Dragons and Rainbows

Historians write that during medieval times, people looked at the world as though it had messages for them. Clinging to myths and legends, people faced the feared darkness of a confounding world, hoping that these myths and stories would shine a glimmer of light in the dark abyss of their world. Myths enabled people with a finite understanding of the world to find both a semblance of reason in a confusing world and sense of purpose. In fact, looking to find reason and purpose drew people to the idea of transcendence, most commonly referred to as spirituality and religion.

Joseph Campbell, renowned scholar and lecturer on mythology, explained that the quest for transcendence was the impetus for the creation of the dragon. According to Campbell, the dragon is the amalgamation of an eagle and serpent. Similar to the Chinese image of Tao, a yang and yin relationship of opposites fusing together to form a complete whole, the dragon is the synthesis of a boundless eagle, always soaring in the spiritual heights, and the serpent, always grounded and bound to the earth. The dragon is a serpent with wings; an earthly being that has transcended the confines of its carnal and temporal state. The dragon is revered because it is a metaphorical representation of the spiritual potentiality of humanity.

While not nearly as popular in mythology and poetry as dragons, the rainbow is an equally transcendent image. Like Campbell, scholar and Kabbalist, Rabbi Abraham Kook, believed in the metaphoric power of images. He wrote about the rainbow, first used as a symbol for God’s covenant with man in the Old Testament following the flood that destroyed the entire world. “I will make My covenant with you, and all flesh will never again be cut off by the waters of a flood. This the sign of the covenant that I am placing between Me, you, and ever living creature....I have set My rainbow in the clouds…The rainbow will be in the clouds, and I will see it to recall the eternal covenant” (Gen. 9:11-16). To Rabbi Kook, the rainbow in the Old Testament is a metaphor for the awareness of God. In response to mankind’s failed connection with spirituality and devoutness, God infused the world with His ethical guidance; the refraction of light in the rainbow representing the refraction of God’s light in the physical world. In his writing, Kook continues to explain that just as the light of the rainbow could be seen in the clouds, the light of the Divine could be seen in the material and corporal world.

William Wordsworth, in his poem “The Rainbow” also employs the rainbow as a metaphor for transcendence. “My heart leaps when I behold a rainbow in the sky: so was it when my life began…I could wish my days to be bound each to each by natural piety.” Wordsworth expresses that we are brought into this world with a reverence for God. When seeing a rainbow, that piety is rekindled. Wordsworth’s hope for himself and mankind is that each day should be infused with this same state of veneration.

Whether inclined to believe in God or a more Kantian transcendence of something beyond the earthly, the lesson of both dragons and rainbows is that humanity needs to strive toward a higher integrity. By attempting to infuse our lives with righteousness, we will be able to give our lives purpose in spite of circumstance-- meaning and worth in spite of situation.

May we be blessed to see many rainbows through the clouds, guiding our transcendental journey toward meaning.