Oh, hawg who dwelt in the ground.
Be not afraid of thyn Shadow.
That mystery, however frightful, is only the undiscovered side of yourself.
Come out of yourn cave, my friend.
A secret I shall share with you: buried in that Shadow, just underneath the tar, lays a bounty of gold.
Be not afraid nor overly critical.
For what you would shrink from and scold is none other than your divine hidden soul.
~James Burden
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Have you taken notice of it? The battle raging in, and around, each of us. Something deep within is seeking it’s ascension, striving for recognition. Yet, we seem to be chiefly at odds with its intention. We would rather choose a long blood thirsty war to insure our own ignorance, and against what? Ourselves.By James Burden
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Spirit of the Times:
War Against the Self
“But the conscious, modern man can no longer refrain from acknowledging the might of the psyche, despite the most strenuous and dogged efforts at self~defense. This distinguishes our time from all others. We can no longer deny that the dark stirrings of the unconscious are active powers, that psychic forces exist which, for the present at least, cannot be fitted into our rational world order.”
~C.G. Jung
Look around. We are in no shortage of diversions. Choose your poison: medication, exercise, television, social engagements, career, video games, drugs, ‘romances’, or even the occasional manifested episode of, seemingly, elaborately constructed, self indulgent, drama.
We will go to great lengths to distract ourselves from ourselves.
You may be thinking “hey, all that stuff, that’s my life!” and in a certain sense it is your life. All that ‘stuff’ is the less then 5% of your life that is getting in the way of 95% of the rest of your life. What does that mean, when we focus so much attention on, and spend so much time filling up, that little 5%? It’s like we are all in a frenzied mad dash, desperately scrambling to plaster up the cracks, slap on a new coat of paint, and plant a few more rose bushes, when, in reality, it is the foundation itself that is crumbling. It’s the same dynamic that leads many of us to get unnecessary cosmetic surgery, when, perhaps, what would really do us the most good would be to invest our time and resources in psychotherapy.
Jung had a great line somewhere, that “when an inner situation is not made conscious, it happens outside, as fate.” It’s almost as if that thing inside of us that is begging for recognition, but is consistently being ignored, is also a very skilled trickster. Somehow, without our knowing it, that force outwits us into playing out the process out here, in the external world. Or at least, it seems to place us in situations where the potential is there for assimilation; for it appears that, even when face to face with oneself, we can always turn away. If this is the case, we have options: look up (the quest for spirituality, transcending all problems, which is another form of repression, a bypass), look down (like an ostrich with it’s head in the sand, out of sight~out of mind), or turn all the way around and run away (in which case we turn our problems, the unconscious, into monsters out to hunt us down. Have you ever turned and faced your demons before? You ask “hey! what’s the big deal? why are you bothering me? stop chasing me!” and they typically reply “chasing you? why are you running away? I’ve got this stuff to talk to you about that might actually help. I’m really sure you could use the help so I never stopped trying to find you. I cant figure out why you keep running). Yet, verily enough, as intuition whispers into my ear, this is not merely the singular process of the individual mind, but the workings of the collective unconscious, whose reach is all inclusive, whose artisans outshine DaVinci, and whose mechanics are tireless as they are precise. Ergo, ignore and repress your problems all day long; the world will make sure you get as many chances as you need. At least, for all our sakes, I should hope so.
…Time Jesum Transeumtum Et Non Rivertentum
Praise the Lord, that our demons may never cease hunting us…
So here we are, I would presume, in a loosing battle where repression and distraction are our prime weapons. In other words, we are fighting the unconscious with sticks and stones. Though we know it or not, whether we like to admit it or not, our opponent isn’t equipped with such armaments, but has a massive supply of thermo~nuclear war heads. It is only through divine mercy that the collective unconscious hasn’t crushed us with it’s incredible might—yet.
Oh, haven’t you felt it? Indeed, for many of us have already been blown away by its enormity. Had a mid life crisis of late? Have you fallen in love in the not too distant past? Has your physical health been dramatically assaulted recently? All of these are but a few examples of the great unconscious wielding it’s power.
