Mindful Medicine : Myth & Archetype in Film

Mythical reading of subject film with student input Subject Film: Fight Club Director: David Fincher, 20th Century Fox, 1999
Note: Watch the entire film before reading this so the ending wont be blown for you.

Fight Club is one of the most eye opening and disturbing films to come out of Hollywood in recent years. There are many ways to interpret the movie, which means it is working on many levels. In addition to portraying the Heros Journey motif in mythology, the film is very useful for showing the four levels on which to develop a worldview. We have laid them out in preceding papers, but lets reiterate them here for review: Social: The surface story with its real people and events, and its commentary on society; the circumstances and setting of the potential heros outer adventure The mythically universal stages of the Heros Journey (Quest) buried in the story events, and archetypes represented by the various characters Relating the archetypes to the psychic traits we all carry within; relating the stages of the outer Quest to the inner journeys we must make into the depths of our consciousness to effect authentic growth The spiritual realizations and transformations of the Hero as a result of the Quest

Mythical: Psychological:

Perennial Philosophical:

The main players in Fight Club: Jack (Edward Norton): I have arbitrarily chosen a name for Edward Nortons character because we are never told his name in the film. The film credits list him as Narrator. Jack is our Hero, who begins his journey as the Anti-Hero, going through a false set of stages of the Quest before beginning the real Quest. Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt): The personification of Jacks unconscious, the emerging Shadow, Supernatural Aid, Trickster, Shiva as Destroyer. Marla Singer (Helena Bonham Carter): Jacks love interest, his anima in Jungian terminology, serving in the Quest as Woman as Temptress, Supernatural Aid, and Goddess.

As we go through the film looking for interpretive symbols, keep in mind that all human spiritual growth falls into two main categories or some combination of the two: 1. The self-initiated approach, in which the aspirant is consciously aware of what he wants to accomplish, gets education and training and guidance from his chosen sources, and forthrightly sets about on the Quest, guided by Light side of Mystery (Divinity), intentionally heading for it, and positively responding to the Light. Though it is challenging, this approach often affords a gradual and relatively easy transformation. The acclaimed psychiatrist Stanislov Grof terms this style of human growth spiritual emergence.

2.

