Thought for the Day – April 29, 2026
I can do no better than to post the vision in acupuncture today. I now take the collapsing balloon as a metaphor for collapses everywhere and for how to respond.
Acupuncture. The scene began as soon as I closed my eyes. A huge balloon filled the space, and part of it was close enough for me to touch. It was a balloon. For quite a while, nothing happened, and then I could hear and then see the balloon was deflating, the air was coming out. After it fully collapsed, I understood that it was a symbol of what happens when inflation deflates, when a plan loses steam, or when the wind goes out of an idea’s sails. I also understood that the thing to do was not to try to fill the balloon again, but to focus on how to use the balloon in new ways. So, I thought the balloon could be gathered up to form a pillow and could be used as a dream pillow. It could be cut into figures to make a collage. It could be stretched across a frame and used as a canvas. It could be a backdrop for a photograph. These ideas kept coming to me (it was not like I was doing the thinking) for the rest of the session.
Russ
I guess we are experiencing deflation of life as it once was : robust, full, filled with the breath of someone with excellent lung capacity!
I am not sure how everybody else is feeling, but the collective depression is intolerable. But humans are infused archetypally with a capacity to make lemonade out of lemons. How can we use deflation to create a new paradigm? Can we? Can I? Since the deflation is inevitable, so it is clear, what do we do with something that was invented for only one purpose: to be a flaccid piece of rubber whose purpose was to be a bright eye-catcher at a child’s birthday or at a wedding or some flashy event. I know this state of something losing its original purpose and having to let ideas flow. What can this thing ALSO do? How can the bigger picture of collapse be redefined, reshaped? Is there a comeback? Psyche says yes. But you know, psyche ALWAYS says yes. Jung spoke of the inevitability that the psyche is growing in us until the last breath we take. The last dream we have. I prefer to work with what comes and see what possibilities can come from it. I think of Sabina Spielrein’s groundbreaking paper, “Destruction as the Cause of Coming into Being.” It is only when we face destruction of one thing that something new and living can emerge. I am thinking of a trampoline for mice.
Your experience reminds me of the experiences I had at first when I was being treated with Prolozone therapy for an impossibly painful neck injury. The treatment involves tiny injections that must be targeted with great skill. I recall that with each injection, the variety the patterns behind my eyes were nothing I’d ever seen before. They were so stunning in color, pattern, and movement that I researched whether it might be possible to photograph under the eyelid or render with some kind of photo equipment or scan a way of capturing the ephemeral, vibrant art expressing itself. Its magic captured my imagination. I realize now that I like getting lost in this way for the sake of adventure not knowing what will unfold moment to moment. I love the adventure of not knowing.