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This talk explores Wolfram von Eschenbach’s Parzival as a profound symbolic narrative of psychological and spiritual transformation. We examine how the Grail quest — far from being an irrelevant medieval legend — speaks directly to our divided modern world and to the deeper psychic tension between opposites within the human soul. To understand the meaning of the Grail myth, we must understand its historical context. The myth arose at a time when the feminine element was being rediscovered, revalued, and reintegrated — not only in religion, but in the inner life of the individual soul. In the 12th and 13th centuries, Western Christendom was undergoing a profound inner crisis. The institutional Church had become increasingly masculine, hierarchical, rationalistic, and power-driven — focused on dogma, conquest, and control. Yet at the same time, a powerful counter-movement was arising, both socially and symbolically. This included the emergence of courtly love, the cult of the Virgin Mary, the troubadour tradition, and the mystical veneration of Sophia, Divine Wisdom. In this light, Parzival is not only a personal story of a knight’s quest, but a collective dream — a mythological effort to restore what had been lost: the feminine dimension of the soul, of God, and of the world. Parzival’s early journey is marked by a deep psychological split. Raised in isolation by his mother, he is naïve and unconscious. When he enters the knightly world, he over-identifies with the heroic masculine: action, obedience, conquest. He achieves outer success — including marriage to Condwiramurs — but falters at the Grail Castle. There, in the presence of the wounded Grail King, he remains silent — he does not ask the question that would heal the King. This failure reflects not a moral flaw but a psychological immaturity. He is still split, unable to relate feeling and thinking, compassion and duty. He cannot yet hold consciously to what the situation brings forth and so falls silent. While he can act so decisively on the knightly field of battle, here his action is paralysed. Parzival then enters a long period of wandering — a symbolic nigredo, in which his inability to act must be suffered. He neither gives up nor pushes forward blindly. Gradually, the opposites within him begin to relate. Only when he has developed inner receptivity and humility does he return and, finally, ask the healing question: “What ails thee, Uncle?” In our time, the Wasteland has returned. We live amid technological achievement but spiritual hunger, community without connection, knowledge without wisdom. The lesson of Parzival is urgently modern: we must learn to hold the tension of our divided world — both within and without — until the symbol of healing arises. In our story that symbol is the Grail, and it lives in the depths of each of us, waiting to be asked the right question. Date: Saturday, 6th September 2025 Entrance: CHF 30; students CHF 20; Tickets for LIVE-Zoom events can be booked from 14 days before the event. |
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