{"id":77827,"date":"2020-07-21T18:44:02","date_gmt":"2020-07-21T15:44:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=77827"},"modified":"2020-07-21T18:44:02","modified_gmt":"2020-07-21T15:44:02","slug":"our-inner-sailors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/our-inner-sailors\/","title":{"rendered":"Our Inner Sailors"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[],"acf":{"old_id":"77827","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":37859,"related_cahpter":"529","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Jonah\u2019s boat as allegory for the psyche\r\n\r\n","content":"

A comment in a bibliodrama on Jonah chapter 1 helped me read the story as symbolic of our inner processes.<\/span><\/p>\n

The <\/span>boat<\/strong> is akin to our psyche. Jonah\u2019s falling asleep represents repression and denial, two mechanisms that keep us asleep even during powerful storms. They keep us blind to our own inner crisis, which then ratchets up, higher and higher, in a bid to get our attention.<\/span><\/p>\n

The <\/span>captain<\/strong> would normally have nothing to do with a passenger asleep in his ship. However, he is shaken by the storm and leaves his post to come down, and urge the offending sleeper: “What do you mean, O sleeper? Arise! Call upon your God! Perhaps God will give a though to us, that we do not perish” (1:6).<\/span><\/p>\n

No answer.<\/span><\/p>\n

The captain represents the superego, our conscience. When it sees that the boat, i.e. the psyche, is cracking apart, it tries to take charge of the situation through familiar means: rousing words, instructions, commands.<\/span><\/p>\n

But this is not a language that the repressed awareness can hear. It continues to sleep.<\/span><\/p>\n

Then the <\/span>sailors<\/strong> arrive, and plead: “Tell us, we beg you, for whose cause is this evil upon us? What is your occupation? Where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?” (1:8). Then Jonah finally responds, replying: “I am a Hebrew; and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who has made the sea and the dry land” (1:9).<\/span><\/p>\n

He is<\/span> connecting to his identity and a higher power. This leads to a solution. He is now in charge, and knows what to do. This is the healthy ego, that rejects both the id\u2019s denial and the superego\u2019s unbearable pressure, and listens to the voice that comes through and gives aid.<\/span><\/p>\n

Our captain, the voice of reason, cannot actually speak to the parts of us that are in distress, that are childish and unreasonable. If we shout at a child acting out, we may have reason on our side, but they will not hear us. The sailors approach in a respectful manner, as equals, showing interest in Jonah and his personal history, and successfully elicit a response. Their warmth and genuine humanity (expressed also when they refuse to throw him overboard, even to save their own lives) allow him to wake up to his true self, connect to God, and get back in the saddle.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We need to find those sailors inside us \u2013 the compassionate voices of our inner loving parent, our inner kind therapist, coach and friend \u2013 that can hear us and want to understand who we really are, without judgment. It reminds me of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov’s story of the Turkey Prince, in which the wise adult figure descends \u201cunder the table\u201d to the child’s level, in order to genuinely understand and create an atmosphere of trust. This allows the prince to eventually come back up to sit at the table.<\/span><\/p>\n

Image: Jonah being thrown into the Sea, catacombe di Priscilla, pre 5th C. (photo by J. Wilpert, <\/span>Die Malereien der Katakomben Roms<\/span><\/em>, 1903) \/ wikipedia<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":77828,"id":77828,"title":"jon1-jonahs boat","filename":"jon1-jonahs-boat.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/jon1-jonahs-boat.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/our-inner-sailors\/jon1-jonahs-boat\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"jon1-jonahs-boat","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":77827,"date":"2020-07-21 15:43:35","modified":"2021-01-20 16:58:03","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":519,"height":405,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/jon1-jonahs-boat-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/jon1-jonahs-boat-300x234.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":234,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/jon1-jonahs-boat.jpg","medium_large-width":519,"medium_large-height":405,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/jon1-jonahs-boat.jpg","large-width":519,"large-height":405,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/jon1-jonahs-boat.jpg","1536x1536-width":519,"1536x1536-height":405,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/jon1-jonahs-boat.jpg","2048x2048-width":519,"2048x2048-height":405,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/jon1-jonahs-boat.jpg","post_full_size-width":519,"post_full_size-height":405,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/jon1-jonahs-boat.jpg","home_baner-width":519,"home_baner-height":405}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"Our Inner Sailors","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"Jonah\u2019s boat as allegory for the psyche","preview_embedded":"","preview_image":{"ID":77828,"id":77828,"title":"jon1-jonahs boat","filename":"jon1-jonahs-boat.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/jon1-jonahs-boat.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/our-inner-sailors\/jon1-jonahs-boat\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"jon1-jonahs-boat","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":77827,"date":"2020-07-21 15:43:35","modified":"2021-01-20 16:58:03","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":519,"height":405,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/jon1-jonahs-boat-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/jon1-jonahs-boat-300x234.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":234,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/jon1-jonahs-boat.jpg","medium_large-width":519,"medium_large-height":405,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/jon1-jonahs-boat.jpg","large-width":519,"large-height":405,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/jon1-jonahs-boat.jpg","1536x1536-width":519,"1536x1536-height":405,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/jon1-jonahs-boat.jpg","2048x2048-width":519,"2048x2048-height":405,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/jon1-jonahs-boat.jpg","post_full_size-width":519,"post_full_size-height":405,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/jon1-jonahs-boat.jpg","home_baner-width":519,"home_baner-height":405}},"preview_video":"","external_link":"","link_for_pay":false,"tile_gallery_items":false,"credits":""},"alternate_tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"","hide_media":false},"tile_group":{"preview_image_url":false,"main_caption":"","sub_caption":"","":null,"popup_package_extra_content":"","read_time":""},"home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo":{"seo_title":"","seo_description":"","seo_default_title":"","seo_default_description":""},"links":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77827"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77827"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77827\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77829,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77827\/revisions\/77829"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}