David tacked this wonderful quote on along with his signature...
>"Man's inner nature is identical with the nature of the universe, and thus
>man learns about his own nature from nature herself." - Rolling Thunder
Exactly. I love it.
During the mid-eighties, when I was in college, a group of us were
all working internships in various financial institutions in Boston.
Chatting together would invariably lead to discussions seeking to unravel
the mysteries of corporate life. Already having grown up listening to
choruses of "don't be so sensitive", it came as no surprise that emotions
at work were considered taboo. But, by that point, I was so cut off from
recognizing any authentic emotional needs that, sure, I thought it too:
emotions were weaknesses. Which, of course, was quite a dilemma since,
you see, I was considered "emotional".
When, after a few of the nastier of life's little surprises, I
began spiralling toward some sort of abyss, the realization struck me
that, having reached a dark period of unforeseen intensity, I had an
abject fear of my emotions. It was as if I had no models to work from.
Instead, I had probably absorbed every Freudian cliche' in the book. The
social message I had learned was that if you don't have a constant,
conscious rein on the subconscious, all hell would break loose. The
dreaded fear of "losing control". Coming to grips with the "dark night of
the soul", for me, was discovering an orderly universe. And, it was
friendly.
Looking back, in "learning about my emotions", which definitely
was and is a creative spiritual path, there were a few things I feel were
significant. The first was the mere understanding, at a very personal
level, that emotions and sensitivity are strengths. The second was an
incredibly liberating catharsis. I happened to be reading Alice Miller's
The Drama of Being a Child, and memories and emotions just started coming
forth. I didn't analyze or judge, I just let them be, I just felt them.
Cried like a baby. Felt great. It was this that really started the
process of "peeling away the layers of the onion". The third was that, in
hindsight, I didn't dwell on the fact that I felt so crappy. I happened
to be studying painting at the time, writing a lot. Confronting my
creative self generated so much frustration and emotion that it provided
me with the raw material with which to understand, not specific feelings,
but how feelings arise in the body/mind. And, lastly, I will certainly
attest to the old saw "Laughter makes the best medicine."
Well, I've gone on enough.
--Jackie Mullen J.Mullen@agora.stm.it
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>