The Dark Knight of the Ego

What struck me about the Dark Knight was its psychological bravery. Mainstream entertainment meets CG Jung’s ‘Tension of the opposites’.

Whether it was conceived or understood that way by the creators is not my angle here. My angle is how well the story managed to get close to a viewer and drag their perspective into this new territory. The territory of transcending the Ego, the individuation process to becoming Self oriented.

I believe The Matrix, did a great job at pointing thematically to ‘awakening’. The ‘dark knight’ did a profound job at pointing at ‘meaning’.

Batman sees The Joker as chaos, and that by seeing chaos as the enemy he attempts to control it. Chaos is nature, our purpose is to live with it – it ain’t going anywhere. Batman sees this eventually, and sees that the final cost is being true to reality. He must go beyond his egoic needs for control and societies understanding, and follow the only path that has energy, the only path that gives him his real strength and meaning. His own purpose. This is to follow your bliss, as Joseph Campbell would say. Though it is not the Ego’s idea of bliss. There’s the rub.

This film really made me think; how do I become that brave? That responsible? It was marvelous, and easy to become enamoured with the righteousness of such a good cause as ‘saving a city’. How do I follow my bliss, how do I bypass the deception of my own mind, and walk my path?

I spoke with a young woman administrator at my local Yoga studio last week; she intends to go to an ashram in India for six months. I joked with her that I hoped she didn’t come back as a Yoga Hippy. She laughed and said ‘I think I might be one already’. My comment struck a chord with her though, and she spilled her story and desires about her journey. We had a lot in common. That same issue of ‘killing the ego’ came up. She thought she had to do that.

Obviously when I was her age I thought the same. It seems to take a long time to develop a different understanding, but following a false lead seems such a shame, albeit all roads may lead to the same place.

I pointed her in the direction of ego health and some books, she read a book a day she said, and she felt very happy to have bumped in to me. I remembered thinking at the time, why on earth do I feel I have had my sense of meaning topped up like a full tank from that exchange? What is it about helping others that feels so good, and so dangerous too!

And that’s the interesting shadow dilemma that came into my mind. Wow, she is young, beautiful and interested in your ideas, what more do you want, an invitation? Years ago I would have been very self-reproachful about thinking that – ‘what a thing to think, why does sex and power drive everything!’. But the drive for a woman is very strong when I do not have one! I would have been tempted enough and rationalised it enough to act on it. Now I feel a much more interesting blend of connection. I think I might call it integrating the shadow face of responsibility. Nothing is dismissed, it is all there, only this time I see cause and effect. At the same time I see her struggle as keenly as it were my closest friend, I admire her beauty and the azure of her eyes, and feel I can help point the way a little for her. But all within a sense of flow and containment.

Finding responsibility is the whole task. The whole goal of our life I think. We are driven by passions, but can we let them guide us to our destiny without crashing into the barriers?

I often have trouble with that. But passions are where there is infinite energy, the energy to create anew, to bring new life and ideas. To live a new life, our very own unique and unjudged capacity to become responsible for what and who we are.

Genpo Roshi, whom I admire so very much, put it this way ‘The servant of the house has come to think he is the master.’

Is the master in the house?

Can we be Dark Knights?