I’ve been studying these old poems written in the 1800′s lately, I don’t want to say what or why. The poems are a rich source for me and last night I was pondering one of them, written from the perspective of a coolie. A coolie is a manual laborer, akin to a slave. It was this coolie’s job to pull the punkah.
I didn’t know what a punkah was so I looked it up and you see one there in the picture. It’s the fan that hangs from the ceiling. Someone has to pull on a rope to keep it in motion and that someone is a coolie. It’s a horrible, monotonous job and coolie in the poem laments his fate. He’s got to pull on this rope until he dies and he can’t figure out why. His father was also a coolie. The man accepts his fate and thinks about the end of his life, when he will be released from this work.
Here is a picture of an exhausted coolie, asleep on the job.
How do you view this situation? Can you add the astrology?
26 Responses to “Fate? Destiny? Something Else, Maybe?”
Trying to make sense out of life circumstances. Metaphorically to me the wheel/fan represents resentment, confinement. The rope/string represents servitude, acceptance. His father is possibly, lost hope. Furthering his acceptance to pull the rope in servitude to his confinement which he will resent until his death.
Yeah, one reason I’ve had my doubts about ‘fate’ or ‘destiny’ is because of these true stories about slaves or coolies.
Are these people paying for past wrongs? Or is this just something the universe delt to these people to deal with in this lifetime? Or finally, will these people have ‘better’ lives in the next?
Sigh:. I just don’t know.
@Elsa,
Like run away? And maybe survive?
Exactly! Sounds easy, stop pulling the rope. Maybe he cannot see beyond the wheel. It’s like being in prison your whole life then getting out, now what?
@JB.
Depends on his situation. What if he lives in an isolated place? You know? Like in a land surrounded by only desert? BUT if he lived in a place where there’s cities and towns nearby? Maybe he could change his fate?
Beatings will ensue. Coolies aren’t allowed to strike. Sounds like a trashed Saturn to me.
Why does he not see an option? He laments his fate. He’s got to do pull the rope all day and sometimes at night as well. This is so he can eat (live) yet it’s such a misery, he imagines the release that death will bring. If he does not fear death, why not let go the rope and take his chances?
Death is a given, the unknown/alternative is what he truly fears.
the coolie only *assumes* this is his fate. in every moment, we choose how we see the past (memory) and the future (hope or despair). both give us context but neither is set in stone.
my virgo takes nothing for granted and tries to see complexities and layers.
He is trapped in what he thinks he is. Fear probably keeps him from taking the risk of escaping. The evil you know is better than the evil you don’t know. It is easy for us to see other alternatives but he was probably raised to believe that this was his fate. It’s hard to break your original programming.
I’m just not the type of person to “accept” my fate.
that’s immediately what I thought..
Uranus
The plot thickens.
He is pulling to keep a baby cool and the baby is sick. If he does not pull, another coolie may fall asleep on the job and the baby will die. The man is responsible.
could you post the poem please? there is a part of me that relates to this in that we are all slaves to our ego, and often choose to make our lives miserable. we could make our lives better if we would only do something different. the ego does not like change. it fears change. perhaps its the same for the coolie. it just sounds so melancholy….something can totally relate to having spent the past 3 years being homeless and working for minimum wage. would love to read this if iii could find it. thanks.
@curiositina I’m sorry, I can’t post the poem. I really am sorry but there is google and this is too personal to me. This is just a card I’ve got to hold close to my chest.
If this offends people, I really do apologize. I can quit posting about these poems if people feel it is in bad taste but I don’t want to link the book. It’s something I am going to have to study for the rest of my life, most likely and I just need to hold on to some privacy here and there, and protect the privacy of others.
The coolie valued his father and also values the baby. He is melancholy. Why is it like this? At least death comes eventually.
He carried his dying father to the the place where he died. It was a good death.
~~
I am also interested in comparing the coolie’s mindset with the mindset of people working at these type jobs in the modern day.
Why does on person inherit $40 and another $400 million? I am wondering these things right now. I think they’re interesting so decided to broach this.
I view this situation from many angles. First, the “coolie” … a word which was concocted by those who created the job. I too have been watching countless films set in the 1700 and 1800 when the classes of people were sharp and clear. In contrast to the times I have lived (1940′s forward) where class distinctions are masked yet no less solid. What I am learning is how hypnotic the role or land owner or gentry is: as if god-given with inalienable rights and acquisition. Doling out work and shelter part of their domain.
