May 6, 2016 07:47 PM
There is first the explicit meaning of the narrative itself---the story as it occurs complete with plot and drama and character development. Literature, movies, and real life acquire this meaning all the time. Recounting your day for someone is a tale of things that happened and how you reacted to them. But there is a higher level of meaning that occurs above this linear narrative. It is the implicit metaphorical meaning of the narrative--a context of relationships to ideas, to values, and universal truths that gives the narrative meaning beyond it's mere blind happenstance. What archetypal themes or motifs occur in the narrative? What are the main ideas that are symbolized by the events? Literature and movies have this signatory power. Cannot we approach real life in the same way? Abstract polarities underlie our everyday experience. The fundamental dualities of the human situation. Freedom vs security. Reason vs hope. Good vs evil. Desire vs independence. Compassion vs justice. These themes pulsate rhythmically thruout the shimmering web of our mundane world, defining the interplay of its threads and nodes as a complex symphony that transcends us and connects us to reality itself. Jung said it best: "What happens to us is typical of us." There is an order behind the seemingly chance accidents of our lives. It is the destining order of becoming whole and self-aware souls.