Intuition
“Stars, hide your fires,
Let not light see my black and deep desires”
Yesterday my daughters and I took an anachronistic trip to 16th century England, otherwise known as the local Rennfest. Each year there is a talented group of actors, called “Shakespeare’s Scum,” who parody my favorite playwright’s works in a way that (dare I say it), make them more accessible and sometimes even funnier than the original.
(Don’t tell Will).
One of their offerings was “Macbeth in 20 Minutes or Less.” They even directed someone in the audience to set a timer!
Needless to say, it was hilarious and poignant, and it got me thinking about why Macbeth is still relevant today.
Macbeth surrounded by the weyward sisters, aka the three witches
Although I was always turned off by the darkness of the play’s subject matter (envy, fear, and deceit that devolve into treasonous murder), this time it hit a little different.
Most of us (I hope) are not slinking around in the dark planning murder. Nor do we have spouses nagging us to “just do it” lest we be a weak, spineless, good-for-nothing loser.
What we do have, though, is an intuition, an inner guidance system, a conscience, a nudge, a gut feeling - call it what you want - that begs us to be authentic and to be ourselves under the brightest spotlight.
And how to we respond? Like Macbeth, I think: “Stars, hide your fires.”
There are so many times when we decide not to state our true intentions or feelings and instead keep them in the dark. It could be something as simple as not wanting to drink alcohol, but ordering a beer so you don’t have to explain yourself at a party. (“What if they think I’m a downer or a goody-goody? What if they don’t invite me anymore because they think I’m judging their drinking? What if I lose all my friends and end up alone?”)
Or it could be a work team wanting to cut corners or cover up a problem rather than tackling it head on. Do we stand up to the group, or do we stay silent because we don’t want to be labeled a troublemaker, or worse, lose a promotion or an opportunity because we’re not a “team player”?
What prevents us from expressing our truth? What prevented Macbeth from standing up to his pushy wife or the 11th century standard of worth? Why don’t we let our intuition (or conscience) be our guide?
Jiminy Cricket and Pinocchio
Fear.
In Macbeth’s case, he believed that he had no worth if he was not king. That is messed up, but it was Scotland in the 11th century.
Today, the fear is more subtle, but no less dangerous. We have evolved such that we know how to love and care for our fellow humans (including ourselves), tell the truth, and do the right things, but we fail to follow through for a myriad of reasons that almost always boil down to fear.
Some experts believe that turning away from our true selves manifests itself in disease in our bodies. I recently read a book by Carolyn Myss called Sacred Contracts that discusses this exact phenomenon. We know what feels right to us, yet we push it away all the time, hiding in the dark instead of being true to ourselves.
Are there any places in your life (work, home, social, spiritual) where you ask the stars to hide their fire, because you don’t want your true self to shine? Once you recognize them, what do you do about it?
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