The abyss comes from the Greek word abismos which means something that has no end. In practically all the mythologies there exists a primordial abyss where all undifferentiated things appear, but in a chaotic manner. All cosmologies have then the aim of infusing logos, i.e order into this primordial state of things.
This confused, primordial state very quickly was perceived as a negative manifestation in many cultures. For instance, for the ancient arkadiens, the vengeful mother Tiamat had to be beaten by her sons Marduk that put some order in the universe with his triumph. In psychoanalysis the abyss is also seen and a state of regression where the alienated may disappear into psychosis.
Yet, in the same way that the abyss can be seen as a bottomless pit, it can also be reversed. The up-ward abyss of the skies can also point towards the great mystery of the divine. Master Eckhart speaks of the “ungrund”, the abyss inside each of our hearts where dwells the divine.
Now you take the floor, what do you associate with the abyss?
{ 37 comments… read them below or add one }
El abismo, un sitio infinito donde demora el misterio y el dolor, es verdad que estamos desarrollando ideas con muchos logos negativos.
Para mi las cosas tienen 2 sentidos, como una carta del tarot que su valor depende de si esta invertida o no, asi el amor puede ser odio o cariño,el dinero perdida o ganancia etc.
Para mi el abismo negativo es un estado de confusión absoluto, de tristeza, de perdida, tal como un heroe capturado en un pozo, la luz atrapada en la oscuridad.
Es el momento en el cúal todos entramos un día, hasta que encontremos las respuestas para motivar nuestro corazón a salir del hoyo.
Por otro lado, el abismo también lo plasmo como una vía de meditación al rostro del cosmos, hacia la conciencia, hacia dios, otro camino infinito con la única idea del concepto supremo, del conocimiento.
Puedo sugerir que en nuestro propio hoyo y dolor yacen las preguntas necesarias para continuar, y que desde el mismo abismo se crea la fe suficiente para creer en lo divino, en el camino.
No me acuerdo exactamente como decia la cita, ¿ pero no dicen que es en nuestros miedos, que encontramos lo mejor o lo peor de nosotros mismos.?
To me, abyss is when Love comes…
Love relates to the word abyss well, its beauty is like an abyss, its pleasure is like an abyss so much as I am scared to dive into it freely, the pain it gives is like an abyss.
Love is so deep that it scares the hell out of me, coz it has the quality of an abyss in all its intense aspects…
The abyss is something that has no end. This never-ending abyss is the past and the future. Some say that the abyss is a bad place to be, a “bottomless pit” but only when you find yourself living in the future, in the what ifs, is when you enter this pit. The abyss can also be seen as a “state of regression” which would be returning to an earlier state or form, living in the past. It is important to live in the present because otherwise you find yourself living in this unhealthy abyss.
The abyss is what stands between your and your personal legend. The abyss is your future, what is to come in your life, on your quest to your personal legend. You can think and dream about your future but when you submerge yourself into it is when you become fearful, losing your ability to live in the present falling into a bottomless pit. Your personal legend is found on the horizon, though you are never able to reach that horizon you are only able to recreate your personal legend the farther you travel with the more knowledge you gain.
The abyss is also the past, an earlier period on your journey to your personal legend. Returning or reminiscing on past events allows you to beat yourself up about the wrong turns you have taken along your journey when you should be using those mistakes to learn and move on from. The abyss cannot be reversed but you have the ability to revisit and patch up relationships with people and recreate goals you may have had in the past. By taking the lesions you learned as well as the people you have met in the past you are able to move forward to live in the present.
The abyss can be reversed, meaning that you can remove yourself from the bottomless pit either the past or the future to live in the present. It also means that whatever is pre-written for you, the idea of maktub can be altered or reversed. Your fate is what you make it; the choices that you make, how hard you work, what your dreams and aspirations all assist in who you become on your journey to your personal legend. It may seem that some of the events in your life predestined and perhaps they are, but the both the good and the bad that happen in your life can be reversed, you can dig yourself out of the bottomless pit to make something better for yourself.
