Phantom of the Psyche & The Power of Introspection

Take a walk into the Ravages of time.

I am the Peddler of Chronicles. The one who sells Grim and Joy.

At the end of this tale,

You must choose what will you buy.

 

The stone has started rolling, It won’t stop until it’s destroyed

or breaks everything on its way into pieces.

Certainly you can’t stop it.

No one can be an exception. Because no one is immune to everything.

 

The wandering, whispering fairies of the middle nights,

Traveling from land to land,

told me the stories of the man wrapped in Black,

Who travels and plays with time.

 

Take my hand,

Let your Dreams begin.

But Dear, wake up sooner to decide,

Before the Phantom comes to you with a noxious smile.

                                                                                         -- by Ipsita Priyadarshini


Have you ever felt the urge to do things that you are not supposed to do? You definitely had, because you are born as a human too. I think humans are weak, at the same time they are very strong. You know why? We are the only creatures who has the complete awareness about our own weakness. And we spend our whole life to fight with them to make a stand for ourselves. Absolutely, we are the creatures of Self - esteem & Dignity.

So, how do we fall into Self - sabotaging traps? There are definite acts with the power of leading any human to destruction. Follow the below myths and stories with my dialogues to reveal the truths of the human mind.

Act of Curiosity: Pandora’s encounter with the Phantom

The curtain of this tragedy opens with Titan Prometheus’ stealing of the fire element from heaven and giving it to the mankind. This particular act of kindness made many Gods burn in anger, especially Zeus.

As an act revenge, Zeus ordered Hephaestus and other Gods to create Pandora, the first woman, the reason of befalling of humans. And she was given to Prometheus' brother Epimetheus with a beautiful Jar from Zeus as a parting gift. She was also instructed Not to open it at any circumstance.

Even after having all the fortune with her, Pandora’s heart was stuck with the lid of the urn. The more time passed, the more she became curious about the inside content and finally opened it. She must have thought, she bears strong luck, she is special, nothing bad can happen to her.

But the fate had a different story to tell! She realized that the jar was filled with all kinds of evil, which came out and scattered in the human world. With a hasty feeling, she closed it but it was too late. All the elements were out, except one left in the Jar. More unfortunately, the element which couldn’t escape from the jar was “Hope” -- The only non - ominous element that the mankind needs the most.

In my theory, here the Phantom depicts the apocalyptic relation between the jar and Pandora. The intention of this very surreal black feeling turned into something that put the real world into chaos. She knew -- she should, she must, she need to resist but she couldn’t.. I must say as expected of The Phantom!

Act of Fear: The story of two Brothers meeting the Phantom

No matter which corner of the world you are from, you must have heard or read about Adam and Eve. In their story also, there was a Phantom. Can you guess what it is?

That’s the Serpent - not the existence of the serpent but its intention to bewitch Eve in taking the forbidden fruit and Eve’s curiosity to eat the fruit. Likewise, I told in my first story, it’s a fateful encounter of two beings. But here we are not going to talk about Adam & eve, this story is about their two sons Cain and Abel.

The story was like this; Cain as the first born was given cultivated land and Abel took a flock of sheep. After some time, the both of them made offerings to God to show their tribute and hard work. God liked Abel’s offering of his firstborn ships more than Cain’s land produced food. Cain was furious for being treated lower than his younger sibling.

So as an act of revenge, he murdered Abel. Even after God’s warning about his ominous intent, he committed the sin. There was jealousy, anger but the thing that trapped Cain is “Fear”. Fear of losing to his own younger brother, fear of being left out in the competition, fear of not getting attention. Fear, that made him lose his self - confidence.

Act of Desire: The three Princes and The Phantom

I don’t know from which faraway land, this story has come from. I will tell you what I was told from those ancient whisperers. There were three Princes living in a very wealthy and blessed kingdom. The brothers were exceptionally talented and had tremendous devotion towards their kingdom.

In that kingdom, there was Priestess. A maiden close to God, who had the power to communicate with Gods and spirits to predict future. One day, the three Princes met the Priestess and instantly fell in love. The beautiful maiden’s enlightened wisdom, unwavering faith, and pure heart were too much for the Princes to resist.

There was an ancient rule in that land, the ones who serve the God will not unite with mere mortals no matter what status or fortune they bear. If any human breaks the rule, they have to face the wrath of Gods.

But the brothers had other intentions, the crown Prince (older brother) was bewitched by the beauty of the Priestess. He wanted to capture that allurement forever within his palm. The second brother was too much wise, in the profession he had expertise in Alchemy. He wanted the power of Oracle, to use it in fulfilling his malicious intentions of practicing forbidden arts. The youngest Prince was after the crown, he wanted to outright his brothers with the power of the Priestess.

Each because of their evil desires, a war broke out between brothers. The war led to many tragedies, took many lives. The years of struggle made the land poor and the people suffered endlessly. The Priestess couldn’t watch this tragedy and gave up her life by jumping from a cliff. The Princes were in a state of shock with the death of their beloved, and couldn’t help crying. The only thing they could think about is for what purpose they committed this insane, cynical act. The war was over. Finally, the peace arrived at the price of countless corpses.

Rumi says “His infatuation is like a blackwater wave carrying him away. Something that doesn’t exist makes a Phantom And the Phantom itself becomes strong enough To throw actual lions into the whole..” 

Even if I don’t describe, you can judge, where the Phantom came into the picture. There were many like this; obsession, revenge, cowardliness etc. I know after reading these stories, each of you will think you are on the right side of the picture and start judging others. But I would advise stop, try seeing yourself on both sides and you will be able to distinct the truth from the delusions.

So, the question is how can we liberate ourselves from this? The desire of not doing something wrong and shaping your consciousness according to that will is difficult. This is a pain filled with the feelings of Passivity.

This is where the Science of Introspection comes into the picture. But how you will know in my next publication --Phantom of the Psyche & The Power of Introspection Part 2

 


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