(Did you ever see an elephant fly?)
(Well, I seen a horsefly)
(And I seen a dragonfly)
(Yeah, I seen a housefly)
(Ha-ha-ha-ha)
Yeah, I seen all that too...
I seen a peanut stand, heard a rubber band
I seen a needle that winked its eye
But I be done seen 'bout ev'rything
When I see a elephant fly
(What d'you say, boy?)
I said when I see a elephant fly
I seen a front porch swing, heard a diamond ring
I seen a polka-dot railroad tie
But I be done seen 'bout ev'rything
When I see a elephant fly
(I saw a clothes horse, he r'ar up and buck)
(And they tell me that a man made a vegetable truck)
(I didn't see that, I only heard)
(But just to be sociable, I'll take your word)
(I heard a fireside chat, I saw a baseball bat)
(And I just laughed till I thought I'd die)
But I be done seen 'bout ev'rything
When I see a elephant fly
Well I be done seen 'bout ev'rything
When I see a elephant fly
(With the wings)
When I see an elephant fly!
Elephants!
Flying Elephants
It is said that once elephants had wings. One day one was flying over a very large old banyan tree somewhere to the north of the Himalayas. Wishing to rest for awhile, it settled upon one of the uppermost branches. But the branch could not support the weight of the animal and it cracked and fell upon a meditating hermit sitting below. This yogi, whose name was Dirghatapas, lost his temper and cursed away the wings of the poor beast. From that day to this, elephants have had to walk.
The elephant's movements are considered the epitome of gracefulness. However, the elephant also represents the earth and its tremors. Once, in India, the ground used top actually tremble as the herds passed. A regional myth holds that the world rests on the head of a great elephant, Mahapadma, and when it moves its head to get more comfortable, an earthquake is produced.
Occasionally in the tantric yoga system, an elephant is represented at the muladhara or foundation chakra. According to Rawson, it represents the input of all the senses which can be transformed by the activity of the higher chakras. In Mahayana Buddhism, where the focus is on bodhicitta rather than on kundalini, we can see how the taming of Nalagiri may represent a transformation of ordinary awareness into bodhisattva nature.
- Taming the wild elephant of our mind by means of Mahamudra. The instrument of control is called in Sanskrit, ankhusha. In English, it is an ankh.
When, Hindu mythology recounts, at the beginning of Time the Goddess Durga did battle with the embodiment of Evil, that demon took the form of a buffalo but each time She struck it, it transformed. At one point, it assumed the form of a great elephant.
In a version of the myth, Lord Shiva induced this beast, Gajashura, to dance with him until it could endure no longer and finally, it fell down dead. Then Shiva flayed the monster and donned the dripping skin as his mantle. In this bloody garment, he performed his terrifying Tandava victory dance that shook the foundations of the three worlds. Therefore, as a garment it stands for the removal of arrogance, pride or vanity.
Jungians, may have a different Perspective! about White Elephants!
Hence we concur with many other depth psychologists and folklorists, who view stories as expressions of the purposeful workings of the human mind.
We regard the hero/heroine as representative of the ego function and all other characters as representative of various other elements in the individual's psychological makeup.
Folktales give expression to problems both in attachment systems and in submission strategies, and to their potential resolution. To illustrate this thesis, we will analyse one story from a paleolithic culture and one from European folk culture.
Story Background
We are very fortunate to have a story, Mantis and the Elephants, directly from a pre-colonial paleolithic culture, the !Xam, in South Africa (D.Bleek 1923)--particularly so, since the bushpeople of Southern Africa are the closest one can get to our common ancestors in Africa.
They have been found to have the highest level of mt DNA-sequence divergence yet found, indicating that the Bush people are the oldest people on earth (Kingdon 1993 pg. 258). It is perhaps worth mentioning that there has been, until recent times , a continuous tradition of Palaeolithic rock art in Southern Africa stretching back over 20,000 years (Lewis-Williams1990). The stories from the Bleek collection have been a major key in deciphering this rock art, which suggests a continuity of mythological tradition over that time period. Close similarities have been noticed between the mythological/symbolic traditions of the !Xam and the surviving !Kung in Botswana today (Guenther, Hewitt). This gives us some confidence in suggesting that the story we propose to use has its origins in our environment of evolutionary adaptedness (EEA).