I recall a time in my life when I had just moved out of the house, got myself a job working at a, to remain nameless, major apparel retail chain (screw it, it was the Gap) and I suddenly began to develop all sorts of health problems. After a long struggle with my physical issues, doctor visits, medication, yoga, herbal supplements, and God knows what else, I quit my job. Over night, it all vanished. Literally, my job was killing me. Day by day, that job I hated, that provided me no creativity, that was so un~fulfilling, was killing me. No amount of alcohol would deaden that kind of pain, no video game could distract me long enough, no form of recreation seemed to balance out the situation. As a result, I couldn’t make art anymore, I couldn’t sleep, I couldn’t dream and my dreams about life—they died. It was as if my unconscious was telling me “hey, this isn’t what you are here for! If you don’t quit this job, I will make you.”
At any given time in our life we have a microcosmic versions of the Bay of Pigs going on in our own heads. Only, in this inner world scenario one side (ours) didn’t show up with more than a bad attitude to defend itself with; the result of which is Armageddon for the psyche. The good news is that after we recover from the cataclysm, we have the chance to finally, actually take part in this, quite awesome, life! With a new healthy respect for the inner world, we may establish a wholesome, friendly, and erotically charged relationship with the unconscious; out of which commonly flows a boundless surge of creativity.
…we just have to survive doomsday first
Epilogue: The truth now known
“his destiny moves us only because it could have been our own”
I sought the truth. A struggle it did become.
I sought the answer. Horrified, am I, that the response can not be undone.
How long has this task consumed me? It has taken all that I am to reach this, the ground upon which I now stand. Is there anything left in me to go on?
Where would the going on go on too? Would the going go on, and on, and on as it has gone on and on so long before? What more misery might the fates have instore?
I only wanted to know the truth. I tremble at the thought that I could thrown this quest asunder. Oh how I now know the desire to know failure.
Failed I have not, but in succeeding, in meeting the challenge and soaring to triumph, in wining the adventure, have I lost my life in return?
What was discovered was myself, to whom I now know better than anyone other.
To know oneself, to see what I have sought, or was it soughting after me?
Could it be?
Is this, my life, a dreaded deception? Is this, my life, a cataclysmic constellation?
Can one know too much? How much can one bear to know? I now know, dreadfully so, I now know.
Here in my hand I grasp the implement of my atonement. Is it sharp enough to cut through these lies, to slice through my cries? Is it enough to free my alonement.
These eyes, these eyes, these pitiful eyes, they have seen too much, more than they can endure. How I wish to never see again. How I long for ignorance. How I long to finally feel failure.
still…and yet, still still.
Why do I grow so still? Are words not worth the wandering stirrings, the wondering lurings, the windering whirlings of my mind?
still…I am still stilled.
No, to know? No, to what is now known?
No.
no.
a yes, a yes is what mine mind has to confess.
Forgone this distress.
Yes, I do feel a Yes. A Yes to what is still stills. A Yes.
Yes, I now acquiesce. A Yes, I bow and yield to a Yes.
Is this not who I am?
Have the fates played me a victim to my victory? No, and Yes.
What has destiny to say? Fate lead me here, yet destiny dictates the direction of my description.
I now know what I am. Can I now, knowing this, not know what I will become?
Who better to categorize Oedipus but the one who knows him best. And Yes. Still Yes, I am the man who knows this man best.
I know what I am.
A victim, a tragedy? No. A vehemental misrepresentation! A gross falsification.
Sought out the truth and yet the truth, I am certain, was searching out for the source of its sacred creation. Now I now know that no obstacle would dissuade it, no barrier could deter it.
I now know what to impress. A YES. A YES.
A YES to what is. A YES. A YES to the knowledge. YES, I say YES to this script. A YES to this mess. A YES, A YES to the discovery, the acceptance, of this, the truth of King Oedipus.
God: Toward Identifying the Lack of a Definition
We all seem to walk around with a supreme underlying fantasy controlling our lives. It’s the idea that we know what just what the hell we’re talking about. Nowhere else is this more apparent than in the discussion of God.
For starters, let us begin with a few other words that share similar confusion. Popular culture uses the word ‘myth’ in a variety of ways but perhaps it is most prominently called “a false story”. However, noted scholar and professor of mythology and religion Mircea Eliade termed it “a true story”. How can the majority of the public and a renowned scholar of mythology have such a conflicting definition of the word? Moreover, who’s definition is correct, the scholar or the layman?
