14 as usual is chock full! Starting where we left off in 13 (p299) the going beyond “good and evil” continues when on p. 301 it is said” free yourself from the old curse of the knowledge of good and evil.” and we only need to know direction, below/low and above/high, not good and evil. The tension of holding them both Jung later terms anima media natura, the soul stretched between them and always being partially lost. And the importance of allowing being in doubt, “But you know if you stand still in the greatest doubt, steadfastness in great doubt is a veritable flower of life.”
Well I love the idea of this concept but don’t really know what it means or how to understand it in my life. My thought is how in my plans for my graduate studies that are set to commence in a month right after my graduation from the BA program, I am still in doubt and ambivalence about which direction to go exactly. Having lots of conversations with professors and each one seems to add to the confusion. Well I guess all there is to do is stay in this “doubt” “stretched between the poles of fire.” (302) Maybe if I just stay with this (not much choice!) the nourishment of the depths/chaos will feed me and my aspirations like the grand tree. I would like to know how to allow that sap to rise up unobstructed.
Another reference to my own life is how I am entering a drastic new eating plan and structural realignment with a chiropractor and that makes me think of the incubation and the nourishment of the kitchen as well as the need to be connected through the roots to the earth while at the same time aspire upwards. I think dealing with my body will help me in my aspirations, make it more possible (allow the sap to flow perhaps?) to enter the “sacred theatre of life” as I exit the incubation of the chao of this bachelors program I am completing and that has inspired me to continue on and enter the studies of psychology giving the voices of the daemons “body”.
And then as the conclusion with the discussion of Gifts, and to not identify with the Gifts but be WITH them, participate with them, allowing their “ridiculous and enchanting” nature to be present with their aspiring nature as well, hits home with me as well. Particularly as my BA thesis is titled A Gift of Acorn - the possibility of inborn gifts and purpose / destiny for lesbian, gay, transgendered, queer, inter-sex, and two- spirit people.
Well it looks like I have some additional citations to include!!
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Dear Forum Members,
I have been mulling over Lecture 14 these 2 weeks while I prepare to attend a special training Healing Sanctuary lead by Robert Bosnak and Jill Fischer and staff in Malinalco, Mexico August 14-24. If you're curious about this go to: http://santabarbarahealingsanctuary.com/
So this speaks to where I am:
"Remember the grand sanctuaries. As you exit the sanctuary at Epidaurus you come to a theatre. Theatre actually is the rite of exit of the sanctuary. It is the moment where we realize that we have been to the grand theatre. And that the dreaming, the healing dreaming and the incubated dreaming is itself part of the the grand theatre. Theatre is sacred. Theatre actually puts the voices int the world and give the voices body. So theatre is a sacred act."
I love it that the kitchen of the librarian is the place where the incubation happens, the “temple sleep”, the movement down into madness, into the roots, into the chaos of the words. I've been spending a great deal of time in the kitchen like making red currant jam with fruit picked with my step daughter. We're at the cross quarter of lammas, the first harvest. The bounty of corn, fruit, flowers et al is so moving--especially for those of us who love to eat.
In the Fourth Night, I’m very taken with being stretched between the two worlds; the vision of the grand tree with the solar crown of ideas and the roots of chaos. The sap should move clearly in a clear flow from the underworld roots of chaos to the crown of our highest aspiration. For me these worlds are quite literally the world of dreaming and the world of the kitchen--or shall I say the night world and the day world?
I will likely not be present on the Forum in the next weeks. Perhaps the rest of you are off on adventure, gone to the beach or just outside playing. I hope you continue to be stirred by what you listen to in the lectures and feel how it moves you.
Janet
Hi Ric - what a beautiful and amazing portent in the sky to behold. Thanks for sharing. Peace + love Linda
Yes Ric, thanks. And what is the passage to clear for the sap to flow freely? The body. So I think it's a good thing I am working on that with diet, supplements, walking, and chiropractic.
Good morning Chris - the idea of the soul, crammed to the limit holding the tensions - this being the state of anima media natura with implications that while in the stretching, the soul is always partially lost, but that standing still in the greatest of doubt - does bring forth the bloom of one's life (purpose?).
This brings to mind the ebb/flow of the tide - constant, steady and within this natural context - the waters of the ocean - are not lost. So, I struggle and wonder in accordance to Jungian psychology - when is the soul found? What if one's soul is found in the beginning which is also the end?
I too love the thoughts of aspiring, innate nature of individual gifts, supporting individuation towards the mysteries inherent in one's life purpose and destiny - for all. I love your title and my beloved, departed brother and I would have enjoyed reading your thesis - A Gift of Acorn.
I notice your thesis language leaves out homosexual and bisexual. Queer was always difficult for me to hear when my brother was alive and remains so 20 years after his death. I am unfamiliar with your reference to two-spirited people and will remain in the meditative state of lovingkindness, eager to follow the groups lead in the midst of our travels together in Lecture 14. Thanks for sharing. Peace + love Linda
Linda,
Thanks for catching that I left out bisexual. Homosexual is generally assumed in the terms gay and lesbian. Queer can be a pejorative term and has been reappropriated and refers to the actual definition (differing in some odd way from what is usual or normal) and includes a wider range of gender and sexual identities.
Two Spirit is an umbrella term used to describe people of fluid or mixed gender identities in Native American indigenous peoples cultures. These people were often the medicine people of the tribes.
And yes of course I feel "all" have inborn gifts and purpose and my research is focused on the possibility that LGBTQI people have a purpose directly associated with their nature as LGBTQI people, not unlike how men and women's natures may point to specific gifts and purpose.
You can find lots more on these subjects of course with a little "searching".
I would be happy to share my thesis when it is complete in two weeks!!
I sat in a Redwood grove yesterday and waited and offered to the trees to be available for participation in their world (as transits in dreams in Embodied Imagination) They are indeed "grand trees" and I think this may be the beginning of a relationship as I continue to visit and be with them. I am hoping to understand a little better the idea of being connected to the underworld and the upper worlds at the same time.
They stand so tall and reach so high and the smell of the loamy soil at their base was very sensuous, a little moldy, wet .....
Will keep you posted.
Hi Chris - I am not sure why we need to continually mess with the words (acronyms) at a time when socially and in our current cultural context - homosexuality is more acceptable. Queer is an old cultural slang that referred to same-sex partners and for me is no different than the slang Nigger used in reference to black skinned, African-American persons. Both queer and nigger are prejudicial and no longer acceptable terms in a democratic society.
When will we move beyond these sex and race slangs? Just wonder if my heterosexually lead acronym of Hx2BTCE - heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, transgendered, celibate and eunuch be anymore beneficial in the description of person's natural natures?
Your two-spirited person appears related to referencing aboriginals (the primitives of ancient cultures) - natural nature of humans, animals - hence, spirit in all living things. This has a different meaning for me than sexual orientation/practice.
The 4 levels of love now enters my mind and soul as most important for all persons/living things irregardless of placement, orientations, beliefs, practices: I continue to ponder these levels: Eros (romantic), Storage (family love), Philos (friendly, brotherly/sisterly) and Agape (divine, god-head principles).
Just some more food for thought. I remember my youngest son's adolescence, spiritual awakening when he was into feeling the living spirit in everything......good luck with the mighty oak. Regards Linda