Mindful College Writing

December 8, 2017

Evolving the Immature Self

“I could be blind to misery” (Sophocles 1130). The image of sight is heavily empathized in Oedipus the King. For example, “I see–how could I fail to see”, (Sophocles 1131) “…so much fascinates my eyes…Nothing I could see could bring me joy” (Sophocles 1167), “…blind to the sound of life, not just the sight…” (Sophocles 1169). Oedipus is blind to his neurosis. Choices or mental constructs design destiny. Oblivion to arrhythmic intelligence cannot help but blame destiny. Oedipus is an example of obsession as he collides into the truth that his queen and previous king are his parents. He is reactional in his paranoia when neurotically targeting Creon for killing the king. Oedipus symbolizes “the human” that cannot take responsibly for one’s life and oblivion is ones inability to master the mind.

Recklessness in human, angry and incomplete stumbles into unforgiveness. Health in human dulls as naturally sensitive hearts are pulled desensitized. Confusion in human is missing intuition to guide decisions. What is left in human after thousands of eras desensitized from the open and spiritual heart is fear. Angry and incomplete, unable to learn the lesson of pain, human tries to heal but cannot remember how. Oedipus represents this immature human.

Ancient Sophocles could not possible predict people today would glorify Shakespeare and “the human,” neurotic and unstable. Glorify pain but never do Sophocles and Shakespeare glorify forgiveness, peace and wisdom. Sophocles and Shakespeare share the same pessimistic view on human. Buddhists describe karma as an incomplete story repeating throughout lifetimes. Only forgiveness and compassion can human ascend out of the cycle. For example, it is similar to repeating the fifth grade for eternity but the spirit in human is meant to evolve and grow. The stories of Sophocles and Shakespeare amplify the belief system of the current era. For example, Sophocles projects theology of the Greek Gods into his stories and Shakespeare, the gothic monarchy. What has become culture are incomplete stories, according to Buddhists, that are complete when forgiveness resolves anger, rage and confusion.

Yogi Bhujan said human has 84 chakras of the mind and 27 selves (Chakras being energy channels within the body). A person has an immature self, wise self, emotional self, spiritual self, primal self, playful self, intelligent self, grounded self, creative self, etc. and incarnations are mapped to strengthen each infinite gift within the human, such as the artistic, practical, compassionate, earthy, authentic, courageous. Each chakra in the mind and the 27 selves are a school to help human become Everything.

If institutions magnify the immature human through placing Sophocles and Shakespeare as ultimate literature, one may ask what will become of human when the immature human evolves. What does the mature human look like? Is it grace, wisdom, balance or a person who isn’t blind to their unforgivness. There is a character in Another Earth like Oedipus who purposely blinds and deafens himself with poison. The audience isn’t given the reason behind his self-inflicted pain but human can guess it’s too painful to be open and yet too painful to be closed. Oedipus the King is the immature human and is exalted in institutions today because human hasn’t learned how to heal, therefore similar stories are repeated today.

…However…changes are happening in the human psyche. It is evident in the subtle and soothing story in Another Earth. Rhoda is a character who as a teenager kills a women and a young boy while drunk driving. She thinks by befriending the husband/father, who is oblivious of her wrong doing, she can have resolution. Stories by Sophocles and Shakespeare, characters do not know how to heal or create balance. Characters use revenge and anger to repair themselves. This strange method of resolution only creates more disharmonies and heals nothing. A character exits the story with a heavy heart and no resolution for peace. There is a scene in Another Earth where Rhoda confesses to the man whose family she killed. It’s full of sorrow yet soft release, quiet and of peace, which is lacking in Sophocles and Shakespeare stories. In this monologue Rhoda teaches the audience how to heal,

Let me tell you a story…It’s about a girl. At the start she’s naïve, reckless. She does something that is unforgivable. One day she goes to apologize. She loses her nerve. She’s weak. She lies to him…She thinks that she might, in the smallest of ways, be able to make his life little bit better and so she wakes up every day just to do that. Some days she thinks it’s for him other days she worries that it is for herself. It is really just a way to survive what I’ve done…It was my fault. I killed your wife and son.

When the shift occurs there will be a new trend within literature. Sophocles and Shakespeare will be seen as brilliant but brilliancy will transform into a story of wisdom and self mastery. Revenge and anger will become empowerment and peace. Children within institutions will study the gothic past of recklessness and confusion and study conscious living. Rhoda in her monologue expresses healing as honesty, not blunt or brash, abrupt or upset. It’s bighearted in its silence. Literature, TV, radio can be quite loud, chapters distractive with facades, American music with tings muddy and animalistic. Deeper within the commercialized human there is maturity which can See “…nothing happens to you but for you (Jim Carrey). There is connectivity not of destiny or choice. To See is to Feel with compassion. When there is no compassion human is blind, cannot face the planet. One is to too open and too closed to realize the pain is unforgiveness… to forgive is to resolve. Maybe it is too painful to forgive. Maybe it takes lifetimes to forgive. However a story is only completed and ready to ascend when one forgives.