Chicken Little: The Inside Story (A Jungian ... - Inner City Books

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50 Chicken Little: The Inside Story one of those very tablets “still to be found”—in the phrase I’d so blithely tossed off in my paper. My mind was full of questions, but Brillig was in full flight and I was loath to interrupt. “Had I lingered,” he said, “I would surely have been caught. However, I was able to slip out, smiling and bowing, murmuring my thanks, before the merchant could realize what I’d done. I dashed back to join the other Brothers and we returned to our mountain retreat without incident. “Alone in my room, I gloated. I tucked the stone under my pillow and spoke of it to no one. “Some few weeks later we were hastily evacuated, first to Warsaw, then via Hamburg to Rotterdam, where we embarked on a freighter bound for New York. 54 I later learned that the area we had left, including both Kraznacs, was totally destroyed in an Allied bombing raid the following month.” I shook my head at this close call, but did not comprehend its full import until later in the day. “From New York I returned to the home base of my Order, but I stayed only a few months, due to a pernicious custom that had been instituted in my absence. Every morning Father handed to each of us—we were about twenty in all—a slip of paper folded twice. One of these slips bore the words ‘You’re It’—meaning that the Brother so designated, unknown to anyone else, would play the part of Lilith all that day. Only Father knew who had received it. Perhaps on some days all the slips were blank, but, since no one knew, the result was the same, as you will see.” It was now getting on for eight. I heard someone entering the bathroom. Sunny left to see what was up. I scratched my head and looked at Brillig. “Lilith? . . . The legendary first wife of Adam? His devilishly 54 This truly frightful journey in the shadow of troop movements and fleeing peasants is here passed over lightly. Brillig’s extensive notes at the time, which Norman is in the process of editing, will be included in The Compleat Brillig. In the meantime, interested readers will find the flavor of such a trip dramatically captured in Sigrid McPherson, The Refiner’s Fire: Memoirs of a German Girlhood, pp. 101ff.
An Unveiling 51 sensuous mate before Eve?” “That is Hebrew folklore,” replied Brillig. “According to other Semitic traditions, Lilith is simply an evil spirit who habits lonely places and takes possession of men’s souls. Psychologically, I suppose, it amounts to the same thing: the personification of Dionysian ecstasy, unbridled lust.” Brillig paused and helped himself to another roll. He buttered it and spread a dollop of honey. “I know of some rather horrible savage rituals,” he continued. “Indeed, I have witnessed a few among certain primitive tribes— human sacrifice, cannibalism and so on. But in no religious sect or elsewhere have I ever encountered so cruel a custom as this institution of the daily Lilith. “Imagine twenty determinedly pious men living communally, entirely deprived of female company, already half crazed by impure thoughts, knowing that one of their Brothers in Christ had been specially sanctioned to test the strength of their celibate vows—the breaking of which was punished by instant dismissal. “To the constant terror of sinning was added suspicion. It was truly diabolical. Moreover, it did not even achieve its end. Furtive acts of venery still took place, only now it was like playing Russian roulette. You never knew which Brother was ‘It.’ “I need not dwell on the extent to which this fiendish practice encouraged shadow projections and the severe repression of the anima. Of course, I did not think in Jungian terms at that time, but these are well-known features, by any other name, of virtually all fanatical religious groups. Let me speak rather of what was to me the worst aspect of this custom, namely, that not one among us ever refused to accept the role of Lilith. No one, when his turn came, had the slightest doubt that he was up to playing the part. “More than once, I am ashamed to say, I too accepted the role of agent provocateur. I caught several, though I could not bring myself to turn them in. “This all came to a head, and occasioned my leaving the Order, the day I realized the trap we had all fallen into—that the designated Lilith was himself the victim of a monstrous temptation, namely, to dredge up from within the most lascivious side of him-
Page 2 and 3: Chicken Little
Page 4 and 5: CHICKEN LITTLE The Inside Story A J
Page 6: Contents Chicken Little: Messiah, M
Page 9 and 10: Chicken Little: Messiah, Meshuggene
Page 21 and 22: The Letter 21 had a joint. The feel
Page 23 and 24: The Letter 23 could use some spice.
Page 25 and 26: The Letter 25 chel about Brillig’
Page 27 and 28: The Letter 27 the difference. She h
Page 29 and 30: The Letter 29 since the morning in
Page 31 and 32: The Letter 31 her, was written at a
Page 33 and 34: The Meeting 33 Well, strictly speak
Page 35 and 36: The Meeting 35 “Rachel,” I said
Page 37 and 38: The Meeting 37 “May I?” he aske
Page 39 and 40: The Meeting 39 tain-climbing goods
Page 41 and 42: The Meeting 41 Arnold furtively sli
Page 43 and 44: The Meeting 43 things, ‘of shoes
Page 45 and 46: 3 An Unveiling I awoke at 5:30. Tha
Page 47 and 48: An Unveiling 47 had been through th
Page 49: An Unveiling 49 six hours there and
Page 53 and 54: An Unveiling 53 still devout, and a
Page 55 and 56: An Unveiling 55 I felt a twinge of
Page 57 and 58: 4 Search for the Self After we’d
Page 59 and 60: Search for the Self 59 “Jung spok
Page 61 and 62: Search for the Self 61 concerned to
Page 63 and 64: Search for the Self 63 “I also sa
Page 65 and 66: Search for the Self 65 I looked at
Page 67 and 68: Search for the Self 67 Rachel looke
Page 69 and 70: Search for the Self 69 “You could
Page 71 and 72: Intermezzo 71 town and sent to the
Page 73 and 74: Search for the Self 73 Alchemical l
Page 75 and 76: Philosophers’ Stone 75 next door.
Page 77 and 78: Philosophers’ Stone 77 zine these
Page 79 and 80: Philosophers’ Stone 79
Page 81 and 82: Philosophers’ Stone 81 only in hi
Page 83 and 84: Philosophers’ Stone 83 circled hi
Page 85 and 86: Philosophers’ Stone 85 fours and
Page 87 and 88: Philosophers’ Stone 87 how does i
Page 89 and 90: A Stitch in Time 89 as I can say wh
Page 91 and 92: A Stitch in Time 91 “Good, bad, w
Page 93 and 94: A Stitch in Time 93 The prodigal so
Page 95 and 96: A Stitch in Time 95 “Well,” I s
Page 97 and 98: A Stitch in Time 97 as I dare say t
Page 99 and 100: New Dimensions 99 had a session wit
Page 101 and 102:
New Dimensions 101 I was afraid I
Page 103 and 104:
New Dimensions 103 Night after nigh
Page 105 and 106:
New Dimensions 105 culine God-image
Page 107 and 108:
New Dimensions 107 Adam smiled at m
Page 109 and 110:
New Dimensions 109 Adam had said ea
Page 111 and 112:
The Experiment 111 No team of mount
Page 113 and 114:
The Experiment 113 “The major por
Page 115 and 116:
The Experiment 115 While Rachel and
Page 117 and 118:
The Experiment 117 It took some tri
Page 119 and 120:
The Experiment 119 From the Great A
Page 121 and 122:
The Experiment 121 “Hear, hear,
Page 123 and 124:
The Experiment 123 While I scooped
Page 125 and 126:
Bibliography Birkhäuser-Oeri, Siby
Page 127:
Bibliography 127 _______. The Pregn
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