Between Myth and Ritual

CYBEREmpathy ISSUE 3/2013. Soluble Fish in Insoluble RealityMarika Wata, Between Myth and Ritual

CYBEREmpathy ISSUE 3/2013. Soluble Fish in Insoluble Reality

www.CyberEmpathy.com

MARIKA WATA

Between MYth and RitualBibliographic description to this article:

Between mith and ritual /M. Wata. CyberEmpathy: Visual Communication and New Media in Art, Science, Humanities, Design and Technology. ISSUE 3 /2013. Soluble Fish in Insoluble Reality. ISSN 2299-906X. Kokazone. Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web. URL: http://www.cyberempathy.com/#!issue3article2/c5p4

Abstract:

“Soluble Fish in Insoluble Reality” is inspiring and multidimensional text written twenty years ago by Andrzej Głowacki. I describe its metaphorical layer strophe by strophe and word by word, to find the clue to its poetic structure.

MARIKA WATA

Marika Wata is a young scientist with a passion for art and management with a “Master of Arts” degree. She is a doctoral candidate in the field of utilitarian design at the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow. In everyday life she is bursting with energy and her optimism is commonly known to be contagious. She is the author of design methodology and articles. She designs interiors, books, interactive and multimedia art.




Joseph Campbell, one of the greatest experts on the myth’ issue, on the pages of his many publications put up discovered by himself elementary structure of a mythical story, which he described as a “hero’s journey”. Such a journey is divided into three main parts:

1. Depart or Separation

2. Descent, Initiation, Immersion - the entry into the depth

3. Return

“It is easy to spot that, in this approach, the element of “inner journey” prevails over the purely spatial one; this “hero’s journey” is, above all, a cognitive journey into a personal self, where discovery of the truth about this own self is made through following stages of “going into”, but also a discovery of transcendent truth about fate of a human and fundamental principles governing the world”1. “The described above fable’ structural elements are clearly discernible in “Soluble fish in Insoluble Reality”.

The first stage of the “hero’s journey” is called by Campbell the “Separation”. “Soluble Fish in Insoluble Reality” begins an act of protagonist’s will - the desire to leave for a meeting with the unknown: I wanted to share the enthusiasm of my existence with her. In Polish, the words “separate” (rozdzielić) and “share” (podzielić) have the same root word, and thus, a clear semantic connotations. In Campbell’ theory the word “separation” refers to the moment when the protagonist “starts the journey”, by this segregating himself from the world in which he originally resided, and in a broader, more metaphorical meaning, also from his previous views and habits. In “Soluble fish in Insoluble Reality” protagonist decides on providing the change in his previous life under the influence of unknown factors. He wants to share the enthusiasm of his existence - it is not just about giving out a part of him, but also about making a room for something new. Here it comes, therefore, to conscious “separation” of the inner protagonist into old self- to some extent mature, defined, understood, but rejected for the sake of new self – incomplete, open to discovery of a new quality of living.

The fable structure of “Soluble fish in Insoluble Reality”, however, does not perform a purely plot function; it is not used for the construction of the real action, but plays a much more excellent role, performing a

1 M. Karpiński, Scenariusz: Niedoskonałe odbicie filmu, p.h. Rabid, Krakow 2004.




purely mythological function, or more precisely the myth-making one. It leads to the manifestation of the mythical content in the piece, which affects directly the mystery of existence, so that song becomes a medium that allows a man to reach these mysteries. “Myths revealing the creative activity of Supernatural Beings teach us the sanctity or simply a supernatural reality of what is its result. In sum, myths describe various and sometimes dramatic intrusions of the sacred or supernatural realm in the sphere of the real world.”2 “Soluble fish in Insoluble Reality” is, in the simplest terms, a review of the human’s meeting with the Supernatural Being.

As already noticed in the introduction, the flash point of the “action” is the hero’s inner need, expressed in an act of will.

