Personal Comparison

I find it very interesting that the two churches where I am involved are so different. The first church where I sing and get paid is an Anglican church. They play politics, gripe, many are homophobic, and unless you have been there for a long while you are not ‘one of the club’. It is a sad place, because there can be and is a lot of good there. They, unfortunately, undermine and bitch about everything, which makes it a very difficult place. The other place is one of the most caring and accepting places and communities. They welcome everyone and not only tolerate but encourage differences. They thrive off one another. It was singing in the patronal feast at the first church that made me realise what disturbed me most about the Anglican Church in general, not specifically this one but in general. It is a dictatorship, and while dictatorships are very efficient they are only as tolerant and good as the dictator. When Ted Scott was Primate the Anglican Church of Canada was definitely a much better place than it had been in the past and is now. Individual churches are the same if the priest is mediocre then the parish is either led unofficially by a parishioner or it becomes mediocre. The other church is Unitarian and the autonomy each church has means every church has its own personality. I have yet to be in a mediocre Unitarian church. The point I am making is that when a bishop of the church is a bible thumper and thinks it is not myth then you get institutional intolerance. None of the Unitarian ministers I have met are bible thumpers. Openness to other paths and the encouragement to follow them instead of some dogmatic faith in something that is usually not explained properly, if at all is a Unitarian tradition. Now I have not yet been to many Unitarian congregations nor have I talked with many of the Unitarian ministers. The few I have met and interacted with are unusually open, caring and intelligent people. I think the effectiveness they have is due to the lack of restriction dogma places on them. The nature of the Unitarian Church seems to force them to consider other ideas and approaches to the ‘Great Unknown’. History will preclude the Anglican and other denominational churches from being so open and avoid the dogmatic trap. The challenge they must face is the need to rise above the dogma and, like Ted Scott, tread a more tolerant road.

Seeking

When we seek, even when we seek the thing we do not know or understand, even when we know deep down we can never know, we change. When we change we seek even more. Over time a limited understanding of what we are, our Self, and our place in creation begins to emerge. The real problem with life long learning is that “We do not know what we don’t know.” but this doesn’t make life long learning meaningless. What to learn next when we’re not sure what we are learning is difficult but it is good. Dealing with life within our limitations, despite how wonderful that limited being is, and trying to comprehend what we are is a real struggle. But denying the struggle and sinking into complacency is also to deny ourselves. More it is to deny the creator. We are a part of the creator and as such we need to grow in understanding. So look deeply as possible within. Meditate and learn that we are all, truly wonderful, holy and unique beings.

Namaste

 

How do we use and view mythology? When people talk about myths today they speak of fallacies, but myths are more than that.

 

Jordan Peterson, Carl Jung, and Joseph Campbell both state that myths give us the ability to cope when we need to rebuild our world view in a psychological crisis. They say that our society is sick due to a lack of myths. When you live within the structure of a myth, that myth is absorbed by your psyche. It sinks into your bones.  

The advantage of this is that a psyche that obtains the myth’s architecture. The psyche gains strength and resilience required to deal with chaos when disaster enters a life. This is one of the great advantages of the Christian Church. But it will only become a strength if the story is recognized as myth and not taken as historical fact.

Taking a myth as a literal truth robs it of the truth it contains. There are many people who think that myths are simple, enjoyable and entertaining tales that have no truth to them. After all, modern science has disproven many things told in myths. This thing that supposedly happened, according to the myth, could not have happened therefore there is no truth to the myth.

But mythological truths are not measurable in a scientific way. Joseph Campbell said in an interview that all cultures have the same myths: resurrection stories for example. The question he tried to answer was why. Both Joseph Campbell and Jordan Peterson state that mythological architectures aid us in reconstructing our world view when it is destroyed.

People who deny the truth in a myth will tell Aesop’s fables, and other stories of like kind, and point to the conclusion. They say that the story has real merit because the lesson it gives is important. The fact that animals cannot talk, but do so in these stories, doesn't matter; after all it isn't meant to be taken literally.

But that is the point; myths are not to be taken literally. 

The various archetypal heroes of the myths are mangled, tortured, abused, or killed, and yet they come out victorious, despite everything that happens to them. This resurrection is the very architecture taken into our subconscious that helps keep us sane when disaster strikes. Myths sink into our being and give us strength when we most need it. They help us learn from the painful experiences we have. We can step back and build a new world view. We learn from the experience in such a way that the myth strengthens within us.

