The Artifact Deciphered

Hey people this is my interpretation of the story, that inspired me to write 'The Inner Artifact'

There is a reason, for why this story came to my mind. The whole scenario of the desert is pointing to the vastness of life (most deserts are vast isn’t it?). His walking in the desert is nothing but the flow of life from the past to the present, to the future. The sand of the desert symbolizes the past (sand is refined powder of old rocks).  The action of walking is the present tense, because the archaeologist is doing it, which symbolizes that we are in the now.  He places his foot deep in the sand, which signifies a strong foundation in the past. The dropping of sand off his shoes symbolizes that he is not stuck in his past. What he sees in front of him, while walking, are the opportunities of the future.

He realizes a vague memory, while walking (that is when one is in the flow of life), mindful of the moment, his/her inner voice emerges. To the archaeologist it has emerged in the form of a building (which points to the objective in general) and specifically it has roman architecture. I have said so because I have seen such buildings having sharp tip at the roofs, which in the story, symbolizes the sharpness in the purpose of the inner voice.

Most of the times when we follow our inner voice, we get a lot of opposition from the mind and also the external world (which is like walking in the scorching sun).  Of course we need to relax and ease ourselves. But sometimes when we are truly motivated, it is so powerful, that the motivation develops a momentum in us, to keep moving forward in our endeavour.

Seldom life itself offers certain obstacles, just to test us. Indeed that is the way of life right , “Test a person first and then teach the lesson.” In the story, the archaeologist comes across a sand dune, which is difficult to climb, but then he doesn’t give up, instead he motivates himself, more and starts climbing it, to later realize, that the monument is in that place. This is more like, life putting a person in one of the toughest situations, just before stepping on the last step to accomplishing the goal.

After he ascends the dune completely, he sees the monument, which was in his mind. This is more like after a person has conquered the most challenging obstacle of life, it is more likely for that person to realize his purpose.

Once a person stands face to face in front of his vision, it feels as though like a dream, something which is unbelievable miraculous. So when the archaeologist sees the monument, he goes through a similar experience and he feels that the castles were there all along, just to welcome him. i.e., it is more like our vision and goals are just waiting for us, to welcome us, once we tap our infinite potentials. I have stressed upon limestone for two reasons. One it was used by the people long ago for construction purposes, which symbolizes that our heart/inner voice, already knows what we want out of life(the pattern of life) prior to anyone (way before anything), and the second reason is that limestone gives me a gentle feeling, which is very similar to the solace in ourselves, after realizing our purpose (after self-actualizing in a broader sense). The archaeologist sees pores in the building (when I say pores in the building, I get the pore patterns, as that on cheese), which is more symbolic to his absorbent mind. When mind is too absorbent, it is ready to observe the subtleties of life, which are more like cues to his real dreams.

Once he sees the path of his heart, he is afraid and uncertain, to walk further, which is why he sees  darkness stretching way long in the central pathway. When a person trusts himself and walks the path of his heart, though he’s afraid initially, somehow he’s guided by the elements of nature, in the most suitable way to the destination. The archaeologist in the story is similarly guided by those statues of sand, which have a fire torch (symbolic to guidance). The joy in following one’s heart is as joyful as listening to soft music, so I have mentioned that background music. I have mentioned 7 doors as number 7 has a mystic role in nature (very similar to mysticism in the journey of actualization).

I have been influenced a lot by Jungian ideas, so I have given a Jungian touch to the description of the place that the archaeologist finally arrives. The place is square like in shape, which symbolizes materialism and a sense of confinement of the physical material world (because a square has sharp corners, which are like limitations). Every person does enjoy materialism, but then after some point, there is a sense of dissatisfaction, which is when he/she tries to transcend that realm to higher liberty. 

The archaeologist sees the edges of the square like pattern to be smooth. (Imagine a square, then visualize the blunting of the sharp edges). He perceives it to be circular. Circles are symbolic to the wholeness, which is the feeling in the archaeologist as well, after coming to that place. The roof of this place has wider pores, which is metaphoric to the nature of acceptance that the archaeologist eventually learns through his journey.

