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

Three Paths to Meaning: Lacan, Jung, and Duchamp Interpret Frost’s “The Road Not Taken”

Robert Frost’s The Road Not Taken is often read as a celebration of individualism, a poetic ode to choosing a different path rather than the one most people tend to follow. However, when approached through the intellectual lenses of Jacques Lacan, Carl Jung, and Marcel Duchamp, the poem reveals deeper and more complex layers of meaning that supersede its surface reading. These insights stem from distinct theoretical frameworks that question not only the nature of choice but also the construction of identity and the process of meaning-making. Notably, there are striking parallels between the poem’s metaphorical journey and the psychological, symbolic, and artistic inquiries each thinker explores, challenging conventional understandings of free will and interpretation.

Jacques Lacan: The Illusion of Choice and the Symbolic Order

Jacques Lacan argued that human identity is formed within the symbolic order—a realm governed by language, social structures, and culturally imposed signifiers. In The Road Not Taken, the persona’s choice appears monumental, yet it is framed within meanings that stem from societal expectations rather than individual agency. The poem admits, at the tail end of its narrative reflection, that “Though as for that the passing there / Had worn them really about the same” (Frost, 1916, lines 9–10), suggesting that neither path was truly unique. This directly undermines the romanticized claim in the final stanza that choosing the “one less traveled by” made all the difference. If the roads were “about the same,” then the choice is revealed as a blank slate upon which the speaker retroactively inscribes significance. Lacan would argue that the subject’s attempt to interpret this choice is not grounded in freedom but rather in the enmity against ambiguity imposed by the symbolic order, the need to rationalize and narrate identity even when the decision lacks inherent distinction.

Lacan would interpret this contradiction as a retroactive construction of meaning, what he called après coup, the act of looking back to find connections between events that may not have held significance at the time. The persona in the poem, much like the subject in Lacanian theory, is not a blank slate but rather an empty vessel seeking to fill itself with coherent narratives to explain fragmented experiences. The storytelling of the poem becomes a way to prime the pump of identity formation, generating meaning where none may have originally existed. The critical question becomes: does the choice of a road genuinely shape a life, or is it merely a symbolic gesture absorbed into the collective illusion of meaning? As Lacan (1977) asserts, “the truth can only be approached retroactively” (p. 52). The speaker’s famous sigh—“I shall be telling this with a sigh”—is not necessarily a mark of insight, but rather a symptom of the lack at the core of the subject. This lack, coupled with the human compulsion to narrate, makes for one of Lacan’s most compelling arguments: that our sense of identity stems not from certainty, but from the fictions we tell ourselves to sustain coherence.

Carl Jung: The Archetypal Journey and Individuation

For Carl Jung, the image of two roads diverging in a yellow wood evokes the quintessential archetype of the crossroads, a symbolic space where the persona’s ego confronts the unconscious and must make a decision that propels psychological transformation. Jung (1959) defined individuation as “the process by which a person becomes a psychological ‘individual,’ that is, a separate, indivisible unity or ‘whole’” (p. 275). The persona in Frost’s poem stands at just such a threshold, and his choice. whether truly less traveled or not, signals a movement toward self-differentiation. This path, however ordinary on the surface, becomes a representation of the journey in the farther reaches of the psyche, where one’s authentic self begins to emerge. From this Jungian lens, the speaker wholeheartedly embraces the responsibility of that inner voyage, even if only in hindsight. The implication is that, because of his decision, he did not simply continue living as before; he became someone else, shaped by a choice that resonates within his unconscious and symbolic life.

The persona acknowledges in the poem that he “doubted if [he] should ever come back” (Frost, 1916, line 15), suggesting the irreversibility of inner transformation, once the decision is made, the previous self is left behind. From a Jungian perspective, this line reflects the archetypal challenge to grapple with one’s unconscious content. Readers familiar with archetypal psychology would interpret the two roads not as merely different in terrain, but in psychic resonance: one aligned with the collective consciousness, the other with the shadow, the hidden or repressed potential each psyche carries. Choosing the latter path leads toward authenticity, but it demands a willingness to draw upon inner strength and confront the unfamiliar. Jung cautioned that the shadow is not a catchall term for evil or darkness, but rather a repository of “disowned aspects of the self” (Jeffrey 2025). In choosing the less obvious path, the speaker symbolically accepts the challenge of integrating this shadow, even at the cost of conventional certainty or social belonging.

