A Myth to Live By
During a reading of Joseph Campbell's Myths to Live By, I was struck by the last few pages in the final chapter, "Envoy: No More Horizons." Discussing the psychological impact the philosophies of Eastern and Western culture have created in humankind, he turned to a study conducted by Dr. Stanislav Grof in 1972 relating 14 years of research in the patterns of thought conducted on a variety of patients. Campbell writes
"The differing imageries of the various world religions tend to appear and to support his patients variously during the successive stages of their sessions. In immediate association with the relived agonies of the birth trauma, the usual imagery brought to mind is of the Old and New Testaments, together with (occasionally) certain Greek, Egyptian, or other pagan counterparts. However, when the agony has been accomplished and the release experienced of 'birth' - actually a 'second' or 'spiritual' birth, released from the unconscious fears of the former, 'once born' personal condition - the symbology radically changes. Instead of mainly Biblical, Greek and Christian themes, the analogies now point rather toward the great Orient, chiefly India."
I can't tell you how many people I've met over the years that refer to themselves as "recovering Catholics" or the like, the same claiming they are "spiritual, not religious." Many point toward negative or depressing experiences with their church and its leaders during youth, seeing it as something they had to rebel against or come to terms with. These chains, as we know, can last a lifetime - or lifetimes. One of the important themes recurrent in both Grof and Campbell's work - as well as my own over the past 13 years - is how people, even those with little knowledge of Eastern philosophy, relate their most personal and cherished moments and philosophies in accordance with the inner workings of Hinduism, Buddhism and Taoism. I am often reminded of the sentiment put forth by Alan Watts, that the one thing lacking in the Western gods is a sense of humor.
In India this whole life thing is referred to as lila, a sort of divine "play." How blasphemous a notion to a society bred on the idea that life is something to either be conquered or submitted to! Play is something reserved for weekends or the two vacation weeks annually offered. The serious side of existence takes precedence, which accounts for the extreme heaviness we find centered around even our most holy traditions: funerals, religious initiations (what few remain), holidays and other rites of passage. Again, a memory: the image of Bob Marley's funeral, backed by his joyous music and thousands upon thousands of people singing, smiling and celebrating. The very idea of donning a necessary black and lamenting over loss is, fortunately, non-existent. There is no loss; there is only transformation.
The main point Campbell comes to is the necessity of creating mythologies relevant to our day. Let us take a brief example. Say you have a few documents that need to be written and emailed as soon as possible. You enter an office to do the work and have the choice of two computers: one, a Commodore Vic 20 (a hot piece of hardware circa 1980) or the newest iMac. The Commodore, by the way, is wired to the Internet via dial-up, while the iMac is on a wireless connection. We don't even think about a choice; we laugh at the archaic machine while biting the Apple. Simple.
Now that reference is to a piece of technology some 26 years old, and we don't even sit to contemplate our decision; there's not one to be made. And yet, when it comes time to choosing a theology, we pick one over 2,000 years old! Can we honestly expect the ideas of men (and let's be clear on that: all scriptures of our religious traditions were written by men) that rarely left a 5-mile radius of home and thought this planet - and more importantly, their particular "divine" civilization - to be the universe's center to stand up in a world where millions of worlds are now known? Humans have become technological genuises with the communicative powers of selfish infants. Logic and reason, the calling card of modernity, becomes blind by its own premise. This results in that recurring calling card: "oh, you just have to have faith" is the excuse when confronted with any smidgeon of reality.
What I love about Buddhism, for one, is the insistence upon working things out in the world that is, not as someone told us it should be. There is suffering created by the mind; by recognizing it we can begin to not be affected by suffering; by using the very instrument that creates suffering, the mind, we can overcome the mind. Its mental homeopathy that tempers the emotions and strengthens the body, for the discipline we learn in this philosophy teaches us the many are One. The illusion, maya, is separation.
What a different way to perceive reality! As a medicine man I've recently met, Tom Blue Wolf, said "The universe will change to accommodate your perception of reality." That's powerful medicine. The idea takes the power out of someone else's hands and places the responsibility onto ourselves. And what more is spirituality than being able to make the proper decisions regarding the way we move through this world. If we rely on someone else to make all our choices then we become flustered for being on the fringe. By having the confidence of speaking for ourselves we are equipped with a sense of ease - life begins to flow a lot more smoothly. This does not imply everything becomes easy, but our shift in perception - from surrendered, uncertain participant, to fully fledged creator of our own reality - is empowering beyond belief. And once we really get beyond belief into the experience of existence, all our gods become as playful as us.
