Blog Entry # 11: Ugly Draft

Possible Title:  Embreacing the fruit of maturity: Understanding the process of growing up, transcending the orphans pain and finding an identity in Roald Dahl's James and the Giant Peach.

Intro:    A magical Giant peach that serves as a ship or carrier for James adventures is the central symbol in Roald Dahl's 1961 children novel James and the Giant Peach. One day after having spilled magical crystals around an old peach tree , James founds that a Giant Peach had grown from the old three. Dying out of curiosity 10 years old orphan James enters the peach and much to his surpirse he finds that 7 giant insects where waiting for him to embark into amazing adventures across the Atlantic over to New York city from his native land England.

Bio:   English writer Roald Dahl(DATE) rose in the 1940´s with works for both chidrens and adults that were characterized by dark humor and unexpected endings. Dahl was a pilot for the brithish airforce during world war II, a poet,screewritter and short story writter. Dahl first became renownk for his work in 1942 with his first work C.S foster, a work that that told the story about his wartime adventures. Later on, he decided to continue with books for childrens with his first book being  The Gremlins based on creatures that the british airforce in jkoke told to be the ones that caused damages in their airpanes.Moreover, he then started to focus on fantasy books for children characterised for orphans and their heros quest with works such as Charlie and the Chocolate Factorie, Matilda and James and the Giant Peach. Many of his works were turn into film scripts such as Willy wonka and the chocolate factory, Your only live twice and Matilda.


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Summary: 
              What James founds across the sea is a series of trials to show him that he is valuable and that make him develop traits that would take him into maturity. The peach clearly symbolizes a psychological compound of traits that James has not yet embraced and needs to integrate in order to transcend his pain and loneliness as an orphan. More else, the 7 insects represent aspects the he also needs to develop in order to become an independent grown boy. Clearly , James resembles the archetype of an orphan that becomes a wanderer in order to grow up according to Carol Pearson's Heroic Myth System.

Pearson and Gailman:


Orphan:  James character on the novel is clearly an orphan archetype according to pearson archetyipical system. He becomes an orphan when a rhino that escaped eats his parents.He then moves with his evil aunts who treat him like a slave. More else, James does not even attend to school as he is too buy working for her wicked aunts on an isolated house somewhere on a hill on England. And so he is desesperate for company (QUUOTE) and for a need of an idenity ouside the one of an slave orphan that his wicked aunts give him.

Wanderer: As a orphan who saw his aunts as his only parental figure and after being punished and denied permision to explore and have friends,James then assumes the role of a wanderer. Most wanderers are born out of orhpans as is the case of James who not being able to tolerate being alone and abused the suddently seeks adventures and starts to explore the outerparts of the hills in order to find something he does not know, perhaps an identidy?. While being at the hill James constantly reminds himself of what her aunts said to him about not going away as he tries to re assert himself to what to do in a situation where he can choose between delcare indpendence and explore, or obey and remain orphan.


Monomyth: James and The Giant peach fit perfectily in Campells Monomyth structure or Heroes quest (As in Campelss, Here with a thousand faces). James is pushed into advture by his own desire to find himself and explore whats ouside,and so he hears "the call for adventure" as he crosses the boundaries stablished by her aunts that are physically invisible but completly based on his fear orphan and ingnorance about the power of his own autonomy.He then embakrs into advetures with tests and surprises that he never thougt could happen to later return home more stringer ,confident and mature, this time having found his own value and having explored and trascended most of the pain of being an orphan to become more mature and independent.

At an archetipical orphan, James resebles a very innocent one, who seems to accept life as it is and never questions anything but just accepts life as it comes with all the orders of his wicked aunts.As the novel goes on, one realizes that James is in a great pain that he perhpas does not understand as he has already adapted to  the isoleted and abusive enviromet.

What marks a the break of his innocente into a more revelious James, is when denial of his aunts (quote) for him to explore and be a child.(considering he is entering his teen years and needs to feel a child for a last time). As a result like a lesson every orphan must learn , he starts his jorney into becoming self suficcined by revealing to his by then accepted reallity of loneliness, abuse and grieff. After unconsciuslly reveling to his aunts orders to not wanter around the hill, because the common feeling of an orphan to being on limbo (belly of the whale) James then seeks exitement.

In the process of growing up and trasceniding being an orphan, the indivudal has to accept the loss of innocence and become self sufficient. As we can see in the book , James looses his innocence and starts looking for exitement to later find the Giant peach. The Giant Peach, then resembles a pile of emotions that he needs to integrate to trascend and find a mature selfsuffient James as it symbolizes a fruit or fruitition a result he is searching for.

Surprinsingly, when James decides to enter the peach in awe, he finds the insects that had also grownh big due to the magic talisman the old man gave to James and that he accidentaly trhown near the peach trhree.
The 7 insectes represent what James is missing, both in the positive and negative way. Dahl at the start of the novels gives a pretty blank description of James as just an innocent boy who obeys her aunts orders, but as soon as he enters the peach and meets the insects he beings a methamirphis where he little by little starts to take them as frinds and rolemodels. Chapter by chapter as James becomes closer to the insects ,he becomes more intersting a full of surprises, it seems that the insects give James the reflection needed to create or find his own identidy.