I belong to two different faith groups. The first group is the Anglican Church as it lives within St. Simon-the-Apostle church on Bloor Street in Toronto Ontario Canada. The second faith group is on Hiawatha Street also in Toronto and is the Neighbourhood Unitarian Universalist Congregation.  In St. Simon’s we have been lucky to have had some Priests who view the Bible as Myths.

Few Priests, who served there, thought of the stories in the Bible as historical fact. The trap of “here is the myth and it is like all the other myths, but ours really happened” was fortunately avoided in St. Simons. You are expected to say the creed, and weekly imbibe the mythos. There is however nothing that says you are required to believe the dogma as historical fact. 

The dogma of the Church supports and comes from the myth and is supposed to be taken as Truth. It is the dogmatic approach that causes trouble when science collides with Myth. Fortunately, St. Simon’s does not take this approach.

Neighbourhood Unitarian Universalist Congregation (Neighbourhood) however is completely dogma free. This means the belief system does not collide with science in the same way as in the Anglican Church. You are not required to believe in anything specific. You are told that your spiritual growth is your own responsibility. To be a Unitarian Universalist you are required to follow the seven principles which are:

        The inherent worth and dignity of every person;

        Justice, equity and compassion in human relations.

       Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual
        growth in our congregations.

       A free and responsible search for truth and meaning.

       The right of conscience and the use of the democratic 
       process within our congregations and in society at large.

       The goal of world community with peace, liberty, and
       justice for all.
       Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which
       we are a part.

Unitarian Universalists try to follow the seven principles. Unitarian Universalism (UU) draws from many mythological sources. No valid myth is deemed more mportant than another. The strength of this approach is that all valid teachings, myths, poetry, stories and writings of great teachers and an incredible diversity of music and thought are used in UU communities.

The weakness is that while Neighbourhood is one of the most spiritual places I have ever been, there is no mythological architecture that I can imbibe to guide my living, and strengthen me when chaos overtakes my life. In fact, if the Minister is not very spiritual a UU community it is not likely to be very spiritual. I have worked in some UU communities where the services resembled university lectures with music thrown in to alleviate the talk. These communities were spiritually dry. I also worked in a UU community so spiritual that I am strengthened and often deeply moved every time I go to a service.  

Now the fact that the mythological structure within the Anglican Church is common does not mean that these churches are all the same in their spiritual feeling. The story is the same. The way the myth is told and interpreted varies greatly within Anglican Churches. Better understanding of the language in the ancient texts has given the Anglican Church a problem.

Early interpretation of what God wants was not universal. The early Church and the Jews before them followed what Joseph Campbell calls a bounded myth. This Truth is for us. It is not for them, they are not us, so therefore we are better. Because of the bounded nature of the myth, we have scripture that is extremely contradictory. “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” as sung by angels in Luke 2:14, is more accurately translated as “Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.” So now we must decide who God is pleased with. The bounded Myth turns us, against them. After all He must be pleased with us, we’re the good guys.

The UU attitude that mythology should be for everyone equally with no one myth being more important than another is a very good idea. The strength here becomes a weakness though because there is not one underlying story that everyone can enact throughout the year and get into their bones. The Anglicans, Catholics, Orthodox, and other Christian denominations would be better served if the Bible were first translated literally, then the text handed to good poets. These poets then tell the story with all the power of beautiful language. Have the theological experts check the result ensuring the bounded nature of the original is removed. After much handing back and forth we would have a Bible that has the power of poetic language and the Truth of the mythical, mystical tale it tells. I think that by unbinding the mythos of the Church, it would be more acceptable to everyone.

UUs use multiple mythologies. We can learn from them all and that is a great. But we as UUs choose for a service one mythology, and the teaching surrounding it, then move to another myth and then the week after that another. The under lying power of the myths presented are not lived. It would be better for the community to live the mythology for a time before moving to the next great teaching. Give the Truth of the myth a chance to sink into the bones of the congregation and be deeply understood by trying to live it for a time. Have the community learn and feel how that chosen myth directs the seven principles and supports the actions of those faith statements. It might even make it easier for the UU community to live by the seven principles day to day.

