“You’ll see what I’ll do son,” the old woman caterwauls.
“I’ll go to Tahiti and buy a thing!“
“I’ll buy a thing so you won’t have anything!”
That Won’t Solve Anything
“That won’t solve a thing mom.”
“I don’t care,” the old woman howls as her hands wave wildly in mid-air.
I Don’t Care…Just as Long as You Get Nothing!
“Just as long as you get nothing!“
“And your good for nothing brother gets nothing!“
“I’m going to spend everything!“
“On me!“
What About the Grandchildren?
“What about the grandchildren mom? Don’t you care about them?”
“Those brats!”
“I don’t care about them.”
“I don’t care about anyone or anything,” the old woman growls as she devours her vowels.
“I only care about me, me, me, me, me…“
They’ll Get Nothing
“They’ll get nothing.”
“You’ll get nothing.”
“Nobody will get anything expect me!”
“You’ll see son!”
“I’m going to go to Tahiti to spend everything on a thing just for me!“
With that, the Old Lady Smiles
With that, the old woman smiles.
She smiles the same old, worn-out smile she’s smiled for 89 years.
She’s smiled that smile so many times, it’s creased permanent lines into her thin, translucent skin.
Even when she’s not trying to smile, you can see that creepy, old, tired out smile.
The Son Sighs
The son sighs and looks down at his knees.
He watches a dust bunny creep across the floor.
Only silence rebounds in the empty, desolate house full of dust ball for nothing living dare stirs in a place like this.
All he ever wanted was a reasonable mom who could show a smidgen of love, but she had none to give.
One Beautiful Moment of Silence
But in that great big beautiful moment of powerful, creative silence, a smile springs to his face.
Then, he pulls out his phone and says:
“OK mom, when do you want leave to Tahiti? I’ll book it one way for you need not return because for you to spend everything on a thing in Tahiti I’ll need to sell the house that way you can spend everything on a thing just for you!”
And That is the End of the Story
And that, my friend, is the end of the story for you see, the son finally knew his horrible mom, the one who’d wrecked his childhood and ruined his manhood, was finally going to be gone, gone, gone, swallowed whole by her insatiable greed!
One More Thing
This is a highly distilled, and frankly absurd, dramatization of something I observed (but then again, maybe not). Real life is always much more complicated than a fanciful story such as this. However, such stories can be useful in identifying archetypal emotions and forces that constantly play inside for every human being (be they still human and not some other thing) has good and fowl forces vying for our time, attention, and action in the world.
The Moral of the Story
The moral of this story is:
If humanity continues to spend tremendous amounts of time and precious reservoirs of conscious attention on matters such as these, then the mounting issues swirling around impending catastrophic climate change will never be addressed, nor meaningful action taken. In the end, we will all be swallowed by our pride, self-absorption, vainglory–be it at the personal-family level or interpersonal-community level or be it between states and nations. We will all suffer the fate of our unconsciousness.
Carl G. Jung writes: “Western man has no need of more superiority over Nature, whether (this nature be) outside or inside (i.e., one’s inner nature). Has has both in almost devilish perfection. What he lacks is conscious recognition of his inferiority to the Nature around and within him. He must learn that he may not do exactly as he Wills. If he does not learn this, his own Nature will destroy him. He does not know that his own Soul is rebelling against him in a suicidal way.” — p. 83, Psychology and the East
What will you do with your precious plot of consciousness today? More importantly, what will you do with your unconsciousness?