Legion, I hope you all had a wickedly fun Halloween this year. Out and about or you were like me and stayed home and enjoyed Nightmare Before Christmas after some training and a huge dinner. ![]() In the beginning of the film we see Jack, the Pumpkin King, lamenting his crown as the master of fright claiming a longing and an emptiness that echoed in his bones. " Nice work; Bone Daddy...." says one of the undead Jazzists " Yeah I guess...just like last year...and the year before that..." Jack sighs in return. Jack then sings of his prowess of terror above all, but it isn't enough. Citing something unknown numbs his praises and lauding of his ghoulish commands. No matter how amazing he is...no one understands his longing. "Somethings up with Jack!" His friends worry to each other. Jack's world has become so dull. As he strolls though the woods he falls into the world of Christmas town and taken by all it's glories, lights, pies, and spirit. He yearns to become apart of the Christmas world. Many of us, I feel, are like Jack too. We feel unsatisfied by what we are and what we have. We are convinced we are not enough. So though we may be masters of fright like Jack we go searching relentlessly to find the answer outside ourselves. Sometimes we become consumed by something so different from us that seemingly has "the answer to our longing." ![]() We become blinded by the idea of changing ourselves. Not changing to evolve who we are but changing who we are completely. We cannot see ourselves with the eyes of the potential of the best versions of ourselves of who we are already. We see this as Jack feels Christmas has the answer he seeks and decides to have Christmas for himself! He sets upon having Halloweentown try to make their own Christmas. Projecting that they should be jolly NOT horrifying and it will be great! But alas...though Jack's friends try to oblige their beloved leader they cannot ignore their natural inclinations coming through. The toys become killer, the candy is poison, and the decorations instill fear instead of cheer. Many times this is how we are. We cannot ignore our true nature. It is apart of us. We can upgrade, learn, try, experiment, evolve, regress then progress, but it must all be in the service of forging our innate gifts. The innate greatness we have been born with whatever that may be. Some of us (for this past holiday's sake) our monsters while others are elves and such.![]() This experience is even apart of the Hero's Journey I often talk about. Ignoring our own unique call to action! We become frustrated and like Jack no matter what we do we cannot make sense of anything and it just becomes worse and worse; but we are hypnotized by the surface of something exotic, like a snowflake to a scarecrow. It steals us and steals our focus and nabs our self belief; because we will not be enough until we can mimic the greatness that we project on these wild and curious ideas that are so different from us and how we are made. We try and try...but our efforts run dry; we can never make things work. |
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