This directs us to the next object of enquiry. Just what are the definitions of the words ‘false’ and ‘true’? These two terms are tied intimately together, for if something isn’t one, then, logically speaking, it must be the other. However, the real issue appears to be in the mix up of the word ‘true’ with ‘fact’. The latter having the original definition as something close to “action, or something that has actually happened” and the former possessing characteristics of “faith, and trust”. So when we say that “a myth is a false story” are we saying that it is a story that didn’t physically happen or are we saying that it is a story that we don’t have any faith in?
Okay, so what does the word ‘faith’ mean? It seems to have much to do with something along the lines of “a belief in something for which there is no or little proof of”. So, then we could ask, what does the word ‘belief’ mean? Moreover, another definition of the word ‘myth’ is “a sacred story” and we can follow ‘sacred’ to a definition akin to “something holy” and then we can go into the meaning of ‘holy’ and so on and so on…
Well, we can see where this is going and before we get too far into resembling a dog chasing its own tale lets get back to the word at hand: God. A great deal of our discussions on the topic, at least, in this modern American culture, seems to be founded on our inheritance of the Christian idea of God. Not only that, but modern Christianity is divided into at least a dozen different sects. Each version of this religion will no doubt have slight variations on the idea. Moreover, generally speaking of course, when you ask someone what the definition of ‘God’ is, in this society, it will no doubt be based on a Christian version. When atheists, in this country, talk about their dis-belief in God what they are frequently refereeing to is the Christian God and no other.
However, far too often, we in America are not so keenly aware of the beliefs of other cultures. Our inherited tradition hasn’t been very accepting of alternative points of view either (see history of the British Empire, Manifest Destiny, and so called civilizing of native peoples frequently at the option of death). If we were more open to different cultural belief systems we would be quick to discover that our version of God is only one of many.
In some cultures for instance, unlike our own, God has a more feminine form and function. In other traditions we have both the God(s) and Goddess(es). Moreover, while monotheistic religions, such as Christianity, are outwardly professing a singular deity there is often an underlying pantheon. Such can be seen with God being accompanied by Jesus, Mother Mary, the Devil, a variety of angels, and whole host of saints. In pluralistic religions there is likewise outwardly known to be a large cannon of Gods, with there being an understanding, that these are all informed by a singular underlying mono-power.
One popular description that our culture is running off of is that God is: a) is all knowing, b) is all loving, c) is all powerful. Atheists often site the appearance of pain, suffering and evil as evidence that God isn’t real. For God must know that they exist, and being all loving and all powerful, should do something about it and since they continue to exist, God must not. However, this supposes that we know: a) what God is, b) how he/she feels, c) what those problems of the universe actually are, and d) that we know better. Why should God have any of the aforementioned characteristics after all? Why cant God be limited?
We also use the pronoun ‘He’ when we talk about God. Why on Earth should this be so? This would seem to imply that the masculine is divine and the feminine is negated or even denigrated. This could be explained simply by a short sight on part of the founders of our language. However, it’s hard for this author to understand how something as important as God didn’t deserve special attention to create a non-sexual pronoun by which to identify him/her, other than the word ‘It’ of course. Laziness is another explanation one could suppose. Regardless of the reasoning behind the use of ‘He’ when we refer to God, what can not be overlooked is that even if it isn’t meant to imply a masculine deity, never the less, it implicitly does characterize God as having nothing to do with woman or of femininity. Since, biologically speaking, at least, for the present moment anyways (cuz we never know what the future of medical science holds instore), women tend to give birth to new life and it would seem that God, a creator of the universe and all of us, should no doubt have at least some feminine qualities inherent in the words used to identify him/her.
For a moment, let us just sit with this idea: ‘God’ is a word; a word for something which transcends words, something that is wholly beyond the bounds of language to accurately describe, something that is far more abstract than our ability to quantify and understand. However, God is something, that just might be, within the bounds of our ability to experience. The problem is that after having experienced it we simply can’t help but try and talk about it, try to talk about this thing that can’t be talked about. Perhaps this is why we seem to have such diversity, and divorcement, of and from the idea of God.