I wanted to share with her

the enthusiasm of my existence

my imagination

awareness

spontaneity

In this perspective, a man is presented as a free, sane being, which is responsible for its fate and in particular for its spiritual growth, mainly due to the last element, having an impact on its existence. “Enthusiasm” in a metaphorical meaning is the will of an action, the word related semantically to other terms of spontaneous desire, such as enthusiasm, euphoria, ecstasy, ardor, impulse, passion, zeal, raciness. These words with quite close meaning reflect well the character of someone who has an enthusiastic approach for doing something. The former muzzleloader had a touch hole3, “a small hole in the rear of the barrel, which combines a flash pan with a charge in the cannon. At the moment of a shot, a fire formed in the bud, is moved through the touch hole to the barrel, causing ignition of a propelling charge (usually a priming powder) and a projectile shot.” In that other meaning, the phrase “enthusiasm (zapał) of existence” (note, not the touch hole (zapał) for existence) are

2 M. Eliade, Aspekty mitu, wyd. Wydawnictwo KR, Warszawa 1998.

3 In Polish the word „Zapał” means both “enthusiasm” and “touch hole”




explained as an integral part of a human nature, which is responsible for the proper orientation of the energy of life, nay, which creates the possibility of making one’s will. This is an intermediary element between a desire and an action.

From behind the metaphorical, veiled words emerges a subtle design of a human soul. Structural or constituent elements of the “enthusiasm of existence” are: imagination, consciousness and spontaneity.

Imagination is something more than capacity for creation, ability of calling to your own mind or producing in the mind any stimulus received by senses: images, sounds, smells, tastes, tactile sensations, it is more than just ability to combine those stimulus with the creatures of this one and other worlds, putting these creatures in any space and creating the scenarios of events that give rhythm to our expectations. Imagination is a space of thought, and above all the factor controlling mechanisms of memory. Responsible for creating in the mind an individual copy or vision of reality for each person and memorizing it for our needs, memory makes us to be nothing more than our imagination is in its essence. Imagination is a brilliant tool that is not completely mastered by our will - like the water in which both consciousness and unconsciousness are immersed. Imagination determines our humanity by determining the possibility of creation, which is a practical use of its resources. Mind allows us to have the apparent control over imagination, from which it defies during sleep, revealing then to us what is hidden and secret. Uninhibited, it is willing to guide a human being to surreal worlds, but are they less real? These are actually the soluble worlds, but more about it in a moment...

Spontaneity is the ability to take risks, courage, but not superficiality; it is also the ability to take action at the right moment without lazy hesitation. The Latin proverb says: „Fate leads those who are willing but must push those who are not.” Spontaneous action defies routine, ordinary time flow; it is a kind of bend time-space of planned, routine activities. Spontaneity decides that something that happens suddenly, but surprisingly, is not set aside “for later”. This is undoubtedly a feature of small children, whose attention is often spontaneously absorbed by various external stimuli. Here reveals a primacy of the spontaneous overview of reality over the analytical one, impressions over observation, irrational over rational. The first way allows to freely distort time and space, while the second one forces to rigidly stick to the established




visible rules. Spontaneity is the key to experiencing unique things, those you cannot plan - in that sense it is invaluable, especially in terms of creativity. Inspiration cannot be stored for later; it is a portion of energy that must be used “here and now”. Offering someone spontaneity we send him a message that he can totally rely on us; it is almost a servile gesture.

Awareness is, in general, the ability of one to understand his own actions, to control instincts, to take responsibility for his own actions and words. Awareness is equal to the willingness to take up the challenge, because it shows not hasty but conscious need, or, in other words, familiarity with causes and consequences. In this meaning, consciousness “unites” spontaneity and imagination: the first one guarantees the proper swift and courageous response to the inner need, which is a causative reason of action, the second one allows to imagine many of possible consequences of likely action, enabling the assessment of risk, and, above all, the assessment of his own chances in encounter with the future, chances to “complete the work.”

Imagination, consciousness and spontaneity are the three gifts, which makes altogether the face of maturity, which in turn is a guarantee of the fact that protagonist’s “enthusiasm of existence” would not turn into so-called lackluster enthusiasm. If we keep an association with firearms, “existence” will disclose to us as a dynamic tool in the hands of a man, which can be used to enter the higher level of initiation. The word “fervor”, derived from the same family as the words “lighter” and “to light”4 is noticeably associated with the element of fire. Fire is one of the four basic elements next to air, land and water. In many ancient teachings it is an attribute of masculinity; it may be the fire of enlightenment, wisdom, but also the fire of infatuation, the fire of passion, which consumes human’ lives. “Enthusiasm of existence” is a love for life, a passion that does not allow being indifferent to reality. Lack of indifference means the formation of Self, because it is our self that we confront with what we are used to call reality. In conscious opposition of self to the world are raised fundamental questions about the meaning of existence, the way the human lasts in time, and the point where an interpretation ends and reality starts... The core of life passion is not a continuance as such, but a searching process. In this meaning, the fire that ignites the protagonist from “Soluble Fish in Insoluble Reality” is the philosophical fire.

