Myths & Themes

The schism between what we perceive as our Wounds and their hidden benefits, blessings, lessons,Gifts and Service is aptly summarized in the animal (lower) half of the symbol of the centaur. Thecentaur was half horse (animal, lower nature) and half man (human, higher nature). The wounded legof the centaur, Chiron, symbolizes the Woundedness of our lower nature—a nature that sees one sideof the world while repressing, ignoring, denying, disowning, condemning and/or failing toacknowledge the other balancing sides. Such is the origin of blame.
However, as we shine a light upon our Darkness, seeking out the balancing sides, so our lowernature is Healed, transformed, unified, wholed, rejoining with our higher human nature.Chiron’s message is only understood when we understand and appreciate that the world we seearound us is a world of perceived duality. Everything in existence has an equal and oppositecompanion, albeit often hidden from us in the beginning. Modern quantum physics concurs with thisview in its conception of matter and anti-matter. Such is the eastern view, too—yin and yang, for example. However, to put it more poetically, we quote from Emerson:
“Every excess causes a defect; every defect an excess. Every sweet hath its sour; every evil its good.Every faculty which is a receiver of pleasure has an equal penalty put on its abuse. It is to answer forits moderation with its life. For every grain of wit there is a grain of folly. For everything you havemissed, you have gained something else; and for everything you gain, you lose something. If richesincrease, they're increased that use them. If the gatherer gathers too much, nature takes out of theman what she puts into his chest; swells the estate, but kills the owner. Nature hates monopolies andexceptions.”

Why the world presents a dualistic face is, in the final analysis, all a matter of perception. It is allabout consciousness. The astrology chart is, in the final analysis, a Mandala of consciousness. Again,quantum physics can teach us much concerning this topic. However, we have gotten ahead ofourselves . . .
Many other mythic, archetypal and symbolic examples are available. Each reveals its secrets in thewake of the Chiron paradigm. More than this, each mirrors and supports the Chiron paradigm. Whyand how this is so will only become apparent as we draw increasingly wide circles around our topic ofstudy.