"Look up just a moment at the sky"

Two Sided Creatures

The human soul sometimes appears to be divided into two halves which often seem to conflict with one another. One half is the rational, which we associate with logic, contemplation, inventing, discerning, planning, predictability, and stability. We love the security that comes from this.

The other half, the half that I believe we sometimes fear, is the irrational. The irrational are the things about ourselves that we can’t often explain such as passions, love, hate, jealousy, and curiosity. Though understand very little about this second half, we must agree that through the ages it has often raged as the more powerful of the two. How many irrational decisions have we seen throughout history? Men influenced by their love for a woman doing things that logically don’t make sense, others overcome with emotions of anger that they do something that they later regret, and on a happier note, people who have sacrificed or done something charitable for someone else even though there was no personal gain involved. While seem to be creatures of both passion and logic, passion may be the more dominate of the two.

The persuading power of passions can be very scary and hard to understand, especially when you are experiencing them. It can be hard to see the forrest through the trees.The Greeks discovered that by experiencing the irrational via drama, art, music, or dance, it helped us to come to grips with this powerful and necessary part of ourselves.  

Some of my best Friends

A powerful lesson from the Bakkhai was taught to me through Kadmus. Kadmus’ daughter, Agaue, while in a trance, had done many things that she would later be ashamed of. She had no idea she was behaving so irrationally. Upon returning home and talking to her father, Kadmus draws her mind back to the way it was before and her world began to clear.

People have always been an important part of my life. Whenever I struggle to understand myself or feel that I might be behaving irrationally I go to someone I can trust and explain what I am thinking and feeling. Often in the process of talking to a loved one my world clears and I can see things the way they really are. Sometimes we just need someone to tell us to "look up just a moment at the sky"