APOTHEOSIS
(Where I talk about one’s “basement” and culmination points in the course of one’s life.)
The term “apotheosis” means “the highest point in the development of something; culmination or climax.”. In the film “Rocky Balboa” (2006), while seemingly contemplating returning to the ring, Rocky mentions his “basement” while talking to his old friend Paulie:
Paulie: What? You haven’t peaked yet?
Rocky: Peaked?
Paulie: Yeah, peaked.
Rocky: I don’t know. There’s still some stuff in the basement.
Paulie: What basement?
Rocky: In here.
While saying, “In here”, Rocky points to his belly. It is somewhat unclear what Rocky (Stallone) means when he refers to his “basement”, but author Debbie Call seems to think it is a metaphor he uses “to describe the emotions and longings that sit buried in his gut, awaiting release and expression. It is also a reflection of the losses and changes life has brought his way.”
I think that we all have a “basement”, deep in our hearts. Inwardly, we have many layers of emotion, and I believe that at the bottom of it all is our “basement”. It is our very life force, that from which we derive the “courage to be”, i.e. the “courage of being human”. I don’t think that Rocky has exactly “peaked” yet, but he is definitely in the process of “peaking”. I would say that he is reaching his “apotheosis”.
Our “dramatic climax” doesn’t have to be a singular point in our existence. There can be many “culmination points”. Apotheosis, to me, is a process which takes place over time. Every day, we grow as a person and slowly over time, we “culminate”. Culmination can take many different forms. It doesn’t have to be an ecstatic “exaltation”.
Every day has its own “apotheosis”. There is a natural ebbing and flowing of things in life. Over the course of the day, things rise and fall, moments are strung together creating a certain tension or “dramatic effect”. One doesn’t have to be standing on top of Mount Everest to be “peaking”. We have peak events all throught the day, peak moments which are not necessarily intensely earth-shattering. These, too, are apotheoses.
I want to argue that our apotheoses are linked to what goes on in the “basement”. The “stuff in the basement” pushes us to our points of culmination. The “basement” is what is at the heart of who we are, the most fundamental level of human experience, our heart and soul.
What are some of the “peak moments” you’ve experienced recently? Maybe it was time spent with your grandkids, or a dinner with a special someone at a fine restaurant. Maybe it was a walk in the woods, or in the park. What was it and how exactly was it a culmination, a culmination perhaps of what had been before? Experience is cumulative. Something is gained with each new experience, with the mere passage of time. One doesn’t have to be training to become a world champion in boxing to be reaching a climax in life.
Rocky Balboa, in his decisive moment, with his “stuff in the basement”, I think, teaches us a fundamental lesson about human life in general. Don’t neglect your basement. Use it to build the strength and courage to keep going, to live to fight another day, to make it through life’s challenges. This, to me, is what apotheosis means. “What? You haven’t peaked yet?” — “I don’t know. There’s still some stuff in the basement.”
A.G. © 2023. All Rights Reserved.