And so James adventures with his new firends starts when the peach starts to roll down the hill into the sea. The first trial is that once in the sea James must calm the insects out of their fear of never making it alive to firm terrain. He is then force to take the role of a hero rolemodel to the insects to praise him for his wisdom and are very nervous to the events unfolding. The next test, resembeling again the need for nurture of an orhpan symbolizded by freud as the need for food ,unfolds.Because of the insects are scared to die out of hunger, James realizes that they can eat the peach itself that would fullfill all their needs. And so, James symbolically starts to be able to self fullfill that empty space of the need of an orphan for care (food).

Deep into the see we can see that James as perhaps Jung and Freud would describe water and sea, is going further in the layers of his subcounciess to find what is holding him back out of his next natural step of maturity and self realization,and so the next trial arises. When a group of angered sharks see the insects and James over the peach they decide to sunk the peach in order to sunk it and eat the tripulants. Therefore, with 7 insects that see James as clever smart person,he is pushed to take the role of a warrior. Concecuently ,James creates a plan to safe himself and the insects from the sharks, and aims at the sky. He decides to make the silkworm and Miss spider give him their silk to catch seagulls that are atracted to the centipede as ballons o lift off. He then proofs to the insects and himself that he is a striong warrior that can solve critical situations.










Bibliography 


-Roald Dahl (Wikipedia-date)

-Roald Dahl (James and the Giant Peach)

-Roald Dahl (website)

-Pearson (Archetypes-date-year)

-Freud(Anima-Animus,shadow-date-year)

-Campell(Hero´s quest, Monotmyth-Date)

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Blog Entry 4

Thomas karlsson is a Swedish author of esoteric and occult books that focus on trans-personal psychology and philosophy. He is the author of five books and the main founder of an initiatory intellectual order called “Dragon Rouge”. His philosophy is largely based on the “Left-Hand Path” or philosophy of the dark side which focuses on psychological and spiritual transcendence as means of apotheosis. Some of his books like “Uthark – Nightside of the Runes” and “Gotisk Kabbala och runisk alkemi” , play an emphasis on universal archetypes, runes and Kabbalic alchemy as means to understand reality and transmute what we perceive as our identity. According to his website (dragonrouge), among the authors studied in the order are Carlos Castaneda, Julius Evola and Kenneth Grant. In addition, the order also studies more classical and modern philosophers like Herakleitos, Plato, Plotinus as well as Nietzsche, Heidegger and Henri Bergson and several texts from many traditions like the Upanishads and Tao te ching among others. The webpage also cites several authors like H.P Lovecraft, Hanns Heinz Ewers, Bram Stoker, Edgar Allan Poe, Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, Salvador deli, William Reich among the many. In addition to his books and literature for the order Karlsson is also the main author of the  lyrics for the Swedish symphonic gothic metal band “Therion” and is also the lead vocalist and lyrics author for the death metal band “Shadowseeds”

The song titled “Voyage of Gurdjieff: The fourth way” describes a voyage of a person to wake up from an state of unconsciousness into the philosophical self and the realm of wisdom or real truth. It uses the name of philosopher George Guerdjieff to show that it is a “road” already taken by him and that transcends a circular tri-pattern of being born, live and die . More else, it explains how several practices can help in the process, to “wake up” as it clearly describes mystic practices like Sufi dancing and Yezidic lures as means to enter into trance. The lyrics also describe several terms that Guerjieff wrote about, like the “building of a soul” by implying a form of living based on his philosophy of “the fourth way”.

“Voyage of Guerdjieff: The fourth way” is a call to attention to the robotic , unconscious state in which most of the population lives in and it also serves as an inspiration to a particular train of thought that is meant to make people become conscious about their life’s. The title is based on the life of Georg e Ivanovich Guerdieff, a mystic and philosopher from Armenia who proposed the idea of a fourth way to transcendence. In his writing he explained that there are  three main ways to “seek the truth and wake up”, the fakir ,monk and yogi , a man’s way to gain will of its body, emotion and intellect. He proposed the “fourth way” which meant an intention to work with the three aspects and realign them and balance them. Therefore, the individual seeing himself as he is, he begins to feel his contradictions, conscience is awakened, not the morality of personality, but conscience that is the same for all men.

             The lyrics of Thomas Karlsson, were written to explain a way to find “the self” as classic philosophy tries to describes this principle and understand life. As a philosophical topic, the song follows the train of thought of Sufism, and yezidizm, two traditions that are studied in “dragon rouge” the order in which the author is a member of. As a result of the transcendental psychology approach that the order and author adhere to, the lyrics start with the phrase “walk all alone, on a quest to wake up” (1) meaning that that only one can examine its own life on the life time journey  it also describes the archetype of the here on a quest, he might have someone on his side but its his story, he is the one alone to fulfill it. What follows is “Life is only real when I am” meaning that when one has find the “self” and once in focus and fully conscious of itself, then one can see reality, which is a philosophical explanation to what is real and what is not. Then  the author states “When your journey begins you’ll see the sleep” (3/4)meaning that once one starts examining its life on can see how “asleep” one is as symbolic interpretation of an state of unconsciousness, or conscious activity and see how sleep others are, the journey begins with this realization as a form of threshold.

