The Alien Teacher Archetype

December is associated with the TEACHER Archetype. Last week I saw the new film  Arrival  and realized there is an Alien Teacher archetype that runs through much of science fiction literature and films.  The short story The  Day the Earth Stood Still by Harry Bates and Edmund North (screenplay) is an example in which an alien named Klaatu and  his peace enforcing robot Gnut (Gort in the film versions) arrives on Earth to warn us that we will be destroyed unless we establish peace instead of war as we emerge as a space venturing species in the atomic age.

In Arrival, a linguist serves as a consultant to the military when twelve ominous, egg-like apparent spaceships come to hover over twelve areas around the globe. I don’t want to give too much away here about the story (it is well worth seeing!), but the linguist, who aims to find a way to communicate with the aliens by learning to interpret their odd ink bursts of communication, comes to understand they have a profound message for the world, and for herself personally as well.  The global message pertains as in The Day the Earth Stood Still to our needing to find a way to live peacefully together with positive international cooperation and communication rather than rely on violence and aggression to meet our perceived threats.

The Alien Teacher represents knowledge and wisdom far beyond whatever the current consciousness of people on planet Earth have arrived at when the story is written. I guess in order to have survived as a species long enough to reach Earth from interstellar travel such aliens would have had to find a way to achieve wisdom enough not to have destroyed one another, though they might have destroyed their planet so that they need to find a new one to ravage (another common alien lesson theme).

images are from pixabay.com

The Alien Teacher, as “not Us,” represents knowledge and wisdom we aspire to or a mental capacity for awareness we sorely lack.  In a way, all spiritual Teachers and Masters are of this same archetype. We look to those who have been where we wish to go and who have already achieved our spiritual or personal goals, to follow in their footsteps or at least to gain a sense of grounding and direction for striking out upon our own adventures.  The Teacher shows a Way, a Path, but you and I have to walk that path and carve it out more clearly as we advance through the wilderness. The lessons from our Teacher are always with us, even when the Teacher is no longer immediately present.  As Learners (a correlated archetype) we store the knowledge and aim to achieve the wisdom of the Teachers who have gone before us on our Journey.

Invoking Divine Wisdom

As this is to be the final blog post for the January monthly theme combining the Life Metaphor “Life Is What You Make It” with the Elder Leader archetype, I feel it is appropriate to refer to the highest archetype of the Elder Leader, which is God Itself, or Higher Power, the Creator (Great Spirit, God, Allah, SUGMAD, Jehovah, First Cause, Intelligent Design, Nature, or whatever you choose to Name divinity.)

Not a day goes by that I do not find it helpful to appeal to Higher Wisdom for the grace and humility to make decisions and to understand and respond as well as I can to life’s challenges.  A poetic prayer I use many times on a daily basis is one I know from my spiritual belief system of Eckankar as “Lai Tsi’s Prayer”.  It is very similar to and is in fact a modification of one of the Psalms (25.4), as well.

Lai Tsi’s Prayer

Show me thy ways, Oh Beloved (God),

Teach me thy path.

Lead me in thy truth, and teach me;

On Thee do I wait all day.

Remember, Oh Beloved, thy guiding light

And thy loving care,

For it has been ever thy will

To lead the least of thy servants to Thee.

(from The Shariyat-Ki-SUGMAD, Bk.I, by Paul Twitchell)

This prayer song or psalm reminds me to be grateful for all good things. It helps me to keep my heart open to receive wisdom with patience. It lifts my Spirit to the realization that the ways of the divine are always in good order, Here and Now. It shows the way, thereby, to Acceptance and to right discernment. It expresses the willingness to wait on the will of Heaven.

 

The Good King or Queen

Anna and the King is a fine fictional example of the alchemical pairing of Elder Leader with the metaphor of Life Is What You Make It. Here we find an historical King of Siam (Thailand) who is a central figure in the lives of all his subjects. Anna herself–Teacher to the King’s many children as the progeny from his required monarchic polygyny–circles in the King’s orbit in this story, as a friend and as a close personal advisor to the King during a transitional historic moment as Siam is beset by both internal and external political forces trying to dismantle the monarchy.

