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Kafka's anti-hero looks into
a mirror and finds a beetle staring back. What sounds like a routine episode
from 'X-Men' has been called one of the central plights of the 20th century,
namely alienation from society that turns a man's inner self into an alien
unto himself. But that's only part of the problem: the real clincher comes
after the man-beetle encounter: how do they react ? Does he or dose he not
or accept the critter ? Conversely, does the inner insect accept the outer
disguise of the intellectual? (The fictional cockroach Archy has a different
take: a free verse poet in his previous life, Archy writes stories and poems
on an old typewriter in a newspaper office. If he has a small ego, without
the capital letter 'I', it's only because he cannot operate the shift key.)
Carl Jung rephrased Kafka's
metamorphosis to ask what if you find that the poorest beggar and the most
impudent offender lurk within your own self. Do you have the courage and
compassion to accept yourself ? Jung called it the very essence of humanity's
moral problem: what do you do when you find yourself in need of 'alms of
your own kindness' ?
The solution seems simple
enough -- love yourself unconditionally. However, as Jung added, "Simple
things are always the most difficult. In actual life it requires the
greatest art to be simple."
The first step in that
journey to inner healing and self-acceptance lies in the disarming of that
creature called the inner critic. This involves getting in tune with your
conscience. It may also call for standing up to the cultural brainwashing
that is directly or subtly exhorting us all the time to 'do more', or 'to be
better,' and 'to work harder, faster, smarter' or whatever depending on the
evangelist of the evening.
One way to salvation lies in
reclaiming your inner real estate; in saying no to second-hand palaces for
third-rate ideas. It requires what the Zen teacher Shunryu Suzuki called
going back to the beginner's mind. "For in the beginner's mind there are
many possibilities," he added. "In the experts there are few. The mind of
the beginner is empty, free of the habits of the expert, ready to doubt, and
open to possibilities." One of them takes you back to that ancient aphorism
supposedly carved on the lintel of the temple of Apollo at Delphi: 'Gnothi
Seauton' (Know Thyself). It's an endless endeavour full of riches, for he
who knows himself knows all. |
