Parsifal

PARSIFAL

Parsifal has been linked with the Grail since the inception of the legends as the hero, the knight who would eventually be the king of the Grail. He it is who has it in his power according to the legends to heal the king and bring prosperity to the land. In the earlier legends, he failed to ask the questions concerning the Grail and the consequences were disastrous. He however, realised his mistakes, went back, asked the relevant questions, heals the maimed king as a result and succeeds him. Parsifal therefore, becomes king of the Grail. In Wolfram's work, he was the prophesied knight whose prediction had appeared on the stone after the guardians had prayed for a healer for their king who was continuously in agony.

This theme was pursued further by Wagner in the idea of the coming of der reine Tor, the pure fool or simpleton, whom the brotherhood were to await. Amfortas himself had received this vision and the brotherhood came to expect this innocent healer. Part of the prediction was that Parsifal would become the king of the Grail and that it would be Gurnemanz hand that would anoint his head. This so much we learn from Act Three of the opera. Therefore, in almost all the writings on the legends Parsifal was the innocent who was always prophesied and who would eventually be crowned king of the Grail. Throughout all the writings, Parsifal would always be the one to attain to the Grail, though in some writings especially those of the Vulgate cycle, others like Galahad and Bors would also attain it but the association of Parsifal's name with the attainment of the Grail is far more consistent than these other two and in all the works only Parsifal becomes king.

If Parsifal was predicted as Wolfram and Wagner suggested and as can even be surmised from the works of Chrétien, one would normally ask the question: where then does he come from? If the brotherhood had prayed to God for a helper for the sorrows of their first guardian and their prayers were answered through a prophesy, does it mean then that the coming of Parsifal was the answer to this prayer?

One would have to look at the effects of Parsifal's coming to be able to answer this question. His coming led once more to the uncovering of the Grail as we see in Wagner's work and the restoration of the land. His coming led to the recovery of the lost spear.His coming led to the healing of Amfortas. In Wolfram's work, his coming led also to the healing of the maimed king and the rivers flowed again. It would then appear that the coming of Parsifal achieved the desired objective. In praying the knights had a desire, an expectation. This desire and expectation made them pray so that these desires and expectations would be fulfilled. A prophecy came as a result and the promised knight brought about the fulfilment of all the expectations of the brotherhood. If their supplication went up to God, then the question would be: did God then send him? If so, from where? Parsifal then must have his existence somewhere for him to have been in a position to be sent as a response to a prayer from the brotherhood.

Why is his name always associated with Grail? The regularity with which this occurs must make us begin to think that this name must indeed be synonymous with the Grail and probably inseparable from it. It is almost unthinkable to conceive a legend about the Grail without this character. His characteristics are innocence, purity and guilelessness. Somebody who had grown up with no knowledge of the world and who had even forgotten his identity. He was sent on a mission, that much we know, but by whom? And from where? If the brotherhood had prayed to God and Parsifal appeared and fulfilled all the expectations, which the brotherhood would have expected a messenger from God to fulfil then we must conclude that he was sent by God.

Was he then a messenger from God? We can conclude that he was for the reasons already stated. Then we have an innocent, guileless, pure messenger from God whose name is forever associated with the Grail. But why is that? Why is his name forever associated with the Grail? Why is he always the protagonist in the Grail drama. Why must he always be the one to achieve the Grail? Why must he always become king as the legends consistently say? Why is he always the answer to the Grail problem? To put things in perspective once more, we must realise as already mentioned that the Grail Castle where Amfortas failed was the lower lying imitation of the actual Grail Castle which lies in the highest spiritual heights where the effects of sin can never be found.

If then Parsifal was sent he would have had to descend from where he was to the level where there was affliction. He could not perchance have ascended to that level. If he was coming as a messenger from God, then he would have had to descend in a downward direction as that was the only logical direction he could have followed. If Parsifal then was a higher being who originated in a plane much higher than that of Amfortas, then he could not descend from his higher region to become the king of the Grail in a lower region and remain there. A messenger never tarries on a mission.

