Paula Houseman's Blog - Posts Tagged "mythology"
Insanity and Other Gods & Monsters
www … What’s with Words?
A word is dead when it is said
Some say –
I say it just begins to live
That day.
Nineteenth century American poet Emily Dickinson wrote this. If eighth century BC Greek poet Homer were here today, his knee-jerk reaction to this might be, ‘Ochi! (No!). A Word is eternally alive—spoken or unspoken.’
‘Insanity’, for example, is alive and well! But it’s not just a word; it’s not just a condition ... it’s not even an it. In Homer’s day, Insanity was a ‘person’. Back then, all conditions, emotions, actions, qualities were considered the stuff of soul. The ancients respected these, brought them to life in their stories. All aspects of our humanness were given their due in personified form as gods, goddesses, heroes, heroines, monsters, or a bunch of weird creatures. And all were important. Pain, Hate, Hopelessness, Revenge, Weakness were just as valued as Pleasure, Love, Hope, Forgiveness, Strength. In those days, the ugly aspects weren’t shoved into the backwoods of psyche and left to fester like rotting corpses as they have been over the centuries. But RIP? Hardly. They can erupt from the depths into open war during meditation.
A Need to Deepen Our Horizons
The Law of Attraction states that ‘what you focus on grows’. True. ‘Think Positive’ and ‘Transcend the mind’. Sound advice. So why even consider giving the dark aspects any attention at all? It’s about equal rights. All people have the same rights, even the ‘peoples’ of the psyche. Let them be heard (at least by us, safely), then they don’t have to find ways to express through other avenues: through our organ systems or through immoral behaviours. Better to own our Insanity et al than have them own us.
One way Insanity drives us is through our pursuit of perfection. The idea that we are made in the image of God has us striving for the impossible ideal, which degrades the not-so-perfectness of our dark depths. In the face of this push for purity, the many gods populating ancient mythology got bad press. Understandable. They were divine but they also displayed the worst of human traits. False gods, though? Ochi! Many facets to the human psyche = many gods.
It’s Just Child’s Play
As little children, we kind of made like the ancients. We uninhibitedly displayed soul (a hissy fit in the middle of a supermarket ... ‘Oh, she’s going through the Terrible Twos’). And everything came to life! That adored teddy bear we dragged everywhere was real. He had feelings. And nobody labelled the authors of our books certifiable—an athletic cow hurdled the moon; a dish absconded with a spoon; a teapot identified itself as a teapot and issued ‘how to use me’ instructions. Personifying things invited a connection with them. What joy we found in all of this, and frustration. Just like you find in relationships. Our ancient consciousness was plump and full. Still, acquiring strong morals was important. But when instilling morals entails eliminating the negative or shaming our base feelings and impulses, we lose soul. We stop living the deep life.
Could it be that our children wouldn’t be so afraid of the monsters under the bed if we ourselves weren’t so afraid of the ‘dark’?
A word is dead when it is said
Some say –
I say it just begins to live
That day.
Nineteenth century American poet Emily Dickinson wrote this. If eighth century BC Greek poet Homer were here today, his knee-jerk reaction to this might be, ‘Ochi! (No!). A Word is eternally alive—spoken or unspoken.’
‘Insanity’, for example, is alive and well! But it’s not just a word; it’s not just a condition ... it’s not even an it. In Homer’s day, Insanity was a ‘person’. Back then, all conditions, emotions, actions, qualities were considered the stuff of soul. The ancients respected these, brought them to life in their stories. All aspects of our humanness were given their due in personified form as gods, goddesses, heroes, heroines, monsters, or a bunch of weird creatures. And all were important. Pain, Hate, Hopelessness, Revenge, Weakness were just as valued as Pleasure, Love, Hope, Forgiveness, Strength. In those days, the ugly aspects weren’t shoved into the backwoods of psyche and left to fester like rotting corpses as they have been over the centuries. But RIP? Hardly. They can erupt from the depths into open war during meditation.
