Tilting at Windmills

"Don Quixote in his Library"
Gustave Doré (1832-1883)

Tilting at windmills is an English idiom that means attacking imaginary enemies. The expression is derived from the 1605 novel Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes, and the word "tilt" in this context comes from jousting.

-- Wikipedia, "Tilting at windmills"

I think Alonso Quixano, the ersatz hero naming himself "Don Quixote," his madness driven by reading too many chivalric romances causing him to go quite insane.  As described in Wikipedia, "he loses his sanity and decides to become a knight-errant (caballero andante), reviving chivalry and serving his country, under the name Don Quixote de la Mancha."

His sanity gives way to the giants and the gate, and his insanity battles the giants until he regains who he is, or who he really is.

Where many might interpret his heroics as part of his insanity, Quixote considers his bravery noble and necessary. In his eyes, he sees the windmills for the giants they are. "Tilting at windmills" may be "an English idiom that means attacking imaginary enemies" yet, for our valiant knight, these are anything but imaginary. His intent to rid the land of them is no less sincere than his, albeit tentative, bravery in taking on the noble task he has set before himself, and certainly no less sincere than his love for the beautiful, and imaginary, princess Dulcinea del Toboso, whom he refers to as his "queen and lady" and sees in the peasant girl Aldonza Lorenzo.

I love this story, especially when it produced for the silver screen in the 1972 production of "Man of La Manch" starring Peter O'Toole, Sophia Loren, and James Coco.  Although a musical, I think it captured the characters as I always saw them.  I needed a box of tissues at the end.

Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, the author of this Spanish novel, The Ingenious Nobleman Sir 0Quixote of La Mancha, wrote the novel in two parts, publishing Part 1 in 1605, and completing it with Part 2 in 1615, one year before the death of William Shakespeare. So this can be seen as quite the era for writing romance. Cervantes bears this out, to my own romantic joy, in saying Dulcinea's "fanciful attributes of beauty which the poets apply to their ladies are verified in her; for her hairs are gold, her forehead Elysian fields, her eyebrows rainbows, her eyes suns, her cheeks roses, her lips coral, her teeth pearls, her neck alabaster, her bosom marble, her hands ivory, her fairness snow, and what modesty conceals from sight such, I think and imagine, as rational reflection can only extol, not compare."

Oh my goodness, Cervantes certainly does know how to leave a body wanting, and he also knows how to cause one's imagination to consider such "rational reflection" as would be cause for high praise!  Other than "what modesty conceals" the only body parts he doesn't mention would be her feet.  Perhaps modesty of the day demanded concealment of even those?  This period is, after all, 200 years before the Marquis de Sade would press any preconceived notion of modesty and morality out of their tidy little boxes and redefine them into the hungry minds hands of the bored masses.

Okay, I should probably get back on my fairly short point which I've made longer by letting my mind wander so far afield.

I think the intended moral of the story is interpreted as not to fight imaginary demons.  Maybe crossing through the valley of the shadow of death is the only way we learn to fear no evil and to understand that God is with us always, not to mention its simply a way of getting to the other side.  Some people insist on interpreting this story inside the box, but what if?

Tilting at windmills is not always a bad thing, especially if we aren't inside the mind of the knight tilting at them.  One man's insanity is another man's reality.  Did Christ walk on water?  Did he make the crippled walk and the sick well again?  Or, was it perhaps what the people hungered for, what they wanted to see?  Just because we don't see someone's invisible friend, does it necessarily follow that the friend does not exist, or is it that the friend just doesn't exist for us?  Where are our fairies and gnomes, our elves and leprechauns?  Where are our giants?  Maybe we've just lost the ability, the innocence, to see through to the other side.

What others see as imaginary, the troubled see as real.  Many of us are strong enough of will to recognize these "enemies" for what they are.  Others become so surrounded by giants we either crumble before them or rise to the occasion.  Many of those enemies are the evils which haunt our every waking minute even, often times, unto our dreams.  Perhaps those imaginary enemies simply need an imaginary hero to defeat them in order for peace to reign over the kingdom of our minds.

Yes, I think that, sometimes, tilting at windmills can be a very good thing indeed.  The voices in my head are reminding me its almost 5:00.  Time for a little bourbon.  Time to relax.  Tonight we battle windmills!

Now, where's my lance?

Editor's Note

(Re: disclaimer cum "get out of jail free" card)

Before you go getting your panties in a bunch, it is essential to understand that this is just an opinion site and, as such, can be subjected to scrutiny by anyone with a differing opinion. It doesn't make either opinion any more right or wrong than the other. An opinion, presented in this context, is a way of inciting others to think and, hopefully, to form opinions of their own, if they haven't already done so. This is also why, occasionally, I will present an "opinion" just to stir an emotional pot. Where it may sound like I agree with the statements made, I'm more interested in getting others to consider an alternate viewpoint. 

It is my fervent hope that we keep open and active minds when reading opinions and while engaging in peaceful and constructive discussion, in an arena of mutual respect, concerning those opinions put forth. After over twenty years with military intelligence, I have come to believe engaging each other in this manner and in this arena is the way we will learn tolerance and respect for differing beliefs, cultures, and viewpoints.

We all fall from grace, some more often than others; it is part of being human. God's test for us is what we learn from the experience, and what we do afterward.

Pastor Tony spent 22 years with United States Air Force Intelligence as a planner, analyst, briefer, instructor, and senior manager. He spent 17 years, following his service career, working with the premier, world renowned, Institutional Review Board helping to protect the rights of human subjects involved in pharmaceutical research. Ordained 1n 2013 as an "interfaith" minister, he founded the Congregation for Religious Tolerance in response to intolerance shown by Christians toward peaceful Islam. As the weapon for his war on intolerance he chose the pen, and wages his "battle" in the guise of the Congregation's official online blog, The Path, of which he is both author and editor. "The Path" offers a vehicle for commentary and guidance concerning one's own personal, spiritual, path toward peace and the final destination for us all. He currently resides in Pass Christian, Mississippi, where he volunteers as lead Chaplain and Chaplain Program Liaison, at the regional medical center.