When you live in the abyss of the past or the future you are unable to fully enjoy the present. You must learn to balance the lessons from the past, the thoughts of the future and the marvels of today. “Because I don’t live in either my past or my future. I’m interested in only the present. If you can concentrate always on the present, you’ll be a happy man. You’ll see that there is life in the desert, that there are starts in the heavens, and that tribesmen fight because they are part of the human race. Life will be a grand part for you, a grand festival, because life is the moment we’re living right now.” (page 85 The Alchemist)
To me The Abyss means something unknown to us, as we cannot come to understanding it seems chaotic! But that`s not possible, because such a perfect world can be only the greatest, ever seen, exhibition of Art! But the Art of Creation!
Therefore, I cannot consider that this World is created from Chaos, simply because Chaos creates even more chaos! Think through, when we are confused,lost and feeling under, anything we try to do, or make is useless, and leads to even greater dispair!
that`s why I think that Abyss is unknown, and when we bring some light of understanding, intuition into and we get knowledge of that (psyche, universe)… It`s somehow in human`s nature to have everything in order, to know of everything… And when it`s not that way, people tend to confussion and Chaos! To avoid that, we created Abyss, an endless chaos for the things that are beyond our understanding!! That keeps us in control of the nature, because if there was chaos in the begining, its the constant development of the mankind that created order in the World!
We should only give into the Nature, enjoy it, explore the Abyss bravely!
For some years, I was lucky enough to SCUBA dive in the Grand Caymans. They are shallow lands, with sudden drop-offs, referred to as “The Wall”. It’s said that the wall goes down some 10,000 feet.
Diving, I would find myself at around 100 feet or so below, and then drop down over the wall, seeing a great, deep blue below. I watched sharks and ancient turtles move over this massive space. Eagle Rays floated like hawks on an unseen wind.
There was a film made, “The Abyss”. It was made after the creators went down the wall in a Bathyosphere. My father wanted me to join him in experiencing this expensive experience. We got into the cramped space with a pilot, and plunged 75 feet per second down to 800 feet below sea level.
The pilot lit up the halogens. In front of us in the pitch was a shipwreck that had landed on a little shelf. She’d gone down in the sixties, with no crew lost, but she was an eerie sight. Her ropes, nylon, floated completely still in that dark space.
The fish, such as they were, were merely slight plant forms, reaching out to catch their needs. It is perhaps similar to lunar-scapes, down there. The absence of light allows the most base existences. It is a contrast of black and white, a full exploration of the grey scale.
As we rose ever upward, the creatures that we saw became ever more complex. Moray Eels showed themselves from between their lairs. At around 300 feet, the sunlight had started to filter in, so the beginning of varied of sea life started to show. Corals and fish, in ever-gaining colours began to fill our view.
There are many forms of the abyss. It is part of our experience. I find it in my suicidal depressions. I find it in the loss of self when I am painting. I find it in the quiet contemplation of the powers beyond, like atoms, mountains, black holes and the movement of everything from the planets to the helping hand.
The sound of certain tones, the smell that transports, the animals around us, the suffering and the redemption of people. Abyss is a space where we are not ourselves; for better, or for worse.
Thank you so much for this opportunity to reflect and write.
Dano.
For me is associated with a negative feeling, a place without end and without feiling, full of emptyness. A kind of trap that once you come in you can not get out.
I come from a Catholic family, and for sure the meaning that I have for this word, comes from the “abysm” where all the condemm people will suffer forever…
Now, if you ask me if this place exists, I would say that it exists in the measure that people thinks and believe in it. For me the universe is ruled by the law of love, that place has no meaning for me.
Have a nice day!
María de Lourdes
http://www.mariadelourdeseguren.blogspot.com
The ‘What Is Life To Me Without Thee’ by Kathleen Ferrier on the album ‘Blowing the Wind southerly’ is from a story, I believe, where a lover has lost his/her love to the Abyss and goes to look for him/her. (Sorry I don’t know how to download and post this clip directly to the blog).
