At the center of the labyrinth, as the chimes rang 4 o’clock, I allowed the energy of that space to wash over me. The cold wind was whipping the leaves across the path and I shivered. My coat was pulled tight and my gloved hands reached up to the sky to take in the fading rays of light.
After making a complete circle, pausing at each of the directions, I faced the building once again and bowed. In my mind was the awareness that I was bowing to “What Is,” allowing myself to have an acceptance of that which exists. For the moment I was serene with that acceptance, allowing my chest to expand and to breathe in the essence of that acceptance. Despite the chill air, I felt a warmth spread through my chest.
Later, with my mind engaged again, I began to question the concept, as I am wont to do. What does it mean to bow to what is? Deep in my being a voice cries out for something better, different. In order to bow to what is do I need to silence that voice? How can I bow to what is, accept less than what could be, less than perfect? For me to be able to live in this world, there needs to be some possibility that life can be better than what it has been until now.
Who am I to say that something has to be different, that change must occur? What power do I hold? Yet, I do hold the power of my own life in my hands. So, how do I choose to bow to what is, to accept that which has gone before and not give in to despair?
Few of the details of my life are as I would have chosen had I been given a choice. Yet, they exist, as do I. They are done and cannot be changed, yet by bowing to those experiences or situations am I saying that I accept what they represent? I have been told that the past does not equal the future, and while that may be true, it does indeed influence the future.
The realization that bowing to what is creates a way to let go of the anger or upset about circumstances is helpful. It still provides me with questions about the purpose of letting go of those feelings. For example, if something negative happened like the death of a child, how does letting go of the feelings of anger or sadness really help? The life circumstance cannot be changed yet do the feelings not serve a purpose? If that child was killed in street violence, for example, do not the anger and outrage actually serve a purpose—to work to change the situation that created it?
If human beings all bow to what is there might be a lessening of violence because acts of revenge for past hurts would not happen. On the other hand, what about social justice, rights of the oppressed, etc.? No one would spend time working for those causes because they had chosen to bow to what is, to let go of the negative emotions attached to the situations.
In standing in that scalloped circle at the center of the labyrinth, bowing to what is, was I being true to myself? Did that one act of momentary acceptance create a different neural pathway in my brain, did it allow me to view the world and my life differently? My immediate response would be no, yet something did shift, if only momentarily. I stood listening to the dry, brown leaves blow in the wind and realized that in a sense we all blow in the winds of life. Just a moment of change, but there were possibilities in that moment.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Saturday, October 24, 2009
The Hero's Adventure
By definition a hero is someone who has found, achieved, or done something beyond the normal range. He/she gave his/her life to something bigger than the self. This can be a physical act such as saving a people, one person, or an idea or ideal. It can also be a spiritual act that includes a going out and a return.
The initiation rites of many cultures symbolize the hero’s journey. The pubescent or prepubescent child must die to childhood and become an adult. He/she must leave dependency behind for the world of self responsibility.
Often the hero sets out intentionally on this journey. One example is Ulysses’ son who went in search of his father. He began his hero’s journey fully cognizant of his quest and the object of it. Other times one can be thrust into the role of hero. There is a Celtic myth about someone who follows an animal to a new landscape and the animal transforms into something else. In this case the hero embarked on this transformational journey unbeknownst to himself. Another parallel is the young man drafted into the military. He begins his quest by being pitched into that life headlong without his overt consent.
Generally, the hero has some moral objective. He/she is involved in saving something of value and sacrifices him/herself for something. A good example of this is Prometheus who stole fire for the sake of mankind. The myth of fire theft is a universal theme across cultures. The early heroes were required to slay monsters. The themes and actions of the hero evolve as the culture evolves.
Moses, Buddha and Jesus are examples of more evolved hero stories. Moses ascended the mountain, met God and brought new rules to live by. He epitomizes the classic hero journey of departure, fulfillment, and return. Buddha and Jesus parallel one another. Each of them faced 3 temptations and overcame them. Jesus faced the financial temptation of turning stone into bread, the political temptation of “bow down to me and all this shall be yours to rule” and the temptation of “cast yourself down and God will not allow you to come to harm.” He chose to resist the temptations. Likewise Buddha resisted the temptations of lust, fear, and the social duty of doing what one is told to do by society or some authority. Each of them came back to their followers and chose disciples to go and teach others.
