Mission Impossible

The dream is the small hidden door in the deepest and most intimate sanctum of the soul, which opens to that primeval cosmic night that was soul long before there was conscious ego and will be soul far beyond what a conscious ego could ever reach.

~ Carl Jung, The Meaning of Psychology for Modern Man (1934)

No one can flatter himself that he is immune to the spirit of his own epoch, or even that he possesses a full understanding of it. Irrespective of our conscious convictions, each one of us, without exception, being a particle of the general mass, is somewhere attached to, colored by, or even undermined by the spirit which goes through the mass. Freedom stretches only as far as the limits of our consciousness.

~ Carl Jung, Paracelsus the Physician (1942)

I love to let my imagination gallop on a white Arabian steed, so don't mind my nonsense, but do fasten your seats belts... It's going to be a bumpy blog.

Recently, I've been on an exploratory mission in deepest darkest space. Sent out by my fearless leader to boldly go where few MySpace Cadets have dared go before (well, at least not purposefully)... Into the blackest void in the known universe: The human psyche!

The word psyche is derived from Greek antiquity: psykhe "the soul, mind, spirit, breath, life, the invisible animating principle or entity which occupies and directs the physical body" (personified as Psykhe, the lover of Eros)

According to one source:

"In Greek mythology, Psyche was the most beautiful young woman in the world, so lovely that she incurred the jealousy of Aphrodite. She sent her son Eros to cause her to fall in love with a man whose ugliness was as great as Psyche's beauty. When Eros saw Psyche for himself, it was he who fell in love with her, and he spared her his mother's curse.


When an oracle consulted by Psyche's parents advised them that only a god was intended for a girl as beautiful as she, they led her to the top of a mountain and left her there to be found by one of the immortals. Soon, Zephyrus the god of the west wind carried Psyche to a palace in a secret valley where she was attended to by invisible servants.


In the darkness of night, Eros came to Psyche and made love to her, but he warned her never to try to see his face, for he insisted that she not know who he was. When Psyche was allowed to visit her family and describe all that had happened to her, her envious sisters convinced her to light a lamp in her lover's presence to see his true form, filling her thoughts with fears that he might be an evil and hideous monster.


When Psyche did gaze upon the face of Eros, she realized her foolishness. When a drop of oil from the lamp fell upon Eros' chest and caused him to awaken, he saw that Psyche had disobeyed and he fled, abandoning her.


In time, despite the continued hostility and interference of Aphrodite, Eros and Psyche were reunited. At Eros' request, Zeus summoned Psyche to Mount Olympus where she was offered a drink of Ambrosia, giving her immortality, whereupon the two were wed..."

So you see, not even the gods can tear the beautiful human psyche asunder..
Let THAT be a lesson to you!
But wait..
There's more...

Jung said,

"Even if the whole world were to fall to pieces, the unity of the psyche would never be shattered. And the wider and more numerous the fissures on the surface, the more the unity is strengthened in the depths."

In other words, humanity can take a licking and keep on ticking...

A most heartening thought, but even so, in the feeding of his ego, man can let that hungry little id eat away at the stark daylight of his superego's conscience, casting it into the shadows. Hence, the dark abyss of envy, fear, and even madness.

In a similar vein, I have noted this need for the ordinary man to feel extraordinary. No matter that there is a marked difference between being unique and being "special". We are all unique, but we are all not special. If everyone were extraordinary or special, then by definition, no one is...

The quest for extraordinary powers has consumed mankind ever since he stood up, extended that lumbar spine, looked around at his dark, dank cave and thought... "WTF???"

Then the special ones painted scenes of their daily life on those cave walls, while the ordinary ones just pissed and moaned on the limestone and called it day. But the pissers and moaners of today are being told they are on equal footing with their more motivated brethren. Modern relativity is truly one of the great marvels of the universe. Only in the last century or so have so many thought so much of themselves while doing so little. Now THAT IS extraordinary!

Of course being a MySpace Cadet, I do not ordinarily concern myself with human thought, but I'm being ordered to, so hark forward... tally ho & away we go....

