morgan schatz blackrose

Visions and Illusions

My daughter related a tale of her friend having a series of visions. One such vision was of a character from a computer game she played, being present in the room with her. When her friend told her mother of these visions, the mother immediately began researching biblical interpretations of them! My daughter's response to her friend's confession, was to tell her that she was spending too much time playing games on the computer. 

I thought her pragmatic approach was possibly a more useful one for her friend to keep a handle on reality. It also challenged me think about what I see, how I perceive it, and who shares my vision. 

Late last week a tragedy took place in Australian waters when fifty Iraqi, Iranian and Kurdish people drowned. They were passengers on a small boat heading from Indonesia to Australia. Refugees. Could their deaths have been prevented? Ian Rintoul, founder of the Refugee Action Coalition, an Australian refugee advocacy group sees that the Australian government contributed to the deaths of these people in the following ways: Australia pressures Indonesia to detain asylum seekers, regardless of whether they are mandated refugees under the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Seekers are held in detention centers sometimes funded by the Australian government. Until this year, Australia did not routinely resettle UNHCR refugees from Indonesia. This year, the Australian government said it will take 500 refugees from Indonesia, although, so far, fewer than 100 have been resettled, and the government has not guaranteed numbers for the future. It sometimes takes months for UNHCR to register asylum seekers and then more months for those claims to be processed. Once determined to be refugees, they can wait years for the UNHCR to find a country willing to resettle them. Understandably, other resettling countries consider asylum seekers in Indonesia to be Australia's responsibility. The lack of any guaranteed resettlement is another powerful incentive for asylum seekers to take the boat journey from Indonesia to Australia.If Australia were willing to process asylum seekers and guarantee resettlement, far fewer asylum seekers would want or need to take the boat journey. Yet Prime Minister Julia Gillard's Labor government takes proportionally fewer refugees than was the case under the conservative John Howard government. Third, the Australian government's move to criminalize people-smuggling (and by association asylum seekers themselves) in Indonesia and Australia also provides a powerful disincentive for asylum boats to contact Australian authorities should they require assistance.

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/12/20/rintoul.island.tragedy/

But how do we see tragedies like this? Can we convince ourselves that it is awful but inevitable, or of no concern to us, because there's nothing we can do anyway? Do we look for a justification of our response, or lack of one, to what we see? Or do we simply interpret our experience to suit our beliefs?

Truth tellers and whistle blowers; those people who have had the veil of deception lifted from their eyes, are punished and, or ostracised. Witness the demise of the Wikileaks founder, Julian Assange. They can also suffer the curse of Cassandra, the Trojan princess, a visionary, but doomed never to be believed. 

Once you 'see', you cannot 'unsee', but you can choose whether to speak about what you see.

This brings me to a folktale of Celtic origin, that assumes the existence of parallel worlds; that of mortals and the mystic world of fairy folk. Just because you can't see them, does that mean that they're not there? I value this tale, not because I'm an exponent of the world of fairy, but because, like so many folktales, it offers a vision for us to understand our lives and the lives of others. It also serves to show both the power and vulnerability that comes with having 'the sight.'

Pali the midwife, was preparing supper when she heard a knock at the door and before stood one of the fairy folk, begging her to come quickly to the assistance of a fairy princess who had need of her presence to safely deliver her baby. 

Pali immediately took her bag and climbed onto the back of the horse the fairy man brought. Off they went at a gallop, and Pali felt as though the horse's hooves barely touched the ground as they rode into the night. Finally he stopped outside what appeared to be a grand palace. He led Pali through a torch lit hallway that opened into a chamber where the Fairy princess lay in childbed.

In due course the fairychild was born and the fairy princess bade Pali to rub the child with a special ointment, but to be wary of getting the ointment anywhere on her own self, except her hands. Over the next few days Pali looked after the mother and child. It was a strange place she had been brought to. She saw no-one but the princess and her baby and yet food appeared each day. One morning after she rubbed the newborn with the ointment, she felt her eye itch and without thinking, rubbed it. Some of the cream on her fingers went into it. From that time on, she saw the fairy folk. They came and went, chatting with the fairy princess and bringing her tasty morsels of food to eat. That evening Pali said to the fairy princess that she should sleep early today because she had so many visitors.

The fairy princess turned to her and flashed an angry look.

'So you disobeyed me and rubbed your eyes with the ointment,' she accused.

Pali was embarassed and nodded.

'Quit by accident, though,' she said apologetically.

'Then it is time for you to go,' said the fairy princess, and she deposited a purse filled with gold coins into her hand.

Pali was escorted by the fairy man back to her house. The following day she told the village people about her adventures and come market day, she was able to see the presence of the fairy folk trading amongst the stalls of the villagers. Often she would see the fairy folk going about their business, and she would let the villagers know if they were ever up to mischief. One day, while at the market, she saw a grand procession. There in the centre was the fairy princess herself. Pali ran up to greet her.

'How lovely to see you here,' said Pali.

'You have no right to be seeing me at all,' hissed the fairy princess, and spat in Pali's eye.

When Pali rubbed her eye, the fairy folk had vanished. And though she looked for them day and night, she was never able to see them again. 

Sources: Celtic Folklore, Welsh and Manx, by John Rhys  (1901) e-text at the Internet Sacred Text Archive

www.sacred-texts.com/ neu/ cfwm/ index.htm

Photo 'visions and illusions' © Roman W. Schatz 2010