The hero sacrifices his/her own needs for the sake of the other. Yet, his/her deed is often lost by the inability of his/her followers to perceive the journey. The hero is aware that if one primarily thinks of oneself he/she has lost the way. One must lose oneself and give oneself to others to complete the hero’s journey.
Generally, in his/her quest, the hero went out to new lands, places that had not been explored before. Our modern myths, such as the original Star Wars trilogy, are set in space because there are no new realms left on the earth for the imagination.
Star Wars perfectly characterizes the cycle of the hero’s journey. The powers of life are reflected through man, this can be seen in the use of “the force” by the hero and his mentor and its abuse by his enemies.
In this myth there is the old man advisor (Obi Wan) who aids the hero. He gives him both a physical instrument (light saber) and helps him find his own psychic center. The hero (Luke) is not a mere adventurer. He began his journey serendipitously when his guardians were murdered and he left with Obi Wan to join the fight for the Republic. He is ready for this journey and his achievement is a manifestation of his character.
Han Solo is the mercenary who becomes a hero. He had qualities of character and a depth even he did not know he possessed. He began the adventure only looking out for himself and by the end of the first movie he had shown himself to be willing to sacrifice what was most important to him for the good of his friends and their quest. He risks his life and his treasure to aid Luke’s quest to destroy the Death Star by eliminating the pursuing Imperials.
The scene in the bar in Mos Eisely, early in the first film, where Luke and Obi Wan first meet Chewbaca and Han Solo is symbolic of the beginning of the journey. The hero is about to embark on the adventure and he meets people who have been through the lands where he will travel. They have made their lives and choices just as he must make his soon.
The trash compactor scene is reminiscent of the Jonah story. They are in the belly of the enemy ship It is a descent into darkness and fear. The water represents the unconscious and the creature that is stirring in the bottom of the trash bin is the dynamism of the unconsciousness. It almost pulls Luke to his demise there, but he transcends the lure of the unconscious for his commitment to the journey. In effect, he leaves behind his attachment to the life unreflected for a life of conscious choice.
In the second movie, when Vader traps Luke and tells him, “I am your father,” Luke is confronted with another side of himself. It shows up symbolically in the tree cave on Yoda’s planet when Luke confronts what he thinks is Vader and when he cuts off the head it reveals that inside of Vader’s helmet is Luke’s head. His own dark side has come to play. Luke must make the choices that will render that dark side impotent if he is to fulfill his hero’s quest. He must move away from the choices of his father and into his own conscious choices to become an adult and fulfill his role as hero.
Luke’s choice to refuse the Emperor is the choice of the hero to use the system rather than be eaten by it. All of us operate in relation to a system. How we choose to relate to it determines the outcome of our own mythic journey. Do we choose to use the system for what we need or allow ourselves to be overcome by it, slaves to its authority? To fulfill our destiny we must not go to the dark side. Luke, by allowing himself to be nearly killed by the Emperor, chose to refuse the lure of the dark side. He was willing to die rather than surrender to that which is dark in himself. In so doing, he allowed Darth Vader to free himself from the morass he had created for himself by eventually choosing to defy the dark side of himself and rescue Luke. He sacrificed himself for the greater good, a true hero’s ending.
The hero lurks in all of us. It evokes our higher nature. Each of us must, within ourselves, say yes or no to the adventure of living. Do we choose zest, balance, and harmony or do we allow ourselves to become slaves to a programmed life, submitting to what others want of us that is not in the best interest of ourselves or society?
Many early hero myths included the slaying of a dragon, at least in European myths. The real dragon in life is our ego. This is the monster we must defeat. Do we allow ourselves to be ruled by what we want, believe we can do, or our environment? Each of us must choose to move out of the too small world we can create for ourselves and into the larger opportunities of life. The journey is our soul’s high adventure. “Follow your bliss.” (Joseph Campbell). This is akin to John Sullivan’s “the intersection of our own deep passion and the world’s deep hunger.”
