How we get our country back. Start with our collective shadow and shine light into it.
In 2016 on the eve of the election, I saw the symbol of Pluto, god of the underworld, and Persephone, the goddess of innocence. Pluto represents our shadow. The current president is a perfect display of shadow, the amalgam of the shadow most Americans don't want to believe they possess. But it exists in this culture, and nearly everyone I know has it in one way or another, even if they don't realize it.
So who was Percephone in my vision? She is our innocence, like the innocence of a child whose parents and grandparents stole and exploited others to get their wealth. To the child, what their parents did to get their wealth is invisible. They are innocent but they benefit from that exploitation and in one way or another, they do not get a pass from the entitlement they received at the expense of others.
As I write this, I am aware of all the pushback I'll get. Self-made people who came to America, faced much adversity to climb to wherever they are now. How many times have I heard people say that they earned every cent they made, then point fingers at others they believe have not earned theirs, or don't belong here. Or they whine because T is threatening their freedom. They want to know when his reign will end and life will get back to normal, their freedoms restored.
I believe our entitlement to our freedom, will have to be earned if we are to get it back. We are going to have to earn it, not just let others do that for us.
@tgraf66's dream, together with Samuel Coleridge's famous poem Kubla Khan, inspired me to start this thread and take a closer look at our country's shadow. @tgraf66, you didn't have to consciously intend it for me to see it the way I see it. It was an evocative dream.
The goal here is to take a calm and compassionate look at the shadow of America from its very origins to the present-moment behavior of people who are praying and waiting for this trauma to end.
@tgraf66, You and Coleridge both followed a meandering river to a low point where the dark shadow resides and you could go no further.
Writing in 1789, Coleridge said it was a "sacred river called Alph. "Alph" means the beginning, (from alpha to omega (beginning to end), the beginning of our "alpha-bet"). He was taking us to our beginnings.
@Tgraf66 saw a river of red and blue plastic pieces. That's just an incredible vision. So our unconscious minds follow something that is plastic; i.e., fake, man made, and the colors represent the political parties. Truly incredible vision.
The more he looked at this river, the more he began to see it ran deeper than the white walls. Note that white wallboard is in style now. So zen and clean, but painting your walls white won't hide the truth about our origins. Soon, Tgraf saw there was a trench underneath, and also another way downward - a circular pipe he could descend into, more scary, less assuring he'd be able to get back to the white room.
I would like to go down that rabbit hole, where we may never get back to our innocence. We will however has wisdom to gain. And we might just heal something and become someone we never knew we could be. We also might change the trajectory of our nation to something that has seen our shadow and is willing to heal it.
- Historical injustices: Slavery, Native American genocide and theft of their lands, and discriminatory practices against minority groups.
- Social prejudices: Racism, sexism, xenophobia, and classism.
- Political polarization: Extreme ideologies and divisive rhetoric
- Consumerism and materialism: Uncritical pursuit of wealth and material possessions, potentially leading to exploitation
- Militarism and aggression: A tendency towards excessive military intervention and violence
- Entitlement attitude: that we earned our freedom when we did not. We inherited from those who risked their lives or died for it. And expecting that we will get our freedom back just because we think we should get it back. [Jeanne added this one].
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Importance of acknowledging the shadow:By confronting and acknowledging the collective shadow, a society can work to address its issues and promote positive change
@jeanne-mayell This is exactly what I meant when I mentioned the shadow in the other thread, and again, I'm grateful that you have taken the initiative to begin a larger discussion. As you've brought up Pluto in relation to it, I will just point out that while Pluto was in Capricorn, the shadow(s) of our government were exposed and brought to light. You are correct in wanting to explore the collective shadow at this point because Pluto is now firmly in Aquarius, which rules the populace, for the next 20-ish years, meaning that same power will be brought to bear on the attitudes and biases of the people. It's likely that we will focus our explorations on the US on this board simply because of the number of regular participants who reside here and because the US is the most well-known "offender". However, because Pluto is a global archetype, I would welcome the opinions and observations of those from other places, not just about the US, but about related issues that are prevalent in other cultures/countries.
