Let’s talk Archetypes

The thing about Archetypal Truths is that they are timeless. No matter what the ideology or sociology of the era, Archetypal Truths remain unchangeable reflections of our inescapable Human Nature

Our ancestors tried to warn us about the dangers and the nature of Vanity. A vanity complex comes in 3 stages :

1) Love & Pride

2) Neglect & Jeopardy

3) Hatred & Destruction (typically the self - hatred & self destructive kind)

These 3 stages are illustrated in the tale of Narcissus:

1 - he sees his reflection in the pond & is transfixed.

2 - his worldly affairs fall into disarray as he is trapped there, and finally

3 - he despairs of his inability to have his love requited by a mere reflection, and stabs himself in the guts with his sword

You see, LOVE isnt the defining characteristic of Vanity. As you see - the love of pursuing something of quality sours and becomes the hatred of not being able to maintain or obtain it

The CORE of vanity is OBSESSION

But we dont just get obsessed with physical beauty. We become obsessed with INNER BEAUTY. With Virtues.

The same 3 stages of Vanity are written of in another Archetypal fable : the Quest for the Holy Grail

In the pursuit of Virtuousness, King Arthur sends his knights off on a quest. But in their long absence, criminals begin to overtake Camelot. Men grow resentful of King Arthur’s reign

In the end, Percival completes the grail Quest - but his efforts are all IN VAIN - Mordred’s army grew large enough to destroy King Arthur and bring Camelot back to the dark ages

So what parallels do these Archetypal lessons have for us today. I suppose there’s any number of perspectives. But try this on for size.

Let’s substitute Voat for Camelot. And @Puttitout for King Arthur . And @Srayzie for just another Round Table Knight who perished before the Quest For the Holy Grail (for which we can substitute Freedom of Speech) was completed

And who is our Percival, here ? There’s a few contenders, for sure - those who refused to quit, mitigate or temporarily suspend their Obsessive Pursuit for a little while to return to the fields of Camelot from which they could hear screams of those being butchered by Mordred and his army

Putt made a call today. And those who are celebrating that call aren’t the Knights who care about Camelot. It is the forces of Mordred who gloat and cheer, those who take glee in nothing but destroying what other people spend years building

all while the Percival’s tell themselves that their demands for perfectionism are worth it