Le Morte D'Arthur, by Sir Thomas Malory
This book is on the "must read" list; or these days, listen to it, I listened to the Frederick Davidson version.
The stories have changed human thought, feeling, and action since Eleanor of Aquitaine commissioned their writing back in the 12th century. The stories are set in the 4th century.
A civilizing influence is manifest into Europe, which is currently (4th century... and maybe also 12th, let's ask Eleanor) suffering under unrestrained violence.
The center focus of this civilizing influence is Arthur, but his conception takes place under, well, perhaps under the only circumstances it could, meaning deception, violence, unrestrained passion. A powerful King desires to lay by the wife of another King. Merlin says I will arrange this, but you must give the child to me. The passionate, violent King agrees, and the woman lies with this knight, believing it to be her husband, while her real husband is being killed fighting against the other guy's armies! Yikes - could this be any more twisted up?
Arthur then is come into being from two very different sources: from ancient esoteric knowledge and power (Merlin) and from the current madness and violence.
Arthur's amazing beginning is also the seeds of the very destruction of the realm. Arthur, without knowing it, lays with his sister, and from this union is begat Mordred. Mordred kills Arthur.
The entire story, the whole perfect union of all levels heavenly and mundane, takes place in the course of one lifetime. All of Camelot comes and goes in the span of a single human lifetime. And yet this perfection which was reached on Earth serves to raise up the outer and inner lives of millions of people over centuries of time.
Arthur is the flower of knighthood. There are other flowers also: Lancelot, Tristram, Bors, Percival, others. A flower exists to be pollinated, the result being a new plant, or a fruit that will be eaten by a hopeful gardener. This hope was achieved, in the quest for the Sangreal. The Sangreal is connected with Jesus Christ, but the detailed connections are - I believe - left intentionally unexplained. The achieving of the Sangreal is a quest not intended for all knights. It is a quest that is internal, in the sense that it is not achieved through fighting with any external adversary. Sirs Galahad, Percival, and Bors are said to have achieved this. What this achievement means is not described in the publicly available texts, but I expect it was much discussed during many meetings at the court of Eleanor, the 12th century wonder-queen who so much helped to re-create civilization in Europe.
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