Highly recommended: Donny’s latest post. One of the things I appreciate about him is, because he has talked to actual people in the actual world, he has little patience for online bluster.
He’s giving voice to some frustrations that have been simmering for me for a while. So many times over the past few years I’ve read some online commentator and thought, “Friend, you and I live in very different worlds.”
Scott posted a text excerpt to which I replied in part:
I think you both need the inward turn in which you learn about yourself and the outward turn toward the world in which you fulfill your purpose. The first must come before the second. If the second happens before the first, your “fight” in the external world may just be a fight against your unconscious projections.
And now, a few minutes later, my response strikes me as too navel-gazey. Did my ancestors make an inward turn? Yes, but not in the same way as I have in this therapeutic age.
Maybe this is one function of the archetypes: shortcuts to the inward turn for folks with shit to do. My grandpa worked and provided for his very large family. In that work, he was embodying the provider. To speak about in terms of the Hillman book I’m reading, his daimon was responding to an image that corresponded to his calling. He felt satisfaction and fulfillment in all of his hard work because he was fulfilling his purpose, despite being too busy to think much about his “purpose.”
So it’s not wrong to say “make the inward turn in order to rightly turn outward”; it’s just fussy. The same thing can be done through honest aspiration to ideals, archetypes, and images.
Another thing about The Testament of Ann Lee: it reminded me visually (and to some degree thematically) of Robert Eggers' The Witch, which is my favorite supernatural(?) horror(?) film. I know basically nothing about the technicalities of film but some internet searching tells me other people noticed it as well and it has to do with lighting and period authenticity. Couldn’t prove it by me. I just know both films drew me in visually in similar ways–and something about it deeply appeals to me.
This movie is inspiring a lot of additional thoughts. I have another one brewing but I really ought to do some work today.
I watched The Testament of Ann Lee this morning—thanks to @canneddragons for reminding me of it. Could not have loved it more.
I’ve been reading James Hillman’s Soul Code, published in 1996. He’s mentioned “family values” several times and it’s taken me back to when that phrase was a battleground. It’s inspired a little fantasy.
It’s 1996. Jeremy is driving his Ford Bronco up the big hill on the highway near his house. It struggles, slowing down to 45mph by the time he reaches the top. James Dobson is on the radio and Jeremy is worried about what will happen to the traditional family if Bill Clinton is re-elected.
Poof. A man his dad’s age appears in the passenger seat.
1996 Jeremy: “Ah! Who are you?”
2026 Jeremy: “I’m you, from the future!”
1996: “How did you get here?”
2026: “My desire to make a point transcended time and space.”
1996: “What’s up with the long beard?”
2026: “Beards come back in a major way. Also, look at your chin. It needs some help.”
1996: “And…is that a tattoo???”
2026: “You’re not ready for that story. I’m here to tell a different one.”
1996: “Go on.”
2026: “By my time, evangelicals have abandoned preaching about family values.”
1996: “Because the secular humanists won and put the Christians in prison?”
2026: “No, because they started supporting Donald Trump for president.”
1996: “Donald Trump? You mean that real estate guy from New York who builds casinos and dates models?”
2026: “Yup.”
1996: “Well, then, Trump must have gotten saved.”
2026: “Nope. Well, James Dobson did try to say in 2016 that Trump was a ‘baby Christian’ but literally no one believed that after a while. Right before the election an audio recording was leaked of Trump saying disgusting things about forcing himself onto women because he was famous.”
1996: “Wow! Evangelicals would never have voted for him after that!”
2026: “81% of evangelicals voted for him that year. I’ll never forget that number. Oh and, by the way, it was later revealed that just before the election in 2016, he paid a porn star to keep quiet about their affair, which happened just after his third wife gave birth to their son.”
1996: “Well he certainly lost evangelicals after that.”
2026: “Not even a little bit. James Dobson, in fact, became one of his biggest supporters, even if he tut-tutted now and then about Trump’s swear words.”
1996: “There’s no way. James Dobson has built his entire radio ministry around family values and the central importance of character.”
2026: “Both he and every evangelical you personally know will have abandoned all of that in support of Trump, even after he was connected to one of the most notorious pedophiles of the day.”
1996: “WHAT?”
2026: “It’ll be the result of a million little justifications along the way—all in the pursuit of power.”
1996: “But I take it we don’t end up supporting him?”
2026: “Oh hell no. Oops, sorry about the language.”
1996: “At least we stayed true to Judeo-Christian values!”
2026: “Well, let’s talk about that some other time. One last thing.”
1996: “What’s that?”
2026: “That girl you’re dating? That’s going to go really well.”
I hadn’t listened to bluegrass in years until last weekend when I was frying green tomatoes. (You gotta have music to match the cooking.) I got the itch again today. Now playing: Ralph Stanley, “Clinch Mountain Gospel” 🎵 It’s so good.
I’ve been enjoying tereré in place of coffee for the last few days. Very nice summer drink. This is essentially how I make it, except that I’m using a coffee mug instead of a proper gourd.
My greatest professional achievement is never having created a LinkedIn account.
After a month of brutal heat, we’re getting a beautiful couple of days.
Pull the water hose.
It stirs through the lavender:
I, too, am wakened.