Honesty

It startled me to read, in Northrop Frye's The Secular Scripture,

"The improbable, desiring, erotic, and violent world of romance reminds us that we are not awake when we have abolished the dream world: we are awake only when we have absorbed it again" (61)

When I first read this - this provocative statement Frye uses to close chapter 2 of his book - I was pulled straight from the humdrum of reading to reread it multiple times. We are awake only when we have absorbed [the dream world] again.  This echos a thought I have had many times before: that our mind, when in a dream state, it at its freest and therefore most raw and honest state. This is what it boils down to: honesty.

The worst thing a human can feel is helplessness. Whether it be physically (being held at gun point), mentally (suffering from anxiety, depression, etc), or abstract (not knowing what to do with one's life or the like), helplessness is debilitating and strips a person of their confidence, dependence, and pride. However, it is only by being honest with ourselves about our limitations and abilities that we can make realistic goals and thereby take realistic steps towards achieving them which keeps us from feeling helpless.

It is also honesty which brings us to have a truthful perception of ourselves. Today in class Jonah said he wondered what it would be like if we introduced ourselves to others by saying things like, "Hello my name is Jonah and I need constant words of affirmation from girls I like to boost my ego." The response from Dr. Sexson was, "And do you all remember how we introduced ourselves at the beginning of this class?" Of course we did; we introduced ourselves by saying our name and a dream we had experienced. And because our dream state is so raw and unfettered, the two methods of introduction (Jonah's and Dr. Sexson's) really are one and the same.

George Santayana states, "Sanity is madness put to good uses; waking life is a dream controlled." I felt a smile on my face the instant I heard this quote in class today. Not because of any prior connection to it, but because I agree with it so completely. To be sane we must accept that we are all a little mad; we must be honest with ourselves about our true thoughts, desires, and inclinations. We must accept that what keeps us writing the same stories about romance is that we crave the improbable and erotic and violent. And until we allow ourselves to be honest and raw, we will not wake.