... better known in English as,
When We Dead Awaken, is the last play written by the great Norwegian dramatist Henrik Ibsen.
I have yet to read it, but have been fascinated by the title ever since I first heard of the play, given my own consuming need to engage with death, transformation and meaning.
Just for fun, here are some quick facts about When We Dead Awaken.
- It was published in 1899 and first peformed in 1900 in Sttutgart.
- Some have attacked the play as being a mere 'echo' of Ibsen's earlier, superior works, due to the lack of realism of its characters and its exaggerated symbolism - something he had apparently rejected as an approach in his writing.
- It is also said to be Ibsen's most dream-like play, suffused with existential yearning, regret and, perhaps, transcendence - though the work apparently does not answer its seemingly most urgent question: how can we 'awaken' in this life, in which we are encouraged, in so many ways, to remain in a state akin to death?
Borrowing from Wikipedia's synopsis of the play:
"Arnold Rubek, a celebrated sculptor and his wife, Maia, find themselves tense and ill at ease while traveling. Maia finds herself drawn to Ulfheim, a brutal hunter who contrasts sharply with her cold, withdrawn husband. Rubek, for his part, encounters Irene, a beautiful woman from his past. Awakening memories, desires, and an acute existential crisis in Rubek, Irene leads him to a mountaintop. As they approach the summit, both are killed in an avalanche. From the valley below, we hear Maia singing exultantly."
So, you may ask, what am I getting at? Why is this play on my mind and why am I blogging about it this evening?
Put simply: I was thinking about Awakening with a capital 'A' and how, in a myriad of different forms - and from a truly diverse set of sources - there is more and more talk of it.
Indeed, whether we like it or not, humankind seems to be rapidly reaching some kind of turning point in its collective history.
And if we tune in to the slightly-less-mainstream news analyses and reportage of day-to-day events, gussied up by the usual number crunching and token quotes, we find that people are heralding a dramatic shift in how we are to experience each other, time, our planet, our understanding of the universe and even, for those open to it, God.
Time, itself, is apparently changing. I say 'changing' to cover the various claims that is speeding up or slowing down or due to stop altogether. Linear time, that is. Once it does - and depending on whom you read or listen to, it could be October 28, 2011 or December 21, 2012 - the world's 'time' counter restarts from 'zero' or we enter a multidimensional, 'timeless' state or both or neither.
And this comes about either through a cataclysm such as pole shift, or a catastrophic global economic recession (eg. when Peak Oil is reached or Global Warming speeds up to such an extent we have to discontinue unclean energy even before we have the necessary technologies in place to continue our way of life), which sets of WWIII (Armageddon) for resources, or wave upon wave of different energy vibrations (which affect us and, hence, the earth - which is an extension of our consciousness).
Or all of the above.
What most seem to agree on, though, despite disagreements on how the 'awakening' will manifest, is that a grand paradigm shift is on its way - a breakdown of the dualistic, left-brain perceptions of the world, and a rise of a feminine, diversity-embracing perspective and a new awareness of the staggering interconnectedness of life.
And it makes sense that religions such as Baha'i, which stress the dawn of a new unity, knitting together our diversity, are growing steadily.
Awakening.
I wonder how this will all shape up. Lately, nothing at all seems certain. Life seems very fragile, and things I took for granted regarding the future seem like dreams.
Perhaps this is all a dream we are dreaming collectively, and we're about to be (rudely?) awakened.
Will those now alive - my parents' generation, my generation, and all those younger and still being born - have to live through a global conflagration? A physical, economic and societal breakdown (and hopefully rebirth)?
And will our awakening - that we are all one and interconnected and interdependent - be born from an ultimate calamity, or arise in spite of it, or merely concurrent with it?
Or will we awaken and avert or ameliorate a calamity?
