Introducing Bandido and Dharma Doc

Introducing themselves, Dharma Doc and his aggravating sidekick, Bandido–

Dharma Doc—

(Dharma Doc stands in his garden leaning on his hoe where he has been weeding. Dressed in khaki work pants and a long-sleeve shirt, wearing a lightweight work vest, and his ever-present Fedora canvas hat. On his feet are old, mud-covered Muck Boots. Behind him stands a row of prickly pear cacti up against a split-rail fence. The cacti are native to the Big Bend desert in the far West Texas Trans-Pecos, Chihuahuan Desert region, the desert on which many of our adventures take place.) …

Hello everyone,

I’m Dharma Doc, introducing myself–with a little about Bandido. In contemporary-speak, Bandido and I are sub-personalities of the author, whom I will call Philemon. We both have our origins in the Philemon’s personal archetypes. I am Philemon’s primary personality, his Persona, in Jungian terms. I am of his Guru/Teacher/Wizard/Magician archetype. Bandido is Philemon’s main, and often very aggravating, sub-personality and of his Outlaw/Warrior archetype. There are others in here that are active at various times and circumstances, but that’s the subject of a future post.

As Philemon’s primary personality, I am the one driving his psyche ‘bus’ most of the time. If you meet Philemon on the street, it will most likely be me you meet. I take care of his day-to-day life stuff. If it is Bandido you meet, that is a whole different story. He’s a more up-in-your-face type of guy. Tact and finesse are not his forte.

I am more of your Zen, chop-wood/carry-water type: A writer, thinker, retired professor and mental health counselor. The old grandfather sort, I’m more at peace working in my garden, on projects around the house, babysitting my four-year-old granddaughter, meditating, or reading a good book. The latter usually focused on secular spirituality, primarily Zen Buddhism and Native American; evolutionary biology; Jungian psychology and neurobiology; or quantum physics. Compared to the hooligan, Bandido, who also likes to drive the bus, I’m pretty tame. Bandido is the adventurer between us.

I am going to let Bandido introduce himself shortly. He and I are like an antagonistic Lone Ranger and Tonto duo: very different with our own strengths and weaknesses. We complement (and conflict) each other and give Philemon his complex and quirky personality dynamics. As we have aged, and especially in retirement, increasingly, I let Bandido drive the bus. Hence our Bohemian, eco-hermit, bicycling- and Harley-riding lifestyle.

Let me now turn it over to Bandido to make his own introduction. The author first introduced Bandido in 2000 in his book, WindWalker: Journey into Science, Self, and Spirit[i] then expanded about him in his 2020 book, The Guru on the Mountain: Chiggers, Lizards & Desert Heat: My Vision Quest to Discover the Source of Spirit. [ii][ii]

Bandido

Poncho Villa is my archetypal image of Bandido. Just replace the horse with a Harley. —Philemon.

 

(Bandido, wearing well-worn jeans under an old pair of brown leather riding chaps, a matching Harley leather jacket, one of his ratty cowboy hats, and finished off with an old pair of cowboy boots. He leans against his Harley, smoking one of his smelly cigars.) …

Removing cigar from his mouth, says,

Hola mis Amigos y Amigas,

It’s time to meet the one and only, Bandido, yours truly (bows). Bandido is my name. Hearts are what I steal. They call me the outlaw, a rebel, and there’s a good reason for that. I ain’t your everyday nice guy, not by a long shot. I’m the Harley-ridin’, cigar-smokin’, scotch-, and tequila-drinkin’ sidekick of Dharma Doc, and it’s time you get to know me a little better.

Doc and me, we’re like the Lone Ranger and Tonto, except we are kinda aggrevatin’ to each other. He’s the sittin’ around meditating sort. I’m the action sort, but with a lot more attitude. With my blood a mix of Mexican and Apache, I bring a lot of fiery spirit to our dynamic duo.

I’m the one that embraces adventure, intensity, and the Bohemian. Won’t catch me sittin’ around twiddlin’ my thumbs—much less meditatin’. I’ve got the patience of a pissed-off rattlesnake and a tendency to strike like one too. Stupidity, bigotry, bullshit, and not being real, don’ sit well with me. Don’ like bullies either! I’m quick to call ‘em out and puttin’ ‘em in their place.

But, hey, I’m not about stirrin’ up trouble. Just want to do my thing and no de nadie más (not anybody else’s). My credo is, “Rule?! Don’t need no fuckin’ rules!” I make my own rules. Everybody else’s, I regard more like guidelines.

The senoritas don’ seem to mind my attitude. Can’t blame ‘em, can ya? (double raises both eyebrows) I’m kind of James Dean from The Wild Ones and mixed with a dash of Captain Jack Sparrow’s eccentricity. Quite a combination, no?

Here’s the thing about me and Doc. We lock horns more often than not, or used to. As he’s gotten older, an’ more mellow, a lot of times he seems to actually likes me bein’ around. He used to fight it. Now, he seems more to welcome it. Strange, no?

I’ve always had an itch to take the wheel and drive the ‘bus’ as Dharma Doc says. A lot of times, it’s been like a Mexican standoff between us on whose drivin’. Our relationship’s always been a kind of tug-of-war, a constant struggle for dominance. I’m an alpha, hard and defiant. Doc’s more compliant. He’s had to learn how to enforce boundaries and be assertive through the years. He can thank me for those.

All that said, we have an unspoken understandin’: We need each other. That’s the hard truth. I bring the unpredictability, the thrill, the sparks that ignite our adventures. He keeps me grounded, reminds me of the consequences. It’s our duo dance.

Additionally, I am Dragon Keeper. It’s me that gets Chaos, the Dragon, to chill and go back to sleep when she’s upset. You don’t want a pissed-off, fire-breathing dragon flying around, creating chaos when she’s upset. Chaos guards Philemon’s Holy Grail down in Shadowland. Our author writes about Chaos in his Guru book. She’s another of his sub-personalities, based on the mythic Dragon archetype. Chaos is his most primal archetype, grounded at the neurological level in our primitive flight-or-fight response and the FEAR and RAGE emotional neurocircuits.[iii]

So, with all this said, “Buckle up. Let’s ride.”

… (Getting on his Harley, starting it, kicking it into gear, Bandido rides off)

[i] Yardley, D.G. 2000. WindWalker: Journey into Science, Self, and Spirit. LifeQuest Press. Paper, 201pp. Although an e-version is planned, you can order an original paper copy directly from the author while supplies last an get an autographed copy at darrellyardley.com/windwalker/.

[ii] Yardley, D.G. 2020. The Guru on the Mountain: Chigger, Lizards & Desert Heat: My Vision Quest to Discover the Source of Spirit. New Insight Press, Los Angeles. 201pp

[iii] Panksepp J. Affective neuroscience of the emotional BrainMind: evolutionary perspectives and implications for understanding depression. Dialogues Clin Neurosci. 2010;12(4):533-45. doi: 10.31887/DCNS.2010.12.4/jpanksepp. PMID: 21319497; PMCID: PMC3181986.

Panksepp, J., Knutson, B., & Pruitt, D.L. (1998). Toward a Neuroscience of Emotion.