Jai Maa, Jai Maa!

Apologies! Am overloaded with work so this is just a really rough version of my ideas without quotes -may come back to it after midterms and when my diss reaches 60% completion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yf6r5m0TM7Y – Click before reading!

I never thought Greentea Peng could be so relevant to a 4th year university course but here I am beginning a blog post by drawing upon her song Hu Man which features a number of references to eastern notions of spiritual balance and mythological feminine wisdom. Rather than attempting to logically structure this blog (logic being so strongly associated with Western masculinist Enlightenment ideology) I am going to let her song guide my analysis, moving through the lyrics and the female voice to reach an understanding of Silko’s novel. I believe this seems appropriate given that the novel itself is guided by a distinctively feminine spirituality and places heavy emphasis on the importance of orality and rhythm in storytelling.

Searching for balance, praying for clarity
Ma strip me naked, take this identity
Tell me it’s unity
In Lak’ech Ala K’in: I am you, you are me

Balance and identity are central to Silko’s novel. We see instances of symbolic hybridity everywhere.

Identity, racial relationships, notions of mother as Mother Earth- Fundamentally this is a novel about balance, identity and unity. Mayan greeting but really it is a type of moral code respect for the other – translates as ‘I am another yourself’- tories have the power to heal: they contain the rituals and ceremonies that can cure individuals and communities. They do this primarily by reminding us of the interrelations between all people and all things. Rather, Ceremony presents an attempt to contend with the reality of a mixed cultural landscape in a way that allows Native American culture to persist, even as it changes. Tayo himself embodies the contact between Native American and white cultures, as he bears his mixed racial heritage in his green eyes. Tayo must learn to make use of the white parts of himself and of the world around him, without abandoning his primary allegiance to Native American traditions.

Taken from home so far we stroll
Deep in these roads
Think we control this shit, we don’t
But fuck we could. 

Gaia hypothesis – ecological readings of the novel  – about control of land, notions of home, wandering through land key theme. ‘Fuck we could. Power is not having absolute control but of understanding that the real power comes from finding  balance and pleasure in the world, rather than trying to seek destruction and domination.

See all I know is that I know
Nothing at all, this shit is so
Mystical, magical

Think this is saying something really interesting about medicine and also about Western epistemology more generally. This kind of tabula rasa thinking is featured in the novel too – that sticking to singular or entrenched understandings of the world offered in literature or in tradition or indeed in political discourse is to really miss the magical and mystical vastness of possibility that the ever-changing world has to offer. More on this.

I know we don’t know our potential
How could we when they lie they cast spells
And they try dropping bombs from the skies
Like we are not stars

control knowledge – war is all about controlling the environment – notice the video with the masculine aggression not dissimilar to the violent alcohol consumption- masculinist principle of war – that beautiful image of humans as stars, each special and magical in some way – Tradition in this novel is mystical and magical and yet even that knowledge must change and shift.  That healing will not come solely from casting spells nor will it come from war but rather from adjusting with the times.-

Inside me there’s a war, Jai Maa

When we say ‘Jai MAA!’ we should remember that the battleground is not outside but inside ourselves. Use that call as a victory of prayer, asking you to bring awareness of your thoughts and actions so that you may be an instrument of peace

masculinity and femininity – spirituality vs epistemological certainty.  Awareness of the other, awareness of that which is outside the self, outside the human, outside understanding – emphasis on animals, the past, the future, mythology, spirituality, racial as well. I think this notion of internal war is fascinating – God haven’t we all had wars inside ourselves at times? Tayo I think is a character who invite sympathy but I suggest his gang of soldiers are also deeply wounded, fighting wars within themselves and trying to make wars outside of themselves as to detract from this. PEACE!

Greentea Peng finds expression through song and Tayo finds expression and freedom through finding his own narrative, of striking his own balance between tradition and modernity — expand on this.

*** I think it’s interesting reading this novel in our current climate given the invasion of Ukraine. If only the dictatorial men we’ve installed into power understood the notion of interrelation, of not trying to dominate the world, of understanding what peaceful co-existence and balance looks like and just how healing this could be to individuals***

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More Greentea Peng …. this song has some killer lyrics particularly from 1:44-2:10 –  just love her vibe but I also what she preaches – collectivism, the fact we are all suffering and that we should therefore have greater empathy. The lines ‘The inside is the battlefield….. ..Won’t have the strength to move forward if you’re scared to look back’ – good stuff.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKYjQEnc-5Y

You suffer, I suffer, you suffer, I suffer too
You suffer, I suffer, you suffer, I suffer with you

Jai Maa and In Lak’ech Ala K’in: Balance and Feminine Wisdom in Silko’s Ceremony / Liv Gurney-Randall / Literature, Reading, Mental Health (2021-2022)[SEM2] by blogadmin is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution CC BY 3.0