What exactly is pothos? In Greek mythology, pothos is longing--it's a longing, a desire to posess that which is unattainable.
Doing more reading about pothos, I came across a neat article at terrapsych.com along the lines of a longing for a "lost" ecology. It made me wonder--if pothos embodies what is absent and cannot be attained, is it fair to say that pothos is a constant in and of itself? It must always be present in one form or another for human beings. We are always wanting for things that we cannot have.
The article also touched on the theme of "wandering". Is pothos the wandering soul? Is pothos part of the archetypal nomad? And, are we all archetypal nomads when it comes to wanting things that we'll never attain?
Sorry for the rambling.
Friday, May 9, 2008
Rubies in the Shadow
I was thinking about Pothos today; the notion of "wanting", the impossibility of love. Impossible love--the longing and desire that will never be quenched. It's a notion that my brother Zach and I have kicked around in the past. We wondered why love was going wrong--why crushes are doomed to always be just that and never more. Why is it that the people you truly fall in love with aren't the ones that you've been fawning over? Relationships are never created on burning desires-that's unrequited love. Is it that the "pothos" that grows and manifests in the soul as a crush can never be returned; is it the fact that's it's been created its dooming factor? And what makes the heart and soul do these things?
I was reading some Hillman and he brought up a great point about the gems in the darkness; those things that hide within our shadows are what actually define who we are and are "clarified" (JH) in the end.
When in the throes of pothos, the spots that shine aren't the the gems in the shadows. So, therefore, is it that what "shines" in the heat of pothos is simply a creation of a person that we've made within ourselves and projected upon our desired one? Pothos in ourselves is us--in love with an idea. In love with an idea that doesn't exist and never will. Pothos doesn't see the shadow. But what of the shadows? In love, Hillman encourages us not to run from the shadows.
So, when we think of our shadows, what about them is it that helps define who we are? How do we embrace the so-called "rubies in the shadow"?
I was reading some Hillman and he brought up a great point about the gems in the darkness; those things that hide within our shadows are what actually define who we are and are "clarified" (JH) in the end.
When in the throes of pothos, the spots that shine aren't the the gems in the shadows. So, therefore, is it that what "shines" in the heat of pothos is simply a creation of a person that we've made within ourselves and projected upon our desired one? Pothos in ourselves is us--in love with an idea. In love with an idea that doesn't exist and never will. Pothos doesn't see the shadow. But what of the shadows? In love, Hillman encourages us not to run from the shadows.
So, when we think of our shadows, what about them is it that helps define who we are? How do we embrace the so-called "rubies in the shadow"?
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