Slaying the Dragon Searles Mon Sep 14 13:57:53 1998 What does it mean when we slay the dragon and what exactly is a dragon?*p*IMO a dragon is a confinement of power in an unusual location or entity. It is a guardian of such power, keeping it for itself and its own purposes. This hoarding of power and wealth causes the world to suffer and prosperity to wain in the Land. It is only when the artificial creation of the Dragon is slain and the Dragon Power is released that the world is restored to its true nature. If the dragons are twofold and bipolar, then we are warring with ourselves, or we are unnecessarily fragmented with the left and right hands in opposition. We achieve our full stature and growth in the wealth that results from integrating these conflicting or opposing natures into our true selves. There are many physical and martial disciplines that attempt to guide us toward this re-integration of the self. In Yoga, such a technique involves alternative use of the left and right nostril in breathing exercises. In sports or in fencing, one must achieve a peripheral awarenes of the actions surrounding oneself in order to determine the proper response to any challenge. Using both sides of our minds allows us to be both creative and logical. IMO such melds are symbiotic beyond the ordinary and reaching towards our true potential.*p*Most animals are not conditioned by preconceptions or societies to view the world in an artificial manner. Humans are the ones who seem to fall into this sort of trap most often. A wild animal deals with what *is*. It does not have the luxury of having an attitude or a misconception. It deals with stark reality and survival. Let's look at ourselves and society to see how it is that we become hardened into such arbitrary forms. This takes me back to the dragons of yesteryear.*p*In some cases, especially in the old folktales, people started out hoarding a great treasure and eventually turned into dragons as a result of their attachment to material wealth. It is in this sense that I am referring to dragons. In a way, the two dragons in the tale of Vortigern's Tower are like this, trapped in a conflict within a locked chest and kept in a subterranean cavern. In the tales of Sigifrith and Fadhmir, the Rhine Gold causes a human to change into a dragon, until it is freed from the hoard. When Froesch slays the water-monster in "Tain Bo/ Frai/ch" or when Beowulf slays Grendal, the hero is acting to retrieve a treasure or birthright and to free the land from some geis placed upon it. In most of these tales, it is the task of the hero to free the wealth (or save the maiden), open the chest, and slay the dragon (which liberates it from its task as guardian and frees it to return to its natural state). This returning to a "natural state" is what I liken to the freeing of the mind from the separation shackled upon it by worldly ego. In a sense, we slay the dragon of our infantiley created ego to become ourselves in the greater worlds of mind and spirit. We rise out of the caves into which we have been entrapped by our acceptance of the world's standards and we, once again, become our greater selves, redeeming the cost of our current incarnations. Often, in dreams, we are placed in the role of the hero. facing of the fear of surrendering limitation to embrace the power of one's self and spirit that is beyond the limitation and illusion of mundane life. We must face our greatest fears by trusting in ourselves and our innate abilities/wisdom. This involves opening a door or a chest, invoking a well, slaying a dragon or going beyond fear into the reality that is beyond illusion. Many times, an ending or death is faced to discover that it was actually a beginning and new life.*p*Searles*p**br*