New Year's Resolution: Fail with Joy

Illustration from Uncle Lubin, by W. H. Robinson

For other over-stressed Western achievers, allow me to recommend a new way of being successful: don't seek success. Seek adventure.

There are people who talk about narrative psychology and how people choose to reflect on universal life experiences, such as failure. One such person is Carol Dweck, who made an appearance on To the Best of Our Knowledge. In her book, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, Dweck argues that it's our response to failure that makes a difference. Children who see their failure as an opportunity for growth are more successful and take more risks than those who see their failure as a measure of their innate abilities.

So, friends, let's seek adventure. Perhaps it will lead to failure, but won't that be better than staying home?

The Burning of Old Man Gloom

Old Zozobra circa 1938
via Zozobra 

Each year at the Santa Fe Festival, an Zozobra, or Old Man Gloom is burned, and today is the day of this year's celebration.

The Santa Fe Festival began in 1712, but it wasn't until 1924 that artist Will Shuster created the Zozobra effigy. Shuster drew from a variety sources for inspiration, including the Mummers parade in Philadelphia (in which participants would whip a scapegoat-type figure) and  the Holy Week celebrations of Yaqui Indians (they would lead a fire-cracker filled effigy of Judas around on a donkey before burning it).

"Zozobra is a hideous but harmless fifty-foot bogeyman marionette. He is a toothless, empty-headed facade. He has no guts and doesn’t have a leg to stand on. He is full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. He never wins. He moans and groans, rolls his eyes and twists his head. His mouth gapes and chomps. His arms flail about in frustration. Every year we do him in. We string him up and burn him down in ablaze of fireworks. At last, he is gone, taking with him all our troubles for another whole year. Santa Fe celebrates another victory. Viva la Fiesta!"
    —A.W. Denninger

The burning of the effigy at first glance seems rather violent and opposed to my general disposition to rehabilitate and recycle. But, I think there is a place for the symbolic destruction of burdens—the process of calicination in alchemical works is an important first step towards the goal of finding the Sorcerer's Stone. It's from the ashes of these burdens that the recycling can begin.

Destino

A collaboration between Dali and Disney, which I find incredibly beautiful.

The original collaboration was completed in 2003, after Disney's nephew found the storyboards and 17-second clip and saw the project through to completion. It received an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Short Film.

Our Friend, Death

Madonna of the Sacred Bones, by Laurie Lipton
via Phantasmaphile

"My parents were atheists. We had no ceremony, no goodbyes, no "closure". My father instructed the hospital to cremate my mother and dispose of her ashes. She was gone, disappeared, zapped out of existence. I was left with Nothing... literally and metaphysically. Friends & family treated my mother's death like an embarrassment. They awkwardly murmured Hallmark platitudes before slinking uneasily away. Death is as forbidden a topic in modern society as sex was in Victorian England. 

When I visited Mexico in order to see The Day Of The Dead festival some years later, I couldn't help feeling envious of their approach to mortality. Families gathered on graves and picnicked, whole villages turned up with food for households in mourning. Death was treated as normal, even silly. Candied skulls grinned in their hundreds and skeletons danced in a fair-ground atmosphere. I decided to rebel against my heritage and create drawings inspired by the mood and atmosphere of the Mexicans. I decided to get in-touch with my bare bones. My culture runs from death, screaming. We worship youth, beauty and the illusion that we have all the time in the world. We frantically face-lift and botox, and throw pills, creams and money at death. We fool ourselves into thinking that death only happens to other people & only losers die. Skulls always look like they're laughing. Maybe the joke is on us?"

    —Laurie Lipton

Amen. Let's take the opportunity today to see death in a new way.

Happy Halloween!

How to Wander

Creating a life can be hard. Especially when there's no set vocational path. It can feel like you're wandering out in the wilderness.

by Alyssa Nassner

(The personal element: I'm trying to grow in the beautiful world of language preservation. It's rewarding and challenging work, but sometimes I see all the monsters out there in the wilderness--all the problems and politics--and think that I should have chosen another path. Something that makes more money. Something that doesn't leave me feeling quite so exhausted.)

I used to think that being wise meant seeing everything clearly. But lately I've been thinking that wisdom sometimes means exchanging clear sight for stubborn tunnel vision. If there's scary monsters out there, don't see the monsters. Just diligently pursue the path.

Rainbow Circle by Animalsleep

"Climb Ev'ry Mountain"

When in the mountains (or in any challenging situation), I find the experience becomes more rewarding and significant when I ask myself:

How can I can make this moment into a living prayer?

Suddenly, the fear of falling/failing diminishes. Just concentrating on each step I take, each breath I breathe, I find myself participating more in the beauty of the world. These actions won't solve the evils of the world, but they make me more aware of how I can make a difference.

Photo: my own, taken near Fletcher Mountain, Colorado