image: Wikimedia commons (link).
Peter Kingsley, a prophetic scholar of ancient philosophy and ancient Greek philosophers, explains "what prophecy really is" in one of the lectures in his outstanding collection entitled The Elders.
In that talk, Peter Kingsley explains:
Prophecy is not about the future. Prophets don't talk about the future. What they do is: they talk about the past -- which has been hidden. Things which have happened -- that have been covered over, and no longer clear. That is what the real prophets do: they speak about the past, but the past that has been forgotten.
I have written about this profound observation in previous posts, such as here and here.
As Dr. Kingsley goes on to explain, the ancient Greek myths frequently illustrate the problem of "things which have happened -- that have been covered over [. . . ] the past that has been forgotten," in the scenario in which a transgression has never been admitted and repaired, resulting in ongoing punishment by the gods until the prophet is called upon, who can identify the cause of the problem (the covered-over transgression) and the problem can be addressed:
And you can see it also at the very beginning of Homer's Iliad, when there is a whole plague. The soldiers are devastated, by sickness and plague. They're suffering; they're dying. And what happens, in this case? They find a prophet, and they ask him what's going wrong. And he says: "Apollo -- these are the arrows of Apollo. He's shot these arrows of plague, into the troops, because you did something wrong, you offended Apollo." And then it all becomes very simple. Because you see, once you know what's wrong, then you can sort it out -- you can make amends. It's very, very precise. That is what prophecy is.
A very similar scenario is recounted in the lead-up to the Trojan War, when the ships of the Achaeans cannot sail for Troy, because Agamemnon has offended Artemis, and a prophet must be found who can explain what the leader has done wrong and how to remedy the problem.
This is a very powerful truth, expounded in the ancient wisdom of the myths, and by the prophetic Peter Kingsley.
It is especially important to consider this profound and inalterable truth on this particular day, November the 11th, the anniversary of the murder of President John F. Kennedy -- a situation where the truth has been covered over for fifty-three years by lies, and has never been adequately admitted, addressed, or remedied.
Because of this failure to confront the truth, the consequences continue to manifest in an ongoing tragedy.
This article by Gary Weglarz, published today, explains the ongoing ramifications succinctly and powerfully. In that article, the author cites a poignant and bitter observation by Charles de Gaulle, upon returning from the funeral of President Kennedy:
They don't want to know. They don't want to find out. They won't allow themselves to find out.
Prophecy is not about the future. Prophets don't talk about the future. What they do is: they talk about the past -- which has been hidden.
And, in most of the ancient myths which illustrate this profound truth, the actual root of the problem is known by those who want to remain in denial about the situation. But the problem cannot be remedied until it is admitted, and addressed.