Monday, April 6, 2015

Ace of Pentacles - I Vant To Be Alone



There is a report on a scientific study done, which was published in Science Magazine, that has found that there are people who would prefer giving themselves electrical shock over sitting alone in a room doing nothing!

Here's a quote from the article.

" In 11 studies, we found that participants typically did not enjoy spending 6 to 15 minutes in a room by themselves with nothing to do but think, that they enjoyed doing mundane external activities much more, and that many preferred to administer electric shocks to themselves instead of being left alone with their thoughts. Most people seem to prefer to be doing something rather than nothing, even if that something is negative. "

That sounds pretty crazy. But I am not really so surprised, knowing we are presently living in a busy society of human doings rather than human beings, in pursuit of stuff and things.

Many of us are not comfortable in our own skins, constantly trying to find peace, happiness, and contentment outside ourselves or on accumulating things. We don't believe that a withdrawal from the busyness, sitting quietly with our thoughts doing nothing, could ever be beneficial, especially because it feels so foreign and uncomfortable.  We often are defined by what we do, rather than by who we are as individuals

During Lent and leading up to Easter, is a time I naturally withdraw into myself in reflection, taking a kind of self-inventory. Easter seems to have gotten absorbed into more of a consumer holiday, filled with chocolate bunnies, candy, eggs, consuming copious amounts of food,  and even gift giving.

The Ace of Pentacles in the Mythic Tarot is embodied by Poseidon, who points the way. He is the father of all the waters, the god of the sea, and of the earth's surface, lord of all the universe rising out of the ocean, where we all come from, and he symbolizes the inner most representation of our creative selves. 'Husband of the earth' is the meaning of his name, the fertility god, who's creative energy is turned downward into our world.

The Ace of Pentacles is husband of the great Earth Mother, Demeter or The Empress. Pentacles, symbolic of the receptive Earth, which is the element of patience, stability, commitment, discipline, permanence and strength. These are all qualities needed that enable us to find our meaning, purpose and happiness, and we can find them, when we take time to be alone with our thoughts, with the right energy we can create the fertile ground, for the promise of good things to come.

2 comments:

Ellen said...

Obviously a post after my own heart. Beautifully written!
It is astonishing to what length people are willing to go to avoid doing nothing. How sad some of those people have to out miss on the wonders of their imagination

Unknown said...

Thank you Ellen <3
Hard to imagine that folks would be willing to electrocute themselves over being alone doing nothing!
Honestly.

I don't know what kind of person I'd be without my solitude and imagination. A vacuous non-entity perhaps! Lol.;)