeds? More importantly - what of the seeds you sow - Do the words you say grow gardens or thorns?
"The nature of rain is the same, but it makes thorns grow in the marshes and flowers in the gardens.”
Luck. Destiny. Fate.
How we see the world is up to us and the information we hold is less important than, the knowledge we act upon.
Taraz
[ a Steem original ]