Many believe that homo sapiens are, on the whole, continuing to devolve as a species. I mean, look at all those reality shows on television, if that isn't proof that humans as the masters of the Earth are on their way out, I can't think of what else would convince you. The show Dancing With The Stars alone would make the great constellation Orion weep at the thought that his belt could ever be associated even if only in name with such fodder for mutants!

I only deign to speak of these things because our fearless commander has sent us on a mission to reveal to the galaxy what superpowers all you ubermensches would choose, if you had a choice.

I haven't a clue as to why the commander has need for such trivial information, but mine is not to reason why... mine is but to do or... get tossed out into hyperspace... not a fun place, I assure you.

So, in the spirit of solidarity, I will share my desires with you, too.

I have a few ideas for you struggling with the answer to this hypothetical question:

A rare power these days is one that a few generations ago everyone seemed to be born with and cultivate easily. Not so anymore so it has risen to the status of a Superpower for the rare few who display it; making everyone who bares witness to them in action, marvel at their amazing ability. The last known generation to display it on earth is the one some of you may refer to as the "Depression Era" babies. Wanna hazard a guess as to what it is?

Hooray!!!

Yes... you guessed it!!!!

Common Sense!!!

But, unfortunately, I'm rather uncommon (being a MySpace Cadet, that is) and have not the time, nor the opportunity to splice the gene for common sense into that mad twine that threads my being so as to have it implanted in my DNA. Not whilst writing blogs, reading blogs and commenting on blogs.

I mean, we MySpace Cadets honor our sacred obligations to the bloggery faithfully.

Hmmm... Maybe E-Bay will soon start selling Common Sense in fully downloadable bits & bytes online. If futurist Ray Kurzweil is right, with the ever-accelerating rate of technological change, humanity is fast approaching an era in which our intelligence will become increasingly non-biological and millions of times more powerful. This will be the dawning of a new civilization enabling us to transcend our biological limitations and common sense may once again reign supreme, but let's stop this beating around the bush (so to speak), shall we & come to the moment of the great reveal:

After much contemplation, I realized that I do indeed think there is a superpower that I would love to possess. It can do a tremendous amount of good, but, if not practiced with great circumspection, compassion and restraint, could be used for terrible evil.

My chosen weapon is making people see themselves as I see them.

For the lovely people who suffer from low self-esteem or who cannot fully appreciate their gifts and beauty, it is the greatest good there is. For those who are malicious-minded and evil, it would be far more dangerous... but would provide a much needed purging of those who seem to represent the nadir of mankind...

I've always had a bit of a messianic complex.

Allow me to explain my thoughts on humanity which I first wrote as a comment on a fellow space cadet's blog. A cadet by the name of Si Philbrook.

(Click HERE to read his excellent thought-provoking post which is mercifully much shorter and far more eloquent than mine.)

This will sound contradictory and so it is... but bear with me.

I am always amazed, but never surprised at how low mankind can go...

Never surprised because history has taught me enough to be ready for any level of atrocity.

Always amazed because I have a fatal optimism...

I refuse to accept that mankind has any fate, no less one that relegates him to nothing more than the butchery and callous consumption that puts the loft in locust wings...

I believe in our beauty as human beings...

Our inner... divinity (for lack of a better word, I choose one that is associated with deities)...

That thing we call humanity...

While I may often be disappointed, I remain undaunted.

I have seen far too many instances of good loving decency to believe otherwise. Personally, I don't believe we need gods to save us. We may need strong people to guide the many-headed, though... and therein lies the problem because there are few true leaders who will do so selflessly.

Power is a corrosive force, it just is...

It is better we teach each other the absolute importance of self-reliance, it is the only means of maintaining a true integrity, any wielding of power, be it political, religious, intellectual or economic is doomed to corruption.

Although we should take care of those who truly cannot care for themselves:

the truly infirm and the young need our protection...

But everyone else?

Must think and act on his own whilst still considering others...

That golden rule evoked by a man named Jesus who was purportedly from Nazareth is an excellent one: "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you... "

11 words.

11 is a beautiful number...

But I digress...

I must get back on track!!!

Now... tell me your dreams and maybe I'll tell you who and what you are...

If you had the ability to choose one, what would your superpower be?

And why?

Curious minds NEED to know!

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