When talking about these concepts professor Joseph Campbell often enjoyed quoting and expounding upon the ideas of his friend, Heinrich Zimmer:
“The best things cannot be told, the second best are misunderstood. After that comes civilized conversation; after that, mass indoctrination; after that, intercultural exchange. And so, proceeding, we come to the problem of communication: the opening, that is to say, of one’s own truth and depth to the depth and truth of another in such a way as to establish an authentic community of existence.” (The Masks of God: Creative Mythology)
This essay is by no means intended to be a argument for or against the existence of God, or the worship thereof. Simply put, this is an attempt to bring to light that much of us are pitifully unaware of the words that we commonly throw around. Myth, legend, folktale, and fairytale for instance are seemingly interchangeable in popular culture. God is another word for which we seem to lack a sufficient definition. However, the problems of the dis-coherence among our language, as laid out here, should not stop nor prevent us from our discussions about such topics. On the contrary, it should prove to provoke & amplify such conversations. For if we are ever to live in “an authentic community of existence” than we will have to spend a great deal of time, not only to understanding the beliefs of others, but just as importantly, the beliefs of ourselves.
Many of us first discovered Joseph Campbell through the Power of Myth, a documentary series hosted by journalist Bill Moyers, which originally aired in the late 1980’s and has been re-aired many times in subsequent years and is in fact scheduled to reappear on PBS this upcoming summer. His scholarship helped to enlighten a great many of us to a new and more profound way to view mythology and story telling. The work he accomplished in academics, writing, and teaching made important contributions to our culture today. Even if we aren’t completely aware of them his ideas have penetrated the mass consciousness.
“I set out to write a children’s film with the idea of doing a modern fairy tale and stumbled upon The Hero with a Thousand Faces. After reading more of Joe’s books I began to understand how I could do this. It was a great gift and a very important moment. It’s possible that if I hadn’t run across that I would still be writing Star Wars today”
One of Campbell’s most powerful contributions to the world culture was the guidance his research and writing has provided to the modern artist. It’s no wonder why the film franchise Star Wars became such a landmark enterprise what with the mentoring that Lucas received on part of Joseph Campbell. For instance the concept of the Mono-Myth, or also called the hero’s journey, is a rhythmic pattern that we can see played out in stories from every corner of the world. It’s a sequence of important events and key stages that progress through the mythic narrative. Every individual, tribe or group will have their own special inflection on these elements but the basic configuration remains the same. What writers and story tellers had been doing unconsciously for thousands of years was now brought to the surface and made available through Campbell’s writing. Today artists are able to draw from this vast reservoir and impregnate that structure with their own unique potential. He showed us that within the multitude of tales, legends and mythologies of the all the peoples of the Earth is one great story of mankind.
In large part what his scholarship was able to do was to distill the complex meanings and realizations sometimes abstractly hidden inside the esoteric language of psychology into a framework that the rest of us could understand and infuse into our creative lives. Frequently, the analysis of mythology by previous thinkers such as Freud and Jung are tragically lost on a great many and for good reason. Few among us have the time, ambition, and dare I say courage, to wade through those volumes of material and integrate that complex vocabulary. One need not necessarily be a student of psychology to use the information that Campbell provides to us in our art work or everyday existence.
Campbell was, after all, a teacher and spent 38 years as a professor at Sarah Lawrence College. He was gifted with an ability to describe on a human level the knowledge that he gathered through his scholarship. However, we might find his greatest contribution not in the information that he gave us on mythology but in his relating of those mythologies to the individual. As Campbell states in The Hero’s Journey “I was, by my female students, forced to consider the material from the point of view from the woman. And that point of view had to do with: what does the material mean to life? What does it mean to me?”
Early on in his teaching Campbell came to know one of his students Jean Erdman who was a gifted dancer and brilliant choreographer. As he later recalled “it became evident to me that I was hooked” and in 1938 the two married and spend the better part of their forty-nine years together in a two-room apartment in Greenwich Village in New York City. Jean was able to combine her dancing abilities with the world of mythology and worked with talented artists such as the multidimensional composer John Cage and still to this day the tragically under-recognized genius of Maya Deren. Together Jo and Jean worked to advance and further this great field of mythology.
