Basque Leader Quotes

We can all endeavor to do the same, pursuing the facts of the matter, especially about the past of our own country. Facts are impressively dual in their effects. “Truth and reconciliation” meetings in Argentina, South Africa, and in parts of Spain’s Basque country have demonstrated that facts are marvelously effective tools—they can rip down falsehoods but can also lay the foundations for going forward. For democracies to thrive, the majority must respect the rights of minorities to dissent, loudly. The accurate view almost always will, at first, be a minority position. Those in power often will want to divert people from the hard facts of a given matter, whether in Russia, Syria, or indeed at home. Why did it take so long for white Americans to realize that our police often treat black Americans as an enemy to be intimidated, even today? Why do we allow political leaders who have none of Churchill’s fealty to traditional institutions to call themselves “conservatives”? The struggle to see things as they are is perhaps the fundamental driver of Western civilization. There is a long but direct line from Aristotle and Archimedes to Locke, Hume, Mill, and Darwin, and from there through Orwell and Churchill to the “Letter from Birmingham City Jail.” It is the agreement that objective reality exists, that people of goodwill can perceive it, and that other people will change their views when presented with the facts of the matter.

Mari is seen as leader of both the sorginak and the laminak who both live with her or visit her in her great cave. Mari is considered to be at the top of the Basque pantheon, and whilst she flies through the air and is seen at times as a ‘woman of fire’ she is primarily to be discovered below ground in certain caves, which is significant because it makes the Basque pantheon the only remnant European pantheon to be headed by a female spirit who is said to have her dwelling underground rather than in the sky. She is known for possessing a golden comb with which she is want to comb her beautiful hair. Significantly the Basque pantheon is the closest thing we have that is suggestive of a pre-Indo-European belief system, so it makes sense that this chthonic aspect should be unique among European polytheisms and lends further credibility to the Basque claim. It is also hard to ignore how those distinctive characteristics tie into faerie lore. Mari is not only a Goddess but a laminak herself which makes her very much a prototypical Faerie Queen. If the head of a pantheon is a faerie this gives new meaning to the term “Faerie Faith.