Enlightenment, Shadows, and Revolutions: A Psychoanalytic Reading of Wilbert Salgado’s Haiku

Wilbert Salgado’s haiku—

—presents fleeting yet profound images that invite psychological exploration than simply look at them as imagery, and it also compresses into six short lines a drama of desire, illusion, and psychic upheaval. The poem juxtaposes the delicate (moth, cricket, bodily urge) with the violent (mamba, coup d’état), creating a space where human consciousness and instinct wrestle and search for meaning The imagery of insects, reptiles, and bodily impulses stages what Jung would call the individuation process (1967/1981), what Fromm theorizes as the conflict between being and having (1976), and what Lacan interprets as the subject’s struggle within the Symbolic order (1977). Reading the haiku through the frameworks of Erich Fromm, Carl Jung, and Jacques Lacan reveals its depth as an allegory of human freedom, unconscious conflict, and desire.

Jung: Archetypes and the Shadow’s Revolt

For Carl Jung, animals in dreams and literature embody archetypal psychic energies. The moth’s attraction to artificial light recalls the ego’s tendency to mistake external sources of illumination for true self-knowledge. Jung cautions that “the aim of individuation is nothing less than to divest oneself of the false wrappings of the persona… and of the suggestive power of primordial images” (Jung, 1967/1981, CW 7, p. 172).

The cricket, an earthy, embodied figure, contrasts with the moth’s delusion, marking the irruption of the unconscious. The sudden urge to touch the nose dramatizes the Shadow’s emergence: instinct demanding recognition. Finally, the black mamba deposing the crowned eagle dramatizes what Jung calls the confrontation with the Shadow, where repressed energies dethrone the inflated ego (Jung, 1959, Aion, p. 21). The coup is not merely political but psychic: the unconscious staging its revolt against false sovereignty.

The poem does resonate with archetypal imagery. The “black mamba” also seen as a usurper embodies the shadow archetype, the dark, destructive potential within the psyche. In this instance, Jung reminds us: “One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious” (Jung, 1954/1968, p. 265). In Salgado’s haiku, the coup d’état symbolizes an eruption of the unconscious shadow overthrowing the conscious ideal (the crowned eagle). The eagle, often a symbol of vision, kingship, and transcendence, is deposed by primal instinct. Enlightenment here is not serenity, but confrontation with the destabilizing power of the shadow.

Fromm: Being versus Having

Erich Fromm provides a parallel lens. In To Have or To Be?, he distinguishes between the having mode (possessing illusions, status, or false enlightenment) and the being mode, where authenticity is lived experientially. As Fromm notes, “If I am what I have and if what I have is lost, who then am I?” (Fromm, 1976, p. 109).

The moth clinging to the LED bulb epitomizes the having mode: mistaking technological glow for spiritual light. In contrast, the cricket on the persona’s foot and the bodily impulse to touch the nose embody the being mode: unmediated experience, presence, and spontaneity. The mamba’s coup represents liberation from the structures of possession and control, a radical move toward authenticity, even at the cost of inner stability.

Another possible interpretation of Salgado’s Haiku is through Fromm’s humanistic psychoanalysis lens. Through this type of analysis, the haiku emphasizes the tension between instinctual drives and human freedom. The moth clinging to the LED bulb can also illustrate what Fromm called “the fear of freedom”, the tendency to escape autonomy by attaching oneself to external certainties (Fromm, 1941). Fromm wrote that “Modern man still is anxious and tempted to surrender his freedom to dictators of all kinds, or to lose it by transforming himself into a small cog in the machine” (Fromm, 1941, p. 257). Through this idea the moth becomes a metaphor for this surrender, its attraction to artificial light reflecting humanity’s search for easy, yet blinding, certainties. Meanwhile, the cricket on the speaker’s foot signals a grounding in embodied presence, resisting alienation.

Lacan: Desire, the Symbolic, and Subversion

For Lacan, human desire is always caught in the networks of language and power (the Symbolic order). The moth clinging to artificial light parallels what Lacan calls the lure of the objet petit a, the unattainable object of desire that structures subjectivity. As Lacan states, “Man’s desire is the desire of the Other” (Lacan, 1977, p. 235). The moth desires a false Other: light as simulacrum of truth. The line “that urge to touch my nose” can be read through Lacan’s concept of desire as endless and disruptive. The seemingly trivial bodily urge echoes the intrusive force of unconscious desire, unbidden and irrational.