When we closely observe the nature/role of water, it is a cleanser (i.e. it purifies anything in its way) and gives rise to new life forms. Similarly here in the story, the archaeologist is purified by his journey and has a new understanding of life, which has emerged from deep within him (more of an inward journey). In the story it has been depicted through his action of digging deep and finding a treasure box. This treasure box has the artifact he was searching for, which is a golden mask. The mask symbolizes identity and gold, the infinite potentials (gold is lustrous, and glitters bright, once it is refined from the process of metallurgy). Similarly a person becomes content and radiant after he’s refined from the process of life.

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The Road Map To Artifact

The poem, "The Inner Artifact" is the result of a story that conjured up, in my mind.

Walking in the deserts placing his foot deep inside the sand with each step, he hears the sound of sand dropping off his shoes, as he lifts his foot for next step. It gives him some kind of joy.

The desert.

  

While walking, he has a vague memory of a monument like structure (which he must have read of somewhere) , which has castles on both sides and a main building, huge in size, with a touch of roman architecture. He feels this is where he would find the artifact that he’s searching for, as he is an archaeologist by profession.

The window of memory

  He keeps walking in the scorching sun, which is unbearable for long time, hence he rests in shady places, where ever he finds one. But he can’t rest for long, because the whole thought and image of that place (the monument) comes to his mind and motivates him to keep going in search of it, no matter what.

 He walks for miles with motivation and all of a sudden, he has a  strange jolt of current (of hopes) passing through his body, signifying that he is  getting closer and closer to the monument in his mind.. Finally he arrives at a sand dune and gets immensely inspired to ascend it. The moment he is up half the dune, he feels cool breeze passing by and sees a monument emerging in his field of view. He is enamored with the view and climbs the dune even faster and approaches closer to the monument.

The Motivated Footsteps

 

It looked exactly like how he had it, in his vague memory. He passes in between the two castles, which makes him feel as though they were standing there all long to welcome him into that building. And from what he had in his memory, he always felt that the whole monument was made of sand and limestone. To his surprise, when he walked closer to the walls of the main building, he could smell the limestone fresh and he saw tiny pores in the walls, as he closely observed them, which he felt was symbolic to absorption.(his absorbent mind).

The Monument.

 He takes a look at the central path way, which leads into the building. The whole path way stretches out way ahead and all he sees is darkness through the path. The whole pathway gives him a chill feel which in a sense comforts him. He starts walking inside, and is surprised to see statues made of sand, holding fire torch on either sides of the door, in the path way. While walking the path he hears soft music, very similar to the intro of Hotel California - Eagles. The music gives him a pleasant feeling and he keeps walking, until he finally arrives at a place, after passing through… say roughly 7 doors.

This place is square in shape, which has soft edges, which gives him the feeling of the place being circular. The place is so quiet that, he can hear the sound of pure silence. He gets tempted to remove his shoes and does so. As he places his barefoot on the ground, it is damp sand and he can feel his foot getting wet . The roof of this place has relatively wider pores, as compared to other places. Through those pores, comes gentle rays of sun, focused at one particular point, which apparently seems to be the center of the place. He walks to the center and instantly start digging it, with his tools (willing to take action), because he finds it to be more damp (inner gut instincts), relative to other spots in that place. As he digs for a while, he encounters the shoot of sweet mineral water which he drinks completely and after digging for a while he hits a particular point which feels hard, then he is so excited, that, he clears the sand with bare hand and finds a treasure box.

 He lifts it up and opens the lid of the box, finds a glittering golden object. It blinds him for a moment, then when he gently takes it out, he recognizes it to be a golden face, which gives him fulfillment of finding the artifact within.

The Golden Mask.

What were your thoughts and feelings, reading this article? Which other songs along with Hotel California, do you think suits?(Post it in the comment section below). Subscribe via E-maul to read the articles as soon as it is published.

P.S. Image Courtesy:  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:King_Tut_Ankh_Amun_Golden_Mask.jpg

http://discovermagazine.com/2012/apr/13-long-successful-search-where-memory-lives