There is a balance in the strength and weaknesses found in both traditions. The weakness of the UU approach is that there is no one underlying myth to learn and absorb. The strength is the exposure of the community to many myths and the commonality they share. The weakness of the Anglican Church is the Church’s history that makes myth into dogma that must be followed. This makes people, and some Priests, act as if the story of the Bible were history and not Myth. Doing that defeats the Myth and hides its Truth.

 

 

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FRIDAY, AUGUST 6, 2010

We cannot do what we want.

I was struck by the fact that one Minister would vehemently contradict another in a service. It was only after reflecting on the talk that it became clear to me the vehemence was justified. There is a common misconception that Unitarians can believe whatever they wish and that ‘anything goes’. This is due to the acceptance that Unitarians have that there is Truth and wisdome to be found in all spiritual paths. There is indeed great truths in all the major religions. From all the great religions Unitarians take the wisdom and Truths found in their scripture and their teachings. However the Minister pointed out that unless the teachings and the path taken are in harmony with the Unitarian seven principles then they cannot be followed and are not Unitarian valid so to speak. The principles are:

• The inherent worth and dignity of every person;
• Justice, equity and compassion in human relations;
• Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our
congregations;
• A free and responsible search for truth and meaning;
• The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our
congregations and in society at large;
• The goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all;
• Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.

The point is that fundamentalists who proport to follow one of the great religions cannot be called Christian or Jew or Muslim or whatever because they violate the tenets of their own faith. Neither can they be considered Unitarian bcause they do not meet any of the priciples Unitarians try to live by. Unitarian cannot “do whatever they want,” but they can follow any path they wish providing they attempt to adhere to the seven principles.

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THURSDAY, JUNE 3, 2010

Meditation

During a recient meditation the leader stated that we often have many thoughts few of which are actually deep and that the same is true of emotions. It is not that other’s are smarter or brighter than us because the ability to have real depth of thoughts and feelings is what makes us human. I know what he means sort of. The committee is always rehearsing or rehashing what to do or what has been done. And the full brain supresses the awareness of feelings, which are a body not a head thing. By stilling the mind we can eventually achieve a real deep feeling. Eventually we even get below the feelings to an awareness of life that is impossible to describe but whish is filled with real joy. I have been lucky to have reached that once. It is what keeps me trying to meditate. I would like to know why it is easier to meditate with others than alone however. Maybe one day I will find that out.

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FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2010

New Age

Recently at a spiritual cinema we watched a film from one of the new age gurus. The film was ok and the message was that we do not need the same spiritual directions in later years as we do in our youth. No argument there. One person who I respect as a spiritual leader has problems with the “New Age” books, lectures, films etc. After the after film chat I thought about what he had to say trying to make what was said easier to understand and assimilate it. Essentially the problem with the new age stuff is it simplifies the complex too much. While there is truth at the core of the arguments the main flaw is that it tends to be formulistic. If you do this then you will be happy. While the various things the movement says you should do will make you happier, there is still the chaos that life can give you. One film I found sufficiently annoying to actually comment on much to the dismay of some of the films supporters said, if we eat healthy we will be healthy. Removing the toxins from our food would help us live longer more fulfilled lives. I agree removing toxins from the food we eat is important. I also think eating better reduces illness. Now there are diseases that are inherited, and eating well will not prevent them. Some diseases are more a result of the overall environment than what we eat. Does that mean the ill person did not eat well and should be blamed for the disease they ‘caught’. Some types of flu strike people who are very health conscious and who make a point of living well, eating wholesome foods, and exercise regularly. It is as if this disease targets the very people who are working hard to be healthy. The problem with the generalization of and formalistic approach of the new age is that life is chaotic, and bad stuff happens to good people without them looking for trouble. The formula of just do this and all will be well is nonsensical. The underlying truth in the New Age movement should not be ignored, but then neither should life.

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Labels: chaos, culture myth religion, New Age, philosophy

WEDNESDAY, MAY 6, 2009

Free Will?

