This brings us back to the story of Chicken Little and the metaphors within.
Chicken Little is merrily strolling in the forest when something (an acorn) falls on her head. She doesn’t look up. She doesn’t investigate to see what it is. She gets frightened instead of directing her attention to where the hint came from. She panics and decides to warn everyone she comes across that “the sky is falling!” Her hysteria is transferred to the others and they panic too. In the process, Chicken Little misses the full message and she leads everyone off-track to focus on an unseen pending apocalyptic disaster, seemingly of an imminent environmental kind.
In this context, modern man and woman were merrily exercising their will to pleasure in traffic-jammed, smog-clogged cities around the world while being happily distracted by their entertainment systems and electronic gadgets, when the predictions of an ancient belief system increasingly filtered into their awareness. Instead of carefully investigating the symbolism or metaphorical meaning of the “end of the world in 2012”, many of them took it literally. The ensuing hysteria directed everyone’s attention towards a potential full-spectrum apocalyptic disaster.
In both cases, the environmental aspect is telling and accurate, but at the same time the hysteria element is a deflection from the cause and the solution. During the process of warning people about the sky falling, Chicken Little asks one of her neighbors for advice, who then suggests that they call the police. In some versions of the tale Chicken Little decides that they need to inform the king, who will know what to do. In other words, they decide to call on an external authority figure for help.
When the acorn fell on her head, Chicken Little was given a “heads-up” to look up. “Up” being a metaphor for the spiritual, or in Jungian terms, the Self, or in the context of this series of essays, the authentic-Self or the soul-Self. It seems that human beings are generally prone to avoiding introspection and would rather seek external solutions and this is where we need to be cognisant of that tendency and make a conscious effort to adjust our approach. That in itself takes courage, but that is what personal growth is all about.
To support the interpretations above, let’s refer to a few points made by Jungian analyst, Daryl Sharp in his book “Chicken Little, The Inside Story”. [1]
Daryl Sharpe citing a colleague, Professor Robert Brillig:
“It was Brillig, you see, who first suggested that Chicken Little’s doomsday warning need not be interpreted literally; it could be taken as a symbolic expression of her own inner plight”.[2]
In Daryl Sharp’s own words:
-1: “I think a Jungian is obliged to see the cry for help as an instinctive plea to the Self. When the ego is in disarray and the persona in tatters, then the inner authority of the Self, in whatever guise deemed necessary, will work toward a balance.”22 [3]
-2: “For already, you see, we have all we need to support the orthodox Jungian view that the end of the world is an archetypal motif; that is, it may be constellated by circumstances (inner or outer) in anyone or in any culture, at any time and in any place.”[4]
The call for inner work by an individual’s own psyche is unrelated to any particular religion or belief system, although it does imply shining a light into the shadows of one’s “inner rooms”. In this sense it could be interpreted as spiritual work if one considers spiritual work to be working on oneself in order to become a more whole person. Some people would naturally find this to be a spiritual experience. Naturally, anyone can do inner work, including non-religious people and people not following belief systems, but everyone would or should get a heads-up from time to time from their psyches to do so.
The Mayan calendar predictions were the proverbial heads-up for humanity to do the necessary inner work in preparation for huge upcoming changes in our external environment, which could adversely affect us, if unprepared. A strong and solid inner environment is required to transition through these changes on a personal level as well as on a collective level, in order to work through and find solutions to intractable problems.
In a religious sense the universe is often considered as an external authority figure and there is sometimes an expectation or interpretation that the universe would rescue us and help us out of our own self-created crises. At the same time, we hope to keep as many of our luxuries and comforts intact without compromising too much on the comfortable-living front.
The interesting thing is that the universe has already helped us to help ourselves by providing us with The Archetype of The End which came through very powerfully at the end of 2012. Now we just need to act on it appropriately and accordingly.
It is impossible to deny that we are in a major transition phase. Indeed, the world is in flux. There are crises or change everywhere, plain to see and feel in the global economy, obvious in the geopolitical arena, impossible to deny in environmental and ecological terms and more and more obvious in relation to the disappearance of traditional, cultural, moral and ethical norms and values in society. It is also patently obvious in terms of energy dependence. Yet, there seem to be no major plans afoot for global solutions.
The Chicken Little fable doesn’t end well, but the good news is that the story is incomplete as not all the parts of this ancient tale were originally discovered more than 300 years ago. Humanity’s story need not end badly. From an idealistic point of view, all we have to do is collectively wake up, although we find people are currently more distracted than ever.
Although a number of people are aware of the times we are living in and would rather not live with their heads in the sand, they are most likely still a minority as living consciously, a decision that has to be made on an individual level, also implies having to be more responsible.
The foundations of many of our planet’s problems are very deep and ironically much of it lie in our progress up to now through industrialization and modernization. We have progressed so much that our progress has been causing the destruction of our habitat, but we are still reluctant to fully acknowledge this fact.
The situation is complex, because moving away from fossil fuels to renewable energies on a global scale will take many decades – and it is debatable whether a 100% transition is actually achievable in reality. First of all, we are far behind in this conversion process and secondly, it takes more fossil fuels to develop and install renewable energy infrastructure, which would cause even more CO2 emissions. Therefore there is a likelihood that we are going to end up having to revert to more traditional styles, once an energy crisis arrives, since we will not have fully converted by that time. In light of this reality, responsible communities and individuals can already step-up their efforts to reduce their ecological footprint as much as possible as an ethical lifestyle of choice and in advance preparation.
