D*mn Good Summary
Ruminations on a Monday Morning
Self-Immolation: Thoughts on Pain & Heaven
“To progress again, man must remake himself. And he cannot remake himself without suffering. For he is both the marble and the sculptor. In order to uncover his true visage he must shatter his own substance with heavy blows of his hammer.” - Alexis Carrel
I picture a phoenix. What a magnificent mythological creation. I think of the concept of the phoenix and try to imagine why, or rather how, some wise soul ever dreamt up of such a creature. And then it dawns on me. The phoenix is a human being, an allegory.
In the mythos, the phoenix is an immortal entity—a bird—that regenerates itself cyclically, being born again and again. As its predecessor dies in a show of flames and combustion, the phoenix rises anew from the ashes of its own burnt corpse. Christians took this idea and interpreted as an act of metempsychosis. But they were wrong. This is an act of metamorphosis. As the phoenix is engulfed in flames and its body is shining, brilliantly iridescent, in hues of red and blue, the Phoenix arises once again, reinvigorated, mighty, formidable. He rose from the melted core of its former self, not to the Heavens, mind you, but back to this Earthly realm; not to the promise of eternal bliss, but to the prospect of a life well lived—the opportunity to start anew and to play this game of life again.
The Talking Heads, specifically Jerry Harrison and David Byrne, referred to Heaven as “a place where nothing ever happens.” And it’s true, isn’t it? How exhilarating does a state of quiescence seem? Is it even desirable? What I am trying to say is that Heaven isn’t a place, nor is it a state. It’s a moment between struggle and pain. It’s the glimmer of light in a vast sea of darkness. That is what life is like—or can be. It is in our nature to struggle, to fight, to overcome. And it is in overcoming that we create Heaven. Life is the single most precious thing in the universe, for it is the universe itself. We’re all fighting for it, every entity is. The d
eath of one being fuels the life of another. Life is the universe’s most spectacular creation, and it is worth preserving and honoring. It may be resilient, but it is fragile.
No matter what happens to you, you are the Phoenix, and you will rise once again. But to do so, you have to walk through the fire first. I promise you, it’s worth it.
