Week Ten

"He stopped before the canopy adorned with his coat of arms. Two crowned lions upheld a shield displaying a crowned phoenix, with a device reading I rise from my ashes." (The Kingdom of This World, Alejo Carpentier, 140)

This is concept art of Fawkes the phoenix from Harry Potter. Since reading those books, I have been intrigued by the phoenix. Although I know it's a mythical creature, I find the concept of rebirth comforting. 

In my last post, I referenced the passage from The Kingdom of This World where Macandal is tossed into the fire. Although his followers believed that he escaped the fire by turning into another creature- in a sense, rising from the ashes- the reality is something quite different. Macandal's experience is not like our own though. We get tossed into fires on a frequent basis. These fires may come in the form of school, work, family issues, relationship problems, illness, and anything else that causes us stress. But unlike Macandal, we can actually rise from the ashes of these fires. 

We go through trials and tests that sometimes seem too hard to bear. Even small trials can be difficult to get through. Like the phoenix, though, we can get roughed up from these trials to the point that we figuratively burst into flames. We yell at our roommates because we are so tired of them not washing the dishes. Or we get so mad about a failed test that we can't forgive ourselves for not studying harder or paying more attention in class. Or we break down because we just can't fight with a friend anymore.

But then, after our moment (or moments) of weakness in whatever form it takes, we rise from the ashes. We find that we've grown and that we are stronger than before. It wasn't easy, but nothing in life is. 

I would say that this is a subtle, but recurring, theme in The Kingdom of This World.

Do you have any experiences where you've had the chance to rise from the ashes?