             Moreover, it the verse the phrases “Dance the Sufi dance and fall into trance” and “Dance with Yezidis and learn they secret lore” (1/3) imply common practices by Guerdieff and the author itself, that are aimed to increase self-awareness by dancing and chanting in the “mystic” ways of the Sufis and Yezidis. In the next stanza, Karlsson mentions “Learn how to live, how to use the octave” ,”nine pointed star, it will  shine in your soul”  and “you will find your way, like a herald of light and dark” (2/4), as a way to explain concepts of psychology and what the author believes to be “universal principles”. In the writings of the Guerdjieff he writes about the enneagram or nine pointed star which a particular symbol of interpretation of universal psychological traits that conform the psyche and that are connected with the three principles of the faquir, monk, and yogi. The author wants to transmit the opinion that when understanding one’s internal psyche one learns how to live in “reality” or the unchangeable “real” part of life and perhaps that once when we understand the “nine pointed star” we will know how to live in this “octave” of reality, this “kingdom” that we can perceive where our quests as a hero take part of , this state of evolution or understanding. He finishes the paragraph with the concept of duality when he mentions the herald of light and dark, meaning that once we understand ourselves we would have transcended the last division of all “duality”, the herald is a symbol of bringing news and transcending something while light and dark symbolize the polarity principle in all aspects of life.

             Finally, the author writes “is there life on earth?”(1) trying to  make the reader or listener think about if there is consciousness on earth, which is supported by the line three of the same paragraph ,”are we like machines?”. Meaning that we have become robots that act based on reaction, without real processing of life, but just repeating patterns that are “programed” into ourselves throughout our lives, an straightforward interpretation of the tarot card “The foul” that does not pays attention to his path and taking in mind the context of Sufism and Yezidism trapped to be born, live and die in a teaching prison realm until it learns the lesson and is free from the cycle of Samsara or reincarnation. The last line indicates as a response from the before asked questions “No, we can build a soul like black diamond” (4), meaning that by carefully examining our life, on the three ways, body, emotion and mind, and “realign and balance” these principles of our nature, we can “build a soul” or create or find the “self” meaning soul as the a priory standard and essence of everything that is pure consciousness. At the end, “black diamond” a talisman crystal gem, symbolizes something of exquisite beauty and authority that is usually related with the “unknown”. And so, darkness in this context symbolizes what we do not want to see of ourselves and/or in psychology could symbolize the unconscious mind and the mysteries of the unknown. Subsequently explaining that we can build something beautiful and amazing with hard work and time and also meaning an integration of ourselves with our “dark side” or “black side”, just as a black diamond requires a lot of time and refined pressure to form but at the end its very valuable, amazing and unique, we can reach the “self” , “wisdom” and “reality” transcending into a realm of immortality and purity instead of repeating quests over and over again like most heroes do until they die. The black diamond can also symbolize the “left path” as the author calls his ideal of apotheosis of merging to one self to know the universe instead of merging with the universe by being one with everything “the right path” that could be symbolized as a “white “diamond.

            All and all, it is my perception that the author tries to signal how unconscious the population is, and how we deny our unknown and dark sides, and signals the philosophy of Guerdieff with its relations with the enneagram and mystic practices like Sufi dances and Yezidic chants as means to achieve the “self” to gain consciousness or “wake up”, “transcend” into what philosophers like Socrates or Plato called the “perfect world: which is wisdom itself. Clearly the content of the song is philosophical, and uses psychology and mystic traditions as a support or state a way to transcend into “reality” seeing the big picture or waking up from the matrix into what is real from a mechanical pattern that we follow like fouls. It is the narration of  a trip of the soul from ignorance, in the underground world of the dead or “sleepers” in to the real world that “shines” and where we are alive. 

Works Cited

  Karlsson, Thomas. Voyague of Guerdieff( The fourth way).  Therion - CD album, “ Sirus B/Lemuria”.    <http://www.metrolyrics.com/voyage-of-gurdjieff-the-fourth-way-lyrics-therion.html>

  Karlsson, Thomas. Uthark - Nightside of the Runes"  incl. Therion-CD “Secret of the Runes”   Ouroboros Produktion, 1 Jan 2002.

  Karlsson, Thomas. Götisk kabbala och runisk alkemi. Johannes Bureus och den     götiska  esoterismen. Doctoral thesis, Stockholm University, 2010.  

  Taozi. Tao Te ching. 6^th Century A.C Dragoun rouge

  Unknown author(s). Upanishads

        Dragon rouge ,general Information. <http://www.dragonrouge.net/english/general.html>

  Karlsson, Thomas. Biography. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Karlsson>