The cricket and the urge to touch the nose break through this symbolic mediation, grounding the subject in the body, the Real, which Lacan identifies as what resists symbolization. Finally, the mamba’s violent coup dramatizes what Lacan terms traversing the fantasy, the subject shattering the illusory structures of power. The crowned eagle, symbol of sovereign mastery, falls to the insurgent Real embodied in the snake.

From a different perspective, the coup d’état can be read as an eruption of the Real (that which resists symbolization). The black mamba’s violent act represents the Real breaking into the Symbolic order (the eagle’s rule). In Lacan’s words, “The Real is that which always comes back to the same place… the impossible” (Lacan, 1998, p. 66). Just as the coup dismantles hierarchy, the Real dismantles the subject’s illusions of mastery. Enlightenment in this Lacanian register is destabilizing, a forced recognition of desire and mortality rather than transcendence.

Integrating the Perspectives

We can read Salgado’s haiku as a triptych of psychic transformation:

Line/Image	Fromm	Jung	Lacan
Moon moth & LED bulb	Illusory enlightenment; having mode	Persona seeking false identity	False objet petit a; desire mediated by the Other
Cricket on foot; urge to touch	Spontaneous authenticity; being mode	Shadow irruption; instinct demanding integration	The Real breaking into Symbolic order
Black mamba deposes eagle	Rebellion against false authority	Shadow confronts and dethrones ego	Traversal of fantasy; collapse of sovereign illusion

Salgado’s poem stages an internal revolution: from external, deceptive illumination to embodied awareness, culminating in the confrontation with the forbidden self. The haiku, in its compressed form, is less about “enlightenment” as transcendence than as psychic reordering, dislodging authoritarian ego-configurations in favor of elemental, instinctual truth.

Conclusion

Salgado’s haiku stages the drama of human consciousness as it negotiates instinct, freedom, and unconscious forces. Through Fromm, it critiques modern attachments to false securities; through Jung, it dramatizes the eruption of the shadow; through Lacan, it exposes the instability of desire and the disruptive return of the Real. Enlightenment, then, is not a tranquil state but a precarious confrontation with what lies beneath and beyond reason.

📚 References

Fromm, E. (1941). Escape from Freedom. New York: Farrar & Rinehart.

Fromm, E. (1976). To Have or To Be? New York: Harper & Row.

Jung, C. G. (1959). Aion: Researches into the Phenomenology of the Self (Collected Works Vol. 9ii). Princeton University Press.

Jung, C. G. (1967/1981). The Collected Works of C. G. Jung, Vol. 7: Two Essays on Analytical Psychology. Princeton University Press.

Jung, C. G. (1968). The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious (R. F. C. Hull, Trans., 2nd ed.). Princeton: Princeton University Press. (Original work published 1954)

Lacan, J. (1977). Écrits: A Selection (A. Sheridan, Trans.). New York: Norton.

Lacan, J. (1998). The Seminar of Jacques Lacan, Book XI: The Four Fundamental Concepts of Psychoanalysis (J.-A. Miller, Ed., A. Sheridan, Trans.). New York: Norton.

Discussion Questions for Students

Instructions: Read Salgado’s haiku carefully. Then, using the psychological frameworks discussed, reflect on the questions below. Prepare to justify your answers with references to both the text and the theorists.