A chasm so deep, the drop-off into which is so steep, that I dare not walk up to the rim and stare in; rather, if I am to approach the abyss at all, it is inch-by-inch, crawling on my belly. Once there, I hang just my chin over the lip, peer in and cringe. This is how I know it is the abyss, and not just some other mundane ravine I must cross to arrive at my destination. Did I say cross? Yes, I must cross it. This leg of the journey is not optional. There is no detour to circumvent this perilous event. Some say that the only way to traverse it is by a flying leap of faith–a running start, a jump and a heart-beat’s distance across. Others claim that the only way across is through. That one must lower oneself down into this rocky womb on a long rope–that one must plunder its depths thoroughly, then grope one’s way back up with scarred knuckles and bleeding hands. And then, of course, there are those who tumble into it, quite unaware, quite incidentally–as oblivious as the Tarot’s Fool. But there is one other way of which I know. There is this bridge, you see. I saw it once. I saw it in a dream. That was many years ago, and yet I’ve never forgotten the image that came to me. You know the type of bridge I mean–everyone has seen one at one time or another, pictured in some National Geographic article detailing impassable terrain. It is a wooden footbridge, narrow and rickety, pieced together from poles and boards, none of which seem uniform in any manner, and all of which appear weatherworn and–who knows–perhaps half rotten. Though it traverses an apparently bottomless pit, it offers no handrails. If one cannot manage the crossing on foot, for fear of falling, one must drop to one’s stomach and crawl one’s way across. Whatever you do, don’t look down! I’m out here now. Can you see me? About half way across. Can you hear the supports creaking, the boards beneath me shifting and moaning in the high winds? My own heartbeat fills my ears. My own breath, the rope I cling to, to guide me across. Meet me, will you? Meet me on the other side….
You can also view the abyss as a realm of endless possibilities.
I have always associated The Abyss as a place of despair, a profoundly all-consuming place into which I can allow myself to go if I lose hope. In terms of juxtaposition, The Abyss is the opposite of hope. Abyssal thinking may become so consuming that all positive thought and energy are sucked into it as if trapped in a black hole. As a cancer patient, I thank the Creator for the power of creation. My writing has given me endless streams of hope as well as my connection with other human beings. Our interconnectivity gives us the power to overcome even the darkest of human events.
For me the abyss is one of two things: Either it is potentiality itself or it is the crippling fear of non-existence/the unknown. It is both. All cosmology has this as it’s basis from Genesis to the Hindu Rig Vedas. All of reality comes from the potential of nothingness- which is perfection itself- Mixed with consciousness. The first thing consciousness would do is create. Thus when the totality of perfection and the wholeness of reality was made known- The universe was so. It was. It is. It will be. There are layers upon layers of reality including parallel ones. I believe this to be the core of spirituality and God/the Source. Dreaming a dream in which the characters are unaware they’re dreaming too.
Much Love,
-C
PS- I wrote a graphic novel about a similar subject actually. :)
For me Abyss is just the place without border around, between + and – infinity .A place where we can act and experiment us,however we decide to live and learn.It can surprised us only if we didn´t decide us in complitly selfconsciousness to use the one or the other place to act.
My sweetest experience, thought, feeling, emotion… Positive in a dream and negative in a childhood nightmare of my regression that was stopped by my older brother who called awakening me. In was only like me becoming rapidly younger and younger until becoming a fetus into my mother. But I keep the sweetest emotion forever.
Abyss reminds me of darkness and darkness for me is the symbol of the unknown and the unknown is a surprise a good or a bad one..
Love,
Lia
Only by traversing the abyss we are able to find the sphere of the receptive archetype, female if you will.
The spehere where these Four are dissolved into One and Nothing: naught – one – many – all.
Understanding can be reached, but there is no way around the abyss.
To the traveller coming from below, weary of making the crucial but necessary leap, it thus appears as both heaven and hell.
Eu gosto da figura do Louco do taro mitologico, que caminha a beira do abismo.