The unintended approach, in which the individual rejects the Light side of Mystery by ignoring it or denying its existence or, confronted with it, refuses to respond to it, and is thus presented with its polar opposite, the Dark side. This individual struggles, wrestles, kicks and screams, but the overpowering Dark side of the same Mystery cuts through the persona/shell of the resistor, putting him through tremendous psychological ordeals, causing him to hit rock bottom, where he is then transformed. Dr. Grof and his wife and colleague Christina describe this approach as spiritual emergency. (For further reading, see Mindful Medicine Essays Vol. 2, Spiritual Emergency: The Transformation Archetype). These two scenarios are well depicted mythically in The Tibetan Book of the Dead, in which the dying person is presented with both the benevolent and wrathful aspects of the same deity, and is guided by the lama on how to interact with them. (See Mindful Medicine Essays Vol. 1, Liberation In the Gap). In Fight Club, our aspiring hero will definitely be taking the spiritual emergency route, encountering the wrathful aspect of the deity. Departure Jack is an unmarried, depressed Generation X-er, whose father left home when he was six, so he is the classic divine orphan that we see over and over again in mythology worldwide. He is a recall coordinator for a major auto manufacturer, and lives in a hip condo, outfitted with all the latest trendy furniture and high tech frills. I used to be into pornography. Now it was the Horchow Collection, we hear him narrate as he sits on the toilet admiring a glossy catalog foldout of a sofa. His hamster wheel life has him flying all over the country, living in hotel rooms, eating processed, single serving meals and coffees. He suffers insomnia, hasnt slept for six months, and when he tries to get a sleeping pill prescription, his doctor tells him to get more exercise and chew an herbal root. Jack insists he is in real pain, and his doctor responds, You want to see real pain? Go by the First Methodist on Tuesday nights for the testicular cancer recovery group. Jack is so desperate that he attends, and there discovers all these men trying to deal with the loss of their testicles. This is a symbol for men who have been cut off from their manhood. (This castration theme is prevalent throughout the movie, as for example, when we see later in the film, Fight Club and Project Mayhem members use castration as both a threat to their enemies and a form of punishment for their own). Jack is paired up
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with Bob (Meatloaf) for a hugging/processing session. Bob is a former bodybuilder who developed testicular cancer from overuse of heavy steroids. He thought a sculpted muscular body was real manhood, and it backfired on him). His body produced massive amounts of estrogen to offset all the testosterone he was injecting into himself, and he grew an enormous set of breasts (morphed into a freakish mutant version of the goddess). Though Jack is not really into the support group thing, he is somehow moved by the situation, with Bob crying on his shoulder, and he breaks down in tears himself. Something snapped, and I let go. That evening Jack sleeps like a baby and in a matter of days hes a support group junkie. He fills is schedule with chronic disease seminars for those who suffer from blood parasites, bowel cancer, tuberculosis, sickle cell, melanoma, though he doesnt have any of these diseases himself. He also attends a guided meditation class for brain parasites cancer patients (suggesting a deterioration of the mind theme n the film). Jack wasnt dying from anything and never shared in the groups, but as long as I remained quiet everyone assumed the worse. He got tons of love and attention. At this point the film has delivered us a set of false stages of the Heros Journey, but they will set up the real Heros Journey to come. So Jack is still the Anti-Hero. The false journey goes like this: Jack was suffering from existential angst brought on by a hamster wheel job and a materialist consumer lifestyle. When it became overwhelming, he thought he could be cured by a magic pill from his doctor. When his doctor refused, he answered the Call to Adventure by deciding to attend the support groups. Jack thus appears to accomplish the Crossing of the First Threshold by attending the seminars. Supernatural Aid first appears in the form of the other people in the support groups who show him compassion. Jack narrates to us that Every evening I died, and every evening I was born again. This represents the Belly of the Whale, where the potential hero begins to go through an initial death-rebirth that is required in order for the other stages of the Quest to unfold. Again, all of the preceding is a false journey. That it cant yet be an authentic journey is further suggested by the type of cave Jack envisions in the heart chakra stage of his guided meditation class. It is a cave of ice and thus he still has an ice-cold heart. At this point in the film, Jack is still wrestling with the Call to Adventure stage. Returning to the story, Jack notices another seminar junkie, an unkempt, chain-smoking woman named Marla Singer, who begins showing up at all his groups. He knows shes a fake and begins judging her. Obviously, Jack is projecting his own subversive behavior onto Marla, and he admits this: Marla, the big tourist. Her lie reflected my lie. Suddenly, I couldnt feel anything, I couldnt cry. So once again, I couldnt sleepShe ruined everything, he says, as his insomnia returns. This confirms that the preceding events did not constitute authentic stages of the Quest. And yet it is the arrival of Marla that catalyzes the real Heros Journey to come. Marla is mirroring Jacks behavior back to him, and thereby ruining his (falsely) perfect little blissful world. So he confronts her and threatens to expose her as a fake, but she simply responds, Ill expose you. They begin discussing how to divide up all the support groups, and at one point in this scene, Marla grabs Jack by the balls to get his attention. Symbolically, she is sizing him up to see if he can qualify for a sexual-spiritual union with the Goddess, a union that must be accomplished if the potential hero is to be successful.

