For some, even the dignity of death dare not be contemplated
Standing alone today demands even more courage and strength than it did in former cultures.
From infancy, children have been programmed to perform.
Rather than living from their own needs and feelings, they learn to assess situations in order to please others.
Without an inner core of certainty grounded in their own musculature, they lack the inner resources to stand alone.
Pummeled by mass media and peer group pressures, their identity may be utterly absorbed by collective stereotypes.
In the absence of adequate rites of passage, ad-men become the high priests of an initiation into the addictions of consumerism.
Everywhere the ceremony of innocence is exploited.
Without recognized rites, members of a society are not sure who they are within the structure.
Children who have fumbled their way through puberty find themselves in adolescence raging for independence, at the same time furious when asked to take responsibility.
Boys who have never been separated from their mothers and are fearful of their fathers cannot make the step into adult manhood.
Girls who have lived in the service of their driving masculine energies are not going to forsake their P.P.F.F. (Prestige, Power, Fame and Fortune) for a sense of harmony with the cosmos.
Even the rites of marriage are confusing.
Unwed couples who have lived together for years may eventually believe that “marriage isn’t going to make any difference,” and then be genuinely confused when sexual difficulties do develop after the vows are spoken.
Arriving at middle age is agony for those who cannot accept the mature beauty of autumn.
They see their wrinkles hardening into lines, and new liver spots appearing every day, without the compensating mellowing in their soul.
Without the rites of the elders, they cannot look forward to holding a position of honor in their society, nor in most cases will they treasure their own wisdom.
For some, even the dignity of death dare not be contemplated. — Marion Woodman, The Pregnant Virgin, Page 16