4 In Polish these words have the same root word „zapał”: Fervor – zapał, lighter (match) – zapałka, to light – zapalać.




You can call it a fondness of wisdom, the wisdom, that is not a state of consciousness, but a dynamic process, a continuous transformation, a search for answers to fundamental questions, constant self-updating of a creative spirit of creation in man. Considered in this way, a philosophical fire very precisely characterizes protagonist’s mentality and the nature of his act of will. It should be noted that this act is essentially a mental act, starting the whole sequence of mental events. This fact confirms that the events of “Soluble Fish in Insoluble Water” form the apparent action that actually takes place on the mental plane - in the sphere of thought. The fact that protagonist deliberately sends a message to himself lets us easily characterize the reality of “Soluble Fish in Insoluble Reality” as a protagonist’ inner world, in which individual elements borrowed from the real world function as signs of his thoughts and feelings. It is a dreamy landscape, surreal landscape, and therefore deeply archetypal one. This action builds mental tension consisting of a continuity of history, or rather a mythical content.

An act of volition of inner separation introduces the protagonist to the myth’ space, where he meets the Supernatural Being. It is a female character who at first seems to have the title of “soluble fish”, but the word “fish” is not used in reliance to this character not even once throughout the whole text. This fact suggests that “she” is rather a personification of the femininity of human nature, representing a subconscious mind of imagination’s power.

but she only took on different forms

of her solubility

while splashing in the water

The Supernatural Being responds by an apparent indifference to the

protagonist’s tries. But when observed closely, it turns out to be the camouflaged

mystery behind a veil of form of compounded contradictory sentence with two

independent clauses. The distance, with which the protagonist recounts to

the reaction of the Supernatural Beings and use of the infantile word “splash”

in reliance to the performed by her activity, somehow degrade her status

mainly because of the contrast with the pathos expressed in the attitude of the

protagonist.




The reaction of the Being seems to be not as disproportionate as it is dismissive,

outrageously ignorant. A careful reader will not be misled, however, by that

formal toy, seemingly prepared for the needs of those who, while reading, see

only the words but not the depth of their meaning’ relations. The images that

emerge from the passage quoted above are above all: the immersion of the

Supernatural Being in water and the transformation made in the

presence of a protagonist.

Water is a symbol of transcendence, the water of life is a base of spiritual

nourishment, a symbol of purification, as well as a purification of mind in it,

and deep meditation. Taking the forms of solubility, while being submerged

in water, is a vision of the total union with transcendence. According to the

Kabbalistic concept of entities, which in our world appear to be immaterial, it

may get a material form in higher realms, to which human has no access. The

protagonist contacting the Supernatural being has an honor to see the upper

world. This seemingly indifference turns out to be the unveiling of a hem of

the deepest mystery - the preview of cognizance of the essence of change and

experiencing the state of solubility, which so far the protagonist can only see,

observe, but not experience.

The protagonist, whose will, as previously noted, is determined by the

element of fire corresponding to the masculinity, is in contact with the element

of water corresponding to the femininity, which penetrates the Supernatural

Being. This contrasting statement outlines the main issue of “Soluble Fish in

Insoluble Reality”, and it is a problem of opposites.

Water, by its nature, should extinguish the fiery enthusiasm, but it only

transforms it, calms it down, turns into a gradual progressive, meditative, but

not lacked of dynamics process, which floats the protagonist towards initiation.

The dialogue, which is a key bond of relationships of the protagonist and

the Supernatural Beings, fully reflects the idea of coniuntio. Coniuntio is a

constant search for harmony between opposites, striving for unite of the

warring elements: water and fire, “these are the chemical feasts in its archetypal

form”5.

The next actions of the Supernatural Beings have on purpose preparing

the character for experiencing the state of solubility. It is a three-step

initiation ritual, which consists of the following parts: incubation, symbolic

murder and revelation.

