Black And White: The Two Faces Of God Of Un-dead, Orgasm, And Water Of Life

This is a translation of an article by Vojtěch Franče,
from his Graphology and Psychology blog.

The original is in Czech language as is Vojtěch's whole blog.

I have really enjoyed this article (and other ones by him which I am hoping to bring later)
and wanted to share it with english speaking readers.

Therefore with the author's permission I have translated it and decided to publish it here.

I would be grateful for any comments/tips about grammar or phrases,
as English is not my first language.
~ Jana (www.explore.truthloveenergy.com)

Black And White: The Two Faces Of God
Of un-dead, orgasm, and water of life


You can take the following essay as a game, a simple intuitive concept, something to play with in anyway you wish. You will see that if you start to talk on this topic with your friends, they will understand what you mean very quickly. Maybe you have seen the movie Black Swan, in which case it will be obvious what I am talking about very soon. First, though, I would like to clarify that we will not be talking about the concept of good and evil.
Imagine the life as an interplay of two opposing forces: one which creates life, and another one which protects it. Let’s call the life-giving force “white”, and the life-protecting one “black”. Although this may seem as a mere word play, if you care to observe the energetic “emanations” of the people around you, you may find that this designation is not random (white reflects/emits light, whilst black absorbs it).
In life we need both forces: black (destructive, defensive, closing) and white (creative, life-giving, opening). Many of us can, to varying degrees and in various situations, use both. We are at our strongest when we straddle both the white and black dimensions widely and when we allow these energies to dance without fear. The problem occurs, when under the pressure of life experiences, we block our way to one of these forces, obstruct its free flow, displace it, and stop seeing it. In this case, our life will push us towards the acceptance of the displaced polarity to renew our holistic understanding and acceptance of the natural life-flow.
I will try to describe what happens when a person lives with only one of these two forces.
The person who has displaced the white energy out of their life, has probably in the course of their life come to the conclusion that to trust does not pay off, and therefore it is necessary, in the first place, to protect, defend, retreat, in case of danger to attack, sometimes even to attack first just to be sure. Such person is identified with the position of power, it is a problem for them to show their vulnerability, sensitivity, they perceive the world as a threatening, hostile place, where they are, first and foremost, to survive. Black gives us the strength to survive, but without white we cannot live a fulfilled life. Black without white is as a safe capsule, a shell of a fruit without the sweet juice inside. Likewise, to a person without the white energy, it seems (although he or she does not necessarily outwardly shows this off – but then again, some "blacks" are chronic complainants) as if their life has no meaning (and thus they have nothing to support their inner sense of self-worth and self confidence). Typically they are unable to think about their future, to shape it, create a vision, fresh energizing dreams - because the world is conceived as a place where to do something like that is doomed to failure (like building castles in the sand: yes, something so childish is to be just laughed at bitterly), and therefore they do not even attempt it, or more precisely, are not able to find the necessary (white, creative) strength (because that is what it is – a strength), energy (and trust) in themselves. Thus they are surviving rather than living. At the same time (despite all the self-destructive attempts and tendencies) they cling to life with unprecedented intensity and tenacity; their will to survive is resilient, almost indestructible. Their inner destructivity can manifest for example by seeking out risky (or variously hazardous or perverse – use your imagination) situations (where death is near) – then at least they feel they live intensely for a while, that they are alive, it brings them excitement, which is perceived as “life”. (Bjork sings about it: "violently happy").
A metaphoric image for some of the examples of these people is a zombie (even if you shoot its leg off, it walks on with an empty expression). Another mythological metaphor can be found in vampires: some people disconnected from white energy (maybe most of them), are able to secure their life juice (of which blood is a mythical image) solely by literally sucking it out of others – from people in their environment, who in turn radiate the white energy – in this way they actually supply themselves with certain amount of “juice”. (The person with prevailing white energy might not even notice it, or they might even feel useful because of it – once again, they have “helped” somebody.) This energetic exchange is of course taking place at an unconscious level, subliminally, for example in a form of certain communication games (sometimes called manipulations).
Of course I don’t mean that this individual will consciously decide to once again “suck off” from someone. Sometimes it’s enough to just be surrounded by lively cheerful people at work. On the other hand, imagine what is it like to work in the same office for 10 years surrounded by all zombies. Can this be survived without a substantial amount of black (defensive) energy, which we surround ourselves with like with a protective shield? Or take for example an embittered teacher in elementary school, who “recharges” herself from the children – what will be left of these children by the time they leave the school? Most likely they will switch over to a similar mode in order to “survive”.