The story deals with Mantis, the trickster god of the Bush people and the problems that arise from his preoccupation with honey.
MANTIS AND THE ELEPHANT 1
The story begins with Mantis digging out wild bee's honey from a hole. As he eats he throws up honey to little Springbok, who is sitting in the edge of the hole, with the statement "are you eating as I am eating?" An elephant comes along and carries Springbok away on her back. Mantis, unaware of what has happened, continues to eat and throw up the honey. Finally, getting no reply from Springbok, he emerges from the hole only to discover a calf elephant in its place. Realizing what has happened and outraged by his loss, Mantis kills the calf elephant.
He returns to Springbok's mother (his sister). She admonishes him for his neglect and demands that he recover Springbok. When she has packed a bag of dried meat, he sets out on his journey. Before departing, Mantis tells his sister that the wind blowing from a certain direction will foretell his return. He follows the spoor and, from a hill spots Springbok playing with the young elephants. Mother elephant sees Mantis and immediately swallows Springbok.
Mantis demands it's return but Mother elephant denies any knowledge of Springbok's whereabouts. Mantis insists he has seen her swallow Springbok.
After a fierce argument Mantis enters her navel and, on finding Springbok there inside, he proceeds to cut her insides to pieces. While the other elephant angrily await his reappearance at her navel, Mantis, with Springbok on his back, escapes through her trunk. Mother elephant dies.
Mantis confidently claims his victory and flies away "on the wind", escaping the wrath of the other encircling elephant. At home his sister notices the change in the wind and on return from his journey, Mantis is met with jubilation by all. (D. Bleek 1925 pg.41-44).
Analysis
The story begins with Mantis in the hole apparently sharing honey with Springbok. For the bush people, honey epitomizes the essence of the sweetness of life and has transformative qualities. It is of interest to note that honey was regarded as food of the gods in ancient Sumer, Greece and in many other cultures (Cooper 1984:84). Honey was always shared by the Bushpeople and the location of each hive was closely guarded, watched over and utilized only when ready.
The sharing of this precious resource of sweetness, which was invariably met with great jubilation, consolidated the strict rules of reciprocity within the group. However, Mantis becomes so absorbed in the sweetness, that he seemingly forgets about the existence of Springbok and his responsibility in this regard. This forgetfulness and absorption in the sweetness allows Mother elephant the opportunity to steal away with Springbok unnoticed.
The bush people always refer to Springbok in intensely respectful, even sacred phrases, like "beloved Springbok". The Springbok was, after all, the main source of food, something to be shared. The sharing of Springbok meat was done according to strict rules of reciprocity, which reaffirmed the cohesion of the group. Their attitude of perceiving the Springbok as a gift from life also connected them to the wider cosmological world.
Their gratitude to it, was an affirmation of their sense of a reciprocal relationship with the natural world.
Mantis's absorption with the sweetness and the subsequent loss of Springbok reflects a core narcissistic position.
In this position he has lost his capacity both to connect to his fellow human beings and to the world at large. Absorbed in the sweetness he becomes a slave to his greed which blinds him. There is a fundamental lack of capacity to reflect to the other.
The fact that it is mother elephant who carries Springbok away suggests that it is a negative aspect of the mother complex which deprives Mantis (ego) of his capacity to relate.
Despite his absorption in narcissistic pleasure, something inside him calls his attention to the lack of an appropriate response from Springbok.
Here we can see the workings of the archetype of the Self, that which attempts to redress the destructive imbalances within the individual. Just as in the classic narcissistic position he is engulfed with primitive rage when he discovers his loss.
