First concieved: 3/05/19, 856
This was a ‘green thought’ from a couple nights back. I was in the shower thinking about the schedule I had just produced and was to embark in the coming day(s). I found myself begin to think from different perspectives (that is what thinking is right?). Then, I started to analyse the thinking process itself. I applied an archetypal character to each perspective for ease of ‘envisionment’ (whatever that word is) and decided what their role was in the story of my schedule/thinking process/life. I have decided to separate this piece into four sections and see how that goes, writing with more purpose I guess?
The Council:
Feminine and masculine representatives: The Devil (tyranny, over order) and the Wise King (positive order), Angel (benevolent mother, compassion) and Witch (extreme chaos). AKA, The DAWK Council (Devil/Angle/Witch/King council)
I like to think of the thinking process as a congregation of perspectives that form a council of sorts (the Jedi council in Episode 1/2/3 of Star Wars helps form the picture in my head). There are 4 predominant perspectives at hand; 2 from the feminine realm and 2 from the masculine. I am the leader of these perspectives, aka, the judge and they act as the prosecutors/defendants if you will; I have the power to choose whom to listen to/whose advice to follow.
So in the red corner, representing the inner femininity, we have the Angel and the Witch. The Angel can be thought of as the benevolent mother, an agent of compassion. She will always be there to care about you, making sure you don’t over work yourself. She offers you comfort and praise, whilst producing a source of self-love within. She is the one you turn to in your moments of need, when you are down for the count. She will never shun you, but rather greet your presence with open arms when the opportunity arises. Like a child who tripped up and hurt their knee, she will be there to pick you up and say, “Its ok child, its ok”. Whereas the Witch is the agent of pure chaos. She is the one who says, “Fuck the system, why don’t we just do what we want when we want?” She is the one who will convince you to go on that weeklong bender and tell you “its allll breezy, let’s go one more!” She will tell you that it is never your fault, and point the finger at whomever she can. However, she is not all bad, as she is the one who pushes you into unfamiliar situations and forces you to explore, live on the edge and inject fun into your lives. In that sense, her purpose is to make sure you allow a bit of crazy to slip into your life here and there; it keeps you on your toes and life retains its unpredictable and novel nature. These two combine to represent Chaos, as the feminine is commonly depicted to symbolise that (not to be mistaken with woman, everyone has a feminine side).
In the blue corner, representing the inner masculinity, we have the Wise King and the Devil. The Wise King can be symbolised as Mufasa from the Lion King, an agent of order and tradition. He is the one who will protect you, make you stand up straight, give you confidence and push you to be the best you can be. He is the one who will share the wisdom of the past with you, passing on what is worthy and dispose of the acts that were unsuccessful (or unworthy). When you fail a test, he is the one who says, “You should have applied yourself and moderated you social activities son.” In saying that, he is aware of the benefits on offer from the realm of chaos and thus, is not afraid to collaborate with the feminine delegates. His counterpart is the Devil, which can be symbolised as Scar (if you wanna stay with that whole lion king buzz). He is an agent of tyranny, strict order and he is not open to compromise. He gets furious if the debate does not go how he planned and will take his wrath out on the world in the most malevolent ways, using you as his puppet. Whilst the Devil is cunning and untrustworthy, he is great at rhetoric and very convincing in his arguments. Luckily, he does make good points now and then. He lives within you; he is a part of you (as Voldemort is a part of Harry). He is the one who will take a militant stance on matters, making sure you follow through on your promises; an enforcer of sorts. He pushes you, but he is known to push too hard. He does not like it when things go off track, especially when it is due to the persuasion of the Witch (the two clash heads more often than not). He is the one who will say, “You need to get back inside and put your head in the books, there is no time for ‘fun’, only work!”
Every one of us can use these characters to better understand our thinking process, as they are all a part of who we are. I believe the best way to go about it is to give the light - as in Split, in fact the whole archetypal analysis could be assimilated to multiple personalities interacting (Split is a movie by the way. For you non-cool peps who haven’t seen it, get it done) - to the Wise King and the Angel as much as possible. You have all heard of the classic metaphorical Angel on your shoulder and the Devil on the other, right? It’s similar to that, instead I like to think one shoulder is occupied by a representative from the feminine side (namely the Witch or Angel) and the other shoulder hosts a rep from the masculine side (namely the Wise King or the Devil). To refer to the above, you want the masculine rep to be the Wise King and the feminine to be the Angel predominantly. Nevertheless, I believe it is of critical importance to engage in a discussion with all four characters to bring about the foremost outcome.
The Discussion: 12/05/19, 1342.
Solve problems, such as the construction of a reasonable schedule. Circle of thought is the constant debate between the four: The Witch wins, then King, then Devil, then Angel, etc.
