The first article in the series inspired by Dion Fortune's occult novels contains quotations relevant to the topic of operating from a position of weakness versus operating from a position of strength.
This article features three memorable statements from The Sea Priestess about what Douglas Adams called Life, the Universe and Everything. They seem both very true and very depressing to me.
A striking and very true description of life
It
was this statement that inspired this article:
“It seemed to me that life is an all-in wrestling match without a referee. It had fairly got me down.“
It seems like that to many people!
Life does indeed often feel like one long fight for survival, one long battle against hostile forces with no one to see fair play.
The problems and attacks keep coming; they are unrelenting and never-ending and there is often no respite.
There is no justice in the world; no one is minding the store, so people who behave badly towards others do indeed often get away with it.
No wonder people get depressed!
All this reminds me of something that Marvin the Paranoid Android says in Douglas Adams's Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy:
“Life! Don't talk to me about life.”
If life gives with one hand it takes with the other
These quotations from The Sea Priestess suggest that there is a great price to be paid in return for a great advantage:
“It is said that the gods always make you pay the price for any great blessing, but in my case, having sent me a pretty unmitigated curse, they funded up handsomely in other directions.”
“Then I told her my idea that whereas the gods are always reputed to make mortals pay up for any great benefit bestowed, I, by virtue of my asthma, seemed to be running a kind of credit account with them. She agreed.”
The context of the speaker's remarks is not really relevant to this article; it is the proposition that great gifts come at a great price that is of interest here.