Reading now the others’ views, the abyss may also be something like the gap between the stars which is what we do not see yet know that is there. The void of our ki which is never ending yet in us. A source of vacuum which is undescribeable. A negative (in a neutral sense) power source.
To me, the avissos or abyss, has had a completely different impact to me due to my first actual contact with the word. In a Greek class which i took reading a book by Kazantzakis, my teacher referred that Kazantzakis conceived the abyss as: (in my words) the crutch of humankind towards viewing others’ misery. So a person would see the abyss of others (misfortunes etc) so as to feel “better” of oneself. To that extent, the abyss has never negatively affected me. As a matter of fact, every once in a bad while i experience, I may try to keep a faded view of this connotation to keep me up.
The Abyss is by no means negative…….
It is where the primordial stuff of LIFE lies- waiting for Us to discover…
The womb, Caves, The Ocean Floor-Places Where Miracles occur-
If we look into the Abyss- We find our deep Human Essence- What we are made of…
We are Forever Safe in The Abyss-
It is a place of Safety and Truths sleep there waiting for us to AWAKEN them….
ALL LOVE=cat
I am not scared of the Abyss, I just associate in my head the state of the unborn child , when he/she is still in her Mum’s body, protected and warm
you cannot have memory of that, but I think the child is quite happy in that state, without hunger, without being too cold or too hot
I think that is the Abyss, the enormous magma of material from which we came from, the very start and probably where we go when we die, safe and unaware
cheers
A rich green valley, lush and full of surprises, where the forests are primiveal and undisturbed; where the sunlight does not reach the ground, and nature thrives; everything that goes by the laws of nature thrives.
the abyss contains the unknown, darkness, hidden depths,
with potential fear, potential enlightenment:
hence both chaos and order through pattern;
it is of astronomical proportions.
it is the future of the universe in motion and also the past of the universe encapsulated;
it is mythological, science fiction….
For me abyss is black hole, and in the same time it is endless blue of the sea and sky.
While black hole implieas negativity , endless blue represents positive unknown , endless, limitless possibilities !
Love
Luce
Zero point gravity field, the center of gravity where all is again one. The death and birth of everything.
‘Abyss is the soul of a woman’! This is a Cypriot saying, showing that men cannot understand us !!!If only they could…love us!!{Joking]
Abyss= without a ground, THE ABOSLUTE IS.
He is the One, who has neither a ground, a beginning nor a state; and is of Naught, save only of Himself.
He is the WILL of the Ungrund. He is in himself only ONE. He occupies no place nor space: from eternity to Eternal Nothing. He has neither a ground, a beginning nor a state.
He is the Will of the Wisdom, the Wisdom is of his manifestation.
God comes about to be everywhere and always. He is the foundation ground and the groundlessness.
The Abyss is freedom in the Darkness.
I think we can not percieve Him with our Minds.
LOVE,
THELMA
This remainds me of the saying: “When you look into the abyss, the abyss also looks into you” – Nietzsche.
I tend to consider the Abyss as a mirror, reflecting a vast unknown space that lies within me, keeping invisible some things that are unreachable from the sight, though enough present to make possible the standing of the walls of the Abyss.
para mim, a definiçào simples de Platão- e genial voce sente atração pelo abismo, o abismo também sente atraido,por voce!
This is a fantastic visualisation.The abyss inverted and the vista of skies open up.
of late i have started reading one sanskrit hymn (To lord Vishnu-one of the trinity in the Hindu mythology..)visualises God as “gagan sadryasham..” i.e. like the skies .. and i was holding that thought whenever i am in the conventional abyss……
so when i read this blog , i felt it is another point of view of a similar nature.
When i visualise God as “sky” then i feel that the whole heaven is opening up to embrace me.It fills one with a light and lightness.
i just finished reading the Goddess of Portobello…(the word Goddess just flew out of me.. ) even though when i started writing i had no intention of that..the book is amazing like all the few books that i hv read by Mr Coelho.
i had no idea that there is anything wrong in perceiving “Mother”in the Christian world view.. as in Hindu Mythology we have always worshipped “Mother” as the primeval source of all energy/shakti.. most of the forms that we worship have female consorts to “complete” them..