Well Joseph Conrad did a good job of exposing the British shadow in Heart of Darkness. It's the same story as ours and similar to the two dreams, only more explicit about what occurred in the British darkness. Written in 1902, Conrad's main character is driving a steam boat into the heart of African wilderness, (note that river theme again), where they collect ivory, the money going to pay for wealthy beautiful aristocratic women in their stately homes. The women, like most Americans, have no clue of the monstrous origins of their privilege. The entire story climaxes with, "the horror, the horror," a man revisiting the astrocities he committed to get all that wealth.
What is our collective shadow and how can we bring it into daylight, own it, and redress it?
@tgraf66. To your point, Joseph Conrad did a good job of exposing the British shadow in Heart of Darkness. It's the same story as ours and similar to the two dreams, only more explicit about what occurred in the British darkness.
Written in 1902, Conrad's main character is driving a steam boat into the heart of African wilderness, where they collect ivory, the money going to pay for wealthy beautiful aristocratic women in their stately homes. The women, like most Americans, have no clue of the monstrous origins of their privelege. The entire story climaxes with, "the horror, the horror" that describes the astrocities they committed to get all that wealth.
So for now: What is our nation's shadow and how can we own it and redress it?
Thank you, @jeanne-mayell, for opening this topic and to @tgraf66 for introducing it. It's my belief that facing our collective shadow requires us to face the shadow within. It starts with ourselves. As each of us begins the process of understanding and loving the most pained, rejected, injured parts of ourselves, it will lead to our individual, ancestral, and collective healing.
I am a follower of Eddie Glaude, former chair and professor of African American Studies at Princeton University. He is an accomplished and respected scholar, prolific writer and powerful speaker who examines the complex dynamics of the American experience. Glaude frequently draws on the writings of James Baldwin. Of Baldwin, Glaude writes, “Baldwin’s writing does not bear witness to the glory of America. It reveals the country’s sins and the illusion of innocence that blinds us to the reality of others. Baldwin’s vision requires a confrontation with our history (with slavery, Jim Cow segregation, and whiteness) to overcome its hold on us. Not to posit the greatness of America, but to establish the ground upon which to imagine the country anew.”
https://www.instagram.com/esglaude/reel/DCISezqJN1Z/
I too, am grateful for this topic to be initiated. Thank you.
I find that for me, when I find the courage or frankly, the guts, to explore the SHADOW at the microcosm or personal level - using a paradigm or model of a closet helps me. You see, when my closet door is closed I can pretend that all is in order and looking good. Open that door and the mess is evident; pull out some of the items and the cob webs and even rodent droppings indicate that I really need to clean out the inner most walls of this closet. The task is not pleasant and even daunting, but once every item is removed from the closet, walls and floor scrubbed, I can return those necessary items and frankly pitch the rest.
Sooo, nationally (for me the macrocosm of the SHADOW side) I see that we have opened the closet and it is a MESS. From the vantage point of my age (71), I know we had the closet door closed and we ignored our racism, our misogyny, our ethnocentrism, and on and on and on. We did NOT examine our shadow self. Door shut!
Well the closet is open today. We have the choice to clean up the mess or close the door.
I am hopeful, optimistic, and fully expecting that once we even begin to explore the SHADOW side that we can and will clean up the mess and rid ourselves and nation of the dirt. We came to earth with courage, eyes wide open, and cleaning supplies.
Each of you who write on this site prove that to me, you inspire me, you strengthen my hope. I bless you, each of you. I see you, each of you all, in love and light!
@lrinyo Thank you for the closet metaphor. When I read it, a few more issues at the bottom of my own closet showed up.
One question I have is: What do I do with this stuff, these shadows within me and within our collective?
My first thought in answer to that question: Look for them, see them, let memories of them well up, examine their origins, reverse them going forward, and forgive self and collective.
Stephen Levine:
Somewhere there is a basket
that contains all our failures.
It is a big basket. It wants to know
what to do with these.
Mercy has no use for them.
I like that metaphor.
What's more is that when those in power throw everything, out we can more easily see what is good and necessary, and what may genuinely be superfluous.
Normally I wouldn't hire a demolition crew to clean out my closet, but that's what we've got and it will certainly force us to reorganize and re-stock once we chase the crew out of our house. Which we will.
Biden said "Build Back Better" during his 2020 campaign. We can do that.
"A People's History of the United States" by Howard Zinn is, I believe, an exposé of the ugly underbelly of the American experience. I read it and was completely overwhelmed by Zinn's clear-eyed interpretation of our history, starting with the voyage of Christopher Columbus. Read it, and truly weep.
