NOTE: I wrote this several years ago before the not being really alive and the “not dead yet” feeling of the pandemic had arrived. I re-read this the other day and thought it was worth sharing. Originally entitled GO DOWN, ARCHETYPAL MOSES.
WHO AM
I?
Recently I flew from San Francisco to Washington D.C.
leaving SFO at 5 p.m. and arriving IDA at 1 a.m. I had to catch another flight
at 8 a.m. I was too cheap to spend the money for a few hours in a hotel room.
“Not enough time.” I thought. So, I spent the night in the airport sleeping on
the vinyl benches.
The whole surreal experience reminded me of Dante’s
description of one of the rings in the Purgatorio.
With the dim fluorescent lighting, I couldn’t even cast a shadow like a
"shade". It put me in touch with homelessness. I realized that a
great deal of our lives are lived in these in between places where we have to
spend time - the waiting rooms of life where we are stuck between things.
That's why I admire my wife - she's a knitter and a
resourceful, practical person. She keeps herself occupied. Apparently knitters
do not suffer the agony of waiting. She just kept click-clicking away. Knitters
were not mentioned by Dante. (But knitters should not get the "big
head" they weren't mentioned in Paradisio either.) Eventually the
clicking of her needles only added to my misery.
If I feel I do not have enough time available to
accomplish any one of my very self-important tasks, I'll sit in dull
resentment. Rather than computer solitaire, I’ll apparently take sub-loathing
in Purgatory. Not in the dark. Not in the light. Not quite living. Not
quite dead. To paraphrase Chis Kristofferson, “...not quite truth, not quite
fiction a walking contradiction taking every wrong direction on his lonely way
back home.”
WHY AM
I HERE?
Self loathing is boring. What does one do in such a
situation - and there are lots of us: the unemployed or underemployed, temp
workers, call backs, the wrongfully incarcerated, those awaiting medical tests
or treatments, those who must wait.
Well, I always think about Archetypes,
of course. Don't you? Archetypes are the real deal. They are the truth, even if
fictional. The original. The first. The mold out of which each and every copy
is formed. Each archetype has the full-power, the undiluted truth of the form.
The “full-tilt boogie” as the case may be.
Archetypes live in an infinite reservoir of meaning and power out of which the
streams of imagination flow. There is also the water-table of archetypes into
which one can tap when stuck in IDA for six hours.
When you deploy an archetype pick one that is really dramatic and interesting
because you have hours to fill. Rather than stay with Dante’s Inferno, which I had explored in my
play, “Dante In Jiffy Lube”, I called in Moses. Whether you portray
Moses in a 6th grade play, or sit in the presence of one of
Leonardo’s sculptures, your ticket gets punched forever. The experience is your
ticket to revisit that archetype at any time in the future.
WHAT
DO I WANT?
Moses helped me move from my specific fate to the general and heightened my
interest in the godawful pit into which airline scheduling had put me. You look
at your experience of the Moses as an archetypal lens and through participative
interaction with archetypal forces and principles, things change.
Languishing in the gray airport gloom like the children of Israel who had
missed their last flight to the Promise Land? Enter Moses. Need a little
leading of your ancient Hebrew soul out of Dulles or Egypt? You bet. “Burning
bush” to fire things up? Why not? Let’s get some enthusiasm going for
Starbuck’s opening in 4 hours! Some Laws? “Thou shalt not schedule flights in
such fashion!” Born a slave and want to become a rich guy? Still a slave and
feeling oppressed? Have become a rich guy who is out of touch with your people?
Call down some plagues on the neighbors? Had a plague called down on you? We
can all relate to SOME aspect of the archetype in some way.
Even when our whole lives seem to be being lived "in between", in
some "waiting room" for the next phase, or in recovery, or we have
been "sold into bondage" in some fashion, archetypes can guide us and
give us new ways of interacting with our fate. They are universals which means
they are recognized and understood by others. They give us answers or provoke
questions. This is why they are so powerful – they are common “currency” for
ideas, ideals and feelings and forces and principles.
"Go Down Moses!" is a gospel song which I first heard when I
was just a kid. I sang it when I was working that midnight shift for UPS and I
was bone weary. You hum it – this is the “participative interaction” part -
trying to sooth your self on the benches at Dulles or at least I did. Slave
songs when we feel oppressed.
Having said all that, while the Archetype of Moses was comforting me on my
bench, I must admit that the one “courtesy” blanket I found stashed in a closet
was worth it’s weight Archetypes. They keep the a.c. blowing all night in that
particular corner of Hell.
©
Copyright 2014, Jean W. Yeager
Al
Rights Reserved
No comments:
Post a Comment