During the run-up to 2012 humanity collectively experienced the archetype of the end. This was a call from the collective unconscious to act. We need to re-balance the planet by adjusting our behavior. At this stage it is unclear whether we are able to do that collectively, but if we don’t we will increasingly feel the results of the imbalance – and in some regions more than in others.
To be continued…
© 2014. All Rights Reserved.
This is Part 4 of a series. Continue to Part 5.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author. Interpretations of Jungian concepts are the author’s and are used to motivate certain philosophical arguments within the context of this essay. Jungian themes are briefly touched upon and this does not constitute a comprehensive overview.
For Jungian terms, please see: Jung Lexicon – A Primer of Terms & Concepts by Daryl Sharp.
References & Citations:
The End of the World, The Sky Is Falling: folktales of Aarne-Thompson-Uther type 20C.
by D. L. Ashliman, University of Pittsburgh. http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/type2033.html.
[1] Chicken Little, The Inside Story, A Jungian Romance by Daryl Sharp, © 1993.
www.innercitybooks.net/pdf/books/chickenlittle.pdf
[2] Page 15: Chicken Little, The Inside Story by Daryl Sharp, © 1993.
[3] Page 15: Chicken Little, The Inside Story by Daryl Sharp, © 1993.
[4] Page 17: Chicken Little, The Inside Story by Daryl Sharp, © 1993.
6 Comments
It seems to me as if humans are becoming more and more distant from each other, even though technology has made it easy to connect globally. While we remain constantly in touch through texting and tweets, the content is shallow and trite. I believe that getting in touch with our inner selves is vital. How can you know another until you know yourself?
Very true Emily and well said. Thanks for your comment.
We are now more connected, but also more apart from each other and in addition more removed from ourselves. We are completely caught-up in technology and are now living our lives virtually, our eyes fixed to a screen and our minds completely preoccupied by it, with no space or time to connect with ourselves (anymore).
We will have to learn to manage our consumption of these new artificial networking systems (as well as the entertainment systems) and re-learn how to live our lives naturally without “the need” to be constantly remotely connected. We have made ourselves dependent on things we were never dependent on before… Gadgets are the new drugs of the new age.
It might be an idea for us to start learning to reconnect on a human, technology-free level again, and relearn the value of authentic human interactions, uncontaminated by the false persona inducing elements found in social networking (if only social networking did not tend to lead to that there would be no problem).
Each person is responsible for what he exposes him/herself to, for how much time of the day/night and each person is responsible for his/her own inner world. We have to cultivate the Real New World Without by cultivating the Authentic New World Within.
I couldn’t have said it better, Jacques!
During the year of my undoing, when all usual places and attitudes of safety turned inside out and upside down a long-time friend called me “Chicken Little.” “Did I believe the sky was falling?” she asked from the comfort of her 6-digit salary and financial institution stronghold. “You’re not the one living in a car.” I said, as I made the decision to put what resources we had left into silver coins and pack them in socks like the old people.
Your story fits the journey I have and am experiencing as Chicken Little living the metaphors and remembering the older myths that make for a reassembled life as human being part of Earth. The environmental issues of consumption and entitlements have boiled down to being in sync with Nature in essential ways: there is no guarantee of safety but there are ways to be grateful for small joys. In America, where my husband and I live in small pods for cooking/writing and washing and a bedroom on wheels when it’s time to move on. We learn to deal with life as part of the forest of trees. Hundreds of trees model for me the lesson of the Tree People … rooted and making a stand, flexible and channeling heaven to earth/earth to heaven. The inner world, the inner work you relate to in your essays is precisely the gift that comes from turning ‘the coin of the realm’ inward. Less has meant becoming truly responsible for a life lived well. As a sandbox elder (still in the 60’s) my life practice is infant. Gods willing I will get better with practice and more practice.
Nice move, Jacques.
Greetings from the forest, Mokihana and thank you so much for your comment. Hearing about your journey and your experiences as “Chicken Little” resonates strongly with me. I’ve gone through such times during some of my travels, but most prominently when my entire world collapsed some years ago when I lost my job and career due to being flung out of a job sector that experienced a major crisis. Everything changed for me – and it was back to square one (it felt like square zero) in very many ways.
When a crisis arrives and all safety nets and security features fall away, leaving us standing exposed to real reality, it truly feels like the sky is falling(!). When the sky is falling we are also at our most vulnerable – and we try to warn everyone else about the possibility of this happening to them too! We also find that during such times understanding can be lacking from those we expect to get it from the most. This is an ancient lesson that we learn about how depth is derived from struggle, and that generally people who have not faced or experienced hard times won’t be able to relate to it. Their disinterested or insensitivity is out of fear, they very much hope not to “end up in the same boat”… Interestingly though it might just be that the rowing boat to survival is a much more authentic life experience in terms of personal growth and responsibility.
You have said everything so beautifully, I need not comment further. I’m humbled by your humbleness and will drink from the dew on the leaves of your wisdom tree – thank you for sharing and for visiting my new space.
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