Symbolic Sight: A Global Perspective

Seeing with the 'Mind's Eye'
This post continues the theme of symbolic sight, but locates it at the global level.  Symbols are everywhere. Our world, language and dreams are filled with symbols, if only we could interpret them.   In the world of myth and fairytale, an animal, place or object can all have symbolic meaning, but different individuals will attach varied and diverse interpretations to the same symbol depending on culture, and whether, and how it has relevance to their lives and/or experience. 

While our left brain hemisphere is responsible for logic and linguistic structure, thinks digitally and in linear fashion, the right brain is responsible for the psyche’s world of images and dreams and is not subject to the left hemisphere’s sense of time. The right brain permits us to grasp the whole – the gestalt – on the basis of a mere part. It has the ability to instantly grasp complex relationships, patterns and structures in their entirety. According to Dethlefson and Dahlke, “Poetry and the speech of schizophrenics both give a good idea of the language of the right hemisphere. This is also where analogical thought and our handling of symbols are located”.[1]

There is a world of difference between a sign and a symbol. The former merely points to something while, in addition to the obvious picture presented, a symbol implies more, something that holds deeper, hidden meaning.

 In many of the natural disasters that occur in the world of course there is the horror, loss of life and immense suffering.  And there is something else. Perhaps the most macabre of global symbols signaling the need for change, was the literal decapitation of Haiti.  After the earthquake in 2010 it seemed that all the prevailing symbols of leadership and authority were either decimated, or fractured and dispersed: the Presidential Palace, the Cathedral and its archbishop, its Government and police force scattered. Every conceivable description of that country’s head – its power structure – literally rolled. And this ‘pushing off centre stage’ of a long established pattern of power holds true not only for Haiti but globally and particularly for the old 'empires', now struggling to retain a foothold and run with the new boys on the block.

         
          In the events of “9/11”, we saw the shadow of the Destroyer archetype.  And, concealed within the unspeakable atrocity of that fateful day was the symbolic message that the prevailing systems and structures, or twin towers, of global trade and finance had gone into cardiac arrest and required attention as a matter of utmost immediacy – an emergency.

          There was seven years grace before the next alarm call.  In 2008 economic catastrophe cascaded on the world stage, as the architecture of capitalism threatened to unravel, and we continue to feel the repercussions which still reverberate in our lives.  Like dinosaurs, when a prevailing life-form or structure is no longer fit for  purpose, it has come to down - whether it is any of those old and outmoded empires,  apartheid, the Berlin Wall, even relationships - however long the dismantling takes.
         
          But like all archetypes the Destroyer is neither good nor bad; it all depends on human intent. On the dark side the Destroyer, consumed with hate and destructiveness, is hell-bent on generating fear and destroying dreams; on the light side it releases what is potentially destructive, and prepares for new life. In my next post, I’ll talk just a bit about when the Destroyer archetype came calling, and how it heralded new life; not one that I had envisaged, or would have chosen, but the old way of life was no longer appropriate for who I needed to be, here now.

[1] Dethlefsen, T and Dahlke R. The Healing Power of Illness 

Related Post: Message in a Metaphor (December 2012)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

When a President Cried

Image
At a time of year when Christians around the world are commemorating the birth of the Divine Child, some parents in Newtown , Connecticut , USA are mourning the death of their children. There are probably hundreds of children around the world – in under developed countries, in conflict zones – who will die every day up to Christmas and beyond. But right now the focus has been on what one British newspaper described as a massacre of innocents. How horrendous to lose your child in such a manner. Schools should be one of the few places where you expect your children to be safe.   I worked with several of the paramedics who were first on the scene dealing with the carnage on the trains at various metro stations after the 2005 London bombings. Many, especially the younger ones, suffered severe post traumatic stress. Not trained for such horrors, those teachers immediately on the scene at that school in Connecticut will carry the scarring from that day for some time. How many more
Read more

Personal Health: Reflections in a Global Mirror

Image
{Revised November 2022} This blogpost, first written in 2013, has been revisited in the light of an apparent 'awakening' to the urgency of an impending climate catastrophe.  Currently ( 6 to 18 November 2022)  our illustrious leaders are at the 27th Conference of the Parties to the UN's Framework Convention on Climate Change' (COP27) being held in Egypt. Opening the Conference, António Guterres, Secretary General of the UN said we are on the “highway to climate hell”. That received some interesting responses, including mocking derision. (See [3] below.  We are still talking instead of doing.  When will we get to serious adaptation, upscaling infrastructure to mitigate the impact of climate change and save lives? We are told that as things stand right now, current climate policies will condemn the world to a disastrous 2.8-degree temperature rise by the end of the century. Our collective goal is to limit that rise to 1.5 degrees. Whilst we are getting there... Greenho
Read more

Tough Love in Winter

Image
Yesterday I talked about ‘Big Mama’s’ tough love (The Shape-shifter Reloaded). Today I wanted to share just a snapshot of such an experience, which began at a point when I had just arrived at the foothills of healing.   As the years went on – 5 of them to be precise – I understood that this process will continue for the rest of my life because temptation is with me everyday.   I have to be vigilant because I simply cannot afford to go back to the old ways. Whenever I do slip, I simply observe and acknowledge it; tomorrow is another day.                But that's not all. Mother Nature's healing also confers gifts as an expression of her gratitude, because when we heal ourselves, we also heal the earth; and when we heal the earth we heal others.  So watch out for Gifts of Healing, might be the title of a book I can feel emerging.        The big freeze of the last week or so reminds me of another January, about four years ago when the UK was in the midst of its coldest win
Read more