Having People Who Really Know You

One of the most important values in life is having a group of people who really know you, who are familiar with your history, your struggles, and your accomplishments. These people create a holding environment for that which is best and also most real in you, giving you encouragement when you falter (based not on lip service but true acquaintance with your deeds), and critique where arrogance, oversight, or undersight threaten to block one's larger picture. Building such a small but tight-knit community is of primary worth in life.

That is one of the miracles and magic of a sumble-group. Through the process of boasting and bragging, people come to know each other over time. They can vouch for each other. They can vow for each other. They can be there through the tough times, and celebrate in the good times.

Havamal 50 : Hrörnar þöll sú er stendr þorpi á, hlýr-at henni börkr né barr; svá er maðr, sá er manngi ann. Hvat skal hann lengi lifa? "The young withered fir tree that stands in the isolated clearing, neither her bark nor needles sheltered ; so is the man whom no man loves. How shall he live long?" The Icelandic Rune Poem says, Maðr er manns gaman, "the company of men is the joy of a man."

One of the great dangers in a life, especially in the modern world, is that one may dissipate one's life experiences across endless scattered strangers who do not hold the wealth together. It's far too easy for it to happen. Sumble is not just a mystic ritual. It is that and more. It is a pragmatic way to bring a group of people together so their experiences interweave, and their lives generate the wealth of togetherness.


all translations copyright 2010 by Siegfried Goodfellow