He fulfils his mission and returns to his master. If Parsifal then is to fulfil the true meaning of a messenger then he could never have tarried in Amfortas' realm. After fulfilling his mission he would inevitably have moved on. Then Parsifal did not become king of the Grail in the lower lying region of Amfortas because as a messenger on a mission he could not have tarried there as king. Then why is Parsifal referred to then as king of the Grail? Parsifal entered the Grail castle in Amfortas' realm not to become the king of the Grail and tarry there but he entered that Castle as King of the Grail! He was therefore, always King of the actual real Grail in the Highest Heights.

He is therefore King of the Holy Grail on a Mission of the Redemption of all the Worlds. Healing Amfortas was just one of the missions He fulfilled on His descent. He as a Messenger of God therefore, could not have tarried in this realm but had to move on as He was on a Mission and messengers on missions do not tarry wherever they were supposed to bring help. Their stay is always of short duration. Therefore, Parsifal entered that realm as King, resolved the problem and moved on. Parsifal therefore, in the legends is referred to as king of the Grail not because he became king but because he was already King of the actual Holy Grail because as mentioned, being a messenger he could not have tarried.

If Parsifal therefore, is King of the actual Holy Grail in the spiritual realm and this Holy Grail as mentioned earlier is the point from which Divine Power issues, then Parsifal must be associated with this Divine Power. If Parsifal is the King of the Holy Grail, it would help explain the reasons for the consistency in the association of the name with the Grail. It simply means that from time immemorial He has always been the King otherwise we would not have this degree of consistency in the legends.

The question then as to where Parsifal came from and as to where God sent him from can be seen to have been resolved. If the Holy Grail exists at the summit of Creation, then its King obviously also has His Being at this height. Parsifal therefore, is to be found at the summit of the entire Creation and is to be found as the King of the Vessel from which Divine Power issues. And it is on this Power that the whole of Creation depends which is already implicated in the legends. If Parsifal then is the King of the Grail then it is reasonable to assume that it is He who dispenses this Power, which issues from the Grail.

We have referred to Abd-ru-shin's reference to the Dove, which appears on the Chalice as a "renewed token of the unalterable Love of the Father." This reference to the Dove is stunning if one remembers Wagner's work where he says "The ray of light falls from above, and the Grail glows brightest. From the dome descends a white dove and hovers over Parsifal's head." Wagner associated the Dove with Parsifal. Many people have found it baffling the association of the Dove with Parsifal and this association has not been understood.

The Dove is commonly associated with the Power of God, with the Spirit. The association of the Dove with Grail as Abd-ru-shin says is understandable because if the Grail dispenses Divine Power and the Dove is the symbol of Divine Power it stands to reason that the Dove must be associated with the Grail. But Wagner's association of the Dove with Parsifal needs further elaboration. It stands to reason that if Parsifal is the King of the Grail which dispenses Divine Power and which is associated with the Dove then this Dove must as a matter of logic be associated with the King of the Vessel with which this Dove is associated. Parsifal therefore, by logical extension is the first in Creation since He is King of the Vessel, which lies at the summit of Creation. He is therefore, not "der reine Tor" (in German) meaning the pure fool as Wagner makes us believe, but das reine Tor (the pure Gate). He is the Gate from the Divine to man.

Since God lies outside of the Creations and Parsifal is the first in Creation it is obvious then that He stands at the summit of Creation as the Last if looking from below upwards and as such as the gateway to the Divine. He is therefore, logically speaking the First and the Last in Creation. Looking from above downwards, He is the First and looking from below upwards He is the Last. Parsifal is therefore, much more than we think. It is a shock to realise this considering what our conceptions have been in the past. He is therefore, the Alpha and Omega of Creation. He is therefore, the Gate from God to man (das reine Tor).

This is a little error from Wagner because it is easy to confuse his characteristics, which Wagner described as being a fool with what really He represents. If looked at properly however, his characteristics do not indicate a fool at all. The words innocent, guileless, are more descriptive. For the sake of drama or probably out of ignorance, Wagner choose the wrong substantive in his transmission. Considered objectively, the expression das reine Tor is far more appropriate. You are not a fool just because you are pure or innocent or even just because you are ignorant of a particular matter, or because you are not cunning.

◄◄ Home ►►