Marla and Jack reach an agreement on the support groups, shake hands on it, and she walks away. But something about Marla intrigues Jack, and he manages to get her phone number. His subconscious knows she will somehow be important in his journey--and she will--as instigator, activator. At the moment she is functioning as Woman as Temptress, and also an aspect of Supernatural Aid. In his guided meditation class, when he steps into his cave, she appears in his vision as his power animal, urging him to slide (go over the edge). Marla also portrays aspects of the Goddess, but in a dark, veiled way. On the surface Marla is a vagrant parasite who steals clothes from laundromat dryers and sells them at second-hand stores to get money to buy food. And she intentionally walks across busy streets without caution. As Jack narrates, Marla said that she might die any day, but tragically, she hadnt. Yet in another sense she is very assertive and productive, like shes on a mission, and knows those passing cars wont hit her. In any case, Jack is in a schizophrenic condition for most of the film (hang in there, its coming), and is thus often unaware of the true and important roles she is playing in his story. Jack thinks that things are better, now that he and Marla have reached an agreement, and he continues on in his day job, attending support groups in the evenings. He can sleep again, but nothing has really been solved on a fundamental level, and thus his psyche is about to take him on an intense hero-dive into the abyss of his unconscious. Enter Tyler Durden. We first see Tyler and Jack unknowingly pass each other on moving sidewalks in an airport, as Jack narrates the question, If you wake up at a different time in a different place, could you wake up as a different person? The two soon meet on a flight, but Tyler is not a real person. He is rather a powerful personification of Jacks unconscious. (This isnt revealed until near the end of the film but we need to reveal it here so the film can be properly discussed). Still, we could ask, are there two Tylers, a real person and a projection from Jacks unconscious? This is open for debate. All through the surface story, Jack thinks he has met someone he admires, even though Tyler is a dark and dangerous character. He is cocky and irreverent. His odd attireSock it to me and Hustler t-shirts, red leather and fur-collared (animal skin) jackets, rosecolored lens sunglasses-paint him in a sort of shaman or primal man light. Tyler is also dead honest in all situations, speaking his truth in absolute integrity, whether that truth is offensive or helpful to others. He can immediately see through the illusion of all surface events in life. For example, he knows the emergency procedures on a commercial airliner are bogus propaganda designed to create the illusion of safety for passengers. Or when Jack asks him what he does for a living, he responds, Why, so you can pretend like youre interested? Tyler is everything Jack wishes he could be, but he cant, as he is still a slave to the material world of consumerism and consensus reality. Tyler is thus Jacks shadow, all the potential parts of an individual that have been shoved down into the unconscious as unacceptable. But as Jungian analyst Robert Johnson has said, the shadow is loaded with gold. (See Mindful Medicine Essays Vol. 2, The Gold in the Shadow). Jack is intrigued by their first meeting on the flight, and learns that Tyler makes and sells soap. As Tyler later tells Jack, The first soap was made from the ashes of heroes, a pertinent statement on the Quest that will become clearer later. Tyler also works odd jobs
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that afford him opportunities to wreak havoc on society at large. For example, he is a parttime film projectionist and often splices single frames of pornography into family films, just to confuse or shock the audience. (Interestingly, the creators of Fight Club also play with our minds as film-dreamers, using this technique of splicing images of Tyler into the very film we are watching). Tyler is completely anarchistic, but his goal is not to harm people. He only wants to throw wrenches into the works of society, to wake people up in a culture that has become a sea of soul-less drones. In this sense he is mythically the Hindu god Shiva in his destructive aspect. Shiva destroys the world at the end of a kali yuga (the final dark stage in a vast cycle of time). But Shivas destructive quality is not some vengeful form of punishment of humanity. Rather, Shiva demonstrates the Indian idea that all things in the field of spacetime move through periods of exuberant growth followed by steady decay, and eventually a final destruction, and then the cycle begins again. Its simply the circle of life, and Shiva facilitates it. Tyler is doing the same thing. In East Indian myth/society, Tyler would be of the warrior (Kshatriya) caste, and his anger towards the current state of the world suggests a resentment towards the financial power structure, which has wrongly risen to the position of ruling (Brahmin) caste. In the proper function of castes, the Brahmin caste should not be the financial peoples but the sages and spiritual teachers of a society. The financial caste (Vaishyas) are properly a step below the warrior caste. Tyler and Jack part ways after their plane lands, and Jack heads home, only to find his condo has been blown up, and everything he owns is literally gone. We see a shot of his destroyed yin-yang coffee table, the Chinese symbol of both inner and universal balance. All that remains from the fire is a burnt piece of paper with Marlas number. He phones her to ask for help but chickens out and hangs up. He then calls Tyler from the same payphone but Tyler doesnt answer. Jack hangs up dejected, and the phone suddenly rings. Its Tyler calling him back. Jack asks how he got the payphone number and Tyler says, I star 69d you--I never pick up my phone. The symbolism here is, I will lead this journey into your unconscious because I am your unconscious. I wont be responding to you (I wont answer your calls, Ill call you when Im ready). Tyler, the powerful unconscious aspect of Jack, will serve as one of Jacks Supernatural Aids. Note also that this scene occurs in a phone booth, a sort of portal between the conscious and unconscious realms. A sign on the payphone reads, no incoming calls, and yet an incoming call is exactly what Jack gets on this phone. This tells us we are sitting at a dangerous and guarded threshold. Jacks meeting and talking with Tyler is really the onset of his schizophrenia, so we need to say a word about how schizophrenia serves the heroic quest. Based on the collective work of John W. Perry, Julian Silverman, and the aforementioned Stanislov Grof (all noted psychiatrists), as well as psychoanalyst Carl Jung and mythologists Joseph Campbell and Mircea Eliade, we have a century of overwhelming evidence that interrelates, and in many cases equates, the realms of psychosis, dream, mythical imagery, and religious vision. The psychotic schizophrenic often experiences the exact same type of imagery that a religious savior or a shaman does. In either case, the affected individual has cracked off into the abyss of the unconscious to encounter psychological energies and spiritual forces with which he must grapple and attempt to resolve, so he can then return the world of consensus reality with a new revelation or some message for himself or his group.
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A successful plunge into and ascension out of the depths of the psyche is termed essential schizophrenia. It is a technique mastered by the shaman in primal cultures and is the also means whereby world religions are born: remarkable individuals have an overwhelming and frightening psychological experience that may include visions of angels, talking to God, and so on. And they emerge so transformed from this experience that they begin to have profound influence over those in their sphere of influence. Just think of the stories of Moses, Jesus, Joan of Arc, the Buddha, Mohammed, or Joseph Smith. Every one of them accomplished a spiritual Heros Journey through an intense psychological event. The other type is called paranoid schizophrenia, and in these cases, the individual cannot handle the oncoming unconscious powers. He thinks everyone and everything is out to get him, destroy him, etc. He fears for his physical life because he is not identified with the Mystery of Being from which both his unconscious and conscious worlds flow; does not recognize that his mind and psyche are mere apparitions of this Mystery. When he is told by secular society that he is seriously ill, crazy, needs medication or surgery, he believes it, thus amplifying his trauma. He is not physically and psychologically able to shift the nature of his schizophrenia from paranoid to essential, or doesnt realize this can be done. In short, he struggles and may drown in the waters of the unconscious. The question for our story is, do Jacks plunge into the psychotic realms and his experiences as Tyler Durden constitute a paranoid or essential schizophrenia? That is up for debate, but we can say that his unconscious adventures match very nicely with several stages of the Heros Journey found in mythology. And he does seem flow with all that is happening--that he is creating--keeping a handle on things, and he has some lucid conversations with Tyler from the beginning. For example, Jack and Tyler are talking over a beer, and Tyler asks Jack, What are we? Jack guesses, Consumers? Tyler: Right. We are the byproducts of a lifestyle obsession.