Now that we are all aware of who is in the council, we can move onto the discussion itself. I think that I am going to work in this manner for several writings, using DAWK (Devil, Angle, Witch and King) as the underlying theme to create a conversation addressing each perspective. It has an element of creativity attached to it, whilst giving each position their due and analysing them as we go. Today, we will discuss how these discussions take place and any other notable points that pop up.
When the meeting abodes, each character takes there seat facing one another, ready to assert their point. The aim is to influence the judge’s (your) decision, and convince them to act in such a manner. Court is only necessary when dissecting important problems. If the problem is an easy fix such as, ‘the rubbish bin is full, I need to take out the trash and replace the bag,’ the judge can act without consultation. This is your subconscious acting, our fast thinking system - as Daniel Kahneman would say. These are those automatic actions that have been thoroughly practiced and programmed into us, meaning they do not require excessive brainpower to carry out (i.e. they don’t require a debate between these characters, everyone is already in agreement as to how the problem should be overcome). In the past, these discussions were necessary, but the issue has been resolved and thus, there is no need to call the team together for the same discussion.
I think many people can get lost in the realm of fast thinking and rely on it far too often. This leads one to neglect their slow thinking mechanism, meaning they neglect/trivialise serious problems that require deep thought. These are usually the problems you wish did not exist and thus, supress them, acting wilfully ignorant of their existence. For Example. Knowing whether to disclose a secret to a friend when it involves them, but alas, it is a secret and you have promised to keep it that way (no shit, that’s what a secret is!) Or it could be knowing whether to stay with a certain job or look elsewhere. Perhaps it’s confronting your family on an uncomfortable issue such as over indulgence. Anything of this sort, the conversations that you do not want to have; the problems where it is a case of picking your poison. Therefore, you choose to ignore them and live in the realm of fast thinking, occupying your days with tedious tasks to divert the negative thoughts. We’ve all been there, we all go there, but it’s very dangerous to lock your baby dragons away, for when you next face them, they will be full grown and furious from their incarceration. That is when the worst of us manifests and there is no stopping their ferocious nature once they outgrow their confines. That is why a discussion with your council is of the utmost importance, a voluntary entry into your internal court can stop these dark beasts from taking the light.
I like to think of this internal conflict as a representation of the circle of life. Let’s say the Witch wins a debate and convinces you to snuff up that white powder lined up soooo nicely before you, because fuck it, right? But as you moan and groan the next morning from the side effects of chaos, the Wise King will be in your ear with a smirk on his face asking “Too Much?” reprimanding your decision. You may be instructed by the Devil to study all night long because you are not ready for the big exam tomorrow. However, you will wake up to the Angel, 30mins late to the exam as you slept through your alarm, telling you “you need to take care of your health first and foremost child.” Therefore, as a general rule of thumb, it seems the Witch will win, then the King, then the Devil, then the Angle, then the Witch and so on and so on. The King always digresses into the Devil, and the Angel always digresses into the Witch. The King can save you from the Witch and the Angel can save you from the Devil. The cirrrrrrcle of life! (Or maybe better put as the circle of thought?)
This is the early stages of our thought process, where each character is set out to win. They want to be right; they want you to choose their side. It’s immature. There is no teamwork. The King/Angel will constantly assure you they will not be tempted by their wayward counterpart, but they fail to acknowledge their existence and that is when the Devil and the Witch sneak in to take the reins (Just as Mufusa ignores the evil ways of his brother Scar, blinded by his confidence in his position.) That is when you are most vulnerable to evil doings, when you least expect it coming. Think of a betrayal within a relationship. You had no idea what was going on behind the scenes, naively trusting your partner’s fidelity, only to find that the last two years were nothing but a malevolent ploy. The agent of chaos will drive you insane from here. Your concept of the present is dismantled, you future is in jeopardy and the past is not what you thought. What better time for the Witch to take the light and say, “Why the fuck are you even playing this game? This is all bullshit at the roots. Fuck it, drink yourself into oblivion, you don’t need anyone, you don’t want anything!” We see these people spread through our modern society, those poor chaotic souls. And as we walk past them, we steer away, for we are scared that chaos might be infectious!
Anyway, it is easy to allow these characters to play to win. Nevertheless, the expedient option does not provide a meaningful/useful discussion. You need to evolve your court cases. It is the step from the realm of argumentation, into the realm of discussion that we all too often forget to take.
The Balance: 18/05/19, 1411
Chaos and order, not letting the Devil and Witch control you, but rather compromise as a team. Discussion>arguments
One of the critical discoveries for humanity, one that separates us from the beasts of the wild, is the discovery of balance. Best envisioned by the Taoists with their Yin and Yang symbol. A simple image, but it goes deep and does a splendid job at encompassing reality. I’m sure you are all aware of the symbol, but I will briefly go over some of the finer points associated with the symbol (bear in mind, I am no expert, just a Petersonist, lolz).
