Havamal Snippets 139: Learning truths means temporarily losing yourself to fear

This verse follows on from verse 138 which describes Odin hanging on the World Tree being buffeted by strong winds in a bid to understand more, to learn more, to know more.  Enduring hardships, be they strong winds like Odin, or whatever, seems a fundamental part of learning truths.  The two seem to be intertwined somewhat.  Though why this is so I just don't know.  In the case of Odin he had to endure fear, which caused him to scream out in fright, before gaining knowledge of the Runes.


139
Við hleifi mik sældu
né við hornigi
nýsta ek niðr
nam ek upp rúnar
œpandi nam
fell ek aptr þaðan               
 
They cheered me with a loaf
and not with any horn,
I investigated down below,
I took up the runes,
screaming I took them,
and I fell back from there.


P.S. I hit the 'save' button instead of the 'publish' button when I was composing the post, and didn't notice the mistake until today.  Sorry for that.


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