In my class tonight we discussed living between myth and parable. Myths allow us to dream and to believe in a future better than the present. Parables won't allow us to live in a dream world. They call us to confront the present and deter us from trusting in any hope that does not face the hard reality of the present. Ironically we need both stories in our lives. We were to reflect on the mythic and parable in our own stories and rituals.
I have a ritual. On Friday nights I like to prepare and buy a favorite meal (usually Thai), pour a glass of red wine, rent a few DVDs, and take a long hot shower after some yoga or pilates or running a few errands after work. I work with people 7 days a week. My job is in service and I serve my employers, my church, my family, my friends the best I can. I'm an extrovert and am very social - a real joiner. My Friday nights have become sacred. A special time set aside for me, to indulge in alone time, to simply be. The mythic ideals of this is that choosing a life alone is better than the challenge of being-for-others all the time. We all need "me" time. The parable is I'm alone. At the end of a long week of socializing and supporting I'm still in solitude at the end of the day and it is my choice. The parable is that in the alone time I must face who I am, the choices and mistakes I've made and nurture my soul not fill it with distraction.
2 comments:
So are we saying we can't find solice in our own company? Or that if we please to many people daily that we have to face being alone because we give to much of ourselves?
Yes we can find solice in our own company with intention. To be alone with our selves does not always mean we are being present with ourselves. Sometimes we just don't want to be present with ourselves and seek some escape.
Yes we can give too much of ourselves and the alone time can be a blessing so that we can refuel and re-create. It is a story of centering between the mythic that can be taken to the extreme of excluding opportunities for togetherness in idealizing being alone as better than and the parable that can be taken to the extreme of overcommitment to others and undercommitment to the solice of self reflection and refreshment. We run the teeter totter of life to balance "together" and "alone" time for a centered life.
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