Marcel Duchamp: Decision as Conceptual Art

Marcel Duchamp’s radical contribution to modern art was to elevate context and concept over form, famously transforming a urinal into the infamous Fountain (1917). In doing so, he blurred the line between object and idea Dillon-Mansfield (2023), demonstrating that artistic meaning stems not from the object itself but from its framing, a perspective that launched a suite of conceptual innovations in 20th-century art. From this viewpoint, The Road Not Taken becomes a kind of conceptual performance: the persona’s decision, whether substantial or superficial, gains meaning through its poetic contextualization. Choosing a road in a yellow wood might otherwise be considered a low-risk activity, but Frost's speaker imbues it with symbolic weight, much like Duchamp transformed mundane objects into provocations. As Dillon-Mansfield (2023) argues, “Perhaps we can argue that context is necessary to elevate something to the status of art” (p. 91). Just as Lacan reveals how choice is shaped by narrative and Jung sees individuation arising from inner conflict, Duchamp reminds us that meaning is constructed by a suite of contextual elements. While Frost’s poem is quiet in tone, it resists a singular interpretation, acting not as a universal truth but as an ironic gesture within a world where meaning has gone on a global rampage, constantly shifting based on context and perspective.

The sigh in the final stanza becomes a Duchampian gesture, ironic, performative, and ambiguous: “I shall be telling this with a sigh / Somewhere ages and ages hence” (Frost, 1916, lines 16–17). Albeit subtle, this moment functions like one of Duchamp’s provocations, where context—not content—bestows meaning. Duchamp would likely interpret the speaker’s reflection as an instance of self-mythologizing, akin to the artist who proclaims an ordinary object “art” simply by situating it within a curated space. As Camfield (1987) notes of Duchamp, “the act of designation was more important than the physical object” (p. 55). The road in the poem may be ordinary, unremarkable even, but the act of narrating it transforms the choice into a performative work of art. The speaker, engaged in what could be called a solitary sport of reflection, reclaims agency through poetic form. His retrospective storytelling occurs in a short, focused burst, distilled into a few lines that paradoxically stretch “ages and ages hence.” In Duchamp’s spirit, the speaker’s meaning does not reside in the decision itself but in the deliberate framing of that decision for future consumption.

Conclusion: The Roads Within Us

Far from “an anthem of individualism and nonconformity, seemingly encouraging readers to take the road less traveled” (Payet, 2018), The Road Not Taken, when examined through the tripartite structure of Lacanian psychoanalysis, Jungian archetypes, and Duchampian aesthetics, emerges as a layered meditation on decision, identity, and constructed meaning.

• Lacan exposes the illusion of choice within the symbolic order, showing how subjects are compelled to narrate coherence even where it does not exist.
• Jung maps a path of inner transformation, revealing how the confrontation with the unconscious can reshape the self.
• Duchamp reimagines the decision as a kind of conceptual artwork, an ironic gesture that challenges how meaning is formed.

Together, these readings allow us to be awash in a current of competing interpretations, each destabilizing the poem’s surface-level appeal. Rather than offering clarity, Frost’s poem mirrors the discomfort of human reflection, often messy, recursive, and even icky in its confrontation with ambiguity and regret. Ultimately, the journey does not reside in the road itself but in the symbolic, psychological, and artistic frameworks we impose upon it. As Frost’s own text reveals, meaning is not taken from the road that was chosen, but made from it, crafted through the lens of theory, memory, and myth.

📚 References

Camfield, W. A. (1987). Marcel Duchamp: Fountain. Menil Foundation.

Dillon-Mansfield, R. (July 9, 2023). The Legacy of Duchamp's Fountain in the Philosophy of Art. Retrieved from https://ruth-dm.co.uk/posts/what-is-art/

Frost, R. (1916). The road not taken. In Mountain interval. Henry Holt and Company.

Jeffrey, S. (January 25, 2025). A Beginner’s Guide to Jungian Shadow Work: How to Integrate Your Dark Side. Retrieved from https://scottjeffrey.com/shadow-work/#:~:text=The%20Shadow%20is%20the%20Disowned,both%20conscious%20and%20unconscious%20material.

Jung, C. G. (1959). The archetypes and the collective unconscious (R. F. C. Hull, Trans.; 2nd ed., Vol. 9, Part 1). Princeton University Press. (Original work published 1934)

Lacan, J. (1977). Écrits: A selection (A. Sheridan, Trans.). W. W. Norton.

Payet, C. (March 27, 2018). “Robert Frost’s poem ‘The Road Not Taken’ is often interpreted as an anthem of individualism and nonconformity. Retrieved from https://www.chipspersonallog.com/robert-frosts-poem-the-road-not-taken-is-often-interpreted-as-an-anthem-of-individualism-and-nonconformity/

Comparative Analysis Chart by Jonathan Acuña

Three Paths to Meaning by Jonathan Acuña