Archive for December 11th, 2010
The Archetypal Child
As I walk down different streets with my camera in hand, I sometimes get rewarded with a great photo opportunity. For example, today I came across this man who was busy sewing on some warm covers over slippers. When I asked him if I could take his photo he was quite happy and even honoured. It isn’t often that many of the poorer people get noticed in life. To have one’s photo taken by a “laowai” is a special honour. Often, I get asked if I would take a photo either with the person or of the person asking.
Though this man is obviously in the second half of life, there is something about his spirit that suggests the “child,” a simple “joy of life” that is childlike.
“Within each of us is the child who would be hero and overthrow the demon of darkness. Also within is the dependent, lazy, infantile part which may show up to sabotage relationship inhibit risk, keep us from growing up. Much New Age prattle about the “inner child” is an invitation to regression and sentimentality, a flight from the complexities of adult life. We all have experienced the lost child, the abandoned child, but how often do we recall that such separation is the necessary requisite to growth, to individuation? Similarly, the child mythologem is a spiral. We begin dependent, toothless, silly and end dependent, toothless, silly.” (Hollis, Mythologems, p. 41)
Important things to note in terms of keeping oneself a bit more humble. Before all is said and done, it is likely I will be as unaware of self as I was as a new infant. I am seeing my brother-in-law moving quickly in that direction as he suffers from Alzheimer’s disease. As for the inner child, I know it still is within, at least at an archetypal level where the child shows up in my dreams. And, I hate to admit it, that child also shows up in my relationships with others.
