Abstract
The metaphor of life as a sea voyage is ancient and widespread in human thought. Long connected to various world religions, death, and rebirth, the boat stands as a powerful symbol for the both literal and spiritual journeys we undertake in this life and beyond. It is one of those fundamental archetypes that emerges from what Carl Jung calls “the primordial era when the unconscious was predominate and the conscious weak.” Triumph, tragedy, or transcendence await those who attempt to cross or explore the seas. In numerous cultures, boats have been used as sacred vessels to carry the souls of the dead to the afterlife. The Greek god Charon is the ferryman of Hades who carries the souls of the newly deceased across the rivers Styx and Acheron that divide the world of the living from the world of the dead. Early Norsemen engaged in elaborate rituals, setting their dead on fire and transporting them to sea in funerary boats. In my thesis, I explore the metaphor of boats as they represent themes of spiritual discovery and final passage at the end of life. I have built an assortment of vessels to represent the transformative journey we each make toward death and rebirth. I have also used the environment of a boat to conduct interviews as research to gain a better understanding of current attitudes in our society toward death and dying. Despite the fact that every second, 1.8 people die, many of us view talking about death as taboo. There is a friction between our desire to survive at all costs and the spiritual embrace of life’s temporality.