[Kristina Dryza]

Dear Charles,

Thank you for your message. I wholeheartedly agree that we must first descend to the depths if we are to rise to the heights in a stable way. If we transcend without first redeeming what’s been neglected, then the transformation is incomplete. There was a need for Persephone to marry the darkness and move out of the fierce identification with a life lived solely on the surface, on the horizontal plane. The only way for her to be free as Demeter’s daughter is to eat the pomegranate seeds. To only be free as the daughter of life is not possible, one must also know death. And not just know death, but be its consort and intimate partner. There’s an ancient Mesopotamian saying – “No one comes back from the underworld unmarked” – and I feel the underworld provides us with a certain verticality so that we may perceive what you so eloquently wrote in your response.

No, I haven’t read the works of Algis Uzdavinys, but now I shall. Thank you for the recommendation.

Very best, Kristina.