dustyskipper3
Active Member
192 messages
joined Dec 2009
It’s tied back to those old myths about descending into the underworld and the later Orphic legends—ideas involving the reincarnation of souls and the whole concept of metempsychosis.
I suppose that "turning back" might symbolize a psychological process of detachment, or what we call splitting (Spaltung). It's that move toward abstract thought where the subject separates itself from the object—from reality itself—which ends up being a sort of punishment, an isolation from that very reality (the object of desire). In a way, it feels like a condemnation of pure reason, whereas the Orpheus myth serves as a tribute to mystical trust. His lyre represents this ability to master the world through something beyond mere intellect, maintaining unity with everything around him and even overcoming death itself.
In patients dealing with schizophrenia, this "splitting" eventually manifests as a "bronze wall" or an "icy wall" standing between them and everyone else. Faces start looking like they were "cut out of cardboard," people look like puppets, and trees or bushes seem just like flat cardboard cutouts. Objects, sounds, and living beings all feel "sliced apart." It makes me think of Lot's wife turning into a pillar of salt, I guess. It's as if people whose illness is rooted in this analytical separation of self from others eventually end up seeing everyone else as inanimate objects—just pillars of salt. You see this kind of splitting in the Rorschach test too, specifically in Card III, where one should see waiters or similar figures, but instead, the subject sees things in a fractured way—just a head, a neck, some hands—which eventually leads into what is called the "sword complex."
On the other hand, the descent—like when Orpheus goes down into Hades—belongs to a different set of symbols, more feminine ones. This stands in contrast to the schizomorphic types, who are associated with "symbols of ascent" and heroic themes. That’s why Plato accuses Orpheus of having "insufficient masculinity"; he didn't simply agree to die to be reunited with his beloved, but instead descends, "like a woman," trying to "trick the gods" to pull her back into the light. So, his loss of his beloved Eurydice is essentially the gods' revenge. It fits perfectly into the symbolism of the "cheated trickster," or the "bound binder," the "robbed thief," and so on. We see similar logic in American proverbs like "what goes around comes around" or "he who digs a pit for others falls into it himself." It really deals with the symbolism of the womb, libido, and a sort of double negation—a euphemism where the negative becomes positive. The descent becomes a path toward the Absolute, while the ascent actually destroys the Absolute. For instance, you could say Jesus' death on the cross becomes the very means to triumph over death itself and the evil that death brings.
Turning back would signify a lack of faith. It would be like someone being crucified and suddenly deciding the whole mission is pointless, choosing to save their own life instead of saving the world.