Both zombies and vampires are sometimes referred to in fantasy games and literature as “un-dead”. This is a fitting name. You see, un-dead means: they are not dead yet, but not “alive” either. (Slavoj Žižek has also pondered this bewildering paradox - in movies, un-deadness is supposedly expressed by the movement of separate mechanical objects – for instance an independently walking pair of shoes - hell, how can you kill something like that?). Un-dead are very difficult to destroy, basically they survive under any circumstances; they’re in fact paradoxically very “viable” (rather like an exotic weed imported to an environment where it has no natural predators).
So a person disconnected from the white energy mostly recharges him or herself with this energy by subliminal energetic transactions (excellently described by Eric Berne in his book Games People Play), usually experiences a strange bliss when white energy is being emanated, they are as if bewitched by it, and in a way they envy it (somewhat wistfully, sort of “I wish I could too”). On the other hand – “pure” black always has an edge on “pure” white. It’s more powerful, radical, militant, unscrupulous. It is this power that made our ancestors survive, the force to which we owe the fact that we are still alive! Black allows you to define clear energetic boundaries around yourself, stand up to an attack, not to allow yourself to be used, to defend your interests and your space. In a pure, integrated expression it is a power of a fighter, a warrior.
At a deep level, people with displaced white energy feel as if God has turned his face away from them. In vain they try to remember the last time they experienced the full sense of acceptance of love and divine grace, which would fill their soul to the brim (does anything like that even exist?) At the same time deep down in their soul they desire to feel this. However this energy cannot reach them through their protective (sometimes sceptically rationalizing) shields, impregnate, fill and uplift them. They might feel forsaken and remain as if in an embittered resistance towards this force, which gives them a feeling of exclusivity.
We have already said that the black energy in the absence of white energy is surviving but not living. When it comes to the white energy, it’s the other way round. It can live without the black energy, but it cannot survive without it.
A person disconnected from the black energy tends to get used and conned. They come across as guileless, even naïve, which may arouse sympathy. They believe that all people are good. They come across as approachable and open. They want to help others, give of themselves – but as chance (the black face of God) would have it - often it goes wrong somehow – or they run into people who will somehow take advantage of their helpfulness and good deeds. In a suitable environment, they can function for a very long time, but one way or another, at some point they will find out that they are running out of energy, that they have burnt out. People who don’t know how to use their black energy, tend to remain in relationships that are not beneficial for them. Sometimes they tend to ignore (or excuse) their partner’s shortcomings, and ignore subliminal conflicts, (the white energy trusts and creates, so relationships last for too long, the black energy distrust and terminates, so relationships do not last long - or rather not even come into being). We need to know how to do both: to trust in appropriate situations - and at other times, to be aggressive. To make long term energy investments with trust (for which we need the white energy), as well as to know how to withdraw it and focus it elsewhere (for which we need the black energy).
"Whites" have a problem saying "no" when asked for something. As a result, they find they give of themselves to this and that, and in the end they do not have enough time and energy for themselves. On the other hand (when in demand) they will feel useful thanks to it (even if they pretended to complain - but what can be better, then to be needed, right?). Once they burn out, they can become "un-dead" of course (and move to the other polarity - sometimes permanently), but usually after some time they get on their feet again and throw their energy into something new.
It may also happen that to people who displace the black energy, this energy makes itself known psychosomatically, as a variety of physical symptoms related to the destructiveness turned against their own person (these may include cancer or anorexia).

