Stepping out of the shadows
“Self-reverence, self-knowledge, self-control. These three alone lead to sovereign power.” – Alfred Tennyson
Quoting a famous poet, known for writing poems about creatures lost in half-life, and/or people taking decisive, heroic action that leads to their doom, think about “The Lady of Shallot” (1842).
The key to this tale of magic symbolism is of deep human significance and is to be found in the lines:
Or when the Moon was overhead,
Came two young lovers lately wed;
“I am half sick of shadows,” said
The Lady of Shalott.
Tennyson’s son Hallam quoted his father as saying it’s about:
the new-born love for something, for some one in the wide world for which she had been so long excluded, takes her out of the region of shadows into that of realities.
Each of us lives partly in a world of make-believe, much of it inherited from our families and our cultures. What happens when it is challenged and/or we choose to discard it?
Who watched the Country Music Awards? The Band Perry have the coveted bragging rights of the 2011 CMA’s top New Artist. The sibling trio also won the trophy for Single of the Year, for their hit, ‘If I Die Young’, written by Kimberly Perry, which earned her a CMA Award for Song of the Year.
There really is nothing new under the sun. Since time immortal, creative souls have been expressing this reality. There is a line in the song, it’s funny when you’re gone, how people start listening.
Are you listening to your own self? Are you in tune with the reality of situations? Are you able to step back and see things without your personal prejudices, your preconceived beliefs ( things we keep saying to ourselves until we are convinced they are true) and mindless responses built in like a data chip you have installed without any updates? Imagine how many people are not listening to their inner voices?
Repetition does not transform a lie into a truth.
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
Do you love something or someone enough to come out of the shadows of a safe black and white world where you think you have it all figured out? Where you have ascribed motives and characteristics to others without taking a snapshot in pure living color of your own self and the part you play? I think the decision point in “The Lady of Shallot” came:
Beholding all her own mischance
Mute, with a glassy countenance
What do you do when you really see your role in a relationship’s dysfunction or in thwarted movements in your education or everyday work world? Do you just stare ahead and choose to say nothing and do nothing? Or do you pull yourself out of these shadowy places and step into the bold light of day with the three items Tennyson noted: self -reverence, self-knowledge and self-control? Is there anything that anyone else can do “to find your way” ?
Trust your inner reactions, but seek wisdom and practice self control. When we become disenchanted with people or experience unrequited love or are puzzled by the twists and turns of events, choose courage and clarity. In the light of reality, there are no unexplained shadows. We are well aware of what we have chosen.
As soon as you trust yourself, you will know how to live. – Goethe
http://www.theboot.com/2010/07/16/the-band-perry-if-i-die-young-lyrics/
http://www.iviewtube.com/v/165473/the-band-perry-if-i-die-young-(official-music-video)
Friedlander ER (1999) Enjoying “The Lady of Shalott” by Alfred Tennyson Retrieved Nov. 22, 2011 from http://www.pathguy.com/shalott.htm
http://www.academicintegrity.org/fundamental_values_project/quotes_on_trust.php