The Existential Message From "Horton Hears A Who"

Dark Night of the Soul

Dark Night of the Soul is the title of a poem written by 16th-century Spanish poet and Roman Catholic mystic Saint John of the Cross. The main idea of the poem can be seen as the painful experience people persevere as they seek to grow in spiritual maturity and union with God. Like Saint John, every soul has its dark night. Some, like those experiencing with depression, experience more dark nights than others. Author and world renowned psychic Sylvia Browne said about Earth in her book, Souls Perfection, that if we simply survive an earthly incarnation, we have done something heroic! She believes we choose to come to Earth in order to experience certain trials, and to learn lessons from them. To Sylvia, Earth is a sort of school – a boot camp if you will. The message from both these authors, a saint and a psychic, is that life is hard. If you dont prefer to listen to them, then remember that Buddha said it too, and Christ also demonstrated it. Christs life showed that theyll crucify you every time (metaphorically speaking). This is not an easy planet to be on. We arrive with a cold slap on the butt, and exit as they throw dirt in our confront! By now, you must be thinking, Wow, Nina really had a bad night! The point is: we all experience them. Moments when life seems cruel, meaningless and hopeless, nothing more than a sadistic joke. There are moments when life seems both random and harsh, moments when you say to yourself, Whats the use? Whats all the experiencing for? These dark nights of despair leave us questioning the meaning of our existence. Strangely, its not until we experience Dark Nights of the Soul that we can appreciate the light.

The Light At The End of the Tunnel

Youve heard the saying, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel? Light looks brighter because of the darkness around it. The polarity of life is the breadth, thoroughness and meaning of it. Not until we have seen our shadow (Jung) can we appreciate our light. In Jungian psychology, the shadow or shadow aspect is a part of the unconscious mind consisting of repressed weaknesses, shortcomings, and instincts (Wikipedia.com). Simply, the contrast between darkness (unknowing) and light (knowing) defines living, giving it more significance. The cool drink is cooler on a hot Summers day. The explosion into laughter, orgasm or grief is relieving, and wouldnt be cathartic without the precipitous state of withholding. We humans experience life as meaningful because of its polarities. The Dark Night of the Soul, though painful, enables us to savor and appreciate the mornings bright dawn. The meaning of Horton Hears A Who broke upon my mind two years after having seeing it; suddenly, in the foreground on my mind, the characters seemed less Dr. Seuss-ish, and surprisingly spiritual. It seemed to me, what was originally a touching childs book, was offering a considerably adult lesson that I had missed.

We Are Here!

During my Dark Night of the Soul, as I pondered why there has to be such experiencing in the world, I sent out a question, or maybe it was a prayer, but it sounded like this: Do you know we are here? As I did, I remembered the storyline of Horton Hears A Who, and how the Whos in Who-ville had, in desperate distress, trumpeted a similar message to the Universe: We are here, we are here, we are here! Suddenly, I felt small, like the Whos; a single voice in a tiny colony of souls who lived on the pin-point sized dot on the head of a dandelion. I wondered if God was like Horton the elephant, goofy but kindly-hearted, living a carefree and blissful existence, caught unawares by the tiny sound of the Whos trumpeted message: We are here! I thought, if there is a God, I hope He is a big fellow with a soft heart, like Horton. I dont already care if He is goofy like Horton (played by Jim Carey). I also thought about how, already in Hortons world, there was an antagonist; a disparaging, vengeful voice (played by Carol Burnett). I smiled all over again when I thought about the yellow puffball named Katy, my favorite character in the film, whose one-liner delighted my daughter and I: In my world, everybody eats rainbows, and poops butterflies. In Hortons world, as in our world, there are agonists, antagonists, and the clueless, quirky souls, too. I thought: if in the movie Horton represented God, and we are the Whos-small, seemingly insignificant and randomly falling by space, whats the message of the film?

A Person Is A Person, No Matter How Small

Throughout the movie, Horton repeated a mantra which kept him saving Who-ville from destruction, and it was: A person is a person, no matter how small. What Horton meant was: in spite of of the immense size difference between himself and the Whos, the Whos were as important to Horton. He couldnt let them perish when he had the strength to save them. What we found endearing about Horton was that he valued life, he held it holy. already life that was so small, by comparison, that he couldnt see it, and had to strain to hear it. If there is a God, I hope in this regard, He is like Horton. In the Dark Night of the Soul, we are sending out a message, whether it is whispered in prayer, in thought, or shouted from the rooftops: We are here! The existential Message I finally saw in Horton Hears A Who was: Everyone matters, no matter how small; in sum, every one has value. If you believe there is a God, or a Higher strength, or at all event you want to call it, then allow this simple childs movie to remind you, as it did me, that the Creator, like Horton, hears us, and is moved by our requests. And if you are an atheist, and do not believe, then consider the movies theme anyhow: we are all equals, and consequently, everyone is worthy of compassion. at all event your spiritual belief, there was a hidden message for you in Horton Hears A Who, and I wanted to proportion it with you.

Oh, and one more thing… It wasnt until I allowed myself to grieve that this insight came to me. Insight often sneaks up on us when we have opened our hearts. Light follows darkness every time.

References:

Dark night of the soul. (2011). Wikipedia.com. Retrieved from the World Wide Web on July 22, 2011.