The black, aka chaos, aka the feminine, aka the Angel and the Witch. I have somewhat outlined above that there are both positive/negative (if that is the right terminology?) aspects of chaos. The black portion of the Yin and Yang symbol is present in two areas on the symbol. Most notably, it is the dominant colour on one-half of the symbol. This suggests half of one’s life is spent in the confines of chaos. For some it will be more and other’s less; it depends upon many factors such as personality and the environment. I.e. creatives might find themselves dwelling in chaos more often; hoping some spectacular notion from outside the box will manifest before them. Whereas a shelf stocker might tend to spend less time in chaos, as they work to alleviate all chaos from the shelves for the betterment of the customer’s experience. Some people might be more attracted to chaos in general, living life on the edge. I find myself rather fond of chaos, but it can be overwhelming and we tend to underestimate its power. The black portion of the symbol also appears on the white half, but only as a single dot. This represents the possibility chaos will arise from order. It suggests that dot, or chaos, can grow and grow and grow, until it is now the dominant colour on the other side of the symbol. Furthermore, no matter what state we are in, no matter where we are in life, there is always the chance for chaos to manifest. The black/chaos portion takes up one half of the symbol/life in totality.
The white, aka order, aka the masculine, aka the Wise King and the Devil. As expected, the white portion of the symbol fills the other 50%. The white dominant side suggests, you guessed it, that half of our life is spent in the realm of order. Once again, that is a generalisation. Those who suffer from OCD find the realm of order very appealing and strive to reside there as much as possible. As Jordan Peterson says, they are the people who insist on having parallel lines in the carpet from the vacuum duties. Whereas those who hoard despise this realm and choose to abstain from it as long as they can. However, order is an inevitable part of existence, you always find it at some level of analysis, even if you have to look at the governmental level (i.e. you are part of a country with certain laws and norms, you are therefore within a realm of order.) There is also a white dot depicted on the black side of the symbol. Like the black dot, this suggests there is always a chance order will arise from chaos.
The dots really pull this symbol together. The idea that order can always arise from chaos (and vice-versa), is such an incredible conceptual discovery! The Taoists have managed to represent that in such a simple form, mind-boggling stuff. It is one of those things we all understand, something we all know to be true, but struggle to articulate. So here, I thank the Taoists for such enlightenment.
The balance of being is the balance between order and chaos. In this sense, a great discussion is at its best when the participants have one foot in chaos and the other in order. That is when you have those meaningful/effective discussions. You are open enough to allow new ideas to flow and test them out with the other participants (i.e. the chaos allows flow), but you also work as a unit to filter out the bad ideas from the good (i.e. an agreement between participants suggests there is order of sorts). To understand such an idea can help one migrate from argumentative behaviour in favour of a discussion. When you, aka the judge, have no bias towards whom to trust, whom you should listen to, you have your feet in Yin and Yang simultaneously. When you take in all the perspectives of your DAWK council, you are taking a balanced view of the problem. A balanced view of the problem allows one to attack it from different angles and work to find the best solution. Having one foot in chaos and the other in order is the suggestion that we must incorporate all the perspectives of our DAWK council, our representatives from chaos and order. It points to the Jungian requirement of integration. Carl Jung (20th century psychoanalyst) talks of the shadow side of an individual and just how important it is to incorporate the dark side within into one’s being. As Solzhenitsyn (author of The Gulag Archipelago) said, ‘The line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either -- but right through every human heart.’ An astonishing line! This is an acknowledgment of evil living within each individual. It is something one must acknowledge and incorporate to be complete; at least that is what I believe, for without the incorporation we are subject to its malevolent ways. This integration allows us to notice when we are leaning towards tyranny (aka over-order) or madness (aka over-chaos). Being vigilant of this allows for us to keep a watchful eye on our evil doings consciously, rather than the evil parts using us as their puppet. Leeegends of the past.
The Symbol: 22/06/19, 1043
Furthering my thoughts on the matter at a later date, I have developed a symbol closely aligned with the above paragraph (a visual representation of the DAWK council if you will). Heavily influenced by the Yin and Yang symbol as you can see. I have placed another line going through the circle (i.e. a vertical and horizontal line), giving us four primary aspects of being. The vertical line still represents the line between order and chaos, whereas the horizontal line further separates order and chaos in to 2 additional realms (4 realms total). The upper side of the horizontal line represents the positive side of the being (aka heaven, aka The Angel and the Wise King), and the lower half represents the negative side (aka hell, aka The Witch and The Devil)
Onto the symbol itself. On the side of chaos, the upper half is coloured yellow/gold to represent the Angel, while the lower portion is black to represent the Witch. On the order side, the upper half is white the rep the Wise King and the lower is red to represent the Devil. This way we have a representation of both the ‘positive’ and ‘negative’ aspects of chaos, of order, of being. The 4 components of life, the 4 members of our council, makes sense to me!
