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Open letter to god Janus...

Dear god Janus,
It is comforting to know that the feeling symbolized in the god Janus is not new to humanity.
Facing in different directions at the same time.
past / future, young / old, winter / spring, transition...

I am feeling like you lately, facing where I have been while looking to the future.



The question I would like to ask is...
Are you always like that, constantly split, or do you ever get to look in one direction and devote yourself to it?

It seems to me that you cannot devote yourself to one direction, unless you were to cut off one of your faces. This would of course change who you are, and leave you disfigured and unrecognizable as your former self. But is that a bad thing? Would the disfigurement make you more beautiful in other ways?

Hey Janus, if you are out there, any advice would be welcome.

-Ziv

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janus_%28mythology%29
http://www.livius.org/ja-jn/janus/janus.html
http://encyclopedia.laborlawtalk.com/Janus_(mythology)

Comments

  1. Talya4/15/2005 10:56 PM

    Dear Ziv,

    I searched all over the net looking for insights on the god of Doors, and couldnt find nothing more than what your links provide, therefore you already know, so now I´ll have to go only with my own ideas.
    I´ll start by considering transitions.
    Winter to spring, summer to autumn, winter again. Does the beautiful flower that blossoms in the gardens of april worries about the seed? No. Does the gorgeous fruit in the trees of summer worries about the flower? No.
    Yet, the fruit would not exist without the seed, without the flower.
    It was beautiful to be a seed, and it was beautiful to be a flower, but now you´re a fruit. And tomorrow you´ll be another thing.
    Looking behind should be only the awareness of what we have been, what we have seen and feel and loved. What we were, but we are not anymore, in our constant process of change and growth. What makes us be what we are now.
    No, there is no need to cut off one of the faces. It is part of you. It is you. It should be, at the same time, graciously embraced and leaved behind, the same way the butterfly leaves the cocoon, or the little drop of dew on a leave is consumed by the sun on a fresh morning of june. I may be crazy, but I think that is what Janus is all about, the duality of our existance, the constant change, the permanent growth and evolution.
    ¿Constantly split? I´d say, instead, constantly flowing, in one direction or another, devoted to a meaningful and sweet existance.

    But that´s just me.

    ReplyDelete
  2. BK4/16/2005 3:35 PM

    That is a beautiful interpretation.

    It helps keep the mind focused on the ever-present moment, and at the same time recognize the changing flow of events through the moment.

    It is my tendency to attach to what has long since past away. Grasping at the illusion of what was, as if it still exists, is the cause of suffering according to Buddhist teachings. And I can say with total agreement that is the case, at least in my experience.

    To the future and the past...
    To Life!

    -Ziv

    ReplyDelete

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