Joseph Campbell died in 1987 shortly before the airing of the Power of Myth on PBS. Along with this documentary came along a bio-doc The Hero’s Journey, the mystical and imaginative film Sukhavati: A Mythic Journey, and the Mythos series hosted by Susan Sarandon which we are currently looking forward to the release of its third installment. Recently, film maker Patrick Takaya Solomon has taken on the task of creating a new feature length documentary entitled Finding Joe which we are all joyfully expecting the début of in the coming months. In addition to these films are a vast library of audio recordings of Campbell’s lectures of which there is said to be 90 titles to be released over the coming years.
After Joseph Campbell’s passing his wife Jean and others came together and formed the Joseph Campbell Foundation to promote and protect his work. Out of this endeavor and the work of other passionate supporters of Campbell has arisen the JCF Mythological RoundTable® Program. Through this hard work we have seen the birth of these MRT Groups all across the globe with chapters ranging as far abroad as Tasmania in Australia to here in Santa Fe, New Mexico and a whole host of groups in Europe and South America; in these settings people gather together to discuss the work of Joseph Campbell and the field of mythology while working to form a vast community of supporters and friendships. It is with great honor that we take today to remember the life of the man whose teaching has opened our eyes to a whole world of mythology. Many thanks to all who have worked so hard to preserve his legacy.
Joseph Campbell: March 26, 1904 – October 30, 1987
“Follow Your Bliss”
www.mythicmeditations.com
Where others had been too timid to travel, where many had been too short sighted to envision, where few had been resourcefulness to return: Jung was there. His impulse to discovery lead him to territories of taboo that where and have been too extreme for a great deal of our mainstream psychologists. He was interested in Tarot, astrology, physics, magic, the occult, UFOs, alchemy, mysticism, dreams, spirituality, channeling, ghosts, and mythology. However, he also had a keen understanding of our more down to earth problems such as relationships, substance abuse, and mental illness.
After breaking free from Freud and his ridged dogmatic vision of psychology Carl Jung set off on his own. What he developed in those crucial years was to become vastly important for the study and aid of the human race. With a new lexicon of words and phrases he provided us with a set of tools to help nurture the development and healing of the psyche of modern man. Jung helped create and advance the meaning of terms such as Anima, Animus, Shadow, Individuation, Persona, Projection, Transference, and the Collective Unconscious. His investigations into the psyche led him out of his homeland of northern Europe to America, Africa, and Asia where he studied the minds of people from a vast array of ethnicities, social status, and religions.
His efforts and findings propelled him to the publication of a library of books and essays. A group of likeminded psychologists followed in his work and helped further his efforts. In time the Jung Institute was founded in Zurich and since then other such institutes and universities have arisen all over the globe. Recently with the publication of the Red Book we have been given an intimate perspective of Jung’s own struggles and experiences. The writing enclosed in its pages are thought provoking and intense. While its impact may be lost on a great many because of its esoteric and advanced character the art work stands triumphantly all on its own. One could show his paintings to any gallery and they would be quick to ask who this wonderful artist must be. With all of Jung’s interests and talents it could be easy to forget that he was also a psychologist and helped people through their lives and aided them in discovering their true authentic selves.
We have much to owe from the work and scholarship of Carl Gustav Jung. Once described as “a man who had gone insane and cured himself” he helped contribute great advancements to the knowledge and understanding of the workings of the inner world. He constructed a framework for us to encounter and decode the symbols of our unconscious and discover the meaning of our lives. Some of those riches are deep down within our own darkness and others stand right before us, seemly transparent. While he dedicated his life and the focus of his energies to the study of the mind and the human condition, which contributed vast amounts of wealth to the collected wisdom of mankind, he merely scratched the surface on the vast treasure that still lays hidden. C.G. Jung passed away in 1961, his work having only just begun…
What is Mythology? We are in no short supply of definitions and yet as of today there is no ‘Grand Unified Theory of Mythology’. It is an abstraction at its very best. To understand this mystery we draw from the fields of history, psychology, literature, religion, spirituality, philosophy, film, anthropology, science fact as well as science fiction. From Genesis to Star Wars we can follow its journey from ‘and let there be light’ to ‘a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away’. Mythology often tells us who we are, what we are, and why we are. Maybe it is born out of a ritual. Perhaps it begins with a story.