5 A. Głowacki, Ukryte znaczenia, author’s collections.




she told me

I was an egg inside an egg

therefore I should go to an incubator

in order to stay unspoiled

in order to get to know the dead

language of shadows

In ancient Greece, an incubation - waiting for a dream - was the most important part of healing rituals, which were applied to patients in the sanctuary of Asclepius. “After a sacrifice deity patients were inducted into the temple, where they would spend a night on still bloody skins of sacrificial animals. During incubation, the god came into a direct contact with a patient.”6 According to a modern understanding incubation is artificially created conditions of a greenhouse allowing a maturation until the treated creation reaches a state when it is able to function independently. Incubation is nothing but a preparation, the maturation process. At first glance, the image hidden in these words offends with its static: incubator, waiting state, slow, monotonous maturation in captivity, imprisonment in a double-shelled egg inside an egg. This again is only a show. In fact, the maturation we talk about is a dynamic cognitive process.

Its opposite is “rottenness”, equal to death, meaning the absolute stagnation, growth stop, preventing the further spiritual development. This passage reveals two paths that are available to a man. A crossroads image is identical to the situation of choice, what emphasizes that a man as a being endowed with will has the right for it, with the indication that it is a fundamental matter’ choice - the way of existence. The first of the roads - the road of rottenness, is seen as a destructive one; to avoid spoilage choose the second path - the path of cognizance, the path of initiation. In general it can be said that the choice of the way of existence is a choice between good and evil. But this is not a choice between opposing categories of morality or categories of action, but between what is good and what is bad for the overall development of a human being. The choice of cognizance path does not prevent the potentiality of

6 Z. Herbert, Labirynt nad morzem, p.h. Fundacja Zeszytów Literackich, Warsaw 2000.




an improper proceeding, but also assumes that a man can notice his own imperfection and strive for improvement. A man stay in motion thanks to willingness of improvement – he growths. The man who has chosen the path of rottenness is blind because he cannot transcend himself, exceed his own barriers, look at himself from a distance, he just suffocates in his own imperfection, not being able to move forward, rotting in the shell until he decides to enter the path of knowledge, to hatch. This context defines the purpose of human life, and therefore its meaning, which is taking actions, constant striving for “hatching”.

Definition of the structure of human life as the egg inside the egg is an outline of a philosophic concept, which is manifested in mythological religious symbolism of all peoples from the earliest times to the present days, from the primitive peoples’ mythology to the most intellectually developed philosophical systems, such as Kabbalah or modern theoretical Physics. It, of course, refers to the concept of the structural composition of the universe based on vertical links of the upper and lower worlds. The image of the egg inside the egg reveals the truth about the worlds’ organization and the way of human existence in terms of such organization. According to the Kabbalah, light is seen as a spiritual energy, which powers life, is born in higher realms, and reaches the lower worlds from there, thus it permeates everything. A man separated from the higher realms by “shell” must come out in front of the light to meet it. These shells of separate worlds weaken the intensity of light more then they don’t provide the access for it, they are incompletely permeable. A shell is not only a barrier, but also a type of crossing, the opening of which is only possible thanks to the shell’ breaking, overcoming the barrier. Here reveals an unusual idea of uniting the opposites, the already mentioned coniuntio. That what seems to be an obstacle, makes a release possible, it makes a development possible by fulfilling one’s destiny, one’s primary role of protecting the embryo, allows reaching that level of maturity, where educated creation will be ready to enter the next stage of life. “To hatch” means to move to a higher dimension, to go to the next level of initiation, above each is the next level, and the next one, and the next one. Getting to the next level is both resignation from the current way of existence, and its continuation. The purpose of this journey is a continuous growth; the characteristic conjunction “in order to” in the statement gets the nature of revelation thanks to the use of dependent adverb clause.




I should go to an incubator

in order to stay unspoiled

in order to get to know the dead

language of shadows

Interference with the higher realms of energy takes role of a guide to them.

