Spirituality in Metaphor
Listening to the audiobook for Sand Talk, How Indigenous Thinking Can Save the World by Tyson Yunkaporta, I came across this passage which discusses a sort of spirituality which resonated with me:
There are at least four parts to your spirit, from an Aboriginal point of view, and this shadow is only one of them. Your highest self may be what they call the “super ego” in psychology is your big spirit, and it goes back to sky camp when you die. …
Your shadow spirit is that part of you that wants things you don’t need and makes you think you’re better than other people and above the land, and it takes all the other parts of your spirit to hold it in check. If the rest of your spirit is not clear and in balance, it gets away from you, causing conflict and destruction. You gossip behind people’s backs, spread uncertainty, deliver judgements, or upset people, take more than you need, and accumulate goods without sharing. It makes you a competitor instead of a human being. But only when it’s out of balance. If it is checked by the other parts of you, it becomes a stable ego that drives you to act upon the world in perfect ways. You don’t know what you’re going to do, but you’re going to have to do it in a way you’re You need to believe in ghosts to balance spirit and live the right way in this world. You can use any metaphor you like. For example, ego, id, superego, persona. Frontal lobe, monkey brain, neocortex, and lizard brain. Athos, Porthos, Aramis, and d’Artagnon. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Malfoy. Monkey spirit, pig spirit, fish spirit and tripataka. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Whatever stories your cultural experience offers you, you can still perceive spirit through metaphor and bring it into balance to step into your designated role as a custodian of reality.
This idea of accessing spirituality through metaphor really resonated with me.