We can trace back its origins to the Greek word ‘mythos’ which means “speech, thought, story, or plot” and ‘ology’ which means “the study of”. However, that just seems far too simple and easy. Perhaps we are looking for something a bit more complicated. Moreover, of all the descriptions out there the only one that you may find repeated exactly is “a Mythology is a collection of Myths” as if that does us any good… If you ask the average person on the street what ‘Mythology’ is you are likely to hear something that amounts to “Mythology is a lie” or that it is a story that while purporting to be true is actually false. So just what the Hell are we all talking about?
Joseph Cambell has defined it in a number of ways. He famously termed it “other people’s religion” but he also offered us four specific functions that he said must be met if one is to call something a true mythology.
# 1) Mystical: opening the individual up beyond their normal everyday experience to the transcendent mystery and awe of the Universe.
#2) Cosmological: explaining and defining the characteristics of the Universe often but not necessarily including the scientific understanding of the day.
#3) Sociological: supporting the local social order and reinforcing their customs and practices.
#4) Pedagogical: demonstrating or teaching the individual how to maneuver and progress through the stages of life and the challenges therein.
Many scholars believe that Mythology has to be dealing with Gods or demigods. Another idea is that it has to be revered as being true and sacred or that it has to be linked to religion. It’s even been stated in the Dictionary of English Folklore that once the link to religion is broken that “it is no longer a myth but a folktale” and “Where the central actor is divine but the story is trivial … the result is religious legend, not myth”.
So the question at this point might be who decides if the story actually contains deities? After all there isn’t any reason why someone can’t think of Superman or Spiderman as Gods. The fact is that it’s up to the individual as to whether a story is true or sacred and there is no doubt that some people indeed think of their comic books as being holy and divine. Moreover, while one person in a culture may feel all of the four functions laid out by Joseph Campbell the person standing next to them might only feel that 3 of the functions are operating or none at all.
Legend, folklore, religion, fable, fantacy, tradition, lore, comic book, science fiction, or the front page of yesterday’s newspaper are we any closer to knowing the difference between those and Mythology? This brings to mind the age old saying “what is art” as it appears that the further we go into this question it seems more and more that ‘Mythology’ is all in the eye of the beholder. At this point it might be helpful to recall the Supreme Court justice’s definition of pornography “I know it when I see it”.
A Call to Adventure & A Cry for Authenticity
“The theme of the Grail is the brining of life into what is known as ‘the wasteland’. The wasteland is the preliminary theme to which the Grail is the answer… It’s the world of people living inauthentic lives” Joseph Campbell
It’s not really a place or a time but a feeling. Often in mythology and indeed in life we hear the call to adventure. Whether it be a subtle whisper or a deafening roar it comes to us and insights us to action. The call will often lead us down a dark and fearsome path where none have gone before or at lest a path from which none have come back.
The wasteland is waiting. For it is the companion of the adventure. The call comes and offers us a challenging path while the wasteland comes and offers us security. Which ever choice we make will take us into the darkness. However, it is there in that same darkness that we will find the light. But will it be a light that we follow from within or from without?
Our parents, friends and advisors can act as the medium of our soul’s betrayal. That is the disguise that the wasteland so stealthily wears. It is often from those who we would most seek comfort and guidance that we find our path to doom. Moreover, the media and culture reinforce its presence in the images and slogans of success. The wasteland tells us what we should buy, who we should marry, what our bodies should look like, and what we should follow for a carrier.
But what are our films and popular literature telling us about the wasteland? In the Matrix we can see that Neo’s plight is apparent. Wearing the chains of bondage he adorns a collar and necktie as he wastes his life working 9-5 in a cubicle that doubles as a prison cell. His options are even more obvious. As Morpheus so clearly puts it “This is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back. You take the blue pill- the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill – you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes. Remember… all I’m offering is the truth. Nothing more.” That truth is the awareness that we traded our souls for security and the reality he shows us is that barren landscape of living corpses surviving as Duracell batteries…‘the desert of the real’. His soul mate Trinity offers to him a glimpse at the destiny he is afraid to face but knows in his heart he finally must “The answer is out there, Neo, and it’s looking for you, and it will find you if you want it to.”