If I choose to live my life according to my belief that “I couldn’t do that” then I’ve allowed myself to choose to acquiesce to the dragon. That self doubt is indeed the dragon. If I save myself, in effect, I save the world. I bring the world to life by being alive, truly alive not just eeking out my existence until death. In service to myself, I am of service to others. This is one consequence of myth, the story of one man/woman’s conquest allows each of us a larger world view from which to make our own choices. Ultimately each of us must do this alone. We can have a companion for the journey only up to a certain point. After that it is ours alone.
In Stranger in a Strange Land, Heinlein has his character, Valentine Michael Smith, tell Jill that the “cusp” the moment of decision is the only ownership that truly exists. Choice must be arrived at alone. Others can provide input and ideas but the final decision is up to the individual and cannot be taken on by someone else. This is the true hero’s journey, to make the choice and follow it through.
Joseph Campbell speaks of the place within oneself of rest. This is the center out of which one acts. Without that place of centeredness the hero will be torn apart. Nirvana is a psychological state of mind, not a physical place. Here in the midst of the turmoil of life there is an internal place or state wherein one is not compelled by desire, fear or social commitments. The teacher can give clues to the direction and path that leads there, but the person must find that center for him/herself.
The Gaia principle operates in this realm. It is the concept of the planet as one entire organism. We ourselves come out of the earth, we are the consciousness of the earth. As we human beings lose the planet as our center, we also lose our own ability to be centered within ourselves. Campbell points to the photo of the earth as seen from space as an example of this. It appears so small, yet it is so vital. There are no divisions, not for countries or states. We are all one and part of this glorious whole.
Myths and the hero’s adventure serve to link us back to this whole consciousness and our own part in it. They bring us to a spiritual level of consciousness, beyond the needs of the flesh and the immediate moment to those of eternity and the species and the planet. The sacrifice of the hero is to serve as hope for the future not only of mankind but of the organic whole of Gaia.
The initiation rites of many cultures symbolize the hero’s journey. The pubescent or prepubescent child must die to childhood and become an adult. He/she must leave dependency behind for the world of self responsibility.
Often the hero sets out intentionally on this journey. One example is Ulysses’ son who went in search of his father. He began his hero’s journey fully cognizant of his quest and the object of it. Other times one can be thrust into the role of hero. There is a Celtic myth about someone who follows an animal to a new landscape and the animal transforms into something else. In this case the hero embarked on this transformational journey unbeknownst to himself. Another parallel is the young man drafted into the military. He begins his quest by being pitched into that life headlong without his overt consent.
Generally, the hero has some moral objective. He/she is involved in saving something of value and sacrifices him/herself for something. A good example of this is Prometheus who stole fire for the sake of mankind. The myth of fire theft is a universal theme across cultures. The early heroes were required to slay monsters. The themes and actions of the hero evolve as the culture evolves.
Moses, Buddha and Jesus are examples of more evolved hero stories. Moses ascended the mountain, met God and brought new rules to live by. He epitomizes the classic hero journey of departure, fulfillment, and return. Buddha and Jesus parallel one another. Each of them faced 3 temptations and overcame them. Jesus faced the financial temptation of turning stone into bread, the political temptation of “bow down to me and all this shall be yours to rule” and the temptation of “cast yourself down and God will not allow you to come to harm.” He chose to resist the temptations. Likewise Buddha resisted the temptations of lust, fear, and the social duty of doing what one is told to do by society or some authority. Each of them came back to their followers and chose disciples to go and teach others.
The hero sacrifices his/her own needs for the sake of the other. Yet, his/her deed is often lost by the inability of his/her followers to perceive the journey. The hero is aware that if one primarily thinks of oneself he/she has lost the way. One must lose oneself and give oneself to others to complete the hero’s journey.
Generally, in his/her quest, the hero went out to new lands, places that had not been explored before. Our modern myths, such as the original Star Wars trilogy, are set in space because there are no new realms left on the earth for the imagination.
Star Wars perfectly characterizes the cycle of the hero’s journey. The powers of life are reflected through man, this can be seen in the use of “the force” by the hero and his mentor and its abuse by his enemies.