The Good King–and his country–survive the onslaught through the King’s exercise of strong leadership qualities: decisiveness, love of his children, compassion for his subjects, and his willingness to act with force and even with clever deception in order to win the day at the final confrontation with his foes.

As I teach cultural anthropology I often point out how ironic it might appear that chiefdom and state societies–like Siam as an example of a state–have just one central leader within their highly populous societies. In fact the more populous and complex a society becomes over time, the fewer the number of paramount leaders there are! This makes sense when you consider that the Elder Leader universal archetype figure is an overarching, organizing principle. The Good King or Queen unifies their subjects around–at their best–the highest interests of all concerned.

Just as a complex society benefits from the permeating, integrating character of a central Leader persona, so does your own complex Psyche. Calling upon your inherent Elder Leader energy allows you to act decisively and to develop better clarity with respect to challenging life situations. You can step into the image of the Good King or Queen whenever you feel the need to adopt a wise perspective.

As a personal development tool, I invite you to try this:

Close your eyes and actively picture the various strands of a difficult or sensitive situation you face. Now assume the ROLE of the GOOD KING or QUEEN and peruse the situation from your Wise Elder Leader perspective. What do you perceive as the King or Queen that adds to your understanding of the situation? Declare an EDICT as the Good King or Queen, and later then, Make It So!

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For next week’s blog posts, I invite your stories or comments about times in YOUR life when you found yourself able to Make Things Happen by drawing upon your inner Leader abilities more than usually for you. What kinds of situations bring out the ELDER LEADER in you? What have been the benefits of allowing your Elder Leader ALLY to express itself in a difficult situation? ALL stories and comments are welcome!

Persistence and Resilience–Well Paired for Better Endings

What personal qualities might most help us to “make lemonades out of lemons,” when needed, or to appreciate and develop insight and wisdom from our Significant Life Events? Two principles come to mind: persistence and resilience. In fact, these two appear on closer look to be two facets of the same attitude a person might rely on to manifest Better Endings.

Think about it. Persistence helps you to remain focused on a goal. It requires resilience, though, to “bend but not break,” to continue forth no matter how long it might take or how alone you might feel with your cherished ideal, project or intention. Resilience allows you to “bounce back” after a loss or setback. It facilitates persistence but at the same time, resilience prevents rigidity or becoming overly fixed on a specific form or outcome.

Dr. Carol Dweck, a Stanford University psychologist and author of the best-seller Mindset (2007), talks about “fixed” versus “growth” oriented mindsets. It is interesting that persistence might be considered an attribute of a ‘fixed’ mindset (being fixed on an idea or a specific goal), yet so long as it is paired with resilience–which seems more a ‘growth’ attribute intrinsically–it will facilitate flexibility and hence, real growth in both perspective and outcome.

Once, at a regional dramatics workshop during high school, our drama coach organized the participants into circles of 8-10 students each. He placed one person (at a time) into the center, with the rest of the group forming a circle around this person. Then he asked the middle person to think of one line in which they believed strongly. They were to repeat this line over and over, while everyone around them in the circle would try to get the speaker to stop. When it came my turn in the center, the line I chose was from Wooden Ships, a Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young song I used to play on the guitar:

When you smile at me I will understand, 

because that is something everybody everywhere

does in the same language.

As I repeated this one line, over and over, it became like a mantra for me; a single focus for my entire life purpose and identity. People laughed, prodded, tried to overtalk me; they mocked and ridiculed the line. Their cajoling only made it seem all the more imperative for me to repeat my universal mantra. I spoke it loudly, softly; I sang the phrase, whispered it; but I never varied from repeating this truth and secret of all existence, that which I was deeply convinced everyone should hear! It was a strong line–one that I have often remembered since–, strong enough that I was able to outlast the opposition and maintain delivery through the full time allowed.

Persistence and resilience support and strengthen one another, pairing intention with adaptability that can empower you to gain insight through any eventuality. So, hold to your Center and speak from your Heart. With a worthwhile purpose, Better Endings will prevail.

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Was there a time in your life when persistence and resilience bore fruit? Or is there a project you are working on now to which you are applying these principles, or maybe that you can envision using in fun and creative ways? Please feel free to Comment below to share your insights and stories. And if you have a friend you think would have a good insight to share or who might benefit from Better Endings, please Like this site on Facebook or you can share with your friend by email.

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