So I will admit over this rainy weekend and Monday evening I've been listening to a lot of lectures about symbolism and astrotheology. Basically there's a field of study which tries to understand all the ancient symbols that are still in use today, and determine where they come from. So many iconic images have roots in astrology, ancient sun and moon cults, and tarot archetypes. So I will put on my scholar's hat and try to explain what this sinking ship could possibly mean, from an unconscious and archetypal point of view. I already explained the overt symbolism in my first blog post.
So here are a couple of thoughts about what the subconscious meaning could be. If the ship is considered to be in a vast sea of water, often water symbolizes the emotions. The ship represents a belief or idea, but it's sinking in the water of emotions. Basically this archetype says "let go of the idea" because it's going down; it's an idea which needs to be released.
A similar interpretation could be the sinking ship represents an individual feeling consumed by society. It's a sort of drowning of the individual, because the beliefs (the ship) don't match society (the water). It's a kind of wake-up call to examine the beliefs that you cling to, or at least reexamine them and decide if you're really on the right path.
Another viewpoint, especially since this will be sitting in a dry lake bed environment, could be that the ship has already been consumed by the water. But the water (emotions) have all dried up and gone away. All that's left is the frozen shell of the ship, as a warning to others.
There you have it. And as I look at the shadow this casts over my own motivations for building it, I can't help but wonder what the hell is so screwed up in my life that I'd want to build something which represents this. Nevertheless, it must be built. Oh and I've considered that in year 2 that the outer shell should be burned. So people will have seen the truck driving around for 2 years at Burning Man, and then one day late in the week the outer skin could could be removed and placed around temporary support structure. It would be kept all lit up, and to some people it would look like the mutant vehicle they saw all week driving around. Then it would burn. That would be a fitting end. I don't really want to have this thing around for more than a couple of years.
One last piece of info: so I inquired about moving truck bodies and it's really simple. If I had a bare chassis and no box or flatbed, I could get one installed for $1800 and a beat-up one for $1500. If the truck already had a box, they'd give a few hundred dollar discount if it were a swap. So I figure if I get a vehicle with the wrong body configuration, about $1000 would fix the problem. If it's a nice box with a lift, the cost difference could be even less. And for the record, the contact was Robert at Central Auto Sales at (909)356-0388. So I will reconsider my budget once again, but expand the search to include bare chassis trucks and box trucks. It doesn't have to be a perfect match. Oh and they don't move ladder racks, but they would build/ weld something up to order if I want to pay for it. So there's a lot of options!