"The differing imageries of the various world religions tend to appear and to support his patients variously during the successive stages of their sessions. In immediate association with the relived agonies of the birth trauma, the usual imagery brought to mind is of the Old and New Testaments, together with (occasionally) certain Greek, Egyptian, or other pagan counterparts. However, when the agony has been accomplished and the release experienced of 'birth' - actually a 'second' or 'spiritual' birth, released from the unconscious fears of the former, 'once born' personal condition - the symbology radically changes. Instead of mainly Biblical, Greek and Christian themes, the analogies now point rather toward the great Orient, chiefly India."
I can't tell you how many people I've met over the years that refer to themselves as "recovering Catholics" or the like, the same claiming they are "spiritual, not religious." Many point toward negative or depressing experiences with their church and its leaders during youth, seeing it as something they had to rebel against or come to terms with. These chains, as we know, can last a lifetime - or lifetimes. One of the important themes recurrent in both Grof and Campbell's work - as well as my own over the past 13 years - is how people, even those with little knowledge of Eastern philosophy, relate their most personal and cherished moments and philosophies in accordance with the inner workings of Hinduism, Buddhism and Taoism. I am often reminded of the sentiment put forth by Alan Watts, that the one thing lacking in the Western gods is a sense of humor.
In India this whole life thing is referred to as lila, a sort of divine "play." How blasphemous a notion to a society bred on the idea that life is something to either be conquered or submitted to! Play is something reserved for weekends or the two vacation weeks annually offered. The serious side of existence takes precedence, which accounts for the extreme heaviness we find centered around even our most holy traditions: funerals, religious initiations (what few remain), holidays and other rites of passage. Again, a memory: the image of Bob Marley's funeral, backed by his joyous music and thousands upon thousands of people singing, smiling and celebrating. The very idea of donning a necessary black and lamenting over loss is, fortunately, non-existent. There is no loss; there is only transformation.
The main point Campbell comes to is the necessity of creating mythologies relevant to our day. Let us take a brief example. Say you have a few documents that need to be written and emailed as soon as possible. You enter an office to do the work and have the choice of two computers: one, a Commodore Vic 20 (a hot piece of hardware circa 1980) or the newest iMac. The Commodore, by the way, is wired to the Internet via dial-up, while the iMac is on a wireless connection. We don't even think about a choice; we laugh at the archaic machine while biting the Apple. Simple.
Now that reference is to a piece of technology some 26 years old, and we don't even sit to contemplate our decision; there's not one to be made. And yet, when it comes time to choosing a theology, we pick one over 2,000 years old! Can we honestly expect the ideas of men (and let's be clear on that: all scriptures of our religious traditions were written by men) that rarely left a 5-mile radius of home and thought this planet - and more importantly, their particular "divine" civilization - to be the universe's center to stand up in a world where millions of worlds are now known? Humans have become technological genuises with the communicative powers of selfish infants. Logic and reason, the calling card of modernity, becomes blind by its own premise. This results in that recurring calling card: "oh, you just have to have faith" is the excuse when confronted with any smidgeon of reality.
What I love about Buddhism, for one, is the insistence upon working things out in the world that is, not as someone told us it should be. There is suffering created by the mind; by recognizing it we can begin to not be affected by suffering; by using the very instrument that creates suffering, the mind, we can overcome the mind. Its mental homeopathy that tempers the emotions and strengthens the body, for the discipline we learn in this philosophy teaches us the many are One. The illusion, maya, is separation.
What a different way to perceive reality! As a medicine man I've recently met, Tom Blue Wolf, said "The universe will change to accommodate your perception of reality." That's powerful medicine. The idea takes the power out of someone else's hands and places the responsibility onto ourselves. And what more is spirituality than being able to make the proper decisions regarding the way we move through this world. If we rely on someone else to make all our choices then we become flustered for being on the fringe. By having the confidence of speaking for ourselves we are equipped with a sense of ease - life begins to flow a lot more smoothly. This does not imply everything becomes easy, but our shift in perception - from surrendered, uncertain participant, to fully fledged creator of our own reality - is empowering beyond belief. And once we really get beyond belief into the experience of existence, all our gods become as playful as us.
posted by Derek Beres @ 08:10
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