A Need to Deepen Our Horizons
The Law of Attraction states that ‘what you focus on grows’. True. ‘Think Positive’ and ‘Transcend the mind’. Sound advice. So why even consider giving the dark aspects any attention at all? It’s about equal rights. All people have the same rights, even the ‘peoples’ of the psyche. Let them be heard (at least by us, safely), then they don’t have to find ways to express through other avenues: through our organ systems or through immoral behaviours. Better to own our Insanity et al than have them own us.
One way Insanity drives us is through our pursuit of perfection. The idea that we are made in the image of God has us striving for the impossible ideal, which degrades the not-so-perfectness of our dark depths. In the face of this push for purity, the many gods populating ancient mythology got bad press. Understandable. They were divine but they also displayed the worst of human traits. False gods, though? Ochi! Many facets to the human psyche = many gods.
It’s Just Child’s Play
As little children, we kind of made like the ancients. We uninhibitedly displayed soul (a hissy fit in the middle of a supermarket ... ‘Oh, she’s going through the Terrible Twos’). And everything came to life! That adored teddy bear we dragged everywhere was real. He had feelings. And nobody labelled the authors of our books certifiable—an athletic cow hurdled the moon; a dish absconded with a spoon; a teapot identified itself as a teapot and issued ‘how to use me’ instructions. Personifying things invited a connection with them. What joy we found in all of this, and frustration. Just like you find in relationships. Our ancient consciousness was plump and full. Still, acquiring strong morals was important. But when instilling morals entails eliminating the negative or shaming our base feelings and impulses, we lose soul. We stop living the deep life.
Could it be that our children wouldn’t be so afraid of the monsters under the bed if we ourselves weren’t so afraid of the ‘dark’?
Going Down. Are You Doing It Regularly?
We’re okay with ‘calming down’; we’re cool with ‘cooling down’; we’re hot on ‘going down’ (yeah baby!); and we rhapsodise about ‘falling in love’.
Mostly, though, ‘down’ gets short shrift.
Up and Down Are Not in Opposition
With our leaning towards one part of a pairing over and above the other part, ‘up’ gets a thumbs up. Add to this Western society’s upward-looking spiritual orientation, and I learned to fear down. But I also learned you can’t get to the bottom of something by looking up.
Even so, going down meant visiting the lizard brain and the immoral, uncivilised parts of the psyche (soul). It was a damned dark and scary experience … until I came across these eye-opening words from author and activist, Parker Palmer:
‘I had always imagined God to be in the same general direction as everything else that I valued: up … I had to be forced underground before I could understand that the way to God is not up but down.’
‘If You’re Going Through Hell, Keep Going,’ Said Winston Churchill. Why?
If you go on regular excursions into Hell—it’s a free trip—you’d already know that a taste of Nirvana awaits you beyond the fire and brimstone. If you don’t, then getting your head around Palmer’s flipped focus might be an issue. It’s not all that controversial, though, when you consider the often-quoted words, ‘At the darkest moment comes the light.’ Or, to take it all the way back to The Creation Story, ‘Let there be light’ saw light emerging from the dark, formless earth.
Still, words might convince us of the value of going down, but words don’t console us when we’re being assailed by, well, words!
Those words and a billion+ others that have constructed and shaped our realities make up our stories. Our lives are a series of these: dramatic, romantic, tragic, comedic, ridiculous; sagas and short stories; poetic and prosaic; fact and fiction. We might not be familiar with or even aware of the very early ones—the bizarre ancient stories, but they’re still imprinted on our psyche and encoded in our DNA. When something shakes up our existence, we time-travel back through the layers of stories (think of the flashes of memories that emerge on the way down). And we can end up crash-landing in these raw, uncut ones.
Giving the Right Brain Its Due
Personally, I don’t think trying to think your way out of the badlands of psyche is all that helpful when you’re feeling insane and confused. Overthinking used to be my knee-jerk reaction. But when I’ve lost my mind, intellectualising is useless. It feeds the voices. If I ignore them or try scramble up and out, they bite me on the bum. And wrestling with them is just shadow-boxing. It weakens me, strengthens them.