Black Swan (2010)​

Natalie Portman, the "White Swan", was raised from childhood as a "good girl" by her reserved, strict mother who transferred her own unfulfilled ballet ambitions onto her. She disconnected from her instincts in order to fulfil her mother’s idea of perfection. In her white “purity” she has completely displaced the black, wild, playful, cheeky and perverse aspect of femininity out of her life (in the movie brilliantly interpreted by her own arch-rival with her constant “illegal” cigarette butt in her mouth. Fortunately, not quite completely: in the moment when she bits her sexually intrusive director in the tongue, this latent aspect impulsively erupts out of her, which finally convinces the director: ah, yes, she too, could be a great representative of the black swan. Thus gradually opens a path to her own transformation, and integration of the terrifying black power. I would not like to get on the thin ice here, but it seems that in women, whether it’s the white or the black polarity that is displaced, it is connected with, shall we say, a more difficult access to the unreserved surrender of control on the deepest level, and thus also the orgasm; it is as if orgasm requires a relaxed interplay of both forces; perhaps this is instinctively sought in it too. Which is why the director – in the context of the mastering of the difficult and ambivalent ballet role - wisely recommends at least masturbation to the White Swan - but as chance (the white face of God) would have it: her mother barges in at the best moment(!) And finally a cheeky remark on this topic: White does not go and get it, Black does not need anyone to do so.
In this way we have seen how white gets closer to the forbidden black. What if the situation is reversed?
Conversion of "black in white" is superbly portrayed by Robert De Niro in the film The Mission (with the beautiful music of Ennio Morriconi) - a ruthless killer, mercenary, slaver, which hunts the Indians on top of waterfalls – finds out one day that his beloved, in his absence, pleasures his younger brother instead of himself with her love. In a fit of rage he kills his brother in a duel. His life loses meaning, cursing his rash act he’s wallowing in bitterness, shutting the world out. Nonetheless, he accepts the challenge of Jeremy Irons, a Jesuit priest, to try to do penance provided he can find courage to do so. With the weight of their arm coats, swords and shields, he and the Jesuit brotherhood of the Moon drag along through the rainforest, to find the forgiveness, which only his own soul can provide, at the end of his path, in the right moment and place, which he cannot know in advance. This is one of the most impressive scenes of transformation and conversion, captured on a movie screen. He breaks out in tears - and at that moment in the hearts of Indians - who, of course, recognize in him the murderer of their former kinsmen and wish to kill him, something releases too and they break into laughter when they see this man cry. Then he becomes one of them - in the New World paradise. He then reverses his polarity so far into the white, that he refuses to take a spear and kill a wild boar, although he earns contempt from the Indians for that. But not for long. At the end of the film, when Portuguese troops storm the mission, despite the reproachful look if the "white" Jesuit Jeremy Irons, he renounces the order, to which he had sworn his allegiance, pulls out his old arms out from the river, his old burden, and decides to defend the mission with a gun in his hand - a decision to fight for those to whom he is bound by love. (Whilst the "orthodox white" Irons walks through the burning mission with a cross in his hand, heading a chanting procession). Here we can see a story of the black energy, which in a moment of deep repentance and forgiveness (to oneself), turns into the opposite white polarity, only to find the connection to the “black” past again in a key moment and letting both forces to fuse together.

The Mission (1986)​

Hegel has expressed this paradoxical curve of psychological development like this: first there is A, then B, which is the negation of A, and finally there is C, which is the negation of B, but it's not A - is a new quality.

Or consider Gandalf from Lord of the Rings: at first, he carries the epithet "Gray”. Later he confronts his own shadow, his dark self (Balrog), falls into the abyss (it seems that for this transformation it is necessary to fall to the very bottom, from whence there is nowhere deeper to go). He overcomes Balrog, passes through death and rebirth, and returns from eternity as a new being - Gandalf the "White": Now that he has the full spectrum of white and black forces mastered, his power increases tremendously. (We said that the black overpowers white – or more precisely, it destroys, kills it. However, the integrated whole of black and white – yes, it's trivial - in turn, overwhelms any black).
It seems to me that in fairy tales, the black and white forces are represented by the metaphor of the water of life and the water of death. (I always wondered what is the water of death needed for?) The water of death was used to grow separated limbs of a body back together (see the Slavoj Žižek reference above), while the water of life was used to bring the dead body back to life. The quartered body was apparently un-dead (neither alive, nor dead.) First, it was necessary to "bring it to death" - really let die that, which faintly, schizophrenically, staggeringly survives. You see, this death, the passing of the threshold of death, provides the much-needed recovery, reintegration (or bounce back from the bottom). It's actually deeply relieving. In simple terms, that carrion in us must first truly die. Only then the change in the structure, state, quality, can take place. Otherwise, we would be pouring the water of life into a rotting carcass (either one in us or in others), the water of life would get absorbed, but once we come to really need it, it would no longer be available. And so death is actually so good, so beneficial, but to correctly die into the depth of life, to accept it and celebrate it in the Dionysus style (thus consecrating all that has been and all that will be as if it’s a circle) – that is something we have yet to learn.
The topic of black and white is infinite and I would like to leave it open. No doubt you will be able to think of a whole array of other black and white threads in the web of mirror relationships, tales and myths.

I also wanted to mention the toughness of the sons and daughters of Israel, who used to put on a black belt since ancient times, thanks to which they survived the un-survivable, and up to present day do not put up with just anything. That some blacks present themselves as whites and vice versa. That both aspects of the life force are gifts, which when we refuse to see and love, are destroying us, because it is impossible to stop the effect of something that simply is. That life, unlike us, does not mind being twisted and illogical (but it is unfortunately and fortunately larger than us). That we all get opportunity to experience ourselves in both white and black position, like a snake’s body flitting across a dusty path of light and shadows, left to right, right to left, because in our depth, there is everything, and this depth is not looking for the icy perfection of black or white marble, but the wholeness of flow, in which we are in harmony with ourselves, because then we are in harmony with everything that comes to pass. And even when we are not in harmony, then that only means, that we are just mightily pulled towards our Star, and thus to even a deeper harmony.