I love this article. Thank you, Frederick! I love the symbolism of walls as the lack of conscience.
However, we don’t all have a conflict inside. Our culture is not threatened by our primal intincts, in the least. Quite on the contrary, the two enhance each other. Just think of adventure, sex, food, work meetings, even sleep - everything is better when primal desires work in hand with creative thinking. We have no Minotaur inside. Our Minotaurs are outside.
The only thing that threatens our culture is other culture: one no greater in instinct but lesser in taste, thought and effort. We all get infected with violence and stereotype, not born with it.
The Minotaur symbolizes punishment for exercising freedom, so as to instill the fear of rule and authority. At the storyline level, it’s our culture that broke him.
Interesting and it's fun to see you interpret the metaphor in a different way.
I agree that harmony and integration of the two natures are the goal. Perhaps I should have been clearer on that. The goal is not to 'kill' or sever one's connection to the primal.
I don't know if we all have a conflict inside but I think we all have further layers to uncover, further depths to explore, and potential for growth. There is an inner hero's journey until the end in which the Minotaur is the fear, avoidance, and monster to be faced.
"We all get infected with violence and stereotype, not born with it." - I agree. One could argue that the internalized negative belief systems/behaviors become a minotaur, an obstacle and uncomfortable truth on our path to liberation.
The minotaur does become an authority and source of fear, born out of divine punishment. It's our culture that created the conditions for him, by first creating the rules that were broken and the deity that was offended. You could say the minotaur was the unwanted and embarrassing offspring and therefore banished. Then again, it was a monster that would have literally snacked on the king's dinner guests and led to much suffering either way..
This is quite an interesting take. What I see here is the movement of the "goal posts" that provides different outlooks from the same story.
The Minotaur coming into being and among our culture and how we react to it's presence, and banish it for being different makes me think about how we supress our true selves, a symbiosis of the conscious and subconscious.
Our journey inwards (the maze) or in life ,as Frederick has enlightened us, presents us with opportunities to attain what we seek and also confront what we fear.
The framing (with respect to time and space) of a story can give us it's own number of unique insights.
It seems these questions come only after basic survival needs are met. For the last 17 years of working, my sole focus was to save and pay off mortgage debt (and to go out, have fun, exercise, etc). I had no worries or anxieties, no spare time for silence and to reflect. The path was fairly clear.
Now, with finances in much better shape, all these hard existential questions are popping up for me. And I have few to no good answers. And the answer keeps changing too.
Yes, it's a bit of Maslow's pyramid and the midlife crisis trope. First things first. For some time it may be just work and refilling your battery, spending time with your loved ones, and enjoying life. You might enjoy Tom Morgan's work and perhaps also this piece: https://brenebrown.com/articles/2018/05/24/the-midlife-unraveling/
Great post. Do you have any posts detailing the practicalities of this? I know here you list some questions to ask yourself, but are there any exercises you would recommend to gain more clarity around this? Thank you
To gain more clarity about what your maze is or what to do about it? It's an ongoing journey for me and aside from writing, I would recommend exploring practices that get you out of your head and into your body (to embodied wisdom). I've touched on the topic in posts about focus, growth, falling out of life, and the search for purpose. I'll be writing about it again. Check out Tom Morgan's writings as well.
I really enjoyed this post Frederick. It is the first I've read, but I am now a subscriber and am recommending to the readers of my substack, Think. Read. Write. Repeat. tomorrow. Keep doing what you're doing!
Thank you Frederik. I stumbled upon a screenshot from this post on X (twitter), it resonated, and I subscribed. It is worth every penny. I will enter the maze.
A post of very high quality, thanks Frederik.
Thank you🙏
I love this article. Thank you, Frederick! I love the symbolism of walls as the lack of conscience.
However, we don’t all have a conflict inside. Our culture is not threatened by our primal intincts, in the least. Quite on the contrary, the two enhance each other. Just think of adventure, sex, food, work meetings, even sleep - everything is better when primal desires work in hand with creative thinking. We have no Minotaur inside. Our Minotaurs are outside.
The only thing that threatens our culture is other culture: one no greater in instinct but lesser in taste, thought and effort. We all get infected with violence and stereotype, not born with it.
The Minotaur symbolizes punishment for exercising freedom, so as to instill the fear of rule and authority. At the storyline level, it’s our culture that broke him.
Interesting and it's fun to see you interpret the metaphor in a different way.
I agree that harmony and integration of the two natures are the goal. Perhaps I should have been clearer on that. The goal is not to 'kill' or sever one's connection to the primal.
I don't know if we all have a conflict inside but I think we all have further layers to uncover, further depths to explore, and potential for growth. There is an inner hero's journey until the end in which the Minotaur is the fear, avoidance, and monster to be faced.
"We all get infected with violence and stereotype, not born with it." - I agree. One could argue that the internalized negative belief systems/behaviors become a minotaur, an obstacle and uncomfortable truth on our path to liberation.
The minotaur does become an authority and source of fear, born out of divine punishment. It's our culture that created the conditions for him, by first creating the rules that were broken and the deity that was offended. You could say the minotaur was the unwanted and embarrassing offspring and therefore banished. Then again, it was a monster that would have literally snacked on the king's dinner guests and led to much suffering either way..
This is quite an interesting take. What I see here is the movement of the "goal posts" that provides different outlooks from the same story.
The Minotaur coming into being and among our culture and how we react to it's presence, and banish it for being different makes me think about how we supress our true selves, a symbiosis of the conscious and subconscious.
Our journey inwards (the maze) or in life ,as Frederick has enlightened us, presents us with opportunities to attain what we seek and also confront what we fear.
The framing (with respect to time and space) of a story can give us it's own number of unique insights.
Great read
It seems these questions come only after basic survival needs are met. For the last 17 years of working, my sole focus was to save and pay off mortgage debt (and to go out, have fun, exercise, etc). I had no worries or anxieties, no spare time for silence and to reflect. The path was fairly clear.
Now, with finances in much better shape, all these hard existential questions are popping up for me. And I have few to no good answers. And the answer keeps changing too.
Well, thanks for the great post!
Yes, it's a bit of Maslow's pyramid and the midlife crisis trope. First things first. For some time it may be just work and refilling your battery, spending time with your loved ones, and enjoying life. You might enjoy Tom Morgan's work and perhaps also this piece: https://brenebrown.com/articles/2018/05/24/the-midlife-unraveling/
Thanks. Will follow Tom's work. Brene's article is great too! I guess most of us really do share something deeper...
Great post. Do you have any posts detailing the practicalities of this? I know here you list some questions to ask yourself, but are there any exercises you would recommend to gain more clarity around this? Thank you
To gain more clarity about what your maze is or what to do about it? It's an ongoing journey for me and aside from writing, I would recommend exploring practices that get you out of your head and into your body (to embodied wisdom). I've touched on the topic in posts about focus, growth, falling out of life, and the search for purpose. I'll be writing about it again. Check out Tom Morgan's writings as well.
I would say what your maze is. And thank you, I will look into this and check out these writings
I really enjoyed this post Frederick. It is the first I've read, but I am now a subscriber and am recommending to the readers of my substack, Think. Read. Write. Repeat. tomorrow. Keep doing what you're doing!
Thank you, John. Much appreciate the kind words and the recommendation!
you're the GOAT!
Thanks, NK
Thank you Frederik. I stumbled upon a screenshot from this post on X (twitter), it resonated, and I subscribed. It is worth every penny. I will enter the maze.
Thank you, Obinna!
Thanks for the great content!
Thanks, Jeremy!
Beautiful piece of work
Thank you, Mark!
Boring.