Jack agrees, offering Martha Stewarts empire as an example. Tyler: Right. Martha Stewart is polishing the brass on the Titanic. Its all going down, man. Jack: I was so close to perfection, to being complete. [He is still in shock over the loss of his condo and glossy catalog possessions]. Tyler: I say lets stop being perfect. Lets evolve and let the chips fall where they may. Because of Jacks schizophrenic condition, it takes the Tyler part of him to say this. Jack could never admit it to himself. Jack: Oh well, the insurance will cover everything. Tyler: Maybe, but remember, the things you own end up owning you. Jacks experience of meeting Tyler constitutes the real beginning of the Heros Journey, the authentic Call to Adventure, simply because Jack is so intrigued by Tyler. Whats really happening is his first serious meeting and conversation with an aspect of his own
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unconscious. Jack accomplishes the Crossing of the First Threshold when he calls Tyler for help after he discovers his condo has been blown up. The destruction of the condo puts Jack in the Belly of the Whale, the point when the Hero undergoes a preliminary death-rebirth to put the adventure into high gear. In Jacks case, theres no going back once the condo and all his possessions are gone. We find out later that Jack is the one who blew it up, though he doesnt have a clueit was Tyler as his schizophrenic shadow who did it. The main point is, the Hero in this case effected his own Belly of the Whale experience. Initiation As Jack and Tyler leave the bar, Tyler says, Just ask, meaning, I know you need a place to stay but youre too hesitant to ask. Jack finally asks and gets a yes from Tyler. This is similar to how gurus in India and Zen masters in Japan teach students. They never offer anything unless it is asked for by the student. And so we get more evidence that Tyler will be serving as Supernatural Aid. Tyler then asks Jack to hit him as hard as he can. Jack thinks Tylers crazy and asks why. Tyler says, I dont know why--Ive never been in a fight. How much can you know about yourself if youve never been in a fight? This speaks to the films title and whole theme: the main character is unconsciously choosing the destructive path to enlightenment. The film communicates that this may be the necessary path for most men today. While on a social-criticism level we could say Fight Club is anti-feminist, on the mytho-psychic level, men cannot take a feminine healing approach to their evolution. Rather, they must aggressively deconstruct their egos to spiritually transform. In mysticism this approach to spiritual realization is called via negativa, the negative way, which involves breaking through and stripping away all tangible things, the tangible self or personality, all concepts, ad infinitum, so all that remains is the One Truth. Jack resists at first but finally relents and hits Tyler. They begin fighting like a couple of teenage boys, but at the same time they both get pretty beat up. Jack goes home with Tyler that evening and ends up moving in with him. Tyler lives in a dilapidated house in an industrial, toxic-waste section of town. The electricity and plumbing are nearly shot, and roof leaks all the time, keeping the basement floor submerged under a foot of standing water. The leaky house and flooded basement are where many important activities relevant to the Heros Journey are planned or carried out in this story. This is good symbolism because the unconscious is often represented by water, and Jack will be doing some serious work in the unconscious, here in the lair of the Shadow. Tyler and Jack begin to hold regular public fights and it catches on like wildfire. Other men get involved, everyone from waiters and truck drivers to white-collar executives. Jack slowly begins transforming on his Road of Trials, which at first consist of just the fight sessions and living in Tylers dump. By the end of the first month I didnt miss TV Everything in daily life had the volume turned down. You could deal with anything. Jack is experiencing a type of transformation that could never happen for him at the support
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groups. He is participating less and less in everyday reality, or in a sort of distant way. Jack narrates as Fight Club begins to grow: Who you were in Fight Club is not who you were in the rest of the world. On the first night you were a wad of cookie dough. After a few weeks you were carved out of woodFight Club was not about winning or losing. It was not about words. When the fight was over nothing was solved. But nothing mattered. Afterwards we all felt saved. This is exactly the via negativa path, and as Tyler says in one scene, Self-improvement is masturbation. But self-destruction, now thats something worth doing. Like all paths of spiritual transformation, Fight Club has a set of directives. Tyler lays out the eight-fold path for Fight Club: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
8.

