About Beowulf (extract from my forthcoming book, Learn to Love and Be Loved In Return)

Many people ask me about the name Beowulf and where did it come from. Here follows how and why I came to choose it to name my company.

In 1997, I read The Heart Aroused by David Whyte. I found I had to read many paragraphs twice, so beautifully are they written. David, a poet and writer, dedicates part of his life to helping businesses whose people have sacrificed their souls to the corporate alter - to rekindle the flame and passion from the embers that once shone so brightly. David devotes a chapter to the ancient poem Beowulf. Inspired, I created Beowulf Consulting Limited........

About Beowulf (extract)

Written some 1500 years ago, by an anonymous bard, Beowulf tells the story of its pen-named gallant hero, who travels north to Denmark to slay the swamp beast, Grendel.

Grendel would visit the local King Hrothgar’s castle and set about killing all whom it encountered, carrying severed limbs and bodies back to its lair, at the bottom of a deep dark lake.

Beowulf slays Grendel. That night there is much merriment and a feasting. Beowulf and his men retire to a far part of the castle. A second creature enters the hall where many still celebrate. The creature, Grendel’s mother, the source of the problem, wreaks its revenge. Like Grendel, she retires to her lair. Beowulf sets after her.

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“The presenting problem is never the real problem. The real problem lies behind all the presenting problems. When the real problem disappears, so do all its presenting problems.” An oft used NLP phrase
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Beowulf approaches the edge of the lake. Below him in the deep dark abyss lies the beast in its lair. Before he descends there is great temptation to withhold and draw back. But with courage (afforded by the finest sword, shield and armour) Beowulf steps forward and descends into the darkness, his darkness.

Below, he and the beast engage in battle. He finds the magnificent sword, shield and armour (that protect him so well on the surface) serve no use in the darkness. Beowulf casts them off. He reveals his unprotected self; his complete vulnerability. Beowulf and the beast become one, in combat. And as they wrestle, Beowulf finds a luminous sword of light, that hangs on the wall of the lair.He slays the beast.

“Light cannot be seen in the light.”

As Beowulf rises to the surface to reveal the beast’s head, he finds that the luminous sword dissolves. The luminous sword that worked in the darkness has no power in known world. It leaves Beowulf unable to demonstrate its power.

For others to understand the sword’s power, they must descend into darkness and find it for themselves. They must experience alone.

This story illustrates my experience of my own inner darkness. Not to be feared, the darkness beckons my light. By (not) coincidence, I made my mind up (this very day of writing) to tackle more of my own darkness. I feel hesitancy, fear and vulnerability. I feel tempted to withdraw and go back to my old habits. But I shall not.