In this myth there is the old man advisor (Obi Wan) who aids the hero. He gives him both a physical instrument (light saber) and helps him find his own psychic center. The hero (Luke) is not a mere adventurer. He began his journey serendipitously when his guardians were murdered and he left with Obi Wan to join the fight for the Republic. He is ready for this journey and his achievement is a manifestation of his character.
Han Solo is the mercenary who becomes a hero. He had qualities of character and a depth even he did not know he possessed. He began the adventure only looking out for himself and by the end of the first movie he had shown himself to be willing to sacrifice what was most important to him for the good of his friends and their quest. He risks his life and his treasure to aid Luke’s quest to destroy the Death Star by eliminating the pursuing Imperials.
The scene in the bar in Mos Eisely, early in the first film, where Luke and Obi Wan first meet Chewbaca and Han Solo is symbolic of the beginning of the journey. The hero is about to embark on the adventure and he meets people who have been through the lands where he will travel. They have made their lives and choices just as he must make his soon.
The trash compactor scene is reminiscent of the Jonah story. They are in the belly of the enemy ship It is a descent into darkness and fear. The water represents the unconscious and the creature that is stirring in the bottom of the trash bin is the dynamism of the unconsciousness. It almost pulls Luke to his demise there, but he transcends the lure of the unconscious for his commitment to the journey. In effect, he leaves behind his attachment to the life unreflected for a life of conscious choice.
In the second movie, when Vader traps Luke and tells him, “I am your father,” Luke is confronted with another side of himself. It shows up symbolically in the tree cave on Yoda’s planet when Luke confronts what he thinks is Vader and when he cuts off the head it reveals that inside of Vader’s helmet is Luke’s head. His own dark side has come to play. Luke must make the choices that will render that dark side impotent if he is to fulfill his hero’s quest. He must move away from the choices of his father and into his own conscious choices to become an adult and fulfill his role as hero.
Luke’s choice to refuse the Emperor is the choice of the hero to use the system rather than be eaten by it. All of us operate in relation to a system. How we choose to relate to it determines the outcome of our own mythic journey. Do we choose to use the system for what we need or allow ourselves to be overcome by it, slaves to its authority? To fulfill our destiny we must not go to the dark side. Luke, by allowing himself to be nearly killed by the Emperor, chose to refuse the lure of the dark side. He was willing to die rather than surrender to that which is dark in himself. In so doing, he allowed Darth Vader to free himself from the morass he had created for himself by eventually choosing to defy the dark side of himself and rescue Luke. He sacrificed himself for the greater good, a true hero’s ending.
The hero lurks in all of us. It evokes our higher nature. Each of us must, within ourselves, say yes or no to the adventure of living. Do we choose zest, balance, and harmony or do we allow ourselves to become slaves to a programmed life, submitting to what others want of us that is not in the best interest of ourselves or society?
Many early hero myths included the slaying of a dragon, at least in European myths. The real dragon in life is our ego. This is the monster we must defeat. Do we allow ourselves to be ruled by what we want, believe we can do, or our environment? Each of us must choose to move out of the too small world we can create for ourselves and into the larger opportunities of life. The journey is our soul’s high adventure. “Follow your bliss.” (Joseph Campbell). This is akin to John Sullivan’s “the intersection of our own deep passion and the world’s deep hunger.”
If I choose to live my life according to my belief that “I couldn’t do that” then I’ve allowed myself to choose to acquiesce to the dragon. That self doubt is indeed the dragon. If I save myself, in effect, I save the world. I bring the world to life by being alive, truly alive not just eeking out my existence until death. In service to myself, I am of service to others. This is one consequence of myth, the story of one man/woman’s conquest allows each of us a larger world view from which to make our own choices. Ultimately each of us must do this alone. We can have a companion for the journey only up to a certain point. After that it is ours alone.
In Stranger in a Strange Land, Heinlein has his character, Valentine Michael Smith, tell Jill that the “cusp” the moment of decision is the only ownership that truly exists. Choice must be arrived at alone. Others can provide input and ideas but the final decision is up to the individual and cannot be taken on by someone else. This is the true hero’s journey, to make the choice and follow it through.
Joseph Campbell speaks of the place within oneself of rest. This is the center out of which one acts. Without that place of centeredness the hero will be torn apart. Nirvana is a psychological state of mind, not a physical place. Here in the midst of the turmoil of life there is an internal place or state wherein one is not compelled by desire, fear or social commitments. The teacher can give clues to the direction and path that leads there, but the person must find that center for him/herself.