I believe, and many priests, ministers, rabbis and imams have told me, that we are given free will by God. Ted Scott former Primate of the Anglican church in a conversation with me once said that God made the rules and free will was one of them. God will not interfere in what people do bad or good because that would be breaking his rule of free will. Now all of these religious leaders also say, and there is scientific proof of this as well, that prayer works. And this makes me wonder about what “prayer works” means. Not in the effectiveness of prayer but in the implication the impact God answering prayer has on free will. If God or the Creator answerers prayer then S/He is interfeering and fere will is compromised. I once heard an old Cree medicine man tell a physician that “people are not machines, when the body is hurt by disease the soul is also, by neglecting to heal the soul modern medicine does only part of the job.” The physician eventually came to agree. The argument was about what purpose if any the drumming and chanting had when healig the sick. In an earlier blog i stated that prayer was directed energy. I think also that the soul, which is the imortal part of our being, is energy and linked directly to everything in the universe. Now I also stated that when we pray we direct the healing thoughts and energies to the ones we are praying for. Prayer works in my opinion because we direct some of our health to others who need it. It does not work, in fact I believe cannot work because of the rule of non interference giving us free will, because the Almighty Creator heals. It is fairly well known that the attitude of the sick person is as much a factor in the recuperative process as the medicines they are given. Knowing someone cares enough to light a candle for you or to pray is often a boost we need to feel better within ourselves. I think that the prayers of others, no matter what form they take, help us heal both by giving us much neaded healing energy and by making us feel more of our own self worth. Knowing you are loved is as important as the pill the doctor gave you.

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WEDNESDAY, MARCH 18, 2009

More on Five Elements

In my previous entry I talked about the five aspects of some spiritual paths and how in some ways people are like the five elements. The ending was unclear in my mind and required further comment so here goes. We are all thought, cognition and ideas. What we think is a huge part of us. We all feel emotion, fear, anger, joy and love. In my opinion our spirit, lives below the emotions and thought. It is our motivator, the over all love and awe we feel at being alive. The true appreciation of the creation around us its beauty and terror shapes our spirit. The awe at the beauty of nature like a sunset or a rainbow forms our spirit. Our underlying belief in justice, freedom and what is right and wrong are from all three parts of us as human beings. The foundation of how we act this reality is our spirit. But w are more than this physical being. We’re connected to the greater whole in some inexplicable way. Our soul is that part which connects us to the universe around us. It is where we came from and where we go to. This part of us is larger than us and yet defines our boundaries. It is the most difficult part of us for us to understand. Our spirit emotions and thought make us act and our soul reflects back the ripples in the universe our acts make. Our soul links us to creation is an incomprehensible way. Difficult to grasp though this is the fifth element is more so. This is to goal of all spiritual paths. A perfect balance of all the elements we are. Perfect understanding of all the fours aspects of what we are and making them balanced into something whole. Total awareness of what we are and do. This makes eternity now present and complete. The fifth element is often referred to as the temple or the circle or a unity being or the holy. Such true self knowing is very difficult. Balancing the awareness of what we think feel and the underlying motivation with the understanding of how we are all connected to creation and each other, is very difficult. I have seen some people obtain glimpses of this. They were all remarkable people and fit many spiritual paths. They were Christians, Buddhists, Jews and Muslims. They all said prayer or meditation was the main thing that enabled them to touch briefly that unknown we call God. And this fleeting touch of enlightenment helped them become better people helping others. So it doesn’t matter what the path you prefer as long as you attempt the journey.
Namaste

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Labels: pagan, philosophy, spiritual paths, spirituality, unity

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2009

We Are Five

It has struck me that in many spiritual paths there are five elements. They are usually earth, fire, air, water, and spirit with spirit being the unity of the other four. I find that people seem to be four elements combined into a whole so this might be the reason for this mythological spiritual construct. People are physical, and energy, it’s how we move our muscle folks. Also we are mental or thinking beings and we have a soul, whatever that is. I tend lately to think that our emotional being is our spirit. All together this makes the soul that we are. The main problem we have spiritually is that we think too much. Our mental state combined with our physical bodies dominates our world. We all know there is more to us than that and that it requires our attention. I think that our thinking about food, and what we’ll do for fun, when do we get paid, does the laundry need doing, etc. all dominate our lives so much that we neglect what we truly are. It is this neglect that makes us unhappy. We are all souls. We are all united together in the greater universe. I personally think our soul outlasts this lifetime. Our thoughts crowd out what we feel because the brain is too busy to know to process what we really feel. I find that by meditating I do get to know what I am feeling more accurately. This is not always comfortable but it does help me grow. Lately I am trying to figure out why I react a certain way. Is it because I am afraid of something? I do not yet know but I will meditate and let what comes, come. Who knows, I may actually find out in the stillness of my mind. Stillness of my mind, oh if only… my committee in my head seems to want overtime.
I have found that if I make the meditation a ritual it is more effective. I think this is because the repetitive actions for setup and the candles being lit help the mind and body realizes what I am going to attempt to do. It also makes the symbols of the elements more present in my awareness. Who knows maybe one day I to will become enlightened. At least for now I become more aware of what is around me and more aware of what I feel about things. It is funny how unexpected emotions arise during a meditation. I find dealing with them by recognizing them and then letting them go so they have less control over my actions is very helpful to me being a better person. I truly believe only I can make me a better person. This is frightening and liberating at the same time. So balancing all four aspects of what I am is both very hard and very rewarding.

