The existential message "Horton listens to who"

dark night of the soul

“Dark Night of the Soul” is the title of a poem written by the 16th-century Spanish poet and Roman Catholic mystic Saint John of the Cross. The main idea of ​​the poem can be seen as the painful experience that people go through as they seek to grow in spiritual maturity and union with God. Like Saint John, each soul has its dark night. Some, like those suffering from depression, experience darker nights than others. World-renowned author and psychic Sylvia Browne said of Earth in her book: soul perfection, that if we simply survive an earthly incarnation, we will have done something heroic! She believes that we choose to come to Earth to experience certain trials and learn lessons from them. For Sylvia, Earth is a kind of school, a “training ground” so to speak. The message of these two authors, saint and psychic, is that life is hard. If you don’t prefer to listen to them, then remember that Buddha also said it and Christ also demonstrated it. Christ’s life showed that you are going to be crucified every time (metaphorically speaking). This is not an “easy” planet to be on. We came in with a cold slap on the butt and walked out with dirt thrown in our faces! By now you must be thinking, “Wow, Nina really had a bad night!” The point is: we all experience them. Moments when life seems cruel, meaningless and hopeless, nothing more than a sadistic joke. There are times when life seems random and harsh, times when you say to yourself, “What’s the use? What’s all the suffering for?” These dark nights of despair leave us questioning the meaning of our existence. Strangely, it’s not until we experience Dark Nights of the Soul that we can appreciate the light.

The light at the end of the tunnel

Have you heard the saying, “I can see the light at the end of the tunnel”? The light looks brighter because of the darkness that surrounds it. The polarity of life is the breadth, depth, and meaning of life. Until we have seen our shadow (Jung) we cannot appreciate our light. “In Jungian psychology, the shadow or “shadow aspect” is a part of the unconscious mind that consists of weaknesses, deficiencies, and repressed instincts” (Wikipedia.com). Simply, the contrast between darkness (unawareness) and light (knowledge) defines living, giving it more meaning. Cold drink is cooler on a hot summer day. The burst of laughter, orgasm, or insult is a relief and would not be cathartic without the precipitous state of retention. We humans experience life as meaningful because of its polarities. The Dark Night of the Soul, though painful, allows us to savor and appreciate the bright morning dawn. The meaning of “Horton Hears A Who” came to mind two years after seeing it; Suddenly front and center in my mind, the characters seemed less Dr. Seuss-ish and surprisingly spiritual. It seemed to me that what was originally a moving children’s book was offering a profoundly adult lesson that I had missed.

We are here!

During my “Dark Night of the Soul”, while pondering why there has to be so much suffering in the world, I sent a question, or maybe it was a prayer, but it sounded like this: “Do you know we’re here?” As I did, I was reminded of the story of Horton Hears A Who, and how the Whos in Who-ville had, in desperate anguish, trumpeted a similar message to the Universe: “We’re here, we’re here, we’re here!” Suddenly I felt small, like the Whos; a single voice in a small colony of souls who lived in the pinpoint-sized dot on the head of a dandelion. I wondered if God was like Horton the elephant, goofy but good-hearted, living a happy, carefree existence, caught off guard by the tiny sound of Who’s trumpet message: “We’re here!” I thought, if there is a God, I hope he’s a big guy with a soft heart, like Horton. I don’t even care if he’s dumb like Horton (played by Jim Carey). I also thought about how, even in Horton’s world, there was an antagonist; a contemptuous and vindictive voice (performed by Carol Burnett). I smiled again when I thought of the yellow puffball named Katy, my favorite character in the movie, whose line my daughter and I loved: “In my world, everyone eats rainbows and shits butterflies.” In Horton’s world, as in our world, there are agonists, antagonists, and also clueless and peculiar souls. I thought: if in the movie Horton represented God, and we are the Whos-small, seemingly insignificant and randomly falling through space, what is the message of the movie?

A person is a person, no matter how small

Throughout the film, Horton repeated a mantra that kept him “saving” Who-ville from destruction, and it was: “A person is a person, no matter how small.” What Horton meant was: Regardless of the immense size difference between him and the Whos, the Whos were just as important to Horton. He couldn’t let them perish when he had the power to save them. What we found endearing about Horton was that he valued life, he considered it sacred. Even life that was so small, by comparison, that he couldn’t see it and he had to strain to hear it. If there is a God, I hope in this sense, he is like Horton. In the Dark Night of the Soul, we are sending a message, whether whispered in prayer, in thought, or shouted from the rooftops: “Here we are!” The existential message I finally saw in “Horton Hears A Who” was: Everyone matters, no matter how small; in sum, each one has value. If you believe there is a God, or a Higher Power, or whatever you want to call it, then let this simple children’s movie remind you, as it did me, that the Creator, like Horton, hears us and is moved by our requests. And if you’re an atheist and don’t believe, he considers the movie’s theme anyway: We’re all the same, and therefore everyone deserves compassion. Whatever his spiritual beliefs, there was a hidden message for you in “Horton Hears A Who” and he wanted to share it with you.

Oh, and one more thing… It wasn’t until I allowed myself to cry that this idea came to me. Perception often sneaks up on us when we have opened our hearts. Light follows darkness every time.

References:

Dark night of the soul. (2011). Wikipedia.com. Retrieved from the World Wide Web on July 22, 2011.