An introduction to commentaries on the Iron John story.
Introduction:
The Iron John story is a roadmap in metaphor of our Soul’s journey from birth to death in metaphor throug the world of Ego. These commentaries are a metaphorical way to understand the road map of Soul’s return to Ego as described in the Iron John narrative.
The stories on this website are a collection of road maps left to us from antiquity to navigate the human condition across Time and Geography.
Many similar stories travel the same road with different points of view and other points of departure. They speak directly to Soul in the telling, and stir soul memories in our daily lives.
So in our case, we have to begin with the incarnating process. We have all arrived here through the womb of a woman. There is a trick relationship here between Soul and matter, Soul is the enlivening force of physical matter, if the Soul forces are lost medical science is unable to bring the physical back to life, which we call death.
Our first chapter in understanding this is here: Towards an Understanding of Soul and Time
Now for the tricky part.
Soul breaks Eternity into Time, the manifest universe and creates Ego in that process. Ego then holds our identity so the Ego (Who I am)can experience life. Like a daisy chain, these forces all hang together, Soul, Time, Death, physical matter(Ego), and the Status-quo.
Our second chapter in this journey of understanding is to hang all the parts of the daisy change together and understand their relationship.
Towards an understanding of the daisy chain of Soul, Time, Death, Ego, and the Status-quo(the establishment).
These initial Chapters are for a background understanding of the matrix the story rests in. They are not necessary to enjoy the story rather they offer an in-depth understanding of what the story rests on.
These initial chapters are for background and the context I have chosen to interpret the story. You could also skip them and go straight to the story.
Chapter 002. The Iron John story. The journey viewed as a whole.
Chapter 00. SJS The first line. ”Once upon a Time there was a King who lived in a Castle next to an enormous forest. Before we begin the story, and a bit about stories in general.
Chapter 003. What is Ego? Towards an understanding of Ego. How Ego is formed and its job description? How Shadow is formed as a by-product of the creation of Ego at the expense of Soul. OR “Down the rabbit hole with Alice”
Chapter 006 Shadow. Towards an understanding of Shadow. How and why is it formed?
Chapter 009 A bit about initiation, rites of passage vs rights of passage. Why this is important for us anyway.
Chapter 010 Kings and Kinship.
Chapter 011 As the Axis Mundi collapses, when the vertical axis of above and below the divine energies meet in the middle the energies of mediocracy and the suffocating sameness of domesticating conformity create the all-encompassing energies of the Status-quo.
Chapter 012 The Status-quo. What is the Status-Quo. It is the force by which the wildness of our Soul is domesticated into obedient responsible members of society by the Status-Quo. These domesticating voices of Aunts and Uncles , Parents, teachers, and Professors who always know what’s best (which they always insist on telling us repeatedly).
How the Status-quo controls our beliefs and therefore behaviour. The Status-Quo is the architect of Ego and the creator of Shadow how the intimidation of the Status-quo through our human need for love and acceptance drives our behaviour.
Acceptance is such a powerful need that we are willing to amputate parts of ourselves to fit in, sometimes, the best part of ourselves.