Dancing With Our Daimon

Do you find yourself shutting out your inner voices because you have no time to  listen, much less do what they ask?

Do you see yourself so overwhelmed by ‘helpful technology,’ and the day’s requirements that neither dharma, soul purpose, or spirit can get through?

It is time to create space for our Daimon to come home. To the ancient Greek’s, Daimon meant genius, which had to do with one’s potency, not so much smarts.  Plato wrote about it in “The Republic,” calling it a guiding spirit, or a fiery spirit that was not only responsible for our destiny in this life, but carried the soul from life to life as an ‘inner deity.’  Plato’s daimon was pure energy, a beacon to pull us into life’s rich, true purpose, to learn necessary lessons.  There was no judgment about good or bad, moral or immoral.  It was about the drive to dive into the mulch and manure and simply have a living experience.

Why do we need our daimon more than ever?  We need lynch pins for our multiple selves, that army of complex voices begging for attention and care.  Multi-tasking is nothing compared to multi-being. We must embrace the paradoxical notion that every truth has a valid opposite. We need all the help we can get to see us to the other side of the many hard-choices big change demands.  We cannot give up a ‘destiny’ to merely survive as a mushroom, can we?  Embarrassed though we may be, most of us would nod ‘yes’ to being a mushroom if it keeps us safe.   It requires so much courage and energy to continually throw ourselves out there, to step up to the plate and risk in new ways…no nets, no bungee cords, only re-newed passion for each experience.

The psychologist, James Hillman, worried that trying to eradicate and smother our demonic voices, our compulsions and depression would end the daimon.  He argued that in trying to be fully sane, we would be sanitized and the mysterious, magical fires of creativity would vanish.  We cannot shut down our crazy selves, no more should we shut down our technocrat voices.  It ALL has to dance between the light and dark, a moving balance of demon and daimon.  We then have a chance to be extra-ordinary in an ordinary life.

(Thank you to the Astrologer -Kenneth Johnson for the inspiration for this article.)

Yoga Toolbox for Transformation-

Allow paradox.  Use the push and pull within the many polarities of Asana  to teach comfort in opposition.

With the Virgo/Pisces opposition, understand the forest from the trees.  Don’t let vast acres of work, or worry, or poverty over whelm you.  Take it apart tree by tree, one idea, one action, one breath at a time.

Observe your right and left brain decisions.  Who’s in charge most of the time?  All the time?  Make changes to re-balance the power.