Children with insecure/ambivalent attachment patterns are seen to exhibit similar reactions to loss (Mains 1991; Grossman and Grossman 1991). They are easily engulfed with rage and show a distinct inability to reflect on their feelings of loss and simply act out their distress.
Their failure on a metacognitive level to reflect on their feelings, can leave them trapped in a position where no learning occurs. They are prone to repetition of their reaction again and again.
This however is not how our story unfolds.
Mantis does indeed initially rush off in his rage to track the elephant but his memory of his relationship to his sister, draws him back to a different response to the situation. In this more personal relationship to the feminine, Mantis is held accountable in a way which allows him to undertake a more differentiated, considered response to the loss.
She not only admonishes him for his self absorption and demands that he recover Springbok, but also provides him with food for the journey.
The initial rage response to the primitive abandoning, devouring mother (elephant) is now very different. In this interaction, higher metacognitive functions can operate.
Springbok's mother can engage Mantis in a reasoned dialogue in which Mantis can submit to certain restraints without rage. From a Piagetian perspective this can be seen as both a capacity for positive constraint and reciprocity working within the individual.
Springbok's mother embodied a very powerful feminine function for the bushpeople, which mediated constraint and reciprocity within the community. As she is also Mantis' sister this suggests her position is relatively equal to Mantis, the trickster-creator god.
While achieving many heroic feats in Bushman mythology, Mantis is not all powerful.
He frequently has to submit to a feminine function that mediates constraint and reciprocity amongst relationships. Hence the urge for mastery epitomised by Mantis had to operate within a field which imposes firm limits, co-operation and negotiation.
This suggests that in our Environment of Evolutionary Adaptedness, constraint and reciprocity were essential features of the human condition . The centrality of constraint and reciprocity in the E.E.A., meant that negotiation and compromise were central features of decision making within the community.
As a consequence individuals were relatively equally empowered and the capacity to embrace another's position and be understood oneself, was intrinsic to our E.E.A. Embedment within such a social group is the best protection there is against depression (Nesse and Williams 1995 :215-221)!!!
Springbok's mother is perhaps a precursor of the many old feminine deities that mediate similar functions of constraint and reciprocity world wide (Cooper 1984:108-9). Athena, who is credited with introducing the legal justice system to Athens, can be viewed as a more sophisticated urbanized version of Springbok's mother.
In our story mantis makes use of a reference to the change in wind direction as foretelling his return.
Mantis is beginning his journey with the knowledge that he will return, but knows not when.
Wind, as a natural element beyond his control, is a suitable metaphor for his destiny- "that adventure of unknown proportions, that even if we meet with self confidence and the best of faith, will inevitably prove to be something very different, very much more complicated, dangerous and difficult than we expect " (Zimmer 1971). Mantis submits to a living process beyond ego control.
Hence the story also indicates the importance of holding the correct attitude to one's fate. Whilst voluntarily submitting to the journey Mantis is not submissive and moves forward with a buoyant, heroic attitude.
He tracks the spore of the elephant to a hill from where he has a good vantage point. Is not his capacity to accurately track the elephant spore itself a metaphor for the ability to consciously trace the source of our emotional suffering?
Reaching the vantage point he is able to perceive the wider emotional picture. He can now reflect on his internal emotional scenery in relation to the loss, before acting.
His ability to contain what were initially overwhelming feelings creates the freedom for a higher order of focused and considered attitude and response.
For the bushpeople, elephants were regarded as destructive, intrusive creatures. This is compatible with the idea that mother elephant represents the destructive aspect of the mother complex.
In leaving behind her own calf, unattuned to its needs, she shows a fundamental lack of differentiation as well as neglect.
From his vantage point, Mantis is confronted with a somewhat unexpected scene. Springbok plays happily with the young elephants, apparently showing no sign of missing his connection to Mantis or his mother.
Is this not a regression of the capacity for reciprocal relationships to an earlier phase of development? A stage where reciprocity is still in a primitive form?
From a Piagian view, this would perhaps correspond to the role of unilateral constraint, in which is seen the predominance of egocentricism, animism, the magical world of the young child absorbed in its own imagination.
