Dionysus is called “the god of letting go”. I would argue
that a better title would be “the god of irrationality”. Letting go
is often much needed in human lives, such as when faced with the stress of school, work,
dating, and more all at once. However there are many situations when people
decide to let go in a dramatic fashion, and in the process also let go of any
grasp of reason. One situation comes to mind of a family I know well. The
parents of the family were happily married for over 30 years with two kids when
all of a sudden the husband decided that he wanted to “let go” by abandoning
his family and marriage to try out some new found homosexual desires. There is
only two ways of looking at this man’s recent decision. Either he has just made
the most irrational decision of his life, or by making this new decision is
saying that for the past 30 years he has made a slew of irrational decisions.
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| I love this quote, and I apply the last two sentences to almost everything in my life. |
Before Pentheus hears the tale of
what the cowherd saw and experienced in the forest he wants to arrest or destroy
the women for their attempt to go against the Theban society. After he hears
about the women firsthand, and with a little persuasion by Dionysus, he is drawn
by the sexuality of the women to go and investigate. This complete flip flop
from his original feelings about the Bakkhai ultimately results in his own mother
taking his life. This shows the most powerful lesson from the Bakkhai, that irrational
behavior amplified by sexuality will cause those closest to us to turn on us
and lose their love and concern for us.
It is
important to have a way of dealing with our sexual drive and other characteristics
of human nature that seem to decrease our ability to make rational decisions. Basketball
has always helped me to deal with irrational thoughts in life. There are
certain things that are in your control and out of your control in the game. There
are rational and irrational decisions to be made in the game. The outcome will
be based on the sum total of these 4 things. Life is comparable to this.
Through hard work, good decision making, and a little luck you can win the game
both of basketball, and life.
Great metaphor to basketball. I played high school ball and felt the same way. Irrational things would happen to me all the time and in order to better cope with them I'd play ball. I like the idea about coping with the inevitable irrationality that will occur in our lives. It might be pointless to try and prevent it but we can always find ways to cope with it.
ReplyDeleteSo it would seem that we use the irrational to cope with the rational and rational to cope with the irrational. I think that it is critical to have something solid to come back to. I like the way you highlighted basketball as a way of bringing it back to the basics. For me going back to the basics means running. No matter what life throws at you or how crazy the day has been I can always go back to my shoes on the pavement or trail and it acts as sort of a reset button for me. Thanks for sharing.
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