Lost in translation?
Published: Tue, 12/18/18
A few years ago at Druid camp. I had the opportunity to hear Somerset based band ‘Seize the Day’ play live. I thought they were fantastically entertaining with a blend of catchy tunes and provocative lyrics. I bought their CD album which I still enjoy playing today. They have played at Druid camp a couple of times since but somehow didn’t catch my attention the same. I think the line up of performers varies from gig to gig and that makes a big difference. Anyway, when Seize the Day are good they can be very good. It is a great name for a band, suggesting an urgency to have fun while tapping into the zeitgeist in some way. In fact ‘seize the day’ has become a bit of a catchphrase for new age and self-help gurus of all kinds advising people to grasp their opportunities while they can. Sales people have latched onto the term as well suggesting that you should seize the bargain today before it is too late. Hollywood got in on the
act too with the teacher played by Robin Williams in ‘Dead Poets Society’ advising his students to ‘carpe diem’, the Latin phrase which can be translated as ‘seize the day’. Even the term ‘Bucket List’ which comes from the 2007 film ‘The Bucket List’ with Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman picks up on the same idea of getting the most enjoyment out of life. Of course the problem is that seizing the day or compiling and then ticking off, your bucket list can easily become no more than a sales pitch for hedonistic pleasure and exotic holidays. Great for travel agents and airlines but is there any real meaning in the term?
Carpe diem is Latin which might give you a clue as to where the phrase comes from. Quintus Horatius Flaccus, better known today simply as Horace was a leading poet in the reign of the Roman Emperor Augustus over 2000 years ago. One of his poems, now referred to as Ode XI, is eight lines long and is addressed to a woman named Leucon. The poem advises this person that she cannot know her fate and life may be short, so the best we can do is ‘carpe diem’. Then we have the issue of translation, there seems to be reasonable agreement that diem means day, but it can also just be translated at ‘present’. Carpe might be better translated ‘harvest’ rather than ‘seize’. I am no way a Latin scholar or linguist, but I am fascinated by words and how they get used. Seizing and harvesting do have rather different implications. Seizing suggests an almost childlike need for gratification right now. Harvesting implies a much more considered
collecting of what is ripe and appropriate for picking today. Harvesting also suggests only taking an apple, not uprooting the whole tree. If there is a harvest there must previously have been preparation, planting, tilling and nurturing of the crop. Part of a harvest should also be held back for planting in order to grow next year’s crop. Even in translation Horace’s poem has quite a sombre and considered tone suggesting that each day should be taken seriously and time used wisely. It seems very far from urging us write out a hedonistic bucket list and start booking flights to exotic locations.
How can you harvest each day to the full? That is something I can’t explore in any kind of detail here, but it is something for you to think about. Read the poem for yourself in the original Latin alongside a, supposedly, literal English translation here https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Translation:Odes_(Horace)/Book_I/11 Also, the book that has got me thinking about the subject, is ‘Carpe Diem Regained’ by Roman Krznaric which I am only part way through reading but I am finding it very interesting, you can find it on Amazon.
In six months time it will be nearly the summer solstice and you will have the opportunity to join us in Norfolk at the Runes and Trees Retreat. It will be a chance to learn some interesting stuff about runes and how to use them, especially in relation to woods, trees and timber. It will also be a retreat in sense of taking three days out of your life to consider whether you are really living out your wyrd, orlog, fate or destiny. You will have a chance to be with people who are asking similar questions of their own lives. We will also be seizing the opportunity to have a lot of fun and adventures too. Details here http://rr.stavcamp.org/
regards
Graham
PS The winter solstice is just a couple of days away. The nights are as long as they are going to get and the days short. So, this is a good time reflect on the past year and think through how you are going to make the most of the next one, more on that theme tomorrow.