Along with out protests this weekend and the vets. Here is the largest anticorruption protest ever in Serbia today. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRRF9179md4
Mi Chelle. ....Maya Angelou has always been my heroine, my mentor and touchstone guide. I find myself often thinking of her work. "Still I rise" It seems even more pertinent today to carry own with her words of wisdom and encouragement these days and times
Hang in there. It's been rough seas!
Thank you for these words.
Yesterday was a rough day. Without even reading the news yesterday, I found myself sobbing at one point.
What is so rough right now, isn't just that the Administration appears to be eroding our democracy and our rights, and, if allowed, (though they are not always allowed) coming after just about everything dear to most Americans (and our allies).
What is so rough right now is not knowing what to do next. How to comport oneself at this time.
Yesterday's decision on the part of some democratic leadership to vote for the unacceptable spending plan was an impossible situation for them, a kind of Sophie's Choice. (Did anyone see or read that book, where a young mother in WWII Germany was forced to choose between her two toddler children?)
I know many people here upset at how some dems voted. And that is everyone's right, to feel whatever they feel. We will never know what would have happened if the dems had refused to pass the plan. I would however ask people to bend over backward with providing the utmost respect to each other in this forum, even when their opinion is very different from yours.
I'm not sure that the situation the dems found themselves in was simple.
But even if you feel it was simple and you are disgusted with the choices made, I respect your opinion. Your opinion is sacred. I don't know what I would have done.
In any case, it is now done. We have to move forward or waste a ton of energy venting about it. The venting is toxic to others and it drains people's energy. Given the work needed ahead, who has energy to waste? (That doesn't mean you shouldn't share what is going on with you. Just do it mindfully, nobly, thoughtfully, kindly to all. And if you need healing thoughts sent your way, ask for it without venting. Just tell us you need it. We have plenty to spare.)
What isn't done is how each of us is going to navigate this situation going forward.
I am thinking now about what I have to do, (and perhaps you might also want to think about that for yourself). How I am personally going to navigate from here on in? How am I going to move forward? How are you going to move forward?
Since I've never found myself in a situation like this one before, I am trying to look at role models of courage who got through difficult times. MLK, RBG, Nelson Mandela, and many other brave leaders throughout history. I am also trying to clean up my own personal act, you know, like personal stuff -- health, exercise, sleep, well being. Can't move forward without that. I hope everyone will take good care of themselves. And go to the help need threads for healing support.
The floor has been pulled out from under us. We have to find new ground and a path through. If we can focus on the path forward, preserve our energy for positive action, and as @Tesseract and others here have suggested, positive thinking/intention, imaging, then I have hope about where this will all end up. Frankly, I am very hopeful in my visions of the long-term future.
@marigold The first Stars Wars movie was the first date with my husband in the summer of 1977. If I had a nickle for every time I saw a movie in this franchise, oh boy. Any way... I do love this message, thank you.
@jeanne-mayell It feels like my house is falling apart, it gets worse every day, in ways I can't even anticipate, I can't do anything about it, and I don't know when it will end (or what my house will look like when it does end). So I'm trying to do my best to live my life even though my house is falling apart.
My anxiety is at 1000 today, and was pretty high all weekend. This signals to me that something is coming, although I'm not sure what.
I am so ready for all of this to be over, but I don't think it will be for a long time. And who knows what we will be when it does end.
@lynn yes, I woke up w anxiety yesterday and it’s back today. Plus, today there’s an antsy feeling and as if I need to be alert/look over my shoulder. While it can be overwhelming at times, I actually started thanking my angels/guides for the “early warning system” and ability to be attuned vs being numb to human suffering like too many others. When I welcome the varied emotions, they simmer down more quickly. Just now writing/sharing is reducing the antsy angst I’ve had all morning. I’m accepting more that tremendous change clearly is upon the whole world and I thank my angels, guides, and ancestors for insight and protection. I ask for their help in channeling all I’m feeling and/or picking up and know that awareness can initiate temperance. They remind me that I’ve already experienced so many betrayals and abandonments and loss and truly am able to endure even more bc I can make some semblance of sense out of it now—psychically, astrologically, humanely—bc I can’t save people from themselves. I only can save my own soul in this battle btw good and evil.