You do not talk about Fight Club. You do not talk about Fight Club. If someone says stop or taps out, the fight is over. Only two guys to a fight. Only one fight at a time. No shirts, no shoes. Fights will go on as long as they have to. If this is your first night at Fight Club, you have to fight.

Jack also narrates, The guy you met in Fight Club was not the same guy you met on the street, suggesting who we are in every day reality is not who we are when navigate the labyrinths of the unconscious. Soon, Marla calls Jack, whom she hasnt seen at any of the support groups for weeks. The call is a cry for help, as she has overdosed on some pill in a half-hearted suicide attempt. Jack wont go to help her, and as Marla continues rambling on the phone, Jack puts the hone down, leaves the room, and Tyler starts listening. He goes over to rescue Marla, brings her back to the house, and ends up having sex with her. The next morning she walks into the kitchen and runs into Jack, who asks, What are you doing here? He soon realizes she had sex with Tyler and is disgusted. Mythically, Jack has not transformed yet, and thus cannot see Marla as a goddess-activator. He still judges her as a cheap, inept woman. After she leaves Tyler sits Jack down and makes him promise three times that he will never talk to Marla about him (Tyler). If he does, it will ruin everything Tyler and Jack are trying to accomplish. What might the symbolism of this is? Well soon see one interpretation. We know Jack still has quite a way to go in traversing the unconscious, evident when the police call on the case of his exploded condo. Jack is still upset over losing all his stuff, saying. That was not just a bunch of stuff. I loved every stick of furniture in that place. That condo was my life. It was me! Jack keeps talking with the police, who now know it was blown up with homemade devices. They arent yet accusing Jack but are suspicious. Tyler starts cutting in, saying things like, Tell them you blew it all up. Thats what they want to hear! Jack gets more disgusted with Tyler and Marla as they continue their sexual workouts. On one morning after, Tyler tells Jack, Get rid of her.
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Jack (confused):

You get rid of her!

Tyler: Dont mention me [reminding Jack of the promise he made]Ill say one thing about Marla, at least shes trying to hit bottom. Jack: What, and Im not? Tyler: Sticking feathers up your ass does not make you a chicken. In other words, youre still inauthentic in your ego deconstruction. Youve got much work to do, and should take a lesson from Marla. Furthermore, only when you completely transform will you be able to experience a connection with the Goddess on a spiritual level. Some possible interpretations on why Tyler will sexually engage with Marla but not Jack. Mythically, the Goddess will only weave a web with God. On the psychological level, the feminine aspect of the psyche (anima) within a mans consciousness will only engage the ego of that same man if hes ready to meet with her. Tyler as Jacks unconscious is ready, but Jack as the part still identified with the persona is not ready. Thus he cant yet see Marla as the personification of his own anima, his inner Goddess. This is also suggested in the scene where Jack is feeling Marlas breast for a lump and says I feel nothing. Therefore, the Tyler part of his psyche tells the Jack part, Get rid of her. Furthermore, Tyler is saying, And since youre not ready, we cant have her messing up this unfinished inner process. In the next scene we see Tyler and Jack swiping bags of human fat from the dumpster of a liposuction clinic. Tyler is teaching Jack to make soap, which requires the rendering of fat, and human fat is the richest and creamiest. Tyler also uses the lye he distills to make explosives. This is obviously about dying to the flesh to be spiritually reborn on a perennial philosophical level: the flesh itself can be distilled into the ingredients that can help deconstruct (explode) the ego-persona, to accomplish the spiritual transformation. A step towards this end is exactly what happens in the next scene, when Tyler intentionally inflicts a chemical burn on the back of Jacks hand. The unconscious is taking the conscious ego through its next stage of deconstruction. Tyler pours on the powdered chemical and Jack screams, and then tries to meditate the pain away. Tyler: Stay with the pain. Dont shut this out! Without pain, without sacrifice, we would have nothing. Jack keeps meditating, trying to go into his ice cave. Tyler: This is your pain, this is your burning hand. Its right here! Jack keeps trying to meditate. Tyler: No! Dont do what the dead people do! What youre feeling is premature enlightenment! Jack is still meditating in horrific pain. He envisions Marla in his ice cave, blowing smoke in his face.
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Tyler: This is the greatest moment of your life and youre off somewhere missing it! Our fathers were our models for God. If our fathers bailed out, what does that tell you about God? Jack tries to pull away and Tyler slaps him. Tyler: Listen to me! You have to consider the possibility that God does not like you. He never wanted you. In all probability he hates you. This isnt the worst thing that could happen to you. We dont need him. Fuck him. Fuck redemption. We are Gods unwanted children. So be it! Jack is still shaking in excruciating pain. Tyler: Listen! You can run water over your hand and make it worse, orLook at me! You can use vinegar to neutralize the burn. Jack: Yes! Please!