We worship “Ram and Sita”., Shiv and pARVATI..” and completely comfortable with this idea..
Of course i can’t honestly comment on our religion or any other as i am simply a seeker and am just trying to explore my own abysses and peaks .. and like millions around me do not have the courage to throw convention to winds, and truly try out and experiment.. i could neither be sherine/athena or even Andrea………
I live with status quo of all kinds..and can only pray that as i try to tread the path of (More or less )complete surrender..the spark of divinity which i hunger for would ignite..
till then i live vicariously thru’ wors of wisdom such as in books of Coelho.. Osho.. and many more master..
Thanks Mr Coelho for your wonderful odysseys………..
I associated the word ABYSS with under science fiction move. BUT now that you mention that “abyss” means without end. So to be casted into the abyss, is a place without hope, there is no escape, that no matter how great your fortitude or your pursuance you will literal NEVER reach your goal. To be casted into the abyss alone is truly frightening.
As a human I have a problem with physical ideal/concept without end. I understand the math but the reality without end or infinite is mind boggle.
On the 5th of June 1993 at 5:05 PM Baltimore county hospital pronounce me dead. The last words I heard his blood pressure in 35 over zero. My vision started to tunnel, then I only saw blackness. For a few seconds I had no body, sometime later I could see my body. I was nude, my belly was gone and I was floating in blackness. At one point I called out to God and then I saw a spec of light. I was pulled/moved to the light. Once inside I saw two men I did not recognize, they pointed to a woman holding a child. I heard a voice asking me who would look after them. I said I will. Many months later upon visit relatives I realized the two men were my grandfathers (they both died when I was 3)
I do not want to return to that “blackness” Till you mentioned the abyss without end. I viewed the “blackness” as only vast. Though I could not see the end/barrier. However, I believed there was an end.
At my former job, they hired an astronaut who name I have forgotten. He had been in space. He had seen my artwork and knew that I liked comics. He said SPACE was not like how TV show Star Trek pictured it He said the planets floated in LIGHT. The reason the camera portrayed SPACE as dark is that light send out from the camera never came back. SO the camera interpret it as black.
So is the abyss bathed light scary? I do not know.
Sorry for the long reply
I think its the unknown ! – positive and negative ..but anyone who trusts life knows that only good will come ..and you are supported by the universe and other forces so just jump I say …
Blessings Tania
Tough question today.Abyss sounds little frightening.Who knows what was before everything ?The chaos was awaiting the divine touch?I really think nobody really knows how things were at the beginning.
Symbolic = a huge depression
The opposite= euphoria
Dear senor Coelho
If it is a bottomless pit, how does it look like if you turn it upsidedown as you say? My vision is reaching the stars and the universe and leaving the concept of TIME. The image of the bottomless change, death. In the abyss, gravity really shows her strenght. Normally (I live in France) I would be dead by reaching the bottomless if not the eagle fetch me. But maybe the eagle catch me anyway.
Because the abyss is a picture of the great change, falling into the unknown – death. And death is the grand change.
Just for fun, let us keep the idea of death – but leave the idea of gravity which actually is the physically strongest force that humanity acknowlegde. And I throw myself into the abyss – and I fly. Upwards – lifted by celestial thermicos. By leaving my known surface to seek the ungravity, I’ve already farewelled this life.
The abyss is then grand change.
These images can be seen in the works of Marc Chagall.
I will not miss the opportunity to my most profound thanks for charing your dreams and writings.
Love from Merete N. N.
El abismo, un sitio infinito donde demora el misterio y el dolor, es verdad que estamos desarrollando ideas con muchos logos negativos.
Para mi las cosas tienen 2 sentidos, como una carta del tarot que su valor depende de si esta invertida o no, asi el amor puede ser odio o cariño,el dinero perdida o ganancia etc.
