16. Wild Horses
Or, of Baby Steps & Breakthroughs
Show Notes
Big 3 Ideas from this episode:
Plato’s Allegory of the Soul : The “soul” is a chariot driven by a charioteer (Reason), drawn by two horses - let’s call them Yin (dark) and Yang (light).
Fun facts about imaginary horses:
Plato’s winged horses fly, fall, lose their wings, then grow new ones, and fly again.
Hold the belief for yourself that you can drive your chariot, balance the forces, and become the next version of yourself
Eugene Delacroix, Horse Frightened by Lightning, 1824-29
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Episode 16: Wild Horses
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This is episode 16, Wild Horses.
[00:00:26] Baby steps and breakthroughs. One step at a time. This may be the oldest news in the world, but we all have to be reminded. I have to hear it over and over one day at a time, one step at a time. Because our brains want to create big visions. Where we get there faster.
[00:00:46] We get big ideas. And then we realize all the work And then we get disillusioned because it's so difficult to take all the steps towards those big ideas. Especially artists, especially creative entrepreneurs.
[00:01:02] This is the type of person who has a big vision and wants to get started on it right away.
[00:01:07] We dive into things. We can plan a masterpiece, but when it comes to actually executing it. The difficulties begin.
[00:01:15] We keep hitting the struggle button.
[00:01:17] But every small step is important.I can't just say, I'm going to paint a masterpiece and then just paint a masterpiece. You have to learn how to use your brush. You have to learn how to clean your brushes.
[00:01:29] lay out your painting. You have to decide what's going to be in it. You have to learn how to do all these different things.
[00:01:35] Everyone is going to do this differently. Some rules may not apply to you. Some may not work for you.
[00:01:40] And you may just decide to abandon some of them. You have to take certain steps to get there.
[00:01:45] So we take baby steps one day at a time, one step at a time. But also there are breakthroughs. Because sometimes we just keep taking the same little steps feeling like we're not really getting anywhere. And then suddenly.
[00:02:00] Everything feels. New.
[00:02:03] we learn something all at once. There's a big breakthrough.
[00:02:07] There's the world out there.
[00:02:08] Of work and appointments.
[00:02:11] Dinner engagements. Gardens that need to be weeded.
[00:02:15] Then there's the world in here. Of imagination and ideas, emotions and insecurities. The interior life. Both are you both are me. This is our lives.
[00:02:26] I recently re-read Plato's allegory of the soul.
[00:02:30] The soul is a charioteer.
[00:02:32] At the reigns of one of those two wheeled, Greek chariots, drawn by two horses.
[00:02:39] For Plato, this metaphor is very simple and very binary. I want to point this out at the beginning. Simple stories and allegories. are how we learn. But simple stories can also oversimplify complex idea. So in this story, Plato kind of [00:03:00] knows he's oversimplifying. But it gets more complicated as we go.
[00:03:04] So hold on tight.
[00:03:05] Plato has a white horse on the right. And that is the good horse, the Noble horse.
[00:03:12] And then on the left, he has the dark horse, the dark horse is wild and ignoble. For Plato's purposes.
[00:03:20] This is the idea of the good horse on the right, reflecting everything. That we. Do in our lives. That draws us towards the good and the social and community and the higher ideals of life.
[00:03:34] On the left, the dark horse is all of the wildness and appetites the unknown mysteries. This is Freud's And of course that horse is black. Or dark. So I just want to point out this binary. That good is white and dark is black. It's very binary Very oversimplified. And very racist. I also wanna point out that this idea is completely pervasive, not only in Western culture, but in Eastern culture Daoism, the idea of the yin and yang symbol. Take that simple binary and complicate it just a bit.
[00:04:10] the yang symbol. Has a drop of black in it. And the yin symbol has a drop of white in it. So the whole yin yang symbol.
[00:04:18] Represents. Nonbinary thinking. That we can't think just black and white, good and bad, dark and light, but within every dark and light. There is. Its opposite.
[00:04:30] in Plato's story. He also. Uses this allegory. To point out. That the third part of this is the charioteer. Or reason.
[00:04:38] And reason is driving the chariot. although it seems binary. Plato is basically saying that In order for a human to be fully human, we have to realize that we don't just have the two sides of ourselves that we have the third side. The charioteer, which is reason, driving the chariot.
