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~ Jabberwocky and the Snark ~
[Don't step on the mome raths]
Jabberwocky, by Lewis Carroll, 1872
`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!"
He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought --
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.
And, as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!
One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.
"And, has thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!"
He chortled in his joy.
`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
- Fin -
"It seems very pretty," she [Alice] said when she had finished it,
"but it's rather hard to understand!" …
"However, somebody killed something: that's clear, at any rate--"
The head thinks this is nonsensical. The heart feels it is whimsical and playful.
The total being silently enjoys the timeless experience of Oneness.
The Jabberwocky represents the mind, and its head is the ego.
Jabber is gibber for gibberish and chatter, and wocky is wacky for mad. Jabberwocky is a mad, chattering mind.
The boy who beheaded the long-searched-for Jabberwocky represents an individual on a quest to find his true identity.
The tone of the Jabberwocky indicates that the creature and its beheading are allegorical.
The beheading of the Jabberwocky is the dethronement of the ego.
Ego, mind, conscience, personality and character are social constructs.
Social constructs have utility value, but no truth value.
The ancient Greek myth of Perseus and Medusa is a similar allegory of beheading a monster.
The demigod hero Perseus was asked to bring back the head of Medusa as a wedding gift, thinking he would die.
Medusa was the only gorgon who was mortal. The gorgons were snake-haired and terrible to behold.
All who looked at a gorgon were turned to stone - paralyzed, immobilized, arrested in development, enervated.
Guided by Athena and Hermes, he searched and found the three gorgon sisters sleeping.
His quest to find and kill her was made possible when the goddess Athena and god Hermes equipped him.
They gave him winged sandals, a magic wallet that would hold whatever was put in it, …
a winged helmet that made him invisible, an unbreakable sword and a mirrored shield.
While watching her reflection in the bronze shield, he saw Medusa and beheaded her.
Then Perseus quickly disappeared and escaped from the other gorgons.
[Hunting of the Snark: An Agony in 8 Fits, by Lewis Carroll]
The Landing (Bellman and Banker)
The Ship's Crew (Bellman, Baker, et cetera)
Butcher and Beaver
Baker and His Uncle
Crew Ready for the Hunting
Butcher and Beaver's Lesson
Barrister's Dream
Banker's Fate
The Vanishing
Hunting of the Snark: An Agony in Eight Fits, by Lewis Carroll, April 1, 1876
In the midst of the word he was trying to say,
In the midst of his laughter and glee,
He had softly and suddenly vanished away-
For the Snark was a Boojum, you see.
- Fin -
The tone of the poem, a sequel to Jabberwocky, indicates that the Hunting of the Snark is allegorical.
The marks of a Snark are: hollow tasting, slothful, humorless, fond of machines, ambitious.
Snarks can be found only in light (awareness), not in darkness (unawareness).
All ten passengers on board the ship had names that began with the letter "B".
In order of appearance, the mild Baker was boarder number nine, B-9 or benign, indicating goodness.
The Baker forgot his name (identification and social conditioning).
[Suggestive Amnesia]
The Baker also forgot his clothes (masks) and other possessions (possessiveness).
[Milk of Amnesia: America's #1 Drink! Better than Mother's Milk - Better than Formula…]
[Specially formulated to strengthen our aversion to: Remember the Past - Accept Responsibility…]
[With a tall glass every day you can: Work at jobs that are destroying the planet - ignore barbaric behavior carried out in your name - ]
[ - fear people who don't look or talk like you - accept that war is peace]
[Cultural Amnesia: Notes in Margin of My Time]
Every human being suffers from deep spiritual amnesia, lasting millions of lifetimes.
[I Have Amnesia: The Surveillance Camera Players present Amnesia]
[Mankind in Amnesia: An Inquiry into the Future of the Human Race]
The Baker was humorous, kind and boosted the spirits of others.
The Baker was stupid with small intellect (innocent), courageous and stout.
The Baker was the hero unnamed, erect and sublime, and he found a Snark that was a Boojum.
When the Baker met with the Boojum, the Baker got the cosmic joke and laughed in ecstasy.
Their meeting was the end of the agony in eight fits, so-called life, on the wheel of reincarnation.
The cosmic joke is that everyone is spiritually enlightened, just they do not remember it.
[Everything You Know Is Wrong: The Disinformation Guide to Secrets and Lies]
Truth seekers must have courage. In their search, they meet some false, illusory gods.
A Boojum is a boogeyman, an evil, terrifying hobgoblin of supernatural powers that abducts people.
Meeting with a Boojum is harmful to the ego, which then softly and suddenly vanishes away forever.
Finding and facing a Boojum leads to the disappearance of the ego, mind, self.
Surrendering the ego brings truth, reality, the beyond, the ultimate, the total, the supreme.
In a single moment, one merges into positive nothingness, aloneness, nondual oneness, the whole.
[Ah! You April Fool!]
[Kick Me Hard - April Fool]
These two poems are Western koans in the spirit of Zeno, paradoxes that boggle the mind.
[Zeno's Paradox: Unraveling the Ancient Mystery Behind the Science of Space and Time]
Blaise Pascal, mathematician and mystic, wrote: "The heart has its reasons which reason knows not of."
[Blaise Pascal: Reasons of the Heart]
These two poems invoke wonder, awe, innocence, purity, agnosia and courage to face the unknown.
The first phase of inner, spiritual work is dropping the ego (Jabberwocky is beheaded).
The second phase is going into the beyond, the ultimate, the whole (Boojum Snark is faced).
The ego is represented by a mask, a persona - anything other than the original face.
Masks are diverse - scary, humorous, tragic, comedic. Some masks hide other masks.
The gods are ego projections that keep each individual distracted from his own godliness.
Removing all masks is like a death and rebirth for one who becomes master of his ego.
Decapitation (loss of head, mind or ego) is the essential element in these quest myths.
Decapitation is a metaphor for mastering the mind and ego and going beyond them.
[Behead Every One]
You cannot force enlightenment to happen. It is not a cause and effect thing.
But you do something; you prepare the way for it. You can do something to hinder the way.
It happens when it happens, but if you are not ready, you may bypass it, and you may not even recognize it.
If you don't meditate regularly your readiness will diminish. Daily meditation makes you ready and prepared.
So when it passes by your side you are open to receive it.
To experience the nameless, unknowable mystery, go within, beyond the mind, to the center of being.