There is also an extra two dots. This refers to my ‘circle of thought’ idea (i.e. the Wise King digresses into the Devil, the Devil transforms into the Angel, the Angel digresses into the Witch and then the Witch transforms into the Wise king etc.) Using the same concept derived from Yin and Yang, the dots represent a chance for each mode of being to meld into another, in a circular manner. So the dot in the black area of my symbol is white (i.e. Witch to King), a pure conversion from ultimate chaos to order. The dot in the white portion of the symbol is red (King to Devil), the digression from order to tyranny. The dot in the red is yellow (Devil to Angel), i.e. tyranny saved by the benevolent mother. And the dot in the yellow is black (Angel to Witch), when the benevolent mother becomes the oedipal mother/pure chaos.
There is one more element I like to add. A simple green dot, smack bang in the middle. This represents you, aka the Judge. It is placed right at the centre of the image, on the line between order and chaos, the positive and the negative. That is where we live for the most part. We all possess evil elements, though some would think otherwise. We all possess good elements, and yet again, some would think otherwise. We all go through periods of chaos, pure (term problem again) and benevolent forms. We all go through periods of order, tyrannical and beneficial forms. That is the balance of being; there is no two ways about it. It is also a guide as to where you want to be. You want to be in the middle, incorporating all elements of being into your reality. You know you are there when you are fully immersed in something, or when you have those effective and meaningful discussions. You will know you are there when you forget the concept of time, or when you feel yourself moving closer towards a goal. It is the place you want to aim to be! This simple green dot points to the necessity of an integrated being without suppressing the order/chaos the positive/negative. Aka, it suggests one should unlock their inner DAWK to bring out their best parts.
The Enemy: 19/05/19, 1510
Death
To close, I will briefly go over the motivation of an integrated/balanced being. There is an ultimate enemy that the DAWK crew contend with; death. For if death gets the better of the judge, then all of the DAWK members suffer the same fate. Each individual is motivated to steer you away from death, even if it is for selfish reasons. They cannot exist without you and like any other being, they long to live!
An integrated being has the best chance of confronting death. You can think of the latest Game of Thrones series (spoilers ahead). In season 7, the battle of the dead occurs (finally). It is an action packed episode, as humanity comes together to fight the forces of the Night King, namely the dead. Humanity can be envisioned as the metaphysical representation of an integrated being. The numerous houses had to put their differences aside in order to stave off the immediate threat, an eternal night. They combined their forces to fight off death! Everyone can get amongst this goal, including your DAWK council. You want them to be able to discuss problems and work together to fight off death. You do not want them to squabble over miniscule problems such as who gets to take the light (or sit on the throne)! You want them to come to their senses and realise there is something bigger at hand here, survival.
I should note however, death is actually an essential part of being. Death is happening to us all the time, regardless of our efforts against its power. Death is when you thought you knew the earth was flat and then you find out you were wrong. Death is when you give up a hobby for a girl. Death is when you have to kill off a part of your being in order to move forward. It is a mini internal apocalypse, which are happening all the time in and around you. It is the process of learning, it is part of growth, and it is sacrifice. Certain parts of you must die for more necessary parts to carry on, (another great discovery by our species, namely the discovery of the future). This is a kind of conceptual death. It represents a mistake by you and your council, a misjudgement. Of course, you are trying to avoid it, but it is inevitable. In a way, you should embrace this death. Whereas a more worrying concern is our physical death.
We are lucky in our day and age, the luckiest people to have ever lived I believe. Physical survival is hardly an issue the majority of us have to dwell on now. It was less than 100 years ago when that was the primary concern. Each day was a battle against death, trying to gather enough resources to support your family, fight off disease, and fetch enough water. There are still those who have to contend with such issues, but humanity has done an incredible job to alleviate these problems, and we continue to do so. It is another great success of our race! I’m sounding pretty humanist in this haha. I should mention we possess plenty of flaws too, but we hear that all too often. We also possess many strengths; we are great at working together, great at fostering new ideas and great in adaptation. Now we don’t know what the future holds for us, but you got to give credit where credit is due. Although we all die, as a unit, we have survived!
Bit off track there, but yes. This highlights the vital importance of the integrated being. It allows one to put up their best defence against death (conceptual and physical). So work to have the DAWK discussion, not arguments. Work to integrate each character into being, never neglect your inner shadow or it will get you when you least expect. Get back to your slow thinking mechanism, you need to solve the problems you least want to address. Have courage, be brave, it isn’t going to be easy and why should it be? Survival is not easy, life is not easy, and it never will be. Embrace the suffering, embrace your council and use your judgement to the best of your ability to take the correct actions in a balanced manner.
Be a DAWK, with all its blessings and curses, and voluntarily take on the ultimate enemy, death!
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