Namaste

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Labels: enlightenment, pagan, philosophy, spirituality

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2008

Personal Comparison

I find it very interesting that the two churches where I am involved are so different. The first church where I sing and get paid is an Anglican church. They play politics, gripe, many are homophobic, and unless you have been there for a long while you are not ‘one of the club’. It is a sad place, because there can be and is a lot of good there. They, unfortunately, undermine and bitch about everything, which makes it a very difficult place. The other place is one of the most caring and accepting places and communities. They welcome everyone and not only tolerate but encourage differences. They thrive off one another. It was singing in the patronal feast at the first church that made me realise what disturbed me most about the Anglican Church in general, not specifically this one but in general. It is a dictatorship, and while dictatorships are very efficient they are only as tolerant and good as the dictator. When Ted Scott was Primate the Anglican Church of Canada was definitely a much better place than it had been in the past and is now. Individual churches are the same if the priest is mediocre then the parish is either led unofficially by a parishioner or it becomes mediocre. The other church is Unitarian and the autonomy each church has means every church has its own personality. I have yet to be in a mediocre Unitarian church. The point I am making is that when a bishop of the church is a bible thumper and thinks it is not myth then you get institutional intolerance. None of the Unitarian ministers I have met are bible thumpers. Openness to other paths and the encouragement to follow them instead of some dogmatic faith in something that is usually not explained properly, if at all is a Unitarian tradition. Now I have not yet been to many Unitarian congregations nor have I talked with many of the Unitarian ministers. The few I have met and interacted with are unusually open, caring and intelligent people. I think the effectiveness they have is due to the lack of restriction dogma places on them. The nature of the Unitarian Church seems to force them to consider other ideas and approaches to the ‘Great Unknown’. History will preclude the Anglican and other denominational churches from being so open and avoid the dogmatic trap. The challenge they must face is the need to rise above the dogma and, like Ted Scott, tread a more tolerant road.

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WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2008

Seeking

When we seek, even when we seek the thing we do not know or understand, even when we know deep down we can never know, we change. When we change we seek even more. Over time a limited understanding of what we are, our Self, and our place in creation begins to emerge. The real problem with life long learning is that “We do not know what we don’t know.” but this doesn’t make life long learning meaningless. What to learn next when we’re not sure what we are learning is difficult but it is good. Dealing with life within our limitations, despite how wonderful that limited being is, and trying to comprehend what we are is a real struggle. But denying the struggle and sinking into complacency is also to deny ourselves. More it is to deny the creator. We are a part of the creator and as such we need to grow in understanding. So look deeply as possible within. Meditate and learn that we are all, truly wonderful, holy and unique beings.

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Labels: knowledge, meditation, self knowledge, spirituality