[00:04:57] I just want you to be aware of that metaphor. It sounds like a false binary, but. It's just a little more complicated than that.
[00:05:05] Quote. The other is a crooked and lumbering animal put together. Any how I love that put together any how, because I think. This dark horse is patched together. Like a Frankenstein's monster.
[00:05:17] He has a short, thick neck. Is flat faced of a dark color with gray eyes and blood red complexion.
[00:05:25] end quote. So he is actually not a black horse necessarily. He is more of a dark red horse, but you get the idea.
[00:05:31] And this is something that I often think of when we say black and white.
[00:05:35] Now we say black and white and brown people. So we see different colors. And we think of people as being these different colors. But as artists, I've always thought of this as just bizarre.
[00:05:48] When we say white people. We don't actually mean white. We are oversimplifying this. Attitude. Some people are very, very pale. But I'm personally more pink and yellow in [00:06:00] color.
[00:06:00] And if you're talking about what we call black people, Most. are Various colors of brown. And. Lighter and darker. So this, again, this oversimplified, Black and white.
[00:06:12] Makes a huge differe. In conversations about it.
[00:06:15] And this is where I want you to take this metaphor on for yourself.
[00:06:19] I'm going to create my own metaphor of the soul. And maybe on my right side. I have a pink horse.
[00:06:27] And on my left side. I have an orange horse. Orange may be the color of wild. Of flowers. Flowers are basically sexual and erotic. Instruments in nature uh, to attract. Pollinators. So when you see that you can create different colors than just black and white. And understand colors. Symbolically on a different level than just black and white.
[00:06:57] Then your soul, your horses can become more complex.
[00:07:04] So for you, your wild horse may be green. That's the color of nature. Or in my case, it's orange. And maybe your right hand horse instead of pink. Or white.
[00:07:16] Like a skin color. It could be blue because you feel. There is a Clarity in the blue sky or water.
[00:07:24] This crooked lumbering animal on the left.
[00:07:26] Shag-eared hardly yielding to hardly yielding to clip and spur. So this poor horse has been through a lot. He can't even hear. And he probably. Just wants to go back to the barn.
[00:07:38] Or not be under this charioteer's rein,
[00:07:41] The wild horse just wants to go towards that beloved pursue it. I think of this as the creative. Impulse.
[00:07:47] Plato says when the dark horse beholds his vision of love. His whole soul is warmed through. And he senses the sparking and tickling of that desire. So the Charioteer feels this too. He sees an idea he wants to pursue. The obedience. Steed on the right.
[00:08:06] Is always under the government of shame. It refrains from moving forward. It is this artist in fear.
[00:08:14] This is the artist I talked about with imposter syndrome. When.
[00:08:17] We are in shame about. Looking on other people who have accomplished more than us. And thinking about their thoughts about So the good horse, doesn't jump on the idea. Doesn't go and pursue the beloved because of fear.
[00:08:30] But the other horse, the dark horse, my orange horse. heads straight. Towards this idea. This beloved creative impulse.
[00:08:38] And Plato says. quote. This horse plunges and runs away giving all sorts of trouble to his pale companion and the charioteer So that dark horse approaches the beloved and chases it.
[00:08:51] And we're talking about the creative act or the erotic love act, basically But. Reason or the charioteer basically [00:09:00] beats him into submission.
[00:09:01] The wild horse drags, the other horse and the charioteer along with him. Until. The charioteer. Can calm him down. And the charioteer needs both horses. If you only had the noble horse. It would end in frustration. If you only had the wild horse, you'd never really get. Anywhere.
[00:09:20] There would never be any balance. Your life would only be about appetite. So we need both sides of ourselves. We need the fear to be safe. We need the good and the moral we need constraint. But we need the other side, that dark horse, that orange horse that is sensitive to the beautiful intricacies.
[00:09:38] Of the world. That can pursue dreams no matter what. Throw paint on a canvas and color outside the lines.
[00:09:44] Plato said the body, which is moved from without. Is soulless. But the body, which is moved from within has a soul.
[00:09:53] So inside the soul, we have the charioteer. We have that moving vehicle, which includes not only the good side. But the wild side. And reason which tries to keep it all together.
[00:10:08] Next time. I'll talk about all the other different colors of horses.
[00:10:13] And how they can help you. In your creative process.
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