From: David Buchanan (DBuchanan@ClassicalRadio.org)
Date: Sun Nov 28 2004 - 18:34:52 GMT
Marsha and all MOQers:
MarshaV wrote:
There came a time when I recognized bubbling up from my
subconscious/unconscious a large amount of unpleasant stuff. Being a
warrior at heart, I decided to read about the shadow and investigate 'my
shadow'. I found clusters of 'stuff' that hung together. In New Hope, PA
there is a Gargoyle Shop, where I found the sculptured heads of the seven
deadly sins. I bought them and hung them in my studio. I made paintings
of them. It wasn't long before I recognized each of those "sins" in
myself. Yes, there was a cluster of anger, lust, sloth, pride, envy,
gluttony and greed. When I confronted each of them I found them to be
nothing more than long buried aspects of myself. Mostly buried in
childhood. You know, they were created primarily by shame, humility, fear,
etc. They had become distorted and resentful little trolls, sometimes
whiney, sometimes very, very destructive, but always pathetic. They wanted
to be acknowledged. They wanted to come to light. (By the way, there,
well hidden in the troll labeled Pride, was my gumption to paint.) Now,
occasionally they will go on a rampage and I will need to slay them like a
dragon. But mostly I try to treat them as a good mother and try to find a
way to bring them gently into the light. After a year, I took down those
sculptures, but I still keep them close by. ...Goddess Bless Carl Jung and
Joseph Campbell!!! Don't you think that DQ can be healing through play?
...Well, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.
dmb says:
Good story! I can relate to it. Campbell, Jung and others have really opened
something up. I think that learning to exorcise one's demons - instead of
repressing, denying and projecting them upon others - is good for the world
in general and is part of one's personal mental hygiene, if you will. That's
why I go jogging with my demons every day. But seriously, maybe you recall
the post where I pointed out that the "morals" voters were actually
concerned with such things in politics because of a personal struggle with
those kinds of issues and that the social pathologies that concern the
religious right are actually higher in the red states and the bible belt
than in most other places. This is a symptom of the repression, denial and
projection that results from a failure to come to terms with one's dark
side.
There is a principle in screen writing that mirrors Campbell and Jung in
this sense. It says that the "hero", the "bad guy" and the "girl" are all
aspects of one person. By conquering the bad guy and winning the girl, the
hero has faced, chaced and therevy integrated the various aspects of the
self into a harmonious unity. Only then does he find the treasure, solve the
mystery or whatever. And of course this very basic struture of drama
reflects the very structure of our minds and so these story are about each
and every one of us.
Oh, I just love this stuff. Its like magic.
Some of the older MOQers are sick of hearing it, but did you know that
Pirsig recommends Campbell's MASKS OF GOD series? He says it provides some
answers for anyone who is interested in finding out what social level values
are all about. Its no accident that Campbell, like Pirsig, subscribes to the
perennial philosophy. A person can't spend much time with mythology without
being astonished by the universal aspects of human culture. OK, now I'm
rambling.
Thanks,
dmb
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