The White Whale (Jonah/Moby Dick mythos)

milkBoxx

I've been trying to understand the significance of this beast from an initiatory perspective
as I know it's more profound and alluded to in literature but not specifically mentioned much in regards
to a more direct correspondence. So far I see that it represents the unconscious mind, but that's very vague.
I mean, so far my instincts point towards Yesod and Netzach as corresponding but I could be way off the mark.
Also, I've read both negative interpretations and interpretations that allude to the white whale as a grail of sorts.
Anyway, I'm just looking for some opinions on what the significance is other than a vague explanation maybe something more elaborate?

Thanks

Jim Eshelman

I think you've gotten the two core archetypal ideas:

(1) It's the whole "monsters from the deep" thing, and experienced by someone who has very Nefeshic orientation: He is obsessed, driven, hurling himself into survival elements, previously been damaged by it. There is something heroic but it doesn't rise to the heroic ideal. It's a hero-type quest by someone who is not in control of his impulses, has not healed his wounds, etc.

(1) It's the grail. But not the grail from an enlightened perspective, so a more distant grail. It eventually devours him, but not in an ecstatic Babalon way. It's the darkness of the depths, not the darkness of infinite space.

Also, they are inextricably bound - where one goes, the other goes, so it shows MB is part of his psyche (in case we didn't know). His final destruction is in ensuring he can never let go.

Avshalom Binyamin

Jonah (name meaning "dove") can't flee from the orders of his god Jehovah to go preach to the scary Ninevites. The great fish is that monsters of the deep archetype that conspires with the forces of nature (the storm) to keep him from escaping from that purpose.

Here are the lyrics to a song I wrote about Jonah, in case they add to the discussion:

Sailors' black eyes, frightened by the rain
Searching, not for truth, but a means to end their pain
Sailors' bronze arms, darkened by the night
Reaching, not for love, but a rope to end my flight

I was just passing through, hoping that you would not notice me--a Dove, flying through the fog

Pierce my coward foot, for I'm not fit to stand
Deliver me into my destroyer's hand
And when the raging storm returns to tranquil sea
You will know the cause of your suffering was me

If I should fall through, don't let your own abyss envelop me--a Dove, falling from on high

Middleman

Ahab doesn't drown. We are told it of Pip so we know it of Ahab. Ahab is Ishmael. Maybe.

Oh, and Ahab in Hebrew means love and values 8.