The “collie/slave” I believe, as I have felt the hypnosis of the ‘betters’ entitlement, slides into place like a puzzle in a jigsaw of inheritance. Pulling the rope and being pulled by the rope of caring (for the baby) the pieces: the collie’s place, his loyalty to his past (his father) and the mentality of acceptance is reflected in a poem … and THAT is the bell ringing at the other end of that rope.
Who writes the poem? The collie? The collie’s soul who dares to give voice to the angst. Slave songs and gospels dared to give voice to the angst. Destiny? Fate? I think destiny if looked at as one human lifetime is too short a time. I have a history that includes the ‘collie’and the lessons that come from knowing that are multiple. Do I continue to sit and pull the rope?
Your blog raises a legion of thought and possibility.
@elsa
ii used to wonder those same things that you do. when ii lived in a van for a week with my two year old and husband and am still in a shelter this winter.
realized that god helps whom he helps and kills whoever he wants to kill. its so arbitrary.
my little bro got a car for his 16th bday for free and he didn’t have a drivers license or permit. me? had to work and hand over all of my savings for one. walked in 30 below weather and didn’t get my car until 18. what is the diff between him and me? birth order. its so arbitrary. used to piss me off, but wealth is a relative thing. that 40 bucks which seems so small may to u or me is like gold to someone else.
learning to be satisfied regardless of deprivation or an excess of fortune is the only way out of our misery. The 400 dollar inheritor can be miserable too..he has more to lose than the slave and more to fear.
don’t know if im making sense. still reeling from the cardinal cross on my capricorn moon in 2010. literally feel crucified. spent so much energy and emotion wanting what everyone else has. envying their cars and high paying jobs, stable homes. id be happy if ii can watch my kids grow up. wealth is so relative. last night ii had a dream that told me ii was rich because ii was loved and am in love. ii woke up and hugged my husband. ii live in a shelter, yes. my future is uncertain….but ii am rich.
I agree with ama.
Saturn/8th trine Neptune/12th. I relate to the coolie in more ways than one.
I agree with curiositina.
Was also going to add education. Sometimes people don’t know about options or applying ones mind.
((((curiositina)))
“The 400 dollar inheritor can be miserable too..he has more to lose than the slave and more to fear.”
Yep.
coolie is a word to me personally meaning asian slave who has sold his labour to his masters for a contracted duration, to feed himself and his family, to focus on the daily tasks without reaching beyond his station. I relate to this with pluto in virgo or 6th house, and a very strong saturn.
Do I relate to this as a corporate monkey does? Nope, not the same thing at all because I chose. I see this in modern domestic workers, miners, people who travel for work away from their families and home, people who are in poor conditions of slavery.
If you view this with a sense of place, a philosophical resignation, you just do it. It’s freeing if you have accepted you are here to just do.
Why doesn’t he just leave? Because this is his job, or duty or place in life, until things change. It is not time yet.
Certainly for most things have changed, and there is more room for change, but for many, it still hasn’t.
This is the same difference.
I was watching the last program on Auschwitz. The program concentrated on those that survived and one of the guards.
Those jews who survived decided to go back home and reclaim their homes and lives. This was not to be as when they got back they found their homes and property belonged to someone else, who was not about to let it go. The survivors were told to go back to where they came from.
On the other hand a certain walter kroenig that was in the financial centre of the camp, who counted the money before packing it off to berlin, was captured and sent to england. Here he joined a german male voice choir that toured britain. He and his fellow germans were often allowed to stay in peoples home over night. He had a great time and this is one of his fondest memories. When he returned to germany he easily got a job in a glass factory. He had a family and eventually became a district judge. He was not prosecuted.
It left me thinking about karma. Why did the survivors continue to have such a hard time, while the germans did ok?
I think their is such a thing as fate/karma. No matter what our personal qualities we will suffer or otherwise no matter what we do to try to wriggle out. The more intelligent we are the harder the trap/maze.
People talk about free will and we have a choice. Buts its free will and a choice taken while in a trap/maze.
Its my contention – and this is metaphysics – that we all live in a different country. Its own weather conditions and environment. Why is it a person standing right next to you can do this this and that while you cannot. And you can do what they cannot. And what you find difficult another finds easy and vice-versa.
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Wow, fascinating. I don’t know, I feel sorry for this person. Neptune?