Para mi el abismo negativo es un estado de confusión absoluto, de tristeza, de perdida, tal como un heroe capturado en un pozo, la luz atrapada en la oscuridad.
Es el momento en el cúal todos entramos un día, hasta que encontremos las respuestas para motivar nuestro corazón a salir del hoyo.
Por otro lado, el abismo también lo plasmo como una vía de meditación al rostro del cosmos, hacia la conciencia, hacia dios, otro camino infinito con la única idea del concepto supremo, del conocimiento.
Puedo sugerir que en nuestro propio hoyo y dolor yacen las preguntas necesarias para continuar, y que desde el mismo abismo se crea la fe suficiente para creer en lo divino, en el camino.
No me acuerdo exactamente como decia la cita, ¿ pero no dicen que es en nuestros miedos, que encontramos lo mejor o lo peor de nosotros mismos.?
The abyss may not be not negative, but necessary. As to make an useful balance.
Reading the post about “The dream of God” yesterday, I was brought to recall about dreams, I made into the universe. Each time, I could see how things are (or my imagination draws it like this), there’s dark around. Indeed, in order to see how a star borns, or big-bang, it must be surrounded by dark. What if we were standing in the light? We would see nothing…
As we have abyss in ourselves. Abyss, where we have to find an equilibrium. And, I think a warrior of the light is always walking in, between wisdom and madness, until the end.
There is light and dark everywhere, and we tend light to be credible, good, fair, and so on. And we are right, though light surely needs dark for life. And whether we wanted to be blind about, it may be logical.
There is abyss in the water, as the ocean is seperated in two big streams. All is divided in 2 that probably makes a third Thing. No, I am totally delirious here. But logically the marriage of the two are making a “point”, that inevitably make three. A poise.
We can lose oneself in abyss, and it’s synonymus to madness, depression, and other psychotic “reactions”.
We could reach oneself into the abyss. Jesus The Christ, Orpheus are two histories, that shows we could be victorious in the down and up of the journey. Though, Orpheus, we know, has doubted at the last minute. He forgot oneself, and so faith.
Faith and love are obviously the key to stay stoïc into the abyss. And yet, some are so caught by the idea of descending that they feint where they really are. Nevertheless, if they are on, it’s well done for a thing.
As for me, all tends from an abyss dark, to a paradise: Light. Married, and divorced, the same day. But first, may be dark. Then, the experience of the light.
Also Genesis tales so. See God creating the Luminaries. So perhaps, there were no light in the beginning. No black and mean, but dark. And ying-yang began to turn…This could be a never beginning nor ending Thing. I think human brain now used, is not enough to understand. And if we knew, we were not there. That’s the juicy.
As to abyss, monsters and hideous are maybe human’s “mitotè”, regarding the ignorance towards death, diseases, and body decomposition. I never thought abyss as something bad, certainly thanks to Jesus and Orpheus.
The fight is first against oneself, and as in movies and video games, there is probably one boss at the end.
Many times we are deeply influenced by the negative or positive use of a certain word and it requires an effort to go further the common meaning.
So, if it’s true that the word abyss means in its origin, something with no end …moreover it’s true that naturally at the beginning comes to mind an unexplored place, an imaginary world or dimension of wich we don’t have any experience…but this is the definition of most of our fears.
When we are scared about something that we don’t really know , it doesn’t necessarily mean that this “something” must be for sure so…scaring.
That’s why I like the revolutionary vision of Master Eckhart.
For me the abyss was what I knew when I abandoned my Path (the Path I have been following) from nine years old till sixteen (around).
So I cannot describe with words that terrible experience.
Then I started to see the Light again when I was twenty one, twenty three.
I have been in the darkness, lost and confused all these years, but the Light has been always with me. The abyss I knew the other years, when I abandoned my Path, was something different from the darkness.
In the abyss, there is no Light. In the darkness and bad moments, there is always Light even if you are very lost, and want to die, and know nothing …
The abyss is very different.
And I´m not talking about drugs or drinking. I got there without the need of taking drugs. I even do not know how they are.
{ 1 trackback }