isthmus nekoi
cain & abel
Haven't read all the posts yet, so forgive me if I repeat something...
I'm so glad to read about the cain/abel thing, Richard b/c just the other day, I got the Lovers in Vertigo, and that was immediately what I thought - they're c/a, and suddenly it all made sense.
c/a is the oldest *human* story - it is the first story of human autonomy. The creation myth is the oldest *god* story in which god/satan call all the shots and we find the birth of consciousness. c/a is the story where Cain (Satan prototype) **utilizes** his own consciousness by negating the Other (Abel/Christ prototype).
You have to read the story carefully, interpret it on your own. So many ppl interpret the murder as: oh, Cain got all pissy and jealous that God liked Abel's sacrifices better, humans are all pissy and jealous and vengeful, let this be a lesson to us all. OK, fair enough, but it's more complex than that (if not the earlier interpretation being totally off the mark )
c/a represents the human opposites, which is why they are both brothers (both in the conscious mind). This is *different* from the original opposite that stems from the split b/w man and God which is represented by the expulsion from Eden.
Consider the following binary:
Cain------------------------------------Abel
Satan----------------------------------Christ
active----------------------------------passive
A type----------------------------------B type
top (in the BDSM sense)-----------bottom
evil (in the not 'bad' sense)-------good
farmer/agricultural economy------shepherd/hunter gatherer econ
rich (agricultural surplus)----------poor
civilizations/empires----------------pre-civilization
colonizer------------------------------colonized
ego-------------------------------------Other
Back to the Lovers/Brothers. What we have here is only the first level in reconcilling division b/w opposites - the foundation of the conscious mind. (I just learned that in Japanese, the character for understanding - wakaru - is the same one used for dividing - hanbun.) This however, is important b/c it's not reconciling the foundational difference b/w man and God. Only man and man.
From Jung/Answer to Job: "By engendering insoluable conflicts and consequently 'afflicto animae', it brings man nearer to a knowledge of God. All opposites are of God, therefore man must bend to this burden; and in so doing he finds God, in his 'oppositeness,' has taken posession of him, incarnated himself in him. He becomes a vessel for Divine conflict ..."
This is the first step - recognizing differences, marrying them (*not* uniting/dissolving into one). It's the precussor to dealing w/the split b/w man/Divine.
Sorry if that's incoherent. If you have any qs, just shoot. Will be back later to examine similarities b/w this card and Jung and alchemy. One text in particular, forgot the title. It's got a king and queen holding flowers, if you can remember it, pls post, I'd be greatful.
Haven't read all the posts yet, so forgive me if I repeat something...
I'm so glad to read about the cain/abel thing, Richard b/c just the other day, I got the Lovers in Vertigo, and that was immediately what I thought - they're c/a, and suddenly it all made sense.
c/a is the oldest *human* story - it is the first story of human autonomy. The creation myth is the oldest *god* story in which god/satan call all the shots and we find the birth of consciousness. c/a is the story where Cain (Satan prototype) **utilizes** his own consciousness by negating the Other (Abel/Christ prototype).
You have to read the story carefully, interpret it on your own. So many ppl interpret the murder as: oh, Cain got all pissy and jealous that God liked Abel's sacrifices better, humans are all pissy and jealous and vengeful, let this be a lesson to us all. OK, fair enough, but it's more complex than that (if not the earlier interpretation being totally off the mark )
c/a represents the human opposites, which is why they are both brothers (both in the conscious mind). This is *different* from the original opposite that stems from the split b/w man and God which is represented by the expulsion from Eden.
Consider the following binary:
Cain------------------------------------Abel
Satan----------------------------------Christ
active----------------------------------passive
A type----------------------------------B type
top (in the BDSM sense)-----------bottom
evil (in the not 'bad' sense)-------good
farmer/agricultural economy------shepherd/hunter gatherer econ
rich (agricultural surplus)----------poor
civilizations/empires----------------pre-civilization
colonizer------------------------------colonized
ego-------------------------------------Other
Back to the Lovers/Brothers. What we have here is only the first level in reconcilling division b/w opposites - the foundation of the conscious mind. (I just learned that in Japanese, the character for understanding - wakaru - is the same one used for dividing - hanbun.) This however, is important b/c it's not reconciling the foundational difference b/w man and God. Only man and man.
From Jung/Answer to Job: "By engendering insoluable conflicts and consequently 'afflicto animae', it brings man nearer to a knowledge of God. All opposites are of God, therefore man must bend to this burden; and in so doing he finds God, in his 'oppositeness,' has taken posession of him, incarnated himself in him. He becomes a vessel for Divine conflict ..."
This is the first step - recognizing differences, marrying them (*not* uniting/dissolving into one). It's the precussor to dealing w/the split b/w man/Divine.
Sorry if that's incoherent. If you have any qs, just shoot. Will be back later to examine similarities b/w this card and Jung and alchemy. One text in particular, forgot the title. It's got a king and queen holding flowers, if you can remember it, pls post, I'd be greatful.