The Transparent Hypnotist

There was a famous woman who had a life full of titillating adventures. Some would say she was interesting, some would say she was awful, and some would just purse their lips and remain silently righteous. Now in the light of today, I can’t remember who this mystery person was (I did a  lot reading yesterday), but her story was not just one of questionable societal morals, but a story of transformation. Her path led from a life with weak foundation to a strong one as her life became devoted to compassion and helping others. But in this reading, it made no reference to the latter part of her life. It was about the sensationalism of her beginnings, reveling, glorifying her awfulness.

Take Marie Laveau for instance.  It is hard to get a thumb on her - the legend is larger than the reality, I suspect.  You may well know her as a queen among witches, famous for her voodoo talents in New Orleans. But I have read that she eventually gave up that lifestyle and dedicated herself to more christian pursuits (I am really going to have to dig for those sources). But the thing is, she did a lot of good - she helped those suffering from Yellow Fever and such.

So, then, why is so hard for others to let people transform their lives? Why do we revel in their past, judging them by that alone?  Their misdeeds, even if their good deeds are larger, seem some how unforgivable. Would the Widow Paris (Laveau) be appalled o know that it is her horror stories that are most remembered and people flock to her grave for the hopes of experiencing her witchcraft form the dead? Or is she and so many like her, beyond it, transcended and forgiving of those would seek to be obstacles?

Perhaps we should take a cue from the eastern religions where some of their great big-wigs started out with less than reputable ambition, only to transcend their digressions and become religious saints and icons. They seem inspirational - giving everyone the opportunity to become something much more than what their past dictates.

Being in a profession whose pulpit is “positive change,” any story of transformation is wondrous. For those of us with an interest in the “change” processes, maybe this is something we really need to consider - the western co-dependancy of non-change we tend to utilize when we see people we love trying to change. If the general population prefers a good story of evil and omits the true story - that of transformation and transcendence, and encourages members of society to remain static, are we missing something crucial in the picture? What can we do to help people past the negativity of others to revel in their own desire for positive change?

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 12th, 2008 at 8:00 am and is filed under Babble. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.