Verbalized suggestion of the Supernatural Being - “she told me that I was an

egg inside an egg” - can be explained as a sign sent from a higher dimension

of existence. This fact shows that a man, being a sign receiver, can find out the

real purpose of his earthly journey. Among the texts of contemporary syncretic

Taoism we can find the following words: “(Buddha) Joulai (ie Tathagata) in his

great mercy (...) taught people to re-penetrate the womb, so they regain his

(true) nature and (fullness) of their life purpose.”7 This passage refers to the

revelation of the mystery of the so-called “embryonic breathing”, the method

consisting of a closed circuit breathing, as occurs in case of a fetus. It is one of

the mystical techniques practiced in the Taoism; it has the therapeutic power,

which carries healing of soul and body, it also has the rejuvenating power and

leads to immortality. Perhaps it is the breath, or rather the method of breathing

used in meditation, which is that dead (because soundless), language of

shadows. Or is it the ability to see material bodies of Platonic ideas? Note that

Plato also taught about the hierarchy of worlds, saying that what we see is only

a shadow of some other world, a world of ideas, where that what we call the

idea has its body woven of matter. Kabbalah calls this higher world the world

of formation, and creations endowed with life, stay in it - Malachim - a name

which can be applied generally to the angels. Malachi is a kind of spiritual

reality, which is invisible in our world, but possesses a body appropriate for the

world of formation. “Malachi is a complete being, the one aware of itself and

its environment, able to take actions, to create and to fulfill the certain deeds in

the world of formation. As its Hebrew name indicates, Malachi is a messenger

who constantly mediates between our world of action and the higher worlds”8.

In this aspect, the language of shadows is a “speech”, spoken by Malachim – the

messengers - the Supernatural Beings. Learning this language is essential for

starting a partner dialogue with the Supernatural Being, as it is the upper world’

7 Houei – ming – king Lieou Houayanga, cited by MIrcea Eliade at Aspekty mitu, wyd. Publishing House KR, Warsaw 1998.

8 Marc – Alain Ouaknin, Tajemnice kabały, p.h. Wydawnictwo Cyklady, Warsaw 2006.




language, in which its “worldview” was formulated. The language of shadows

expresses the essence of the truths, which can’t be explained in the language of

human world – it is not capacious enough to define the phenomena beyond the

limits of the human world. Learning the language of shadows allows moving

to a higher level of understanding, initiation, hatching. It allows “loosening

the shackles of Plato’s” and having an honor to observe the world of ideas, from

which the light comes creating shadows on the wall of Plato’s cave...

“Hatching” (as a symbol of leaving the primeval chaos, the birth of a new life) is a key element of the symbolism of all the rituals of initiation, which are regressus ad uterum, i.e. return to the womb, return to the underworld. The ritual theme of returning back appears both in the rituals connected to the attainment of sexual maturity, what characterizes the primal communities, as well as in initiation rituals of more complex cultures, like in the Indian rite of Hiranyagarbha, literally “golden egg”, which main part reminds the regressus uterum. The novice is guided into the golden vessel in the shape of a cow, after leaving which he is treated as a newborn. “The Return to the beginning allows rebirth, but it does not repeat the first, physical birth. It is about a mystical rebirth, which belongs to the spiritual order, in other words, about access to a new way of existence (which involves sexual maturity, participation in sacrum and culture, in other word: the opening of the Spirit). Essential element here is the belief that in order to achieve a higher form of existence one must once again undergo - of course only ritually and symbolically - fetal development and birth, in other words, in this case we are dealing with activities concentrated on the Spirit and not the behavior belonging to psychophysiological activity.”9

9 M. Eliade, op. cit.




(She) was cutting my hair

and I was losing my

identity

which calmly hung

in the air

then I saw

that my feet

left the ground

I told her

look at the sky

but above us was the ground

Also the idea of symbolic ritual murder as an element of many initiation rituals is a mystical gesture. A voluntary surrender of “old self” to a ritual death is a sign of spiritual maturity of a novice, because of the fact of imitating the Supernatural Being. Rites of such a type are linked directly to the myths, in which the essence of initiation is revealed: death of the old form of a being for the possibility of its rebirth in a new, more perfect form. The plots of those myths contain some unchangeable characteristic features. There is always the Supernatural Being in them that provides people with the secret knowledge about conducting initiation rituals. In some myths this Being eats people, so that they can be initiated, and then resurrected, but people do not understand the meaning of transformation and take revenge on the Supernatural Being by killing it. Dying Supernatural Being gives people the final proof confirming that death is a transition to a higher level of existence. People enlightened by the example of the Higher Being, establish rituals of initiation, worshiping in this way for the sacrifice made by it and imitating it, so that they too can make a spiritual development – the transformation 10.

