Open Doors

Eshu not only stands at the crossroads, but also near doorways and gates. Anyplace that presents a decision: go left or right? forward or backward? through the door or not? open the gate or decide not to?

When you are looking for them, these gates and doors are everywhere. You may think you don't have many big life decisions to make today, but the reality is that you have many, many, many. We go through dozens, maybe hundreds of gates every day. Tiny, little decisions that accumulate. Small little left-hand or right-hand turns that add up to a direction.

If you gave conscious thought to every one, you would not have time for anything else. Most of these decisions come out of our personalities, our inherent preferences, our "way of being". They are influenced by our unconscious, our cultural givens, and our chosen beliefs. So be purposeful in developing your character, attend to the balance of ego and Self, because from the core comes the pathway of your life.

Enlightenment Next?

I read a book awhile ago about a woman who was told to draw the same chipped teacup 100 times. The first five or six times she was fascinated. Then she got bored for the next dozen. Then exasperated and really sick of the teacup. Then she saw through the teacup, was enlightened, and could have drawn it a hundred more times!

I have only lived with Eshu for a dozen weeks (though I've known him all my life), and I'm at the stage now where I'm tired of him. I've read all the stories I want to read about him. Drawn all I want to draw. Made the mask. Posted the posts. Wrote the paper.

This is where I heave a sigh and wait for more.

Let's be frank. I hate Eshu. He is a lying, deceiving, nasty character. He sows discord and confusion. When he gives good gifts, it is only to further the uncertainty about him and keep humans on his hook.

Here's the major problem with Eshu: there is no love. He does not love humankind. He does not have their best interests at heart. He does not have an end in mind for humans that will bring healing, wholeness, restoration. He cannot offer truth, and therefore true joy, light and love are beyong his ability to bring.

He is not a goofy kind of trickster, like a loveable scamp. He is malevolent and a jerk. I hate Eshu and everything he respresents.

Isn't that just like Eshu?

As Eshu the Trickster is an important figure on this blog, I thought that April Fool's Day would be a perfect day to enter a post, update the layout, add some new movies and books I've discovered, and generally retool. The yolk's on me! The first day of the month turned out to be a wild one: one adventure after another. That's how I see it now, almost two weeks later. :-}

Well isn't that just like Eshu, the popper of hubris-balloons? We can make fine plans, grand plans even, but our lives unfold moment-to-moment and none of us gets to choose what comes next. We only get to choose (reworking the cliche) how we respond to the forks in the road at which Eshu stands--or lurks, depending on your outlook.

Mythic Castle

This week I read about Carl Jung's tower at Bollingen. Murray Stein's book, Tranformation: Emergence of the Self, had a wonderful analysis of this work of art and what it meant to Jung; I recommend this book.
"Like his inner world of dreams and fantasy images, the tower embraces the ages and touches on many polarities...it is a testament in stone to his psychic imago." (p. 141). It made me think of the imaginary house I have built in my mind on my imaginary ranch. This house would be modest, comfortable, of stone and wood and glass, with a wrap around veranda for music and conversation and quiet. It would be sustainable, sitting on a hill with views across the Texas Hill Country, with oaks around it. And it would have an underground level, which very few homes in this region have, where there would be a room expressly designed for a great night's sleep: cool, quiet, dark. Dreams would be invited to come, and they would come.
Eshu is not invited here. There would be no tricks. Lots of humor, but no tricks. It would be a lovely, straightforward kind of place, with no hidden cupboards or trompe l'oeiles. What you see is what you get. Hopefully, only truth.

The Wisdom of the Crowd

Ah yes, here I am again. Eshu gave me a spin around the password wheel, but I finally got logged on.
This week, we focus on the wisdom of the crowd. More minds are better than one really brilliant mind. True or false?
Most of the time, in any large pool of folks, you will have an even distribution of mental acuity. Better yet, you will have a variety of experience--something not measurable on IQ tests. All of that learning from interaction with the world counts for a lot when solving problems. Another benefit is, in any large pool of people, you will find a spectrum of psychological and spiritual world views.
The problem with an expert, is he/she has only one point of view.

Now it's said that Eshu likes to mess with the harmony when groups of people gather. He likes to cause misunderstandings, hurt feelings, and suspicion. Yes, working together with other fallable people and their foibles is difficult at times. But working together is what we must learn to do if we are to solve problems.

Eshu

Under the blazing African sun
Long travels
Many ways to choose

I, Eshu, look into the travelers' hearts
See the dark tendrils curling, growing

Standing at the crossroads
I send travelers on paths that present choices
They may not look like choices
But that is my joke

Tendrils can wither and die you know
If the soil of the heart becomes inhospitable