Our story illustrates the necessity of regression to an earlier , positive narcissistic phase before development can proceed again (Jung 1913. CW vol 4, 404-406; Kohut, H and Wolf, E.S.,1978).
However, re-emergence from such a regression is never easy.
In the true heroic tradition the treasure cannot be recovered without a great struggle. The hero's journey, we suggest, is a metaphor for the ego's struggle to claim potentials from within the unconscious that are necessary for the onward movement of the individual's life (Steinberg 1989:341).
Mantis' initial effort to claim Springbok is met with denial and the threat of destruction.
Once again Mantis demonstrates courage and a positive attitude when faced with these threats. The capacity to withstand threats of inner annihilation is crucial to the healing process.
Mother elephant's swallowing of Springbok, and the subsequent threats against Mantis, are indicative of the enormous power and negative pull of inner regressive tendencies. Every phase of development, from birth to death, involves an encounter with such inner demons.
In the next phase, our story intimates extraordinary psychological accuracy when Mantis enters through the navel of mother elephant to find Springbok within.
Mantis consciously returns to the core of the regression through the umbilicus - the original connection to the great mother.
This fearless descent into the heart of darkness, is repeated in hero myths world-wide.
In order to resolve serious psychological conflicts, such as addictions and depressive states, one must face the core terrors that generate them.
Therapeutically, this implies exploring and containing the early attachment experiences with the mother. This is never an easy process and one can see the value of stories which point toward successful resolution of suffering and the possibility of transformation of early damage.
Another crucial element demonstrated in our story is the need for focused aggression in order to extricate the treasure from the negative mother complex. Neither a diffuse, destructive, impulsive, narcissistic anger, nor the suppression of anger would be helpful at this point (Cochrane,N., and Neilson,M. 1977; Fava,G.A., Kellner,R., Lisansky,J., et.al. 1986).
We see Mantis cutting mother elephant's inside to pieces with his spear, and escaping through her trunk. He dissects her inner core into small pieces. The spear is an image of an archetypally evolved capacity for assertiveness in the service of individuation.
It symbolises a capacity which enables the individual to interact with his/her instincts in a more conscious way.
Mother elephant dies.
Death of the regressive side of the mother complex is essential if the individual is to move out of an infantile position of dependency.
Marduk, the heroic god of ancient Babylon, kills the goddess Tiamat who represents primitive chaos, while Perseus, one of the classic heroes of Greece, slays the Medusa, the petrifying aspect of the mother, the look that kills.
While all the regressive energy is focused around the navel, Mantis makes his escape through the head, thereby demonstrating a relative freedom of action.
His aggression, coupled with his incisive analytic skills, gives him this freedom.
His success fills him with confidence and allows him, metaphorically, to fly home with springbok "on the wind". The return of Springbok to the community, we see as a metaphor for the establishment of constraint and reciprocity.
His renewed self esteem allows him to return home where he is met with great jubilation. The successful resolution of a psychological loss is invariably followed by a sense of exhilaration which allows, once more, a feeling of being connected to life.
In terms of submission strategy Mantis initially lacks constraint in his consumption of the prized honey and reacts with unrestrained rage to loss.
Such a lack of capacity for submission, could potentially have disastrous consequences. But fortunately, a positive form of constraint and reciprocity is mediated by another internal element, his sister, to whom he can willingly submit, helps him to transform rage into more effective psychological action.
We have attempted to explore the meaning of the different elements of the story as understood by the Bushmen themselves. Our analysis, we hope, has shown that the story fulfils the definition of a Darwinian algorithm as defined previously.
The story offers a metaphor for psychological growth but of itself is no guarantee that such growth will occur. Each individual retains the freedom to choose whether to undertake such a journey or not.
We all have our own honeypots that can absorb us completely, to the detriment of relatedness to others. We all know what it means to be filled with rage and we all know the struggle to contain that rage and convert it into effective action at an interpersonal level.
There is, after all, a moral choice in each individual's journey.
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