R S Robison

Becoming Lightning, Becoming Bird R S Robison

Becoming Lightning, Becoming Bird concerns a journey of evolving consciousness in a particular woman at the midpoint of her life. It answers the question of how a journey of evolution might appear through a woman's experiences beyond the ideas in R. M. Bucke's Cosmic Consciousness and Joseph Campbell's Hero with a Thousand Faces. Imagine a woman in the middle of her life, in the middle of Oklahoma, shocked into the adventure of awakening by totally losing her way. Her normal world as an interior designer and ever-pleasing wife and mother is turned upside down as she is compelled to break all ties to find a new way of being. From the violent storms and dark nights of Oklahoma, from betrayal and loss of vision, she travels southwest to care for an injured relative and her life changes along the way. Symbol clashes upon symbol and everything becomes a metaphor for transcendence. Trickster helpers masquerade now as mangy dog, now as crow, now as shaking old woman. The temptation to go back to the way she was remains a constant enticement and new temptations forever arise. She's faced again and again with the choice of regression or going beyond. In every moment. Just as we all are.