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2008

Namaste

Recent reading of a book called “The Power of Myth” by Joseph Campbell has added to my conviction that the real message of everything being connected and sacred is true. His statement about shaman’s and priests fascinated me. He states that a shaman is one who has a significant and traumatic spiritual event; in fact the shaman seeks it. And from this event discovers some truth. The priest learns this truth, ideally experiences it as well and turns it into ritual so that the rest of us can learn this truth. I recently talked about how words are a blunt instrument. How they are imprecise at best. When trying to deal with things spiritual we, in using words, create so many methods, rituals, ideas, of the transcendent that there are nearly as many religious beliefs as there are people. The real problem arises when one group says that they and only they have the “Truth”. A long time ago I met a person who was being shunned by his friends, all because he didn’t adhere to the religious beliefs his so called friends did and he dared to question. Questioning in fundamentalist groups is seriously frowned upon. It was in talking to him that I began to explore my own beliefs seriously. It has taken a long time for me to create the methods I use for my spiritual growth. I still struggle with the nonsensical things I had ingrained into me during my time as a young person. I must hasten to add that not all of the stuff I was told was completely nonsensical. Nor has every thing others from Islam, the Catholic Church, some Baptists, Buddhists, Jews and Pagan faiths been totally silly. What I have found is that a thinking approach taken by all of these people creates an understanding that helps all of us grow. I prefer the Unitarian Church, partly because all the religious paths walk through there at one time or another, but mostly because I am accepted as me, warts and all. I am allowed and encouraged to question, explore, and hopefully learn something that is true. What I find is that they are all essentially saying the same thing and that is, “Every thing, every person is sacred. There is a part of the Creator in everyone, and the actions a person chooses either aids or suppresses the understanding of this Holiness within.” What we choose to do helps us grow spiritually or prevents that growth. It makes sense to treat everyone else with the respect you want since they are as much the Creator’s child as you are.




There seems to be two approaches to religions observances. I am talking about perception of the Creator not belief. The belief in something greater than ones self “a Creator” of some sort seems to be almost universal. What I mean by two approaches is the externalization of the mystery or the acceptance that the Self is as much a part of this mystery as everything else and that it is not just external to Self. Science tells us that everything essentially is energy in some form or other. That there is little difference between solid objects, electricity, sound, or light except the speed in which the various particles move or their frequency to put the scientific word to it. I think that this is in some way an observance that everything is one, connected in some mysterious manner. Personally I take issue with the argument, by friends of mine, that they do not believe in “God”. This is mostly because what they are usually saying is that they do not believe that “God” is an old bearded individual in the sky who watches everything and when you are judged to have made a mistake, poof you’re a frog. This outmoded belief may have been active sometime in history. I have my doubts that few other than children in their naiveté have ever truly held this belief, and they normally grow beyond it. However on closer examination of the topic these friends of mine who say they are Atheists all state that they do believe in a ‘Force’ internal to or external to or a combination of both of some sort. Sounds a bit like “Star Wars” but is in fact a genuine spirituality. What they object to is the typical institutionalized version of God. There is still language in many religious institutions that suggest that “God” is separate from us. I don’t believe this at all and neither do most of my friends. I think that we are all unique and part of the mystery in some inexplicable manner. There is a saying that “Everyone is replaceable.” I think that this saying is totally incorrect. I think and believe “Everyone is irreplaceable.” We are all divine in some manner and we will all take knowledge along our respective paths and teach others and learn as we go. I think that the resurrection of the spirit within my Self is a requirement for me to grow and live a good life. Trying to understand the Mystery of who I am helps me, in part, understand the Mystery of who and what the Creator is. The fact that the Creator is beyond comprehension is daunting but should not discourage seekers from trying to understand who and what that One is.

 

Spiritual Growth

Within the realm of the unknown is both the impossible, that which we currently do not have the skill to do, and the potential for positive growth or change. When we approach the chaos of the unknown with care and a plan, the potential within the chaos of the unknown can be turned into a positive learning and growth experience.
Culture, protects us from the unknown. Over protection of culture becomes tyrannical. Suppression of exploration will, over time, lead to a breakdown of the cultural. Now if a Hero, of mythic type, comes and restructures the cultural norms, the pain is lessened because the discovery of the potential, by the Hero, is a deliberate act. And this discovery of the potential growth, while painful, can be incorporated into the culture before it breaks down. This discovery of the potential is deliberate. But if the tyranny becomes too suppressive and the Hero's not allowed to act, painful though their acts sometimes are, then the culture will not grow but eventually shatter. The unknown of chaos will over take the culture and the culture will be violently changed, which is more painful than the Heroic approach. The cultural change will be determined by the chaotic forces and it will become randomly restructured. This often results in war and violence. Myth, religion, and the ritualistic acting out of myth in religious rites, when it becomes an intra-personal process, generates the Heroes that the culture requires. This allows for the culture to evolve over time and embrace necessary change. By doing this at both the individual and social level, embracing change, the culture becomes actually safe both as a cultural protective device and as a place wherein it is safe to dwell.