The Gaia principle operates in this realm. It is the concept of the planet as one entire organism. We ourselves come out of the earth, we are the consciousness of the earth. As we human beings lose the planet as our center, we also lose our own ability to be centered within ourselves. Campbell points to the photo of the earth as seen from space as an example of this. It appears so small, yet it is so vital. There are no divisions, not for countries or states. We are all one and part of this glorious whole.
Myths and the hero’s adventure serve to link us back to this whole consciousness and our own part in it. They bring us to a spiritual level of consciousness, beyond the needs of the flesh and the immediate moment to those of eternity and the species and the planet. The sacrifice of the hero is to serve as hope for the future not only of mankind but of the organic whole of Gaia.
Cobblestones
Gray stones protrude from the ground along the street. The spaces between them allow for a rumble as a car passes over them. Each stone has a unique pattern of wear with the edges rounded. Some are cracked, other remain whole.
Walking on the stones requires balance and sensitivity for clean movement. The leather of shoes makes a slap slap sound. The imprint of a cobblestone on a crepe sole provides an irregular slightly rounded shape.
The impact of the rough ride over cobblestones on a headache is monstrous. Each jolt sends searing pain through the top of the head. Every moment the pain increases with swells and ebbs like the tides of the ocean.
The sound of the horses’ hooves as they traverse cobblestones is different from that of travel on dirt or concrete. The clip clop is nowhere near as uniform as concrete. The sound is more subdued on dirt. The clip is cut off and the clop echoes strangely as the hooves strike the uneven surface of the cobblestones.
Shades of gray strike the eye interspersed with darkness between each stone. The separate stones arrange themselves in a pattern created for their own amusement. They choose the level of wear they each will tolerate and embody it as a metaphor for the cares of life.
What lives between the stones? Is there organic life intermingled with the stone? Did these stones ever wish they could have been larger, part of Stonehenge? Are they satisfied with their lot? What do stones dream if they dream? Mobility would seem to be an important wish for stones. Maybe this is the viewpoint of a mobile lifeform.
The stones wonder about the rush and bustle of the human and animal kingdom. They run here and there and are always in a hurry, crisscrossing the stones so many times in a day. The rush does not allow the animals to have true contemplation, they move too swiftly to really meditate on the great questions.
Cobblestones have found the meaning of life and would love to share it with the bustling masses. Humans be still enough and the stones will speak to you, all your questions in life will be answered if only you could slow yourself to the speed of cobblestones.
Walking on the stones requires balance and sensitivity for clean movement. The leather of shoes makes a slap slap sound. The imprint of a cobblestone on a crepe sole provides an irregular slightly rounded shape.
The impact of the rough ride over cobblestones on a headache is monstrous. Each jolt sends searing pain through the top of the head. Every moment the pain increases with swells and ebbs like the tides of the ocean.
The sound of the horses’ hooves as they traverse cobblestones is different from that of travel on dirt or concrete. The clip clop is nowhere near as uniform as concrete. The sound is more subdued on dirt. The clip is cut off and the clop echoes strangely as the hooves strike the uneven surface of the cobblestones.
Shades of gray strike the eye interspersed with darkness between each stone. The separate stones arrange themselves in a pattern created for their own amusement. They choose the level of wear they each will tolerate and embody it as a metaphor for the cares of life.
What lives between the stones? Is there organic life intermingled with the stone? Did these stones ever wish they could have been larger, part of Stonehenge? Are they satisfied with their lot? What do stones dream if they dream? Mobility would seem to be an important wish for stones. Maybe this is the viewpoint of a mobile lifeform.
The stones wonder about the rush and bustle of the human and animal kingdom. They run here and there and are always in a hurry, crisscrossing the stones so many times in a day. The rush does not allow the animals to have true contemplation, they move too swiftly to really meditate on the great questions.
Cobblestones have found the meaning of life and would love to share it with the bustling masses. Humans be still enough and the stones will speak to you, all your questions in life will be answered if only you could slow yourself to the speed of cobblestones.
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