Pushed away: African Violets
“There are two kinds of people and I worked out which was which a long time ago.”
It runs the world through a small set of fixed categories and sorts people into them on sight, which produces fast judgements, hard opinions and a reality that never has to be renegotiated. The simplification is defensive: what happened in and around its childhood carries a meaning too large to be taken in at full size, and a world reduced to a handful of types is a world that can be held. What it asks for is one person examined closely enough to stop fitting the category they were assigned.
It echoes Procrustes, who had one bed and a guaranteed fit, and who solved every discrepancy between the guest and the furniture at the guest's expense. The form implies a task: to measure the bed for once.
- Essence
- The Reducer
- Rule
- What happened there was too big to hold, so I made the world smaller instead.
- Substance / Activity
- African violets
- Archetype
- Procrustes
- Emotional theme
- Meaning reduced to a size that can be carried
- Behavioural pattern
- Rigid categorical thinking; prejudicial sorting; avoidance of the full meaning of one's own history
- Family dynamic
- Childhood events whose significance was more than could be taken in
- Core wound
- What happened there was too big to hold, so I made the world smaller instead.
- Exit
- Examining one person closely enough that they stop fitting the category.
What is the "Pushed away: African Violets" pattern?
It runs the world through a small set of fixed categories and sorts people into them on sight, which produces fast judgements, hard opinions and a reality that never has to be renegotiated. The simplification is defensive: what happened in and around its childhood carries a meaning too large to be taken in at full size, and a world reduced to a handful of types is a world that can be held. What it asks for is one person examined closely enough to stop fitting the category they were assigned.
What does "Pushed away: African Violets" sound like when it shows up?
There are two kinds of people and I worked out which was which a long time ago.
What is the archetypal form of "Pushed away: African Violets"?
It echoes Procrustes, who had one bed and a guaranteed fit, and who solved every discrepancy between the guest and the furniture at the guest's expense. The form implies a task: to measure the bed for once.
This is a pattern. Not a verdict.
It appears in many lives.
Decoded2times