10 I order to give a reader an opportunity to compare and analyze the research I’ve included the M. Eliade myth of Australian origin: the giant Lumaluma - alike a man and a whale at the same time - went ashore and




In “Soluble Fish in Insoluble Reality” the ritual murder is the second stage of preparing the protagonist to the proper initiation.


and I was losing my

identity

which calmly hung

in the air

Hair can symbolize a flowing spiritual power, connecting a man with the

cosmos. It grows from the top of the head - a place, which is considered by

many philosophies as a connection between man and the universe, through

which the cosmic energy reaches him. Hindus claim that hair symbolizes the

force’s lines of the universe. In many myths hair is a sign of a supernatural

power of mythical characters, and their loss is equal to the loss of power. As

it grows on the head, it is associated with a human mentality being in some

way its symbolic extension and external manifestation of all abilities. In this

sense, they are also related to personality and identity, because the brain is

considered to be their habitat.

walked to the West, devoured all the people he met on his way. Those who survived, wondered why there is getting fewer of them, so they went to search and found the whale lying on the beach with a full stomach. They alarmed, gathered strengths and the next morning they attacked the whale with spears. Then they cut his stomach and pulled out the skeletons, and the whale said to them these words: “Do not finish me off, and before I die, I will retell you all the rituals of initiation, I know”. The whale performed the ma’raiin ritual showing people not only how to dance, but also all the rest. “We do this way, he told them, and do so as well: I give you all that and I show you everything”. Having teached them the ma’raiin ritual, he showed them the also other rites, eventually he fled into the sea, and said: “Do not call me Lumaluma anymore, I’m changing my name. You will call me Nauwulnauwul, because I now live in a salt water”.





and I was losing my

identity

which calmly hung

in the air

than I saw

that my feet

left the ground

The Supernatural Being undergoes the separation procedure. It is a symbolic

murder, getting rid of a physical burden. It is leaving the essence of human

to identity. Charming stylistic used in this passage completely review the

protagonist’s consciousness state. When hair is being cut the character feels

that he is losing identity. Loss - of life, savings, hope - the loss of anything

is always associated with something unpleasant and pessimistic. The sense of

loss expresses the sense of danger of the whole situation, a kind of mistrust,

regret. It can be called a defense reflex, an opposition to the ritual death, a

fear of the unknown. From the perspective of the “body” representing the titled

“insoluble reality”, the state of separation actually seems to be a danger. We

are so strongly attached to our physicality that we start identifying ourselves

with our bodies, treating them as part of our own self. However, the experience

of a ritual death allows feeling that the essence of humanity - the identity is

something more than physiology. The feeling of danger from the perspective

of the body clearly contrasts in the text with identity, which calmly hung in

the air. At this point something like shifting the center of gravity (or rather the

center of consciousness) is made. The character realizes that he did not lose his

identity. On the contrary, he became a pure identity, hung in the air. He knows

this because he was able to see his own feet, which left the ground. Perhaps

these are the feet of a new, etheric body, which is no longer subjected to the

gravity influence. We are dealing here with the type of self-insolubility, moving

to the other side of the mirror. A clear emphasis is put on the sense of sight: I

saw that my feet left the ground, I told her look at the sky. Seeing something

with your own eyes is the same as ascertaining that something does exist,




believing it. To the protagonist the vision is a kind of proof of the existence of

another reality, the titled reality of the soluble fish.

I told her

look at the sky

but above us was the ground

It seems that this element of existence of imagination and belief in its

truth is indispensable when “going through the mirror”, using the metaphor

of Lewis Carroll. But using the metaphor of “Soluble Fish in Insoluble Reality”

we can say that in order to enter a state of insolubility one must meet two

requirements: to see and to believe. That vision is, of course, related to the

state of meditation. However, the sense of sight is essential for a proper

understanding of the message, it reveals a discrepancy between what a man

can see, and thus experience, understand by senses and what he can realize,

classify and organize according to the known rules of logic. The sky is a symbol

of transcendence, in contrast to the ground, which symbolizes everything what

is real. Following the footsteps of reading emotional states of the protagonist,

which occur as a consequence of the ritual activity, we can see that together

with the shift of the center of consciousness and rejection of physicality not

only he separates himself from the earth in a literal sense, overcoming the

gravity, but also his thoughts go up to the sky. Suddenly he gets overwhelmed

with the desire of looking at the sky; he verbalizes it and realizes that where

he expected to see the sky, the ground is located. But this is not a ground, at

which the one could crack himself; it is not a sudden need to descend to the

ground. Perhaps this is the face of the upper world, to which the identity seeks

after it is separated from the physicality; or maybe it is rather a testimony that

