← codex
#140

Pushed away: Red Meat

Every time I've used what I've got, I've lost somebody over it.

It keeps its own power out of use on the expectation that exercising it produces catastrophe, and the specific catastrophe it expects is not damage but desertion, since the household withdrew or threatened withdrawal each time the person showed any real force. It may also arrive carrying a sense of having misused power somewhere out of reach of memory, which the pattern treats as evidence and which functions, either way, as a sentence already passed. What it asks for is one clear use of its own strength in the presence of somebody who stays.

The Archetypal Form

It echoes Samson, whose strength was the whole of his story and cost him, in the end, every person in it. The form implies a task: to notice that the strength was not what betrayed him.

The Algorithm
Essence
The Withheld Fire
Rule
Every time I stood at full height, somebody left.
Classification
Substance / Activity
Red meat
Archetype
Samson
Emotional theme
Power expected to cost the person everyone
Behavioural pattern
Avoidance of one's own potency; expectation of catastrophe or desertion following any exercise of power
Family dynamic
Family that threatened or performed withdrawal whenever the person showed real force
Core wound
Every time I stood at full height, somebody left.
Exit
Using one's own strength clearly, in the presence of somebody who stays.
Frequently asked
What is the "Pushed away: Red Meat" pattern?

It keeps its own power out of use on the expectation that exercising it produces catastrophe, and the specific catastrophe it expects is not damage but desertion, since the household withdrew or threatened withdrawal each time the person showed any real force. It may also arrive carrying a sense of having misused power somewhere out of reach of memory, which the pattern treats as evidence and which functions, either way, as a sentence already passed. What it asks for is one clear use of its own strength in the presence of somebody who stays.

What does "Pushed away: Red Meat" sound like when it shows up?

Every time I've used what I've got, I've lost somebody over it.

What is the archetypal form of "Pushed away: Red Meat"?

It echoes Samson, whose strength was the whole of his story and cost him, in the end, every person in it. The form implies a task: to notice that the strength was not what betrayed him.

This is a pattern. Not a verdict.
It appears in many lives.