POISON: Toxic or Transformative?

May 26, 2022

Exploring the dual nature of poison, the discussion highlights its roles as both harmful and transformative. The conversation delves into psychological poisons, like self-doubt, and their impacts on mental health and personal growth. Through tales of Snow White and dreams, they reveal the necessity of embracing uncomfortable truths for healing. They also touch on the risks of accumulating knowledge, warning of the cautionary tales that accompany unchecked curiosity. Ultimately, poison serves as a metaphor for deeper insights and resilience.

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INSIGHT

Dual Nature of Poison

The word poison means both "remedy" and "poison" and represents something that can harm as well as cure.
Poison acts from within stealthily, blurring the boundaries of self and attacking vulnerable parts of our psyche.

ADVICE

Use Poison as Therapy

Small doses of poison can be therapeutic, similar to homeopathy or bee venom therapy.
Psychologically, we can build resilience and immunity by exposing ourselves gradually to minor poisons or challenges.

ADVICE

Build Resilience Through Exposure

Exposure therapy builds tolerance by gradually increasing exposure to fear triggers, helping regulate stress.
Avoid overprotecting children from discomfort to foster psychological resilience and immune responses.

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Pharmakon, the ancient Greek word for drug, can mean both “remedy” and “poison.” There is a close connection between poison and cure. Poison is stealthy, and takes us by surprise, whether through an unseen snake’s venomous bite or a ripe apple’s alluring disguise. Psychological poison glides past our defenses, pervades our being, and wounds us where we are most vulnerable. We participate in our poisoning through our own unknowing, from toxic cognitions and rigid fixations to self-doubt and self-sabotage. Poison can transform us by stinging us into building the immunity of increased consciousness and insight. Reason and objectivity can act as antidotes, allowing old attitudes to dissolve and new awareness to arise. Whether a poison is injected or ingested, we can use it for cure.

Here’s The Dream We Analyze:

“I am "cooking up" a batch of Xenomorphs (from the movie Alien) for a "client" in an underground lab. I'm mixing chemicals in a vat, and realize I missed a step...I call the client and am reassured it will still work, it will just take some extra time. The chemicals coagulate into a pink goo. The next day, I return to the lab and see swimming in a pool of water four adolescent xenomorphs. A male lab assistant tells me "This shouldn't have worked. They mutated and can only breath flesh." I see the adolescent aliens all have a caul of pink ectoplasm over their faces. The next day, I return to the lab and there is only one xenomorph, an adult, chained as if crucified to the back wall of a cell, wreathed in shadow. I peer at it from across the cell, and a white dove appears and flies across it. The alien's claw shoots out and snatches the dove from the air and crams it into its mouth. There is a great sucking sound, and I realize the alien is breathing the dove's flesh. My vision zooms in to the alien’s face. It regurgitates the dove's carcass, which inverts into a black cage of bone, and the alien screams. I am shocked awake.”

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