Tales from Crete | 47

On such an ordinary Friday, just before the weekend with a few days off for most people, you can sit and think a little about life's little quirks. Every once in a while, something suddenly appears out of the blue horizon that you don't think about in everyday life. Big and small things that do not necessarily make any sense in themselves, but which in themselves are the whole meaning…. Does it make sense?

No, well, - but let me try to explain what I mean anyway. Among Greeks, it is common knowledge that all words originate from the Greeks and the explanation of life is hidden in the Greek alphabet. It is not something that is just used as a funny phrase in the funny movie "My big fat Greek wedding".

We all know our Danish alphabet from A to Z, and learned it by heart and by song at school. But when it is called alphabet in Danish, it comes directly from Alfa, which is the first letter of the Greek alphabet, and Beta, which is the second. If you put Alpha and Beta together it becomes alfabeta and it is so obvious and straightforward.

More interesting, I think, is that the very meaning of life lies in 2 of the Greek letters. Something that parish priest Caroline Thisted described in detail in Kristeligt Dagblad on 8 May 2017. In the Greek alphabet you find both the letters o-micron and O-mega. Most people know the big O from Alpha and Omega (the first and the last). In John's Revelation (22.13), Jesus says: "I am Alpha and Omega" (the first and the last). However, there is a deeper meaning hidden in the two seemingly identical but very different letters, the large O-mega and the small o-micron.  The round circle in both o-micron and O-mega is in a religious sense the infinite, but in our contemporary minute-extended chronology life also the different circles of life. These are little pearls of wisdom hidden in the Greek alphabet, which the Greeks are very aware of and very happy about. The circle of eternity lies very naturally in the large mega-O. This is where life itself and the infinite lies, whether you understand it or not, and therefore the big mega-O encloses the small micro-o, which is what happens in life itself. The small everyday things that in themselves have no meaning, but nevertheless have great significance and, taken together, make life meaningful. And here, according to Caroline Thisted, we are really down to the nitty-gritty, like seeing the first spring flower emerge from the ground, peeling potatoes because the family prefers freshly peeled potatoes, going for a walk with the dog because it wants to go out and at the same time, it is good for yourself to give your loved one the attention he or she deserves, or simply find the forgotten bag of Matadormix in the cupboard and share it with others instead of eating it all yourself.

It is all the small things in life that give it content, everything that we ourselves help to influence. It lies in the small micro-o, while life itself and the big existential questions make up the big mega-O, but it is also under the influence of the small micro-o, or to put it another way; the more positivity and joy that is filled in the little micro-O, the better the big mega-O thrives. In this way, they are connected and dependent on each other. Neither of the two letters can be dispensed with in either the alphabet or life, and even what does not immediately make sense is often the meaning in itself.

Does that make sense now?...

Maybe…..but the important thing is not at all whether it makes sense in the sense that you understand how/why, etc., because there are anyway so many questions that we will probably never get answers to.

The meaning is always right in front of us. We just have to take the time to find it, pick it up and put it in the little micro-o.

Then it suddenly makes sense.

And let me wish you all a wonderful weekend with this well-known quote from Piet Hein:

"Remember to love while you dare and remember to live while you do"