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

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52 Chicken Little: The Inside Story self and to activate its counterpart—or ‘hook,’ as we now call it— in his neighbor. In truth, of course, the one was no more guilty than the other. Until then I had always spotted those second-hand Liliths. They were so naive, always trying the same flirtatious tricks, poor mincing devils. They were simple fellows, after all, quite lacking in subtlety or imagination. “Then came the day when I was caught off guard. A jolly new recruit, rough-hewn with big blue eyes, strolled up to me in a secluded grove during a rest period. “ ‘The devil take this hair-shirt!’ ” he said congenially. “ ‘It doth irritate my privates.’ ” “Whereupon he loosened his regulation suspenders. By the time his bottom was exposed I was half out of my britches. “Suddenly I stopped. ‘This is ridiculous,’ I thought.” I smiled. Brillig laughed. “I trust you understand that I had, and still have, nothing against homoerotic love. Indeed, I have always encouraged and respected warmth between men. It was the shoddy exploitation of this natural urge that suddenly struck me. In the time it took this beefy charlatan to rehitch his braces and forge a sanctimonious smirk, I was already stomping off to see Father. “The head of our Order was not a bad man. We had had many intimate talks and I respected him. The worst I can say of the old fellow—he was close to eighty—is that he was ignorant, or, in retrospect, unconscious. Although I always felt him to be a faithful servant of the Almighty, he was directly answerable to anonymous higher-ups in Rome, obliged to enforce whatever cockamamie directives they saw fit to hand down. He was in no position to question them, nor indeed—and fortunately for him, I suppose—was he inclined to. “He heard me out, as I knew he would. He clasped his hands and bowed his head. I saw his honest effort to think. “ ‘My son,’ ” he said finally, “ ‘There is in you an incurable need to understand. This is not a desirable trait in our Order, nor can it be satisfied within it. I release you from your vows. We shall pray that God calls you to Him by other paths.’ “That night I packed my bags. I kneeled by the bed, for I was
An Unveiling 53 still devout, and asked God’s forgiveness. Looking up, I pleaded, ‘Show me the way.’ Overcome by emotion, I imagined God defecating on my head.” “Something like Jung’s vision?” I asked, moved. 55 “Very much so,” said Brillig, “only in my case it was certainly chicken shit.” “Holy cow,” I said. “Well,” said Brillig, “that was it, my epiphany. In that moment I knew what was meant by grace. God was not dead. 56 Nor was he out there, he was inside.” “But . . . but the droppings came from above,” I pointed out. “Only figuratively speaking,” said Brillig. “Nothing actually fell on me. It was a vision. It all took place in my head.” “I see . . .” “Most of all, perhaps, I felt an enormous relief. Yes, I was sinful, but I was not alone. God was with me. And to prove his humanity, to let me in on his little secret, as it were, he graced me with a bit of his shadow. It was also the clue to my direction.” I raised my eyebrows. “You see,” said Brillig, “in all the turmoil since returning from Europe I had quite forgotten the piece of stone I had run off with in Upper Kraznac. Struggling to make sense of my vision, I suddenly saw the connection and dug it out of my trunk. I kissed and fondled it and swore to honor its mystery. 55 Jung’s vision came to him at the age of twelve, while he struggled with dark and sinful thoughts. He imagined God sitting far away in a clear blue sky on a golden throne, judging him. He prayed to know God’s will, then realized that God was testing him and he must think for himself: “I gathered all my courage, as though I were about to leap forthwith into hellfire, and let the thought come. I saw before me the [Basel] cathedral, the blue sky. God sits on His golden throne, high above the world—and from under the throne an enormous turd falls upon the sparkling new roof, shatters it, and breaks the walls of the cathedral asunder.” (Memories, Dreams, Reflections, p. 39) 56 Brillig was alluding, of course, to Nietzsche’s famous remark in The Gay Science: “God is dead.” In a subsequent conversation not recorded here, Brillig said that years later, after reading Jung’s Answer to Job, it came to him that Nietzsche’s declaration was never meant to be taken literally, but was merely foreseeing the decay of the traditional concept of God, “due [said Brillig] to more and more people withdrawing the projection of their inner divinity onto an external authority.”
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 and 50: An Unveiling 49 six hours there and
Page 51: An Unveiling 51 sensuous mate befor
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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