In ancient Greece, Sophists used rationality to argue to win, while natural philosophers used it to understand the world.  Plato, on the other hand, used rationality for profound personal transformation. 

Do you see modern-day Sophists and BS proliferation?

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John Vervaeke in “Awakening from the Meaning Crisis” argues that our time in some way parallels Socrates’, where natural philosophers began to give natural rather than divine explanations for environmental phenomena.  People eventually believed less in gods, but as the development of rhetoric helped people reason publicly through problems in democracies, sophists used this powerful psychological technology to pursue ends unrelated to truth.

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John Vervaeke has an idea that in our time most truth and most relevance are unconnected.  For instance, we have vast knowledge of the phenomena of outer space and microscopic life, but those things do not touch most of our lives.  On the other hand, we are inundated with things that catch our attention – in ads, on social media, videos – and yet these have little truth to them.  

The popularity of Stoicism and Eastern philosophy seem to be a sign that people feel a need for truth that feels relevant.  We talk about a parallel of our time of tumult and searching with that of Socrates, where material explanations for natural phenomena, Sophistic use of rhetoric for utility, and philosophic search for transcendence coexisted and competed.

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Structurally, notice that the King does not help the group but the Devil does, in his way, and then the old women do, completely.  I also speculate on the “rock-shaped” home, that it’s heavenly in some way.  Is this story about luck, risk-taking, and faith?  

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LL thinks the Devil here is somewhat like a trickster figure, in that he is not pure malice.  In this story, he gives them choices but also a way out of their contract.  I thought of him here as being contained by other forces: besides the contract, he is connected to his grandmother.  He’s a fair devil, in a way, although not without his tricks.  The virtue and spirit, the faith, of the lead soldier is his strength. 

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A Funny Devil in the Grimm’s “The Devil and His Grandmother” (Clip)

We both particularly like this story, which humanizes the devil by having a grandmother involved.  It’s like a grandmother’s protecting the neighbors from her teenage son’s antics.  “How many souls did you harvest today?” “Not such a good day today, but I’m looking forward to condemning these three new guys to eternal damnation! Not all is lost!” 

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Summary of the Grimm’s “The Devil and His Grandmother” (Part 3) (Clip)

The proactive soldier escapes through the window and lets his companions in on the riddle’s answer.  They meet the Evil Prince, who sneers that he’ll soon give them a meal in Hell, but the three men each answer a part of the riddle.  The Devil screams and flies away and the three live blessed lives.

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The contracted seven golden years have just about passed, and the three men are approached by an old woman.  This helper instructs them to venture into the forest, and there is a rock that resembles a house where they’ll get aid.  The optimist goes and explains his situation to the lady within, who is the Devil’s grandmother.  He hides under the stone that covers the cellar and listens to their communion after the Devil returns.  He reveals the answer to the riddle and then goes to sleep.

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Three military men decide to risk execution and desert because they have not been paid.  Hiding out in a corn field, they are aghast to see soldiers surrounding it when they try to exit.  Thinking they’ll die, at last a dragon flies to them and makes inquiries before revealing himself as the Devil. He will extricate them if they’ll serve him for seven years.  

Equipping them with a gold-producing whip, he tells them they’ll either be free or burn in eternal fire after seven years, depending on their answer to a riddle of his.  They live it up but as the seventh year approacheth, only one of them remains hopeful.

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Yet at the end of the story, the giants remain roaming, and I speculate about their nature, which may be mindless consumption; for Christians, this may be a representation of the historical development from the seemingly consumptive, anthropomorphic and natural gods to rulers that bring order and serve the people in some way in a new kind of kingdom.  Jack, the everyman, comes up to this rulership not by conquering, but by character, and so echoes many heroes of Christendom. 

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