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How a sense of irony can keep us from becoming to invested in the victimhood of oppression and abuse : Thomas Moore

One good road out of the tragic ego is a sense of the ironical and the comic. You may get to the point where you realise that if you want happiness, you have to accept profoundly and honestly the sadness that waits at every turn. Every decision for happiness will get you in trouble, and your occasionally courageous forays into the dark will likely give you a taste of heaven. Opposites weave back and forth into each other, like a thousand yins and yangs interpenetrating.

many moralists only speak from anxiety and (they) therefore cannot achieve the necessary humour. Humour is a sign of comfort with the unpredictable ways of God and nature.

This artful, subtle, paradoxical perception of the tragic/comic nature of our ordinary situations is the absolute rock bottom of any attempt to deal with the dark night of the soul. John of the Cross, like many mystics, appreciates irony and writes with quiet wit. Look at almost any line in his writing and you will immediately sense the irony with which he praises darkness. He is always turning the tables on the habit of spiritual people to praise the light. He begins one of his poems

O dark night, my guide,

more desirable than dawn.

Brian Keenan, the Irish writer held captive in Beirut, was thoroughly ironical in relation to his captors. They had complete physical control over him. They deprived him of all basic human requirements and beat him regularly; yet, he never let them have the moral advantage. Reflecting on their brutality, he writes, “The more I was beaten, the stronger I seemed to become.. To take what violence they meted out to me and stand and resist and now allow myself to be humiliated. In that resistance, I would humiliate them.” Of his friend and companion hostage he said, “I have seen John McCarthy turn from someone who was frightened, as they all were, into someone who was unafraid and totally committed to life.” The shift from fear to vitality is a movement from literal collapse into the situation to getting a different, positive perspective on it.

These strong hearted men each us how to deal with oppression and ignorance. You can’t always beat your persecutors at their own game, but you can turn the tables on them morally. Literally you might be an out and out victim. But in character you can turn everything upside down, making every small aspect of your dark night ironical. You can turn humiliation into courage, and fear into love of whatever life is left to you.

Brian Keenan’s story shows us how not to catch the fever of the enemy. He used his wits to constantly in an effort to avoid becoming what they wanted him to be. The same is true in all dark nights. There is always a temptation to take it all too literally and one dimensionally, and become a mere victim. The loss of power through superficial victimisation calls for a witty, ironical response. You can refuse to play victim, no matter how thick the layer of coercion that lies upon you. (we don’t have to take oppression on its own terms). (We) can refuse to assume the role and, instead, find strength inside yourself, no matter how private and internal, to keep from collapsing into victimhood.

Thomas Moore

Dark Nights of the Soul : A Guide to Finding Your Way Through Life’s Ordeals

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Published by: emergingfromthedarknight

"The religious naturalist is provisioned with tales of natural emergence that are, to my mind, far more magical than traditional miracles. Emergence is inherent in everything that is alive, allowing our yearning for supernatural miracles to be subsumed by our joy in the countless miracles that surround us." Ursula Goodenough How to describe oneself? People are a mystery and there is so much more to us than just our particular experiences or occupations. I could write down a list of attributes and they still might not paint a complete picture pf Deborah Louise and in any case it would not be the full truth of me. I would say that my purpose here on Wordpress is to express some of my random experiences, thoughts and feelings, to share about my particular journey and explore some subjects dear to my heart, such as emotional recovery, healing and astrology while posting up some of the prose/poems which are an outgrowth of my labours with life, love and relationships. If anything I write touches you I would be so pleased to hear for the purpose of reaching out and expressung ourselves is hopefully to connect with each other and find where our souls meet.

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27 thoughts on “How a sense of irony can keep us from becoming to invested in the victimhood of oppression and abuse : Thomas Moore”

  1. Deborah, thankyou for this post. Not just because it mentions St. John of the Cross, but because of the bit about Brian Keenan as well. This whole post spoke to me deeply and resonated within me Deborah. Thabpnkyou so much 😊

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    1. Lorraine I thought of you the whole time I was typing this out and I lost the first draft of it earlier on. I hope you are okay. I am so glad if it helped you to be stronger in the face of any nasty things going down…bit hug and much love xo

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  2. It didn’t help me to be stronger. What it did was to affirm that my path is right and attested by others. I am more fine than I have ever been. I am very very strong. We suffer don’t we, but I truly believe that in suffering is our true strength. Suffering is not nice, but I personally am at great peace. I love reading St. John of the Cross. For me, he says it all. I love the poetic way in which he writes too. Thankyou again for writing it.

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      1. It’s what you are doing too. Finding your own strength through your deep pain. I often read what you write. I can see how you are delving deep in order to find a way through some horrific experiences in life. I can see how you are often musunderstood and judged. But I see a fighting spirit that is simply seeking peace and joy in life. And I can see that you are a very human person, who values all the lovely and good things of life. I think you are amazing. I think you are amazing to write about it all as well. You are very articul. I am shre that people will be helped and encouraged by your blig. Mi love your honesty Deorah.

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      5. I have missed you. So much. At least both of us know that lufe is not all Hallelujah and hunkey dory, jumpimh around prausing the Lird. If you see what I mean. We face pain and suffering head on. That is what youand I have on common. We might cry, yell and scream for a while, but then gems come out of it. We are together Deborah. Bless you xoxo

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      6. I just emailed you but I didn’t send it to the icloud address. I hope you got it. and I loved what you wrote in one mail about travelling together as equals that is so true. I love that so much. Let me know if you got my mail thought I will start cooking soon xoox

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      7. I got your makl thankyou so much and i replied. Not a huge long one, but long enough. Let us stay together on our journey Deborah, at least walking side by side. Different in some ways maybe, but still sharing the path of the dark night ❤️

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      4. And i want tou ti know even when we had challenges between us my care for you and love was always there. I may have just retreated as my heart was bruised for a while and I was so tired emotionally as so much was going down for me. 💞

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