Carrying on where I left off the previous post, I’ve been pondering the impact of Bowie, and what it all means.
I’m certain that on the larger stage, as with any big celebrity, Bowie represented an archetype that people want to experience. Probably more than one. The puer, or eternal golden youth, is one (the female version is puella aeterna)-—expressing unbounded instinct, disorder, intoxication, whimsy. Which is hard on celebrities as they age. If they are lucky, they let go of the youthful side and become the shadow reverse of the puer, the senex (wise woman or man, wizard), characterized by discipline, control, responsibility, rationality, order. Bowie took on the years with style and joy, growing in strength of character, while still remaining connected to the joy and freedom of creative impulse.
Perhaps the refusal to remain the eternal youth is one of the things about Bowie that rose him up from the crowd and made him so unique. After his initial years of fame and popularity, he took a break to connect with himself. He set aside the Ziggy character, and went to a place (Berlin) where he could kick the drugs, escape the fame, and return to the well of his own authentic creativity, bringing forth an entirely new expression of musical possibility. This was not his first period of reinvention, and it wouldn’t be the last. I wonder about the inner thread of connection to sense of self and purpose that runs through the timeline of his life. What might it feel like?
The aspect of reinventing himself over and over is something that many have admired about Bowie. I admire his willingness to give up the fame, turn away from people’s expectations, and do what was true to his heart. He was willing to leave all he had gained behind, but that’s not how it went down, since his reinventions continually succeeded, with his popularity and legend growing throughout his life.
