Ben playing in the grass
So my first thought when I looked up from my pitchfork full of hay was, “I asked him to help me a few minutes ago, what is he doing?” The second thought: “Man, that’s gonna itch.” Then finally I broke free from the inner critic and saw what was before me with open eyes.
A boy at play, lost in his imagination, perhaps pursuing an Imperial tie fighter in a Star Wars battle. More likely he was riding the back of a mythical creature. The first words to came out of his mouth once the spell was broken were “you know, a basilisk can turn you to stone like the Medusa if it looks you in the eye and you look back.” I could have asked, but I’ve come to respect the sanctity of the imaginal realm that he can so freely engage.
There’s certain positions and postures that seem a prerequisite to have a thought like that. Kids know them all. Kids know summer.
Ben's Paper Sculpture
“Getting” gravity as a rule in our world is pretty useful for self preservation, especially when hiking near cliffs. But as a parent, I keep reminding myself not to fall into the “that’s not how it’s done” trap. A case in point:
Today my son created a three-dimensional sculpture with nothing but white copy paper and a stapler. As I walked into the room I was really impressed with the result. He proceeded to explain the challenge he had getting it to stand up by itself. While listening to him I flashed back on a moment a week ago.
I returned home from my travels with a kaleidoscope kit. When he came in to see me in the morning he was quite taken with the gift and before I roused myself for the day he had proceeded to assemble the kit in a rather unique fashion. One of the mirrors was taped to the outside of the tube, and the visual functionality was reduced as a result. He was very thrilled with his result and I caught myself before jumping into any criticism.
Looking at the sculpture today I intuitively recognized that criticism of the kaleidoscope would have prevented today’s exploration. It’s so important to keep the critical voice out of the child’s world of play. The imagination needs latitude, not attitude.
(don’t forget to check out the Archetypal Garage)
Over the last two months, Judith and Ben have been spending a great deal of time together in the studio creating this life size portrait. Judith paints her subjects from life, not using photographs. Its an amazing process to be part of, though seldom do people get the chance to “sit” for a portrait these days.
Much of the time posing was aided by listening to the audio book of Treasure Island. I like how the articles of the costume seem only to objectify where the imagination has led.
The portrait pays homage to Manet, whose image of the fife player can be seen in the open book on the floor.
The Sand Box
In bringing our children up, I resist the Disney-fication of myth, especially as it relates to the holidays. Halloween seems the most challenging. How do we find right balance? The real content of the feast, the specter of death, is something our culture purposefully avoids? All Hallow’s Eve, the night before the double feasts of All Saint’s Day and All Soul’s Day, the night that goblins and ghouls are released from the cometary, when the un-dead take center stage, the night to face our fears of death.
The hoarding of candy is an example of where the Disney-fication leads the content of every mythologem: consumerism. So how do we prevent that? How do we keep the spooks in? The difference between a Grimm’s fairy tale and a Disney-fied offering is where the answer lies. The working of the oral tale on the imagination in half light around a fire is an important encounter for both children and adults with the archetype of initiation. One of the failings of mass media for our growth and development is that atrophy of our collective imagination in the face of the flood of imagery that assaults our senses. Again, all for the purpose of consumerism. Tonight we will share a tale from a book of fairy tales from North Wales. And yes, the purpose is to feel the fear, to doubt the rational determinism of the limits of reality, to give the irrational a context and opportunity to surface.
Then there is the costuming, the masks, the playing with identity. We take the time to build our costumes and to share to develop a story of the character and role our children will play. My son remembers each and every costume he has built and has made it a point to learn what he wore when he was an infant. These characters map for him his growth. Mask making and wearing is an ancient source of ritual. We encourage our children explore and play with their costumed roles. It needs to be more than asking for candy.
What other values are inherent in the holiday? Behind the sense of the ghouls is simply the seasonal death of autumn. And with that is the celebration of the harvest. We are fortunate to have a pumpkin patch so that the jack-o-lantern we carve we also started from seeds last April, and seeds from these jack-o-lanterns have been saved for next years crop. The extra seeds are baked and the extra pumpkins become pies. In this way the value of sustainability underlies our celebration.
One afterthought: Carl Jung noted that the gods have become our diseases. To that end how interesting to consider the undead quality of the diseases that ravage our society. Consider my challenge to let the ghouls speak again in the light of health care reform. Hmm…now that’s a twist.
Hypocrisy
Lifestream Digest for October 15th
Write America
Lifestream Digest for September 12th