The Force of Language

Recently I was discussing what mythological archetypes mean in regard to how we behave and believe. Joseph Campbell in the Power of Myth states that there are two main type of myth. these are sociological myth and archetypal myths. Archetypal myths tell stories that are true for all and sociological myths are those which form a bounded group, you and your family my country and clan. He gives the Biblical mythological story of the giving of the laws as an example of the bounded myth the sociological myth. In one chapter it states "Thou shalt not kill" the next chapter says "Go into Canaan and kill every one in it." They the Canaanites are outside the group and thus fair game. In the church where I sing we have a new priest a nice guy. Many people complained that he had changed a lot of things. He gave a sermon on how he had not changed anything. Unfortunately he was wrong. He changed the approach to the language of the mythology in the church. Since he came into the church everything sounds explicit and literal. Unfortunately it is not supposed to be taken that way and that church community had never approached the Spirit in that manner. As a result people knew he had changed things but were unable to explain what. It took me a long time to realize what had been changed and that mostly because I looked in from the outside and had a good view. The tendency of most Christians is to make 'God' a concept. This removes the transcendent and unknowable nature from what can not be known.
This is what was happening within that community and as a result the true spiritual path was changing. Language has real power and force. Unfortunately when trying to speak about the transcendent nature of the Creator we are stuck with a limited imprecise tool called language. And we use this tool to try to explain what we know and feel about something we, in our limited capacity, cannot understand.
It was the intangibility of the change, a change in language and seeming meaning that was making people uncomfortable.

Meditation Emotion and Mind

I think we can all agree that even though the human brain or mind has a huge capacity to store sort and process information the mind does have limits. I am not suggesting that these limits are easy to comprehend or measure. That being said, I recently wondered why relaxing your thoughts, emptying and quieting your mind is a part of every meditation technique, which I have encountered, in one way or another. A series of conversations with my wife helped clarify the thought. I think that the mind, when busy with cognition and the logical processes we call thinking, is too full to properly or successfully deal with or comprehend our emotions. In an earlier blog post I noted that the mind allows us to recognize and comprehend what we perceive, below the level of labelling them. What I mean here by labelling is using language or forming mental images causing the brain to take on secondary oscillations of much larger patterns than the basic oscillation of recognition and knowing. Some people think linguistically and aurally and others pictorially and some in a combination of both. This cognitive ability fills the mind with oscillations of that our senses are telling us and allows us to associate this information in a manner that allows us to do what we do and formulate plans about what to do next. The application of the cognitive process we use to communicate forms many oscillations throughout the whole brain instead of the few parts required to recognize the thing or thought. One of the things we aim to do when meditating is to disconnect this linguistic process, which we do not require to comprehend what we perceive. When meditating we may hear a dog bark. We try to get to a state what allows us to recognise the dog as a dog but to do so by saying to ourselves that was a dog or even, “that was Mutt barking” or picturing the dog as “dog” or forming the image of “Mutt” in our mind. We know it for what it is but we do not label it. I think that we do this because it allows more room in the brain for us to allow emotions to surface into conscious thought. When we try to drag them up we label and cognate the emotion taking starting to take form, and this takes up too much resource in the mind to allow the emotion to fully surface. This prevents us from being able to fully examine and come to terms with what we feel and why we act when these emotions are triggered. Things like, “I am inadequate” or “I am not very smart” or “I wish I could be as smart as…” or “I wish I wasn’t so bad” and all the other emotional baggage we carry. This list is not a complete or comprehensive one either since we all seem to carry many negative images of ourselves. This negative aspect of self feeling or belief of self creates fear or anger responses in us. It is these deep emotions we try to address while meditating. If we allow our minds to still, the deep feelings of our worth, the feelings about our connections to others, what we think and have set for our goals and how we actually feel about them can all surface and be acknowledged. Once in the conscious mind we can examine and let them be what they actually are instead of letting them partially surface and trigger actions, such as an angry response, leaving us to wonder later why we became so angry. Allowing the emotion to surface and live in the conscious mind helps us place our emotional response into a proper perspective. Initially we may still have the angry response, but it is more likely that we will, at first, recognise why we respond how we do, and control it more appropriately, returning to a calm state more quickly. Over time we may even have dealt with the underlying emotion enough to avoid the angry response completely. In a book by Jordan Peterson called “The Maps of Meaning, an Architecture of Belief” the author states that we act and create plans to move us toward our goals prior to being able to articulate the actions we take to progress toward the goal. That it is through imitation of our behaviour and the behaviours of others in response to our actions that we eventually make out actions concrete enough to be able to articulate them. I think that he is correct in stating this. I also think that Dr. Debono is correct when he states that every decision we make is emotionally driven. This does not mean that logic is not a part of decision making. What it does mean is that we decide to do an action when it is both logically based and “feels” right. Meditation allows us to better comprehend, if not control, our underlying emotional make up. This allows us to make these decisions with a bit more understanding if not control. For example, we may not truly want what a goal we’re pursuing. When we know what we really feel about a goal, uncovering the emotive force that is hindering us from achieving the goal, will help us understand why achieving that goal was either unsatisfying or seemingly impossible to achieve. Knowing what we actually feel now about the goal now allows us to act more in accordance with what we really want or need based on our deep seated emotions and desires.