What are these stories telling us about the symptoms and maladies of the wasteland? Again we look to a world that seems, on the surface at lest, to be just like the one we inhabit in the novel Fight Club. As the enigmatic anti-hero Tyler Durden tells us “I see in fight club the strongest and smartest men who’ve ever lived. I see all this potential, and I see squandering. God damn it, an entire generation pumping gas, waiting tables; slaves with white collars. Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don’t need. We’re the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War is a spiritual war… our Great Depression is our lives. We’ve all been raised on television to believe that one day we’d all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won’t. And we’re slowly learning that fact. And we’re very, very pissed off.” What Tyler is trying to awaken us to is the tragedy of our lives and what he reveals to us are the hollow symbols of success that we have mistaken for substance. “You are not your job, you’re not how much money you have in the bank. You are not the car you drive. You’re not the contents of your wallet. You are not your fucking khakis.”
What are the Grail Legends trying to tell us about the wasteland? How might we face it? As the knights witnessed the divine chalice appear before them it was agreed that each should set forth to find the Grail that would restore life and vitality to the kingdom. The knights were to take on the adventure to behold it unveiled and as they set off in quest each man went into the dark and dangerous forest at the point he himself had chosen. No one could show them the way and it was up to each to find their own unique path. That forest was the forest of their fears and insecurities. Each one had personal monsters to slay before they reached the Holy Grail. This is to say that each man had to find out who they were and face what they had found. This was their call to adventure. But they each had a choice. Either they go forth and brave the parlous journey of self discovery or stay and be swallowed up by the encroaching wasteland and the living death that followed.
The call to adventure is the fire that glows in the heart and pushes us towards ourselves. It burns away who we thought we where and crystallizes who we are now becoming. This path is however neither easy nor clear. For what is to be discovered is nothing less than the true and genuine treasure that is intimately tied to your unique and individual spirit. There has never been anything like it before on this Earth…and there never will be again. Something so precious requires such an ordeal of monolithic magnitude. But proportionate to the pain and suffering endured on behalf of its culmination are the rewards and blessings.
The wasteland on the other hand is the beacon that bacons us away from the heart. It is that electric trap that tempts us towards a false heaven. It offers us an easy path towards certain fulfillment. But where we had thought to receive happiness we arrive only to discover that the price we paid for what we were told would be joy was nothing other than ourselves.
There are people who say that the Mayan calendar is predicting the end of the world on Dec 21st 2012. Some Christian scholars say that the Rapture will occur on May 21st 2011 and that the Apocalypse will culminate with the destruction of the Earth by fire on October 21st that same year. It wasn’t too long ago that Y2K was said to be the end of modern civilization. One could call it a recurring theme that has been running through our culture for a very long time now but the word that most clearly fits the description isn’t ‘theme’ but obsession. However, religion is not the only vehicle for this doomsday fetish. It seems to have found a home in our culture’s modern cathedral: the cinema.
Whether it be Mad Max’s world of the tribal chaos fueled by a chronic thirst for gasoline or the certain destruction presupposed by the celestial menace of asteroids and comets or the threat of nuclear annihilation at the hands of our Earthly enemies audiences seem to love the spectacle of watching their own violent demise. These films fill the theaters and pump up the box office of Hollywood. Ironically enough there seems to be no end in sight for the genera of ‘the end’.
Clearly, we have a fascination with galactic deadlines. Moreover, there is a certain amount of trepidation and fear as we seem to be at the end of things. However, if time is running out and we are in fact at the end dose this not also mean that we are at the precipice of something new? Ancient mythological traditions are well informed about the concept of ‘the end’ just as we are today but they were also keenly aware of another important motif. That image being the universal idea of rebirth.
From the cinders of ash we have the transformation through fire of the sacred phoenix. Even hunting cultures perform rituals on the animals they kill so that they may be once more reborn. Moreover, for a millennia many peoples around the world have believed in reincarnation. In fact even modern science tells us that energy can never be destroyed but only changed into a new form of energy.
We all know that things must end. It’s one of the contractual conditions anything has after being created. If we know that the end is coming than why are we so afraid of this obvious inevitability? After all there is really little room for anxiety for such a thing that is so well defined. What is however not well understood is the start of something new. From the moment of birth onwards we have no idea what is to come. The start of things clearly does have the measure of uncertainty deserving of apprehension and distress. Therefore, while so many people appear to be frightened at the prospect of this supposed galactic expiration date in reality it isn’t the end that we are afraid of…but the beginning.