Imagining takes me part of the way.
I imagine I’m just passing through this village of crazies (like a long transit stopover as a necessary evil on the way to a holiday destination).
Letting myself ‘feel down’ takes me the rest of the way.
Feeling breathes life into the starving, discarded-but-not-dead low-lifers of the psyche. Then every subsequent descent feels less unnerving and less murky. And results in less stagnancy. With more movement, as impulses and emotions become resuscitated, it’s better for our well-being.
What I’ve learned is that in looking up, we perceive our spirit. In going down, we retrieve it.
Maybe, one day, when many willingly undergo what is essentially a healing journey, Down will be the new black.
Mostly, though, ‘down’ gets short shrift.
Up and Down Are Not in Opposition
With our leaning towards one part of a pairing over and above the other part, ‘up’ gets a thumbs up. Add to this Western society’s upward-looking spiritual orientation, and I learned to fear down. But I also learned you can’t get to the bottom of something by looking up.
Even so, going down meant visiting the lizard brain and the immoral, uncivilised parts of the psyche (soul). It was a damned dark and scary experience … until I came across these eye-opening words from author and activist, Parker Palmer:
‘I had always imagined God to be in the same general direction as everything else that I valued: up … I had to be forced underground before I could understand that the way to God is not up but down.’
‘If You’re Going Through Hell, Keep Going,’ Said Winston Churchill. Why?
If you go on regular excursions into Hell—it’s a free trip—you’d already know that a taste of Nirvana awaits you beyond the fire and brimstone. If you don’t, then getting your head around Palmer’s flipped focus might be an issue. It’s not all that controversial, though, when you consider the often-quoted words, ‘At the darkest moment comes the light.’ Or, to take it all the way back to The Creation Story, ‘Let there be light’ saw light emerging from the dark, formless earth.
Still, words might convince us of the value of going down, but words don’t console us when we’re being assailed by, well, words!
Those words and a billion+ others that have constructed and shaped our realities make up our stories. Our lives are a series of these: dramatic, romantic, tragic, comedic, ridiculous; sagas and short stories; poetic and prosaic; fact and fiction. We might not be familiar with or even aware of the very early ones—the bizarre ancient stories, but they’re still imprinted on our psyche and encoded in our DNA. When something shakes up our existence, we time-travel back through the layers of stories (think of the flashes of memories that emerge on the way down). And we can end up crash-landing in these raw, uncut ones.
Giving the Right Brain Its Due
Personally, I don’t think trying to think your way out of the badlands of psyche is all that helpful when you’re feeling insane and confused. Overthinking used to be my knee-jerk reaction. But when I’ve lost my mind, intellectualising is useless. It feeds the voices. If I ignore them or try scramble up and out, they bite me on the bum. And wrestling with them is just shadow-boxing. It weakens me, strengthens them.
Imagining takes me part of the way.
I imagine I’m just passing through this village of crazies (like a long transit stopover as a necessary evil on the way to a holiday destination).
Letting myself ‘feel down’ takes me the rest of the way.
Feeling breathes life into the starving, discarded-but-not-dead low-lifers of the psyche. Then every subsequent descent feels less unnerving and less murky. And results in less stagnancy. With more movement, as impulses and emotions become resuscitated, it’s better for our well-being.
What I’ve learned is that in looking up, we perceive our spirit. In going down, we retrieve it.
Maybe, one day, when many willingly undergo what is essentially a healing journey, Down will be the new black.
Are You Sleeping with the Enemy? (Why It’s Worth It.)
Who’s Been Sleeping in My Bed?
I’m sleeping with the enemy. And there’s more than one.
Oh, I don’t know them in the biblical sense, and I haven’t seen them, as such. Then who are they?
My personal demons, that’s who.
Yes. I am in bed with my demons.
Boomer Rumour
For a very long time, I ran from them. It’s what we Baby Boomer kids were conditioned to do. And for us females, traditionally, ANGER has been the most demonised demon.