everything what usually is identified with transcendence, irrationality, all we’re

looking for outside the ground, identifying in signs in the sky, is actually a part

of what surrounds us. When in 1969 the first man set his foot on the Moon did

not he prove existence of land over our heads, above the blue sheet called sky

and, the land which can be walked on? This is the great coniuntio - soluble

fishes that penetrate an insoluble reality, the sky united with the ground, the

image of multidimensional reality.




she was weaving her hair

and soluble gold fishes

produced in this

her wonderful aura

The moment of revelation, the moment of cognizance of the secret, choosing

the designation path is particularly important for the ritual. It is the continuity

of tradition, revelation is not just a vision, but seeing and understanding what

path to follow. The Supernatural Being weaves its hair, thus showing how

a man should treat his identity, and thus the essence of his existence. Hair

for weaving should be long enough, and growing it needs a proper care. Hair

weaving is arranging it in braid, and therefore managing, providing direction.

Braid in terms of structure and construction resembles a spiral, and therefore

reflects the excellence of Fibonacci numbers and the Golden Ratio, which is

a fundamental element of the world around us. In this sense, the goal of the

identity development is to achieve excellence analogous to the universe. The

Soluble gold fishes seem to be not only a new reference to the transcendent,

this association arises spontaneously as a result of the well-known, traditional

symbolic of fish and golden color, occurring in many religions (from the religion

of Mesopotamia to Ancient Egypt, to Christianity).

They appear rather as elementary components of soluble reality, like atoms

that make up a matter. The role of soluble fish is the aura production. Aura is

a proved phenomenon associated with the electro-magnetic field produced by

a human. In this regard, soluble gold fish is a kind of elementary structural

component of energy. Because of this approach the energy is like a reflection of

the structure of matter, it gives us once again an image of the aforementioned

re-coniuntio - endless unity, leading to different physical associations, such

as the problem of matter and antimatter, and philosophical, such as conflict

of reductionism and holism. Examples could be multiplied, but I purposely

choose those ones related to the field of physics, because I have a filing that a

typically physical issue of time-space comes to the fore at the key moment in

the whole text, which I define as revelation.




than everything would be possible

if I were in the same

time and space

None of the living ones managed so far to open the tunnel to a parallel

universe. However, the very idea of the existence of parallel universes fertilizes

absorbent minds of scientists and artists for already a long time, since the

appearance of the first theories connected to it. It’s not just a science fiction, but

a living scientific theory, which is feeding great hopes connected particularly to

the expected end of our universe. What if the key to the free distorting of the

structure of time and space was hidden closer than we think? The approach

presented in “Soluble Fish in Insoluble Reality” shows the transition between

insoluble and soluble worlds opened by following protagonist will act. This

time, however, it is a deed, not a mental act as it was in case of the original

desire to share. What is particularly important is the second stage of the

protagonist’s journey –which is initiation, the descent into the depths - opens

an extraordinary, unusual deed being a creative act.

I started writing

but

paper absorbed me

At the moment of being absorbed by paper, going to the other side of

the mirror, a vision - the vision of a parallel reality turns into a direct experience

of it. Here the essence of the ritual reveals cultivating the living myth; it is

only the medium used for the revival of the mythological reality. Together with

the creative act the character enters the Supernatural Being’s reality, being

able to finally see the soluble fishes. So far, their existence was only a misty

presentiment of a vision, a vision of another world, and Supernatural Being was

coming from there. After undergoing the first incubation and hatching the first,

inner shell of the egg inside the egg the protagonist enters a mythical time

and mythical space. This is where the story changes rhythm a little, being

composed in a less logical and more collage way. Each word can be treated




separately as they do not seem to be embedded in a clear context. Despite this

apparent chaos, entirety is ordered through the rhythm of the dialogue of the

protagonist and the Supernatural Beings that allows treating a statement of

collage as an inseparable whole. (...)

Between Myth and Ritual

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Transcript of Between Myth and Ritual