Tyler: First you have to give up. You have to know--not fearknowthat some day youre going to die. Its only after weve lost everything that were free to do anything. Jack: Ok, ok! Tyler lets him burn a few more moments and then pours vinegar over the burn, and Jack collapses on the floor. While the overarching message of giving up everything to become free is crystal clear, lets say a word about Tylers comments on God. The traditional notion most people have of God in the West is that he is a separate, authoritative, masculine entity with whom you are to develop a loving yet obedient relationship. You submit to Gods will. Then God will support and guide you through your life. This archaic notion of divinity, which arises in the Near Eastern Levant between the second and first millenniums BCE and becomes the basis for the Judeo-Christian and Islamic traditions, is the prime mythology for Western civilization. But with the advent and vigorous growth of secularism, the sciences, rational philosophy and the like, this patriarchal mythology was dissolved to a considerable degree. Its dissolution was amplified even more when in the 20th century the family unit broke down, creating the social situation of deadbeat fathers who bailed on their sons. So this mythic image of God is dead in both the religious authoritative sense and in the social-familial sense. God is dead is the natural cultural expression of the collective unconscious as that unconscious becomes less and less inspired by a patriarchal mythology. Tyler tells Jack that pouring on water will only make the burn worse. In light of the foregoing, this means that retreating to the archaic patriarchal mythologies is no answer. It will only dilute the required spiritual experience necessary for people in this day and age. The old God developed for cultures of another time and place cannot possibly get at the root of genuine human spiritual growth. Of course, the old God can be re-interpreted to give people what they require today, and some of the more sophisticated practitioners of the archaic religions are doing that. In any case, contemporary circumstances of society
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require an intense spiritual burning, staying with that burn, and letting it blaze through us. Rumi comes to mind: How many more of these words, these concepts? What I want is burning, burning! The neutralizing vinegar represents the central place of peace that allows the freedom to do anything--once we have truly burned. So here, neutral does not mean nonparticipation. In the next scene we see Tyler and Jack selling their high-priced soap to a department store. Jack narrates: It was beautiful. We were selling rich women their own fat asses back to them. Symbol: those who never wake up to their spiritual nature (in this example vain women) will only continue recycling themselves on the unending wheel of samsara (unenlightened death and rebirth in physical form). In the next few scenes, the story of Jack, Marla, Tyler, and Fight Club unfolds. Tyler is becoming more prophetic, preaching his ideas to the constantly growing membership: Our culture has us working jobs that we hate so we can buy shit that we dont need. Were the middle children of history, with no purpose and no place. We have no great war, no great depression. Our great war is a spiritual war. Our great depression is our lives. We have said that fighting is the prime theme of transformation in this film, representing a destruction of the infantile male ego. There is a scene in which the Lou, the owner of the tavern where Fight Club meets, comes down into the taverns basement. Hes there to bust up Fight Club, which he thinks is a moneymaking scheme of Tylers. Tyler tells him theres no money and lets Louwho doesnt believe him--beat him up pretty bad without fighting back. But Lou knows nothing about fighting in order to transform. He only fights in an attitude of posturing, attempting to intimidate and establish the appearance of power. Lous lack of true inner strength is reinforced by the fact that he is accompanied by a bodyguard with a gun. Lou is absolutely perplexed that Tyler lets him rain blows on him without defending himself. All Tyler does is shake his dripping blood all over Lous face. Lou is terrified and runs out. This scene is important to understand, because it clearly delineates the two distinct categories of fighters: one group is attempting to flaunt the appearance of strength, or to punish the other whom he despises (Lou). The other is using fighting to reinvent himself by means of the deconstructive path. This scene also helps us get beyond the violent nature of the surface events in the film. Other messages from Tyler are depicted in the film as visions or dreams that Jack has: You are not your job. You are not how much money you have in the bank. You are not the car you drive. You are not the contents of your wallet. You are not your fucking khakis. You are the all singing, all dancing crap of the world. We are all part of the same compost heap. This is Buddhism 101, and when a new monk shaves his head and dons the ochre garment, (the same color fabric used to wrap dead bodies in India), he is saying, I am a corpse. I am no longer seriously identified with this temporary body-mind.
