Thursday 19 November 2015

Available to the metaphor

Recognise what is before your eyes, and what is hidden will be revealed to you.

- Gospel of Thomas


On the train the other evening heading home from work I watched an army of zombies being mercilessly dispatched. The carnage was happening on a man’s computer in the row of seats in front of me. From around his shoulder I could see the creatures being shot or stabbed in the tawdry action flick that was rolling on the screen.

The film seemed to follow the usual depiction of zombies as slow, witless and bloodied creatures who rise en masse from the ground and who must be killed – with plenty of splattering gore – as part of the heroic action of the plot. It made me think about why they appear in films, what their purpose is, what they mean.

Through the lens of depth psychology we could say that the “un-dead” represent unconscious forces in the psyche that rise up to confront the individual or community. Their heavy slowness signifies the weight or gravity with which they are attached to the living. They are bloodied and deformed, a testament to suffering and wrong relationship, to life gone astray. They are ghosts in earthy, visceral and terrifying form. To respond a person must understand what zombies mean in the context of their life and why they have appeared, and take action that either transforms them towards life-affirmation or causes them to sink back down as benign forces of the earth.

Of course in movies such as the one I was peeking at, zombies are usually just monster curiosities that are splatter fodder for the hero’s weapons. They are treated literally and superficially, as “baddies” that must be destroyed.

There is a lot to be said for a more metaphoric viewing of reality, in all circumstances. Seeing into and beyond the literal not only adds depth and meaning to life, it reveals ever more levels of the universe to human consciousness, opening possibilities for inner growth and evolution.

There are two elements to the development of a deeper understanding of life: asking continually the vital question “Why?”, and the quality of attention or awareness one carries in the world.

“Why?” is sometimes a vexed question, a difficult question, and one that is often not asked in relation to many things. I think of the mainstream media in this regard – how much of what is presented as “news” for mass consumption lacks nuance, fails to look at causes or treats them in only the crudest way. When life is experienced superficially, with little depth or meaning, we are constantly surprised by events; we lack the tools to make sense of reality and are dependent on others to shape understanding for us. A commitment to questioning, to the light that “Why?” shines in dark corners, develops an ability in a person to see patterns beneath the surface of reality. These patterns then act as a guide of truth by which we are able to live a good life.

Necessarily a critical consciousness, if honest, faces that which is difficult in the self and human relations; it reveals all that we prefer to hide or don’t want to face. Difficult and daunting, it is nevertheless the process by which humanity’s consciousness evolves; without looking into the shadows we remain tied to ignorance and suffering.

A questioning life does not mean a miserable one beset by doubt or confined to ascetic introspection. It is simply one lived with an open mind and heart willing to accept gratefully whatever comes as a result.

The quality of attention or awareness we give to anything is of utmost importance. Buddhism emphasises attention in the moment as crucial to enlightenment, being fully awake to all that is right here, right now. To be fully awake, we have to work hard to purify and discipline the mind and body so as to be available to everything in the present moment. The attention produced is akin to what Hindus call “buddhi”, a type of consciousness that perceives beyond the surface of things; that has its tap root in the psyche, in the soul that pervades everything.

When more of our life and our world open in this fashion we move towards what might be called “soul embodiment”, where the subtle music of the universe is continuously playing to our senses. Metaphor comes naturally in this state – it’s not that the meaning of things is immediately revealed to us all the time, but that we live in constant perception of beauty, of the dialogue and play of opposites, of the shades and depths of the inner condition, of the holiness of all creation. Most of us connect with soul from time to time, but only for the very few is it a fundamental lived reality.

For all this, metaphor is close at hand. In some sense it is simply about amplifying what is already playing inside us and the world – our dreams and imagination supply us with a rich stream of symbolic content – or being more available to it, giving it greater regard. Soul is a cornerstone of the universe; it’s our birthright and what we move towards in fulfillment of our nature.