Breakfast with Dave (4 of 5)

Original Post Date: December 1, 2010


In this breakfast thought today, Dave contrasts honour and shame. You will be amazed at how polarized these belief systems are to that of the Christian gospel. I hope you will feel more equipped to witness confidently to those who say that there is no difference between Christianity and other faiths in our Multi cultural porridge. 

Now over to Dave!

Fate and honour 

The Greek word for fate is moira, meaning a portion, something divided out from the whole. The portion fate allots to us determines our honour. The greater the portion of the pie, the greater our honour. 

For the Greeks, honour was all about position -- getting a bigger piece of the pie. As there is only so much to go around, my portion can only be increased at your expense. If someone steals a portion from me, increasing their reputation by reducing mine, my only option is revenge. Honour has nothing to do with ethics or morality. It is all about position and power. Even the gods were connivers and schemers, like many of the Hindu gods. Honour is just becoming bigger than those around us. The flip side of honour is shame.

If a woman is raped, she is shamed. Her piece of the pie is greatly diminished, along with that of her husband, whose honour has also been stolen. She has done nothing wrong, but she is damaged goods. Shame, like, honour, has nothing to do with moral worth or value. Shame is not like guilt, in that it cannot be forgiven. And since honour is allotted by fate, perhaps it was her fate to be raped and shamed. We cannot move outside the amount of honour determined for us. Even the gods cannot do so. The whole universe is caught up in a gigantic given. 

But human nature pushes us toward the possession of honour. Challenging the boundaries of fate involved transgression, or pride (hubris). Transgression has nothing to do with morality. A thief may be fated to attain honour through thievery, while an honest person may be fated to be shamed. Neither can challenge what has been allotted. The Furies were the instruments of divine punishment for any who dared transgress. 


Check back tomorrow for a different view!