Dumbledore's Unspeakable Word.

[Barry Arrowsmith]

--- In the_old_crowd at yahoogroups.com, "Mike & Susan Gray"  
<aberforthsgoat at h...> wrote:
 >
 > <grin> No grave insult intended. I just couldn't resist the urge to
 > tussle a little. (Not to mention the epistularly pleasure of  
calling a
 > cynic naïve.)
 >

Kneasy:
None taken.
One of the most basic intellectual pleasures is to gently rattle the  
bars of someone else's cage - and if that doesn't work, poke 'em with  
a stick.

 >
 > That *is* a fair question.
 >
 > Well, I think (in OotP particularly) it is has something to do with
 > vulnerability and generosity. The strength of powerlessness, the  
wisdom
 > of stupidity.
 >
 > Hey - what would you like the force behind the door to be??  
(Apologies
 > if you've already been over that one a zillion times!)

Kneasy:
Not impossible - and saying that just emphasises the range of choices  
available. But I have a notion - or maybe it's just a hankering, that  
it's nothing to do with the spiritual or emotional (in the generally  
accepted sense) at all.

"What?" I  hear you cry, "how can this be? Explain yourself  
immediately before being cast into the outer darkness reserved for  
those of an untouchy-feely disposition!"

It's something I posted long since to a mostly deafening silence, and  
having no sense of shame am quite happy to repeat.

I think we're given a clue. The Dept. of Mysteries. What do we find  
there? Just examples of what  has fascinated thinkers since  
Archimedes was a  lad, that's all.
Remember - the subject/object must be susceptible to objective study  
-  hence its presence in the DoM in the first place.

Compare what DD says with what is described within the DoM:

1. "more terrible than death" -  the Death Chamber

2. "than human intelligence" -  brains in a tank

3. "forces of nature" - the Planetarium

4. "mysterious subjects" - Time

And the un-named power is greater than any of these.
So -  what's missing from the list above  that has fascinated  
humanity down the ages?

Life itself.
The mystery of what differentiates the animate from the inanimate.  
What is it, how does it come about, all the questions that may never  
be answered, even in the real world.

"But Voldy wants immortal life!"  you expostulate.
Life is a lot more than avoiding death. In chasing his tantalising  
goal Voldy has lost the plot. He's a re-animated corpse many times  
over, a perversion of what life truly is. Life (for individuals) is  
transient, ephemeral, and according to DD just one episode in a  
greater whole, which will please those of a spiritual disposition. By  
denying it's true nature Voldy is in effect denying what life is about.
His bunch aren't named Death Eaters for nothing, that name in itself  
is probably  a clue.
HP is the struggle between the forces of Life and those that deal in  
Death.

Another cliche?
Perhaps.
But coincidentally it opens the door to one of the most fascinating  
of philosophical/theological debates.

Kneasy