David and Goliath as a Metaphor For Healing

David with the Head of Goliath

Giovanni Lanfranco, c. 1615

Since August, I've been afflicted with a strange malady.  I've decided just today that "Malady" is the best, if not perfect, word to convey the condition my condition's been in, give or take a few periods of relief or remission which only serves to make the next bout more grievous.  Miriam Webster defines malady as an abnormal state that disrupts a plant's or animal's normal bodily functioning.  The dictionary also uses words like disorder, disease, sickness, complaint, illness and a few more. 

The symptoms of this weird disorder consist mainly of pain that travels and shows up out of nowhere in various parts of my body.  I call it "the traveling pain" and liken it to the spin of the wheel of fortune; "round and round and round she goes, where she stops, nobody knows."  My chief complaint is muscle pain, severe enough to limit my mobility.  I've been to the Emergency Department twice,  consulted with my doctor, had various lab tests, X-rays and CT scans - and still no diagnosis.  While I thank my lucky stars that no morbid pathology was discovered, I would like to know what's going on with my body and why.  Fatigue is also a part of this mystery, and the onset of a bout brings depression, fear and anxiety.  It makes me a pain in the neck to live with - do I have to say "no pun intended" ?  I suppose I should, but would like to add, puns and slips are great diagnostic tools.  

Okay, now that I've gotten all of that out of the way, (not all of it, that would take pages), let me explain this blog post.  At first, I meant only to post my poem "Goliath" which I wrote many years ago, and a famous painting to go along with it.  When I first wrote the poem, or better said, when Goliath first wrote itself, I had no real or conscious idea what it meant.  Now I do, or think I do.  The meaning came to me when I began googling (thank you Google) in search of images of David and Goliath.  Those images led me to 1st Samuel, chapter 17 and an essay by Jesus Vega called "The Way of the Sling".  Both of these writings enlightened me, illuminated me, not only about the meaning of my poem, but also about the nature and origin of my malady (Goliath) and the best way for me (David) to conquer it.    Metaphor is also a wonderful diagnostic tool and also sheds light on a cure. 

I think I've said enough.  I have only one important thing to add.  Grief can be overwhelming, present itself as being bigger than life and insurmountable.   Grief, if repressed and not dealt with, can lead to despair.  According to Keirkegaard, despair is the sickness unto death.  Tomorrow will be the 6th anniversary of the death of my grandson.  He was taken from us suddenly at the age of 21 in an horrific car accident.  My grief is compounded by the added pain of having to see his mother, my daughter, suffering and trying to cope daily with her own overwhelming grief.  Now I understand why, without warning, after a 3 month remission of my symptoms, they suddenly re-appeared a few days ago when I was happily shopping for Lilies of the Valley.  The body senses these kinds of things, has it's own intuitive cosmic clock and calendar.   Grief and despair is my Goliath, and by God, it is my aim to sling that ugly giant a shot in the head, metaphysically speaking, that will put him out of business for good. 

 Excerpt from 1st Samuel 17 KJV Read the entire 17th chapter here

 48 And it came to pass, when the Philistine arose, and came, and drew nigh to meet David, that David hastened, and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine.

49 And David put his hand in his bag, and took thence a stone, and slang it, and smote the Philistine in his forehead, that the stone sunk into his forehead; and he fell upon his face to the earth.

50 So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and smote the Philistine, and slew him; but there was no sword in the hand of David.

51 Therefore David ran, and stood upon the Philistine, and took his sword, and drew it out of the sheath thereof, and slew him, and cut off his head therewith. And when the Philistines saw their champion was dead, they fled.

 

David Victorious Over Goliath
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio

Goliath

 

In embryonic half-clad sorrow

the Philistine unknowingly

projects his sad inheritance

over great and glossy apparatus

His shadow lies

Accordingly he penetrates

His purpose moves and then it fails

I feel him feeling nothing

Include this incipient

beater of drums

Pardon my pagan for showing

It isn’t easy ecstasy

that propels the climate

of my imagination

into a no-man’s land

of motor oil and misinterpretation

I beg and borrow

a cyborg here and there

under the thunder brush

It doesn’t matter

there’s always the incinerator

a madman to lead the way

I hook it and crook it

wear it around my neck

Eat it

Beat it

It doesn’t matter

when your head is in the giant’s lap

and your mouth is broken

by Leo

The shot I will hurl from my sling, personally monogrammed.

Excerpts from The Way of the Sling by Jesus Vega

The things that influence us are usually very simple, but they reach inside of us with greater impact. I believe that the Biblical story of David and Goliath, transmitted like an archetypal message, has pierced us and has become a way of feeling. David, a shepherd boy touched by divine grace, defeats the gigantic and frightful Goliath with his slinging ability. David’s humility, fortified by the security inspired by his religious spirit, wins over the pride of the giant. What boy [or girl] will not feel touched in the most intimate way by this story? Perhaps we all have a forgotten slinger boy[girl] inside.

What is the mechanism for using a sling accurately? The answer was given to me as a child, hidden in the story of David. The mechanism of precision in the sling is in the interior of the slinger. It was within David, and his religious inspiration. These "religious" feelings, or perhaps mystical, like the one of perfection, veneration, or delivery to a historical destiny, mobilize a series of internal resources that extend our natural capabilities. These are interior to the slinger, who is equipped with that wonderful capacity of precision, which escapes to his conscience. This capacity is too subtle and quick to be controlled. It is only necessary to know how to communicate with it. That communion between the man’s conscience and the magical background of his unconscious provides a joyful and enriching experience: knowing that we have something extraordinarily perfect and intense inside all of us.

This it is the way of the sling, the one of communication and harmony with our unconscious. It is a longer way, but their profits are very worthwhile; more intense, but less tired; more difficult, but simpler. And mainly, it is a rewarding, joyful and magical way.

The Way of the Sling-