Well this morning before I went to bed, I was reading the wikipedia article on the 'cunning folk,' and I was trying to figure out more about the unusual word 'cunning.' It occurred to me that I like the word , I like the sound of it, but I don't think I like the modern definition of it, which seems to involve 'deceit' in getting what you want. I wondered if the definition of the word had been deluded somewhere. I sense that it seems like it may have very old etymological roots
And nor do I think it is just a word that is referring to one's intelligence. It seems closer to 'clever,' but it is not that either
But to be cunning, I think, might mean something along the lines of empowering one's personally accumulated wisdom in a unique way, if I were to redefine it. Perhaps. And something about trying to empower one's idiosyncratic knowledge or connection to the world, both the natural and man-made parts, might be what gives one a cunning edge. There might be a broad 'pagan' theme in this, perhaps in a broad kind of contradistinction to ideas in other religions , where the individual is primed to 'submit' to higher learnings. But if you are 'cunning,' you don't exactly do that, because the word seems to empower the individual to more personalized interpretations of what wisdom is
This is quickly seeming to be a complicated and mysterious thing to think about
