Compensations
“Actual
happiness always looks pretty squalid in comparison with the
over-compensations for misery. And, of course, stability isn't nearly
so spectacular as instability. And being contented has none of the
glamour of a good fight against misfortune, none of the
picturesqueness of a struggle with temptation, or a fatal overthrow
by passion or doubt. Happiness is never grand.”
Aldous
Huxley (Brave New World)
At
my book group last month, because the book had been a collection of
essays which I thought interesting, but almost no one else did, the
conversation turned to television shows. Several people got quite
excited telling about “Naked and Afraid,” in which people are
dropped into some hostile environment, literally naked, and have to
survive long enough to find their way out. This crowd of middle-aged,
middle-classed American women, many of them school teachers, became
quite animated on the subject. As I sat listening, having never seen
the show, I couldn't help wondering how on earth such a plot-line
could appeal to this clean, well-heeled group. Why is it that terror
and tragedy are so compelling even when they are not real. This show,
after all, is being filmed, so apparently there is a clad film crew
on site.
Even shows such as The Voice, which
I do watch, rely on sad, often tragic, do-or-die, down-at-the-heels,
last chance background stories to hook the audience into watching and
voting. What we like, for instance, about the new show, American Home
Builders, is the caustic interaction that goes on among the
designers. Let's face it, we like a good fight. If everyone were just
happy and satisfied, we'd all be yawning really fast. So in the land
of “pursuit of happiness” and “happily ever after” what we
truly groove on is abject failure; it is getting caught, well...naked
and afraid.
You
may be wondering what any of this has to do with spirituality, and
frankly, I am, too. But somehow, I think it does. This is just one of
the ways we deceive ourselves; we give ourselves sweet little stories
about the importance of love and contentment, and then have our
guilty pleasures involving anything but love and contentment. We say
we don't take them seriously, but I'm telling you, a room full of
Southern 'ladies' were far more excited about Naked and Afraid than
about Ann Patchett's true life stories, though they were quite well
researched and written. Every now and then, we have an opportunity to
catch a glimpse of our Shadow in action. We can know it's Shadow
material by the way we quickly discount it. "Oh, it's nothing," we say. It's worth
pondering, y'all. Maybe stability is just too boring to give much
weight. Maybe our real soul work is done when we're
naked...and...afraid.
In
the Spirit,
Jane
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