Sir Orfeo is a 1944 booklet which reproduces the text of the Middle English poem as edited and amended by J.R.R. Tolkien, together with an editorial note also by Tolkien. Tolkien's translation of it was later published in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Pearl and Sir Orfeo.

Although the booklet does not identify Tolkien's editorship, a copy held by the Bodleian Library in Oxford includes a note in Tolkien's hand which states that it was prepared for a naval cadets' course in English that ran from 1943-1944.

The number of copies printed is unknown, but was probably small. In his J.R.R. Tolkien: A Descriptive Bibliography, Wayne G. Hammond reported that "Five copies have been located." The lack of known copies of Sir Orfeo may be due in part to the fact that Tolkien is not recorded as editor, making it unlikely that many booksellers would identify the Tolkien connection.[1]

The poem is a Celtic retelling of the Ancient Greek myth of Orpheus, King of Thrace, who went to the Underworld (here the Otherworld) to save his wife Eurydice (Heurodis) from Hades (Fairy King).

In 2004, the text of the 1944 Sir Orfeo was reprinted in Tolkien Studies: Volume 1, edited by Carl F. Hostetter.

A musical rendition of the Middle English text: https://youtu.be/eaEiu10DS_4

A reading of the Middle English text: https://youtu.be/kllYoonQFXI

“No longer to accept anything at all, no longer to take anything, no longer to absorb anything—to cease reacting altogether. This fatalism…can preserve life under the most perilous conditions by reducing the metabolism, slowing it down, as a kind of will to hibernate.”

Friedrich Nietzsche, Ecce Homo

We know mammon is lying to our faces, and we know it brings unnecessary drama into our lives, but we keep buying what it’s selling. No wonder we're so confused. Fake smiles, fake friends, fake breasts, fake jewelry, fake health, fake wealth, and fake happiness. We’ve become fake people living fake lives because we don’t want to see the real truth.

And if we do want the truth for a change we've got to reject what’s fake and walk away from it, and go somewhere to hear and learn the brutal truth. We’ve got to listen to the God who punctures all our illusions. But, who wants that? Who wants to buy what God's selling?

Regardless of what culture teaches us, the distinction between man and woman is very real, and it not washed away in baptism. It is clarified, deepened, and called very good by God. What baptism does wash away is the cultural brainwashing and juvenile thinking that has emasculated men for decades. It washes away "Happy Wife, Happy Life.” It washes away "Yes, Dear." It washes away the cartoonish stereotype of the fat, buffoonish, man-child who needs a wife-mother to clean up his messes. 

Baptism washes away our depression and aimlessness. It washes away our inability and impotence. Baptism washes away our ungodly dependency on pornography, drugs, video games, and junk food; the things the world pushes on us to keep us blinded to the fact that we are not misbehaving little boys, we are washed in the blood of the Lamb; washed to live as free, godly men who are identified by strength and grit, wisdom and self-sacrifice, charity and yes, even as dangerous to the wolves at our doors.

But, regardless of what culture teaches us, the distinction between man and woman is very real, and it not washed away in baptism. It is clarified, deepened, and called very good by God. What baptism does wash away is the cultural brainwashing that has emasculated men for decades. It washes away "Happy Wife, Happy Life.” It washes away "Yes, Dear." It washes away our depression and aimlessness. It washes away our inability and impotence. Baptism washes away our ungodly dependency on pornography, drugs, video games, and junk food; the things the world pushes on us to keep us blinded to the fact that we are not misbehaving little boys, we are washed in the blood of the Lamb; washed to live as free, godly men who are identified by strength and grit, wisdom and self-sacrifice, charity and yes, even as dangerous to the wolves at our door.

But in the Church, Jesus reconstructs sinners from personal destruction. He remakes us, rebuilds us, and resurrects us so the demons that hide in the cracks can't get ahold of us, the devil can't break us, and hell will never know us. And we got all this from the blood that was spilled. We get all this from the blood poured down our throats at the Lord's Supper. We get all this from Jesus in his Church. 

The episode uploaded before I realized I’d missed some throat clearing that needed to be taken out of the audio, so I went back and edited the episode then republished it but Spotify and Apple podcasts haven’t updated the episode yet, so I apologize if you listen to the unedited version of this 🙏

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Was Alexander the Great an alcoholic? Did Odysseus take opium in the land of the lotus-eaters? Was the romance of Anthony and Cleopatra an alcohol-fuelled orgy, and was the Oracle at Delphi the world’s first rehab?

We hear people preaching that hatred's the real problem with our society, but hating straight, white men and Christians is common. Coca-Cola is telling people they should be less white. The company's advertisements preach tolerance but if you disagree with their message, they attack and demonize you. Soldiers died for this country and every one of us benefits from their sacrifice, but we repay their service by giving welfare to the bums and forgetting about the veterans. Black folks and white folks are being divided by the news, but no one is saying how we're all made by the same Creator and loved the same by Jesus Christ.

A bonus episode about sobriety, setting a standard and standing fast when others avoid conflict, consequences, and us.

What do athletes and fitness fanatics share in common that can be their greatest asset but also their ultimate downfall?

Perfectionism and obsession. When this leads to over-training. You want to be training more than everyone else. Working harder than everyone else. You put in the hours even when your body is crying out for you to stop. It’s a fine and difficult line. So how do you know when you’re overtraining? How do you know when you’re doing more harm than good?