(Continued from the previous post)
I think that things such as monsters, trolls, fairies and so on are basically the shadows of our world. The movement of Enlightenment has greatly (and literally) reduced these shadows in the past several centuries. I think it is basically good as it has indeed freed us from innumerable fears.
However, a man without a shadow is not a man but a vampire. To keep the balance between the conscious and unconscious mind, we need some mysteries or secrets. We have to embrace some of our shadows or evil, anyway, just to go on living. Just remember cute little lambs or veal slaughtered for your today's dinner...
I believe a society also needs shadows. That seems to be the reason why so many of us are interested in astrology or ghost stories even in this age of science. And every traditional society has its own shadows in the forms of monsters and such.
However, the majority of Americans do not have any natural shadow to project their unconscious mind after they drove Indians away from their native lands. And it seems that European trolls or monsters did not accompany their ancestors when they immigrated to the
So they only had Satan as the object of their projection of shadows. And the concentrated projection of shadow on Satan bloated up this ultimate anti-Christ. I guess that eradication of less threatening worldly spirits has ended up with making this hellish spirit so powerful that he seems to threaten the very existence of human race anytime soon.
In other words, the sense of uprooted-ness has bloated the fear to a degree that people find absurd doomsday cult so convincing…
I also guess this is something that is behind American habit of continuous search for an enemy. The empowered and bloated Satan has always had to be projected onto the worldly evils such as
I think this is the reason why
Anyway, this is just a hypothesis that I have recently come up with. I need a lot more study to become sure about this theory... But I feel that the cure for this uprooted-ness can be found in tolerance and respect to the nature...
The movie Pom Poko ends with a song that says:
I believe that
You stand by me always.
Please remember
Your wonderful name..
Yes, we have to remember and respect the spirit of nature in order to heal our sense of uprooted-ness. It may sound obsolete and naive but we cannot be whole if we refuse to embrace our shadows...
Tags: Pom Poko, 平成狸合戦ぽんぽこ, 百變貍貓, fairy tale, doomsday cult, Jung, Erich Fromm, Studio Ghibli
4 件のコメント:
Yes, I agree, Peter. America cannot keep up the standards it has laid out for itself. We either have to laugh it off and accept that we are just one nation among many or go out in a blaze. In American cinema and television, it is apparent that we are enthralled with the end of things, and always have been. Why? Because the lifestyle of the consumer has no fulfilling end and we are afraid to lose. It is easier to accept the end at the hand of another force.
It`s true, what you say about the end of things, particularly in cinema...when 9/11 happened, it didn`t seem real. I likened it to things I`ve seen in films, then realised that images of absolute destruction are readily consumed as entertainment, when the reality of the situation is anything but.
Peter, I like this chain of thought you`re on. Ganbatte.
Dave: Your comment reminded me of Erich Fromm's "Having or Being?" Indeed consumerism has no fulfilling end because it constantly encourages people to have more.
And in addition, I guess religious liberals (including me) can use more plain language if they want to reach out to the people who really need their good news...
Shining: Thank you for your encouragement!
Nice idea with this site its better than most of the rubbish I come across.
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