"The fourth and most vital, most critical function of a mythology, then, is to foster the centering and unfolding of the individual in integrity, in accord with d) himself (the microcosm), c) his culture (the mesocosm), b) the universe (the macrocosm), and a) that awesome ultimate mystery which is both beyond and within himself and all things." -- Joseph Campbell, The Masks of God: Creative Mythology (my bold)
Yes! This is the embodying (microcosm) of heaven (macrocosm) and earth (mesocosm) to which I refer ad nauseum. Do we need a mythology to do this? Can we not simply be the life force embodying? Do we need a story to go with this or else we will not open to it? Can we not simply recognize that we are the wellspring springing? Must we have a fairy tale complete with tracts and start a movement?
Arghhhh! Must we re-hypnotize ourselves to escape the old hypnosis?
Centering and opening! What more is needed?
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Here is part of my take on things:
ReplyDeleteNo, we (ourselves) and we (our cultures) can not simply be the life force embodying. It is too much responsibility.
We need to believe in a god.
We need to believe in the goodness of angels.
We need to believe in the darkness of demons.
We need to constantly ask forgiveness rather than permission.
We need to ask permission.
We are pathetic little creatures with massive amounts of potential scurrying around wearing rosy blinders.
We are happy and comfortable in our dis-ease willingly placing all our eggs in one basket that BETTER NOT be dropped.
Well ... that's part of my take on this.
Phil, I greatly appreciate your open understanding.
ReplyDelete:)
ReplyDeleteGot Kohlberg's Theory of Moral Development tickling my brain this morning. Here is an outline of his theory:
Level 1: Preconventional Morality
Stage 1 - Obedience and Punishment
Stage 2 - Individualism and Exchange
Level 2: Conventional Morality
Stage 3 - Interpersonal Relationships
Stage 4 - Maintaining Social Order
Level 3: Postconventional Morality
Stage 5 - Social Contract and Individual Rights
Stage 6 - Universal Principles
I sometimes think the majority of the human species don't develop past Level 1: Stage 1.
Wonder what that wild man Joseph Campbell would have to say about Kohlberg's theory ...
I think Campbell would generally agree with Kohlberg. In the last paragraph of his "Creative Mythology," he had this to say:
ReplyDelete" But in the end, as in the case of Parzival, the guide within will be his own noble heart alone, and the guide without, the image of beauty, the radiance of divinity, that wakes in his heart amor: the deepest, inmost seed of his nature, consubstantial with the process of the All, 'thus come.' And in this life-creative adventure the criterion of achievement will be, as in every one of the tales here reviewed, the courage to let go of the past, with its truths, its goals, its dogmas of 'meaning,' and its gifts: to die to the world and to come to birth from within."
Here is Fowler's stages of faith in which you might be interested --
ReplyDeletehttp://faculty.plts.edu/gpence/html/fowler.htm
I beleive I understand what you are saying George, but is having a story really so bad? To center and open within a context makes it easier to orient. We were born in human bodies after all-not just floating about in space, otherwise why be here? Perhaps we are not so much pathetic, as just human, some limitations are part of the game. And to create, or co-create,you need a medium. I think the problem is when we get stuck in a particular story and"start a movement". Kids have it right-you can read, and imagine and play multiple stories at once. Its just a way to learn.
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas..(if you like that story)
Tania
Going back to Phil's first comment, all I can say is: Speak for yourself, man. Maybe you should replace the word "We" with "I" if that's the mindset you're carrying through life. How grim.
ReplyDeleteGregory, how judgmental. And how judgmental of me to say that. And so the infinite progression of the hall of mirrors goes on and we continue trapped in our mindsets buried from each other and from God.
ReplyDeleteGregory -- did you just "should" on me? :)
ReplyDeleteHere is another part of my take on things: Blessings to you, Brother!
I like that word "grim." In fact, I think I'll write it in reverse, change the vowel and add an "e" so that you and I (we) can "merge."
George & Phil:
ReplyDeleteSorry if I came on too strong. I actually did read through your various comments, including the Fowler treatise, and became so perturbed at hierarchy after hierarchy, at layer after layer, at "rating" systems applied to our behaviors in the world that surrounds us.
I simply don't understand how these things fit into any sort of spontaneous oneness. Each and every one of them is incredibly judgmental at its core. A mythology ~ as Campbell repeatedly emphasized ~ is a method of making sense of the world and is more akin to poetry than to systematized levels of performance and gradations of morality. I wonder if he really would agree with any of Kohlberg's theory.
I apologize, George, for cluttering your insightful blog with my minor rant.
Gregory, I certainly do understand your being perturbed and I appreciate your having a flash point. I perceive we are similar in flowing with mythopoesis as the language of choice -- ratio - nal logic only goes so far. Thank you for returning and responding.
ReplyDeleteThough I do see the value of a good hierarchical ladder at times, I more favor holoarchy -- an infinite series of nestings within nestings. And even that doesn't quite cut it. Smacks of poul-try rather than poe-try.
I appreciate your own blog and your musings and thinkings. You are welcome here any time.
Meanwhile the play goes on -- the hard and the soft, the tough and the tender, the ladder and the spiral. The dance is dancing the dance.
Tania, I think you are right on it! It's the stuckness that gets us not the story. Thank you for slicing right through that one!
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, I like the Merry Christmas story! Love to you!