This Sunday in SpiritPlay we told the story of the Good Samaritan. (It comes in a cool gold box because a parable is more valuable than gold, and sometimes can be hard to open). At the end of each story we ask questions to wonder about. (The idea is that with religious questions we all wonder together- we all have something to learn). One of the questions is "Where are you in this story today?"
I thought of the Priest who walks away from the traveler who has been hurt and left by the side of the road. I thought of how sometimes so many people need us in our official roles, that we have to walk by some of them. I always hated that priest when we heard this story in Sunday school growing up, but today he opened to me in a new way. What if the priest was on his way to conduct a memorial service? What if he had an appointment with a parishioner in crisis? What if he had helped so many people who had been set upon by robbers, that he felt like he couldn't make a difference?
We all want to be the Good Samaritan- the hero of the story. And sometimes we are. Sometimes when we are traveling in a strange land, like the Good Samaritan, we have fresh eyes for the brutality of the world, we have reserves of energy and compassion, our path seems simple and clear and we know that right in this moment we are called to help.
They say in some schools of dream interpretation the dreamer can understand him/herself to be everyone in the dream. I think with such archetypal stories as parables, the same principles apply. We have the opportunity to own in our selves the Samaritan, the man who is set upon by robbers, the Levite, the priest and the robbers themselves. I wonder, where are you in this story today?
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3 comments:
i like this one alot. i always try to be the samaritan and eventually get taken down by expending myself too much (ill health as a result). i am told over and over again, that it is my responsibility to not let this happen. to sometimes say no. i find this really difficult.
how does one allow oneself to be the robber? i'm having a hard time understanding this one...but i'd like to.
Yes, what about the robbers? As far as I can tell Reichian theory does not imply that the robber part of oneself should be nurtured, but I think it does imply that one's shadow can be acknowledged and owned. Otherwise we get all "Forces of Good versus the Forces of Evil" and we end up involved in a protracted conflict in the Middle East. That's my take anyway.
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