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Tyler continues delivering his anarchistic spiritual wake-up calls to the populace at large. In one scene he forces a convenience store clerk named Raymond to his knees with a gun, telling him hes going to die. Raymond begins crying in fear. Tyler confiscates his community college ID, asks him a few questions about his studies, and then asks him why he is here working at this store when he should be continuing his education to become a veterinarian. If youre not on your way to being a vet in six weeks you will be dead. The poor man is cowering in terror and then Tyler tells him to run along home, keeping his drivers license. Tyler keeps this and other licenses he collects, calling them human sacrifices. Hes not physically killing anyone, just nudging them towards ego death. Jack is angry and confused by Tylers behavior, and Tyler simply responds, Tomorrow will be the most beautiful day of Raymonds life. His breakfast will taste better than any meal you or I have ever tasted. Jack as narrator then tells us, You had to hand it to him. In his own unique way, Tyler had the ability to make that which does truly not matter slide. In another scene, Tyler and his army of Fight Clubbers, through his new movement called Project Mayhem (PM), conduct an assault the citys police commissioner at a banquet, threatening to cut off his balls if the police department continues its pursuit of Tylers band of anarchists. A PM member says, His balls are ice cold! (no true spiritual masculinity). With a knife to his testicles, Tyler tells the commissioner, The people you are after are the people you depend on. We cook your meals, haul your trash, connect your calls. We drive your ambulances, we guard you while you sleep! Do not fuck with us! This could metaphorically be seen as the collective unconscious of society talking to the consensus reality of society (waking consciousness), saying, I am the part of you that handles all the menial and tedious aspects of your inner life that your ego-persona doesnt want to directly address. The phrase about guarding you while you sleep implies that without the deep unconscious part of you that rules and processes in the dream world, the waking self would be unhealthy and at considerable risk. Jack is upset that Tyler is making leadership and managerial decisions for Project Mayhem without him. You decide your own level of involvement! Tyler responds. In this scene they are riding in a car, ironically, the same model car that Jack use to recall in his old job. The scene depicts the stage where Jack is beginning to assimilate Tyler as his Shadow, trying to resolve and merge the conscious and unconscious aspects of his psyche. Tyler says, Forget what you think you now about me, and begins playing chicken on the highway with oncoming cars and trucks, bringing them to the edge of physical death. Jack yells at Tyler to quit fooling around. This symbolizes Jack still clinging to his ego, not wanting it to completely die. Tyler says, Youre fucking pathetic! Why do you think I blew up your condo? This is the first time Jack has heard this and hes stunned. Tyler continues, This is not a goddam seminar. Stop trying to control everything and just let go! Tyler lets the steering wheel go and the car runs off the highway in a terrible crash. He pulls Jack (who is still alive) from the wreckage and begins laughing, holding Jack in his arms like a parent comforting a child. You just had a new life experience. Jack wakes up in the house where he and Tyler live, and Tyler is gone. In the next few scenes, with some suggestions from and interactions with the PM army, Jack begins wonder who Tyler really is. He hasnt quite figured it out, and meanwhile, PM has been growing in size and inflicting more anarchistic assaults on society. Things are getting harder to
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manage and PM begins to sustain injuries. Bob, the testicular cancer victim who had now joined Tylers movement, is shot in the head and dies. The PM army is now like a set of mindless androids who follow Tylers (Jacks) every command, and they want to quickly get rid of the evidence. Jack is upset, telling them that Bob is not a casualty statistic, that he was a man and a friend and his name was Robert Paulson (Tyler had ruled that there be no names in PM). The group interprets Jacks statement to mean, only in death do we have a name, that the ego is not something to be protected or that must survive. They begin chanting in unison over the now-dead body, His name is Robert Paulson, his name is Robert Paulson. As more events unfold, and through some conversations with Marla and PM army members, Jack begins to piece together that he is Tyler, and this obviously brings up incredible trauma and disbelief. Tyler re-appears visually and as a voice, and confirms that he and Jack are the same person, two aspects of the same psyche. Tyler explains, You were looking for a way to change your life. You couldnt do this on your own. All the ways you wish you could bethats me. I look like you want to look, I fuck like you want to fuck, I am smart, capable, and most importantly, I am free in all the ways that you are not. Jack still thinks the whole thing is crazy, that hes crazy. Tyler reassures him, No, people do this everyday. They talk to themselves, they see themselves as theyd like to be. They dont have the courage you have to just run with it. Naturally, youre still wrestling with it so sometimes youre still you. Other times you imagine yourself watching me. Little by little youre letting yourself become Tyler Durden. Jack: Oh my God!

