Temple of the Platypus Guest Priest Captain Zardoz

Captain Zardoz is a contributor to some of the mailing lists I subscribe to. This post spoke to me, and I wanted to share it with you. You can reach his site at http://www.tecinfo.com/~drzardoz

Hello, Hello

In my college lit class, my teacher quoted a quote that went something like this: "What repulses us at first, we gradually warm to, and then at last embrace.  I grew up in the church and a "christian" home, and in time as a child I fell in love with books. I remember going to the bookstore one day.  In the back of the store was a section of paperbacks. To enter this room you had to step down a small flight of stairs.  The first time I went in this backroom I remember seeing a copy of Ray Bradbury's "The Illustrated Man."  On the cover of this book was a back view of a naked man sitting on a stool.  The man was completely covered with tattoos.

When I saw all of this at once, the feeling was of great fear and repulsion.  This to me was certainly not a "christian" book.  It even had a review on it by Playboy magazine... another big taboo in "christian" reading.  My parents and the church had taught me that the only good life was a life in a terrarium closed from the sins of the world.

Well as the years passed I finally read some Bradbury books that had more "christian" covers.  I learned that I absolutely loved his style of writing.  He was wonderful.  So I eventually read "The Illustrated Man."  This book is about a traveler on foot who meets another traveler on foot who is completely wrapped up in a coat.  This is odd, because it is Summer time, and it is hot. They walk along together until nightfall, and then make camp and have a meal.  Night fully descends and it is time for bed.  The man removes his coat and all his clothes and lays down to sleep.  It is at this point that the other traveler discovers that the man is completely covered with tatoos.

As the tatooed man lies there sleeping, the other man begins to study his tattoos and becomes fascinated by their detail and realism.  As he studys one of the tatoos, it begins to move and tell a story.  The man is entranced until the story finishes.  And then he examines another tattoo and it too begins to move and tell a story.  So the man spends the entire night watching the tattoos tell their stories. And during the night he realizes that the stories are all true. Just before morning he watches one last tattoo tell its story.  In this story the man sees himself being killed by the tattooed man.  It terrifies him, and as quitely as he can, he gets up, puts on his clothes, rolls up his bed, and runs down the road to escape his death.

This story is a parable about us becoming fascinated by strangely beautiful and mysterious things.  They lead us on like the sirens of Danaan shores to our death, and Death is that thing that most men fear. But Jesus said if you try to save your life then you will lose it, and if you are willing to lose your life, then you will find it. We all seem to carry a death wish that draws us towards the forbidden fruit.  The darkness calls in a powerful voice that we can't refuse.  Some parents try to raise their children in a terrarium, protecting them from the darkness of the outside world.  This is the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.  They lived a sheltered and good life.  Their parents told them not to ever eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. And they obeyed.

But then came the serpent, and he seduced Eve by getting her to gaze on the Tree of Knowledge.  He told her that wonderful things would happen if she would just try the fruit... her eyes would be opened and she would become a god!!! So Eve tried the fruit and her eyes were opened to the play of opposites.  And the fruit had tasted good so she offered it to Adam... and the journey of life began.  All children must cross this treshold into adulthood and leave their parents if they want to have their own life as an individual.  Rebellion against authority figures helps us to define our life and its boundaries and create our own individual personality.  As Mark Twain said, "If God didn't want man to rebel, then He wouldn't have created man in His Own image.

The poem I wrote in college that set me on my journey across the Rainbow Bridge was inspired by the first girl I had ever fallen in love with.  It was called "Sheltered Colors."  It was my attempt to tell her about my "Sun" God, and what would happen if you shut Him out of your life.  I was a shy, extremely sensitive 19 year old who kept his emotions all bottled up inside, and I had no idea how to tell a girl that I loved her.  The seed for that poem was Ray Bradbury's "The Illustrated Man."  Always concealing my emotions, I identified with the tattooed man who had to keep his colors concealed... and thus the name of the poem "Sheltered Colors."

I think we become what we fear the most in an attempt to face our fears.  The first time I saw the cover of Bradbury's "The Illustrated Man" it frightened me.  And now, so many years later, I am the Illustrated Man.  My tattoos are the books I read that came true, the songs and stories and art I created that I lived out.  And the centerpiece that holds all these tattoos together is the book of Revelation. The four horsemen of the apocaclypse ride up my arms,  the seven headed beast rises up out of the sea on my left thigh, the false prophet rises up out of the earth on my right thigh, the battle of Armeggedon rages across my back, and the hope of the New Jerusalem is displayed across my chest. My tattoos could be as close to you as the next book you read, the next movie you watch, the next song you hear on the radio.

If within your heart you carry sheltered colors, a story that needs the color of night to breathe, remember what Carl Jung said: repress a thought into the unconscious, and one day it will burst forth back into consciousness ten times stronger... and you too will become the illustrated man or woman, a victim of the sheltered colors you refused to acknowledge.

Peace if you want it...  Adventure if you need it...

Captain ZardoZ