Meditation Is Not Easy

It seems to me that meditation is very misunderstood. I know when I first started I thought it would be simple, just sit, calm down and do nothing. Quiet the mind, relax and be at peace. Think this is easy; try to quiet your mind. It goes something like this. Concentrate on the candle flame and relax. Start with the toes and let the tension sink out of them. Relax and think of the muscles letting go of tension. Picture the tension flowing away into the ground. Next relax the lower leg, Look at the candle and wonder why you said that to whomever. Oops stop return to relaxing. Let go the tension in the lower back and feel it flow away into the flame of the candle. Wonder what’s for supper maybe we should have…stop return to relaxing. The, should do, might have said, will say, want that, what shall we eat, conversations inside you pop up again and again and finally you realize the mind, your mind, my mind is a very noisy place. The practice of meditation is like lifting weights done with your mind. It takes practice and is not as simple as it seems. There is no right way to meditate. There are almost as many techniques as there are people but they can be placed into five broad categories. These are:

• Guided meditation, where someone leads you through one of the following meditation types but helps keep you on track.
• Fixed point meditation, focusing on a single point such as a crack in the wall a candle flame until only that point is what you think of.
• Mindful meditation, being aware of your breath and body and all around you, understanding what you smell, taste, hear, and see without placing a label of some kind, verbal or pictorial and letting the emotions rise to the surface but not reacting to them simply acknowledging them and letting them go.
• Prayerful meditation, where a mantra or prayer is chanted either quietly or aloud over and over again.
• Open mind meditation, the most difficult to do, letting the mind acknowledge all thoughts until they have all been let go and calm peaceful joy is what is left.

Eventually the periods of concentration get longer, the relaxation of the body more complete, more familiar and easier to accomplish at deeper and deeper levels. The ability to understand what you can control and what you cannot grows. Responses to other people and events become more reasoned less reflexive because you become more aware of Self. When things annoy you, you find it easier to remain calm and return to a ‘normal’ state. The strength of your mind and your understanding of how your mind works grows. You eventually no longer require the pictures or words to understand things that your mind tends to form. Understanding becomes knowing without labeling. You feel knowledge and in feeling no longer have extremes in response to events that happen. This doesn’t mean you never feel anything it means you learn to know what you feel and not let the emotions felt take control of your actions. It does more than this though. Eventually you begin to get a real sense of Self.

After all the mystery is in you, just as much as you are in it.

New May 08 2008

Ok folks I just added a counter to my blog. Now I will know how often I visit ;)

Energy and Life

I have been informed that energy can be altered but not destroyed. Considering that we are all in one way or another sentient energy does this mean that there is life after death, or does it support the idea of reincarnation? I have been the observer of too many encounters and have been involved in encounters that support the concept of reincarnation. For example the feeling of knowing someone from before, and having that knowledge supported by them and affirmed. This affirmation however is not a complete remembering and it is the changing of energy that I think is responsible.
I have read, been told and experienced thought while meditating where I know what I have seen, heard, felt or tasted but have not labeled it. This ability to comprehend and understand yet not put need to put knowledge into language helps us understand the Self, that true essence of what we are, as opposed to the fleeting ever-changing ‘I’ of the body and mind.
The idea I have is that when we die and return to the Creