Lord Tennyson says “…Then she rode forth, clothed on with
chastity:
The deep air listen'd round her as she rode,
And all the low wind hardly breathed for fear...”
I still remember standing
before the lady Godiva clock in Broadgate, Coventry, UK, waiting for the
clock to chime the full hour and usher in Lady Godiva on her hourly naked ride
and wondering what would have made a
noble lady of great standing with an arguably very good heart parade the
streets of Coventry naked on her horse. One of the many tales of Legend has it
that her compassion for the people of Coventry was so enormously immense that
Godiva despised the shame and contempt of doing so in order to convince her
husband, Leofric, the 'grim' Earl of Mercer and Lord of Coventry to relieve his
subjects of the crumbling heavy tax burden
imposed on them. Today in her honor, she comes out many times a day and
rides naked on her horse… you can see her here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRZ5BZemk4M
As I stood there I couldn’t help wonder how the drama of lady
Godiva which unfolds every hour as she comes out naked on her horse symbolizes
in metaphoric power, a truth that is significantly more profoundly empowering
when it is naked. Just as with her
nakedness she despised the shame and overcame the powerful tide of tax
oppression which enshackled the people of her day, when one begins to unmask and
undress any perceived and tailored and clothed and veiled truths one begins to
know an encouraging power that only the naked truth can give. When the truth is
nude, bare, with nothing on, stripped, unclothed, disrobed, unclad, undressed, uncovered,
undraped, exposed, stark naked, there is
something unbelievably invigorating about it and there are few things more
powerful.
Backed by the naked unvarnished truth we can be launched into many places from solid ground. I believe that our Freedoms must be inextricably bound to this all too important freedom to pursue the naked truth and to know its charms, liberating strength, catapulting power and beauty; where ever it may be found.
Backed by the naked unvarnished truth we can be launched into many places from solid ground. I believe that our Freedoms must be inextricably bound to this all too important freedom to pursue the naked truth and to know its charms, liberating strength, catapulting power and beauty; where ever it may be found.
It was Eleanor Roosevelt who said that “No matter how plain a
woman may be, if truth and honesty are written across her face, she will be
beautiful.” This kind of beauty is endearingly and powerfully enduring. How drawn are you to the naked truth?
© September 2014 afesehngwaHilary