Then Helen Reddy came along and sang, ‘I Am Woman, Hear Me Roar’.
‘Roar’? Like, really?
Geez … I got slapped down for expressing righteous indignation, so hello! Roaring seemed beyond the realm of reason. Roaring would invite more of the shame attached to mouthing off, which had already uglified anger.
But we’ve been fed furphies about both anger and demons.
Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire!
The POV of anger that I grew up with: ‘An angry man is assertive; an angry woman is a bitch.’
And our modern-day definition of demon is: 1. an evil spirit; fiend. 2. an evil passion or influence. 3. a wicked or cruel person. Persistently tormenting.
Misappropriation
We’ve been sold a big fat lie and it’s cost us dearly.
Let’s first look at the definition of demon.
Somewhere along the line it became bastardised: monotheistic religion was hell-bent on purifying us, encouraging us to expunge our dark natural impulses.
But check out the etymological meaning of demon: ‘from Latin daemon ‘spirit’, from Greek daimon ‘deity, divine power; lesser god; guiding spirit, tutelary deity’.
The darkness-denying ideologists became society’s self-appointed guiding spirits, making us believe that female anger was … ‘demonic’ (in our contaminated understanding of demon).
Unvarnished Truth
But …
When I discovered the value of anger, I first raged on paper against its taboo-ness in my psyche. A personal journal is an intimate space where no one can shame your fury. It’s where I learnt that rage = healthy anger + shame. It’s where I can systematically unplug from the shame that bound my childhood expression of this misperceived feeling.
I dare say that for many women of my generation (and previous and subsequent ones), seeing this much-maligned warrior-emotion as a friend rather than an enemy is a work in progress. It’s safe to say, though, it’s an important bedfellow. ROAR!
I’m sleeping with the enemy. And there’s more than one.
Oh, I don’t know them in the biblical sense, and I haven’t seen them, as such. Then who are they?
My personal demons, that’s who.
Yes. I am in bed with my demons.
Boomer Rumour
For a very long time, I ran from them. It’s what we Baby Boomer kids were conditioned to do. And for us females, traditionally, ANGER has been the most demonised demon.
Then Helen Reddy came along and sang, ‘I Am Woman, Hear Me Roar’.
‘Roar’? Like, really?
Geez … I got slapped down for expressing righteous indignation, so hello! Roaring seemed beyond the realm of reason. Roaring would invite more of the shame attached to mouthing off, which had already uglified anger.
But we’ve been fed furphies about both anger and demons.
Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire!
The POV of anger that I grew up with: ‘An angry man is assertive; an angry woman is a bitch.’
And our modern-day definition of demon is: 1. an evil spirit; fiend. 2. an evil passion or influence. 3. a wicked or cruel person. Persistently tormenting.
Misappropriation
We’ve been sold a big fat lie and it’s cost us dearly.
Let’s first look at the definition of demon.
Somewhere along the line it became bastardised: monotheistic religion was hell-bent on purifying us, encouraging us to expunge our dark natural impulses.
But check out the etymological meaning of demon: ‘from Latin daemon ‘spirit’, from Greek daimon ‘deity, divine power; lesser god; guiding spirit, tutelary deity’.
The darkness-denying ideologists became society’s self-appointed guiding spirits, making us believe that female anger was … ‘demonic’ (in our contaminated understanding of demon).
Unvarnished Truth
But …
The raw, hot emotion of anger is pretty cool. A natural and appropriate response to an injustice, it stimulates, strengthens and motivates.
When I discovered the value of anger, I first raged on paper against its taboo-ness in my psyche. A personal journal is an intimate space where no one can shame your fury. It’s where I learnt that rage = healthy anger + shame. It’s where I can systematically unplug from the shame that bound my childhood expression of this misperceived feeling.
I dare say that for many women of my generation (and previous and subsequent ones), seeing this much-maligned warrior-emotion as a friend rather than an enemy is a work in progress. It’s safe to say, though, it’s an important bedfellow. ROAR!
