On September 17th people gathered in Liberty Square in Manhattan’s Financial District to launch Occupy Wall Street and the Occupy movement. I think it's fair to say that no one knew what would happen or how the movement would grow, and predictions regarding outcomes and the ultimate value of the protest seem equally uncertain. (According to Occupy Wall Street the movement has spread to over 100 cities in the United States and actions in over 1,500 cities globally). But something powerful has emerged, some vital energies are stirring. On the common level of public debate people talk about unjust economic policies, political corruption, corporate greed, and bankrupt social contracts. But what is the mythological context or mythology expressed in the action and ideas of Occupy Wall Street, I wonder? Are the three hideous brothers going to be called from Tartarus to aid in the creation of a new world order? (see past posts on the Greek Titanomachia for the story).
I don't know. But the words that we use provide clues. Their origins and layered meanings resonate and round out conscious and unconscious daily uses. We often say more than we intend. The conversation happens on more than one level.
A central slogan of the Occupy movement is "Human need, not corporate greed." Pay attention to the needs of real people, not legal pseudo-persons. "Corporation" is an interesting word. A primary meaning of "corporation," from the Latin corporare "to embody," was once paunch, pot belly, bulging abdomen. This is still an active definition but in the mid 15th century the term corporation came to mean a group of persons united in one body for some purpose. A body is a material physical structure but it's also a group or collection of related things. The body politic, for example, is a nation. A corporation is a body.
We can further investigate the metaphorical anatomy of the corporation to encompass the word "capitalism," from "capital," from the Latin capitalis, "of the head." We also find caput--"head"--or maybe that should be kaput? Seriously, the word "capital" reflects the historical Western preference for the head, for the presumed logic of the intellect over other forms of knowing and understanding. In our capital driven society, this head is a primary value, the essential material and goal of many enterprises.The concept is also associated with life itself, and mortality. Think capital crimes or capital sin. But where is the heart? I think this is the question many are asking.
A synonym for head is "chief." But the head was not always the privileged leader. In Old English the definition of heart (heorte) included mind, will, and intellect in addition to soul, desire, and the physical organ. This is the origin of the phrase "to know by heart." In French coeur (heart) is related to the words "accord" and "record;" to be in harmony or of one heart, and to remember or "call to mind." The heart is the metaphoric seat of memory upon which wisdom depends and it is also an organ of thought.
In 1925, C.G. Jung visited the United States and went to Taos Pueblo in New Mexico. There he had a conversation with chief Ochiwiay Biano that he describes in Memories, Dreams, Reflections. Ochiwiay told Jung that the Taos Indians didn't understand the continual, desperate, restless seeking of white people and thought white folks must be mad. When Jung asked him why he thought whites were mad, Ochiwiay said it was because they think with their heads. "We think from here," said the chief, and touched his heart.
What is the proper relationship between heart, mind, and belly/gut and how do we know what matters? (matter from L. materia "substance from which something is made," and mater "origin, source, mother.") This is a question for all of us in our personal and public lives. We need a synthesis of all three.
“Mindfulness must be engaged. Once there is seeing, there must be acting. Otherwise, what is the use of seeing?" Thich Nhat Hanh