HLSC 3850a / Individual Inquiry 1
Your phenomenological inquiry’s must incorporate class lecture material, class readings,
along with integrating personal / critical opinion/life experience (if possible), and be
presented in a fashion that when interpreted makes meaningful sense while offering insight
into the phenomena under study.
Remember you will have to answer 2 of these questions – but you won’t know what sections
which questions will appear in. A passable answer must be a minimum of two pgs. Rarely
have I seen a 2pg answer/render more than a B (see in outline for individual marking
matrix).

Read the passage below (prologue to the text pg. 1 by Eugene O’Neill). Discern and
interpret what this passage means with respect to addiction with intentionality directed
toward interpreting the plight of (some) of the motif’s (i.e., the hostage, the underground
man, the romantic, the gambler, outlaw) we have been exploring thus far. Secondly, how
do you relate personally to this passage?
You’ve just told me some high spots in your memories. Want to hear mine? They’re all
connected with the sea . . . I became drunk with the beauty and singing rhythm of it, and
for a moment I lost myself – actually lost my life. I was set free! I dissolved in the sea,
became white sails and flying spray, became beauty and rhythm, became moonlight and
the ship and the high dim-starred sky! I belonged, without past or future, within peace
and unity and a wild joy, within something greater than my own life, or the life of Man, to
Life itself! To God, if you want to put it that way . . . Dreaming, not keeping lookout,
feeling alone, and above, and apart, watching the dawn creep like a painted dream over
the sky and sea which slept together. Then the moment of ecstatic freedom came. The
peace, the end of the quest, the last harbour, the joy of belonging to a fulfillment beyond
men’s lousy, pitiful, greedy fears and hopes and dreams! And several other times in my
life, when I was swimming far out, or lying alone on a beach, I have had the same
experience. Became the sun, the hot sand, green seaweed anchored to a rock, swaying in
the tide. Like a saint’s vision of beatitude. Like the veil of things as they seem drawn back
by an unseen hand. For a second you see – and seeing the secret, are the secret. For a
second there is meaning! Then the hand lets the veil fall and you are alone, lost in the fog
again, and you stumble on toward nowhere, for no good reason! He grins wryly. It was a
great mistake, my being born a man, I would have been much more successful as a sea
gull or a fish. As it is, I will always be a stranger who never feels at home, who does not
really want and is not really wanted, who can never belong, who must always be a little
in love with death!

Reflecting on the course and reading thus far, what particular two archetypes do you most
resonate with and why? How have they guided your life thus far and where do they show
up (under what circumstances). Lastly, what archetype do you least resonate with –
could this be your shadow or unconsciousness trying to reveal something to you or for
you to wake up?

In the Chapter entitled the “Trickster”, Leonard invites us into the world of Jack London
centrally through the story: John Barley-Corn. John Barley-Corn is synonymous with the
Moneylender in the sense that he offers up a substance that can lead us down the path
toward debauchery. However, he differs in the sense that he can render youth(s) insight
and short cuts into the world of manhood/womanhood. Yet, paradoxically, he can also
bring about their demise. Discuss and describe the paradox inherent in the energy of the
John Barleycorn. Lastly, what role might the Trickster play in your life?

Throughout the text and lecture material thus far, one could say that the Demon Lover is
the ground of being from which addiction arises – driving it toward destruction or
transformation. What characteristics and behaviors make up the lifeblood of the Demon
Lover? In addition, how might your own ‘being’ mirror those features found in the
Demon Lover? What might this tell you about addiction in general?

At the outset of chapter 4, “The Romantic” – Leonard states, “The romantic is one of the
most entrancing, yet dangerous figures in the psyche of the addict”. Why might this be
so? In addition, what is the evidence to suggest such an idea? How does your experience
of life build evidence for this argument or limit its value?

In Chapter 6, Leonard explores the phenomena of the Underground Man highlighting the
insight that The Underground Man is full of “paradox”. In an attempt to get at these
contradictions, Leonard brandishes a quote from Nietzsche, who stated, “The man who is
in bondage lets resentment fester inside until he has the smell of failure, of a soul gone
stale” (p. 71). Later in the chapter, Leonard makes the noble point that the energy of “The
Underground Man” has a positive function in the creative transformation. However, this
transformation may only become complete when the “Underground Man”, looks within,
challenges the chaotic and wounded energy of the Outlaw, and finally embraces the
Rebel motif. Do your best at interpreting and discussing how this occurs.

In the Chapter entitled the “Trickster”, Leonard outlines the progression of John BarleyCorn’s wizardry that enslaves his victims to their drink – provide the key milestones in
this wizardry? What does John Barleycorn want from his unsuspecting victims? Lastly,
interpret this quote and discuss how it relates to your life – “Krishna’s tricks and thievery
may rob us of our penchant for order and possession, but in that loss we may discover the
mystery of our being” (in Leonard, p. 112).

In reading the chapter entitled the Outlaw, we find an illuminating quote from Camus
who stated: “Rebellion is a principle of human existence. Taken to its utmost limits, it
implies a positive value to society and a hope for the creation of new ways to realize this
value, as opposed to conformity to rigid, destructive social structures. Rebellion implies
the acceptance of suffering within our human limits and, ultimately, the decision to
endure” (in Leonard, p. 92). What might this quote have to do with addiction and the
transformation of addiction as discussed in the text and lecture thus far (you may also
want to incorporate your own lifeworld experiences and opinions to answer this question?