We humans cannot live without a myth, a Great Story in which we are embedded. In doing so, we ourselves are mythical creatures. A currently prevailing myth is that we are unenlightened beings seeking for and needing enlightenment. The characters in this myth are placed within one of three major categories: the Unenlightened, the Partially Enlightened, and the Enlightened. Of course, all who believe in this myth never belong to the first category.
Believers in the enlightenment myth might pat themselves on the back (consider themselves enlightened) because of having three categories instead of two, the Unsaved and the Saved, like many proponents of other myths. And it is true, it is a step in the right direction.
We shrug out of older myths the way we shrug out of too tight clothes. They no longer fit and we abandon them. It is time to shrug out of the enlightenment myth, which has turned into just another hardening of the categories.
I see a new myth emerging. More accurately, we are already embodying this emerging myth: the Myth of Creative Coherence. We have been unconsciously living out this myth for some time. A beauty of it is that in negating the older myths, it preserves them by subsuming them, thus opening them to a higher, wider, deeper realm.
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I understand what you are saying, but I disagree about the need for a new myth, because that also presupposes a new mythology. The human race must evolve psychologically in order to save itself. The decision comes down to choice, whether that choice be conscious or subconsciously made. We all have our part to play whether we are conscious or unconscious for that is the subtle nature of what you call the Source and others call God. Since we are all that Source and the only thing obscuring that Source is our individual minds, at some point each individual will have to make a choice whether to awaken from the current collective dream into a better dream or stay asleep. To awaken means a loss or at least a taming of the ego, a loss of self, with the concomitant realization of being part of a greater Self that encompasses the whole Universe. One can either view such an occurrence as a rebirth (the old mythos) or as the natural progression of the evolution of sapience on this planet and perhaps this galaxy.
ReplyDeleteIt doesn't matter what you call it really so long as it comes to pass. Language is inadequate to describe the evolutionary step, just as it was for those first apes who realized their own mortality and their own nakedness and separation from God. Language will also be inadequate to describe the Bliss, Connectedness, and Contentment the Awakened will have, the deeper realm as you call it.
Or, the race may choose to stay asleep and suffer the Nightmare, and we pass the way of the dinosaurs, and some other form takes our place. These bodies are only vehicles for Consciousness to inhabit and use to play with this world. They are not unlike ROVs, but living machines, finer than any machine yet made.
Anyone who makes the distinction that I am Enlightened and you are not, whose actions betray a disguised ego beneath the words is a distraction at best and a charlatan at worst. The next step is inclusive, not exclusive. How could it be otherwise if I and the Other are One and the Same? What place is there for myth when the dichotomy, the rift, between Man and God is healed? For that is the purpose of myths, to explain the dichotomies, the psychological rifts of Man.
This is so subtle. Words betray how inadequate the mental process is in explaining what is / what isn't; what this is / what this isn't; this / that; you / me; I / thou / we; Interdependent origination / dissollution of self; ego / no ego; Yet splendid indeed is greater understanding / realization of this mystery / this majestry / this being / this process we call life. Let it be being this being; living this living / appreciating this appreciation et. all
ReplyDeleteHmmm... Isn't anyone interested in what the Myth of Creative Coherence IS?
ReplyDeleteYes please!
ReplyDeletetania
Hi George,
ReplyDeleteYou have my mind curious about Creative Coherence. The comments earlier are just dialogue. Not a critique.
George, I appreciate your perspective on the role of myths in expanding understanding. Knowing that any conclusion we draw is a myth is a very important first step to reckoning with our powerful tendencies to perpetually form narratives.
ReplyDeleteI look forward to hearing your story about this Creative Coherence Myth you have in mind!
Your friend,
Stan
Do tell!
ReplyDeleteHi, George. Thanks for giving us the fruit of your deep feeling and thinking. You put it out here for us to feel/think about and we just stir the pot. Delicious soup! Eve
ReplyDeletePhysics: The property of being coherent, as of waves. (#2) looked it up in dictionary LOL saw the word Harmony.
ReplyDeleteYes! i want to know what Creative Coherence Myth is :-)
nothing wrong with the older myths...how do we know that the ancient knowledge is where its at?
ReplyDelete