Tyler: Now you see our dilemma, She [Marla] knows too much. It may compromise our goals. Jack: This is bullshit. Im not listening to this. Youre insane! Tyler: No, youre insane. Jack is overwhelmed and passes out. This may symbolize the final and deepest plunge into the abyss of the unconscious, which brings the realization that your shadow was you. Jack later wakes up and realizes he must stop the bombing of several high-rise financial towers that he and PM have planned, and also must get Marla out of harms way, now realizing he loves her (beginning to merge with his inner anima). He gets Marla on a bus heading out of town, and proceeds to do everything in his power to stop the bombing of the buildings. He even turns himself into the police who can barely believe him, but this admission gets botched because PM has members on the police force. In the final scene, Tyler reemerges to keep Jack form deactivating one of the bombs, and there is a final fight scene between the two of them. We see film images of Jack punching himself, throwing himself down a flight of stairs, etc. He and Tyler end up in a building where they are to watch the collapse of the other high-rises form a grand picture window. Jack: Tyler: Please dont do this. Im not doing this, were doing this. This is what we want.
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Jack:

No, I dont want this.

Tyler: Right, except you is meaningless now. We have to forget about you. Jack: Youre a voice in my head! Tyler: Youre a voice in my head! Jack continues to plead that they stop this. Tyler: Have I ever let you down? How far have you come because of me?! I will bring us through this, as always. I will carry you through kicking and screaming and you will thank me. Jack suddenly realizes that the gun Tyler is holding is really a gun that hes holding. This is the point where Jack accepts psychologically that he and Tyler are the same person. (Echoes the words of the Tibetan Book of the Dead: know these deities to be mere projections of your own mind). Jack puts the barrel in his mouth. Tyler: Jack: Hey, its just you and me. Friends? I want you to listen to me. My eyes are open.

Jack pulls the trigger and blows a hole in the side of his face, but he survives. Tyler collapses in death. Marla rushes in, tends to Jacks wound, and in the final shot we see Jack take Marlas hand. As they hold hands and gaze at one another, as we see four large high-rise financial towers collapse in a heap of rubble. This is the end of the film, but is it the end of Jacks Road of Trials? Has there been any Meeting with the Goddess or Atonement With the Father? Return The film doesnt confirm any clear picture of the return stage of the Heros Journey, since it ends with the collapse of the buildings. Can Jacks killing Tyler without killing himself represent an Atonement with the Father (withstanding the wrath of the Father-God as Shadow)? Does Jacks statement my eyes are open mean he has reached some Buddhist still-point where there is no Jack, no Tyler, no ignorance, no nirvana? Does holding Marlas hand at the end mean he has finally Met with The Goddess and can now Cross the Return Threshold? Will he become the Master of the Two Worlds (conscious and unconscious) with Freedom to Live in either? Has this been a complete Heros Journey? We will leave these questions open for discussion. Final Thoughts Jack/Tyler is an essential schizophrenic in training. In one sense he was very adept at swimming in the waters of the unconscious. After al, look at all he achieved as Tyler Durden. But there are circumstances that complicate matters in this depiction of the Quest. In mythology, there is an outer story, a real and tangible adventure that the individual undertakes. When we read it psychologically, that real outer adventure is
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metaphorical of an inward journey. And as the hero proceeds through the adventure, he is transformed on the inside. But in Fight Club we have a little bit the reverse: the outer story of a schizophrenic who is at first on an inward journey, and then it manifests in the outer world in the form of social criticism. We have an intense jumping back and forth from emphasis on the deconstruction of Jacks ego to an accent on the deconstruction of society. Its like there is another level of schizophrenia going on, where the Hero is dreaming the myth outward in his social activist efforts (transforming the world) before he has finished transforming himself. A question for discussion is, which (if any) of the journeys should properly happen firstthe inner or outer? When Jack literally shoots himself in the face, does this constitute a successful assimilation of the shadow, since he (Jack) physically survives and Tyler collapses on the floor in death. What do you think Jack would do or be next in the outer world, now that he has accomplished the bringing down of the financial towers that represent a material consumerist society? Finally, the premonitions of this film, that was released two years before the events of September 11, are astonishing. Now that you have studied Fight Club on a mytho-psychospiritual level, how would you compare the actions of Tyler to those of the fundamentalist religious terrorists who made their statement on 9/11/2001, destroying symbols of financial, materialist culture? (For further reading see Mindful Medicine Essays Vol. 1, 911). References Campbell, Joseph. The Hero With a Thousand Faces Campbell, Joseph. Myths to Live By www.garnetsigma.com/fightclub
January 2003, Richard Dance 480.947.4288 www.mindfulmedicine.com

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