1	False Light: a)    How does the image of the moon moth clinging to a LED bulb critique false source of enlightenment? b)    What might this imply about our contemporary quests for meaning? c)    How does the image of the moth clinging to the LED bulb relate to Fromm’s concept of “escape from freedom”?
2	Embodied Impulse: a)    The cricket and the urge to touch the nose introduce a shift from external to internal. How does this moment function psychologically in the poem, particularly in light of Fromm’s “being” mode? b)    Why might the cricket be interpreted as a grounding or humanizing symbol in the poem?
3	Shadow Dynamics: a)    Discuss the symbolic resonance of the black mamba overthrowing the crowned eagle. b)    What does this reveal about the struggle between conscious identity and suppressed instinct? c)    What does Jung mean when he says enlightenment requires confronting darkness, and how does this apply to the coup d’état image?
4	Persona vs. Authentic Self: a)    Using Fromm’s concept of authenticity, can the moth and the eagle be seen as representations of a persona? b)    If so, how does the poem suggest moving beyond these constructs? c)    In what ways does the black mamba function as a symbol of the Jungian shadow?
5	Individuation Journey: a)    Map the poem’s three segments onto Jung’s stages of individuation, shadow confrontation, anima/animus encounter, and emergence of the Self. b)    Which stages are most vividly represented, and why? c)    How does the crowned eagle represent conscious ideals or the ego-self in Jungian terms?
6	Animal Archetypes: a)    How do the cricket, moth, mamba, and eagle function as archetypal figures? What universal psychic energies might they embody? b)    What does the urge to touch the nose reveal about unconscious bodily desire in Lacanian theory?
7	Conflict and Integration: a)    Jung emphasizes that individuation involves conflict. Where is this conflict most evident in the poem, and how might it lead to integration or fragmentation? b)    In what sense does Lacan’s dictum “man’s desire is the desire of the Other” echo through the haiku?
8	Internal Coup: a)    What does the concept of disobedience add to the understanding of the poem’s final overture? b)    Is it necessarily destructive, or could it be regenerative? c)    How might the coup d’état be read as an eruption of the Lacanian Real?
9	Creative Application: a)    If you were to write a short poem or scene that represents your own internal coup, an overthrow of one psychic force by another, what symbols would you use and why? b)    Overall, does the poem present enlightenment as liberation, destabilization, or both? Defend your interpretation.

My Reflective Journaling: Literature Haiku Analysis (August 2025)

Psychology Reading of Enlightenment and Disruption

1. Erich Fromm: Being vs. Having Mode and the Urge to Transcend
	·        Fromm distinguishes between the "having" mode (possession, control) and the "being" mode (experience, presence, awareness). The haiku explores this contrast:
		·        The moth clinging to a bulb represents a misguided search for light or truth, a having approach to enlightenment, mistaking artificiality for spiritual illumination. ·        The urge to touch one's nose, triggered by a cricket on the foot, reveals a raw, embodied, and spontaneous self—being, not having. Fromm would see this as a symbol of authentic, present-moment awareness breaking through the static search for external meaning. ·        The coup d’état echoes Fromm’s concern with internal revolutions—the black mamba (representing instinct, danger) overthrows the crowned eagle (the ego ideal or rational self), suggesting a psychic reordering of values.
Key Insight: Fromm might read the poem as a psychospiritual journey away from the illusion of external enlightenment toward the liberation of primal being.
2. Jacques Lacan: Mirror Stage, Desire, and Symbolic Overthrow
	·        The moon moth and LED bulb might signify the Lacanian mirror stage, in which the subject misrecognizes its reflection (the false promise of “enlightenment”). The moth clings not to the moon, but to a technological surrogate—a symbolic Other that structures desire. ·        The cricket on the foot evokes an irruption of the Real—the unassimilable, bodily sensation that disrupts the symbolic structure. The urge to touch the nose points to the breakdown of the coherent subject. ·        The black mamba overthrowing the crowned eagle can be read as a symbolic revolution: the Real or drive (mamba) displaces the ego-ideal (eagle), a Lacanian coup d’état. It reflects a dethroning of the subject’s alignment with the Law of the Father (symbolic authority), returning instead to the unmediated drive.
Key Insight: For Lacan, the poem stages the fragmentation of the subject and the destabilization of symbolic authority—where jouissance (dangerous pleasure) overcomes rational control.
3. Carl Jung: Individuation, Archetypes, and Shadow Integration
	·        The moth and artificial light could represent the false self seeking enlightenment through illusions rather than inner transformation. The moth is drawn to a light that blinds, not enlightens—suggesting a persona attached to external forms. ·        The cricket on the foot stirs a bodily impulse—this can symbolize the awakening of the unconscious, a nudge from the anima or instinctual self prompting reconnection with the body and senses. ·        The final stanza represents the confrontation with the Shadow: the black mamba is a powerful, feared archetype (death, transformation), while the crowned eagle symbolizes the dominant ego or super-ego. The coup implies a vital moment in the individuation process, where the hidden, repressed forces of the psyche reclaim sovereignty.
Key Insight: Jung might interpret this haiku as depicting a dream-like psychic journey in which the individual confronts their Shadow, lets go of persona-based enlightenment, and enters a deeper phase of inner transformation.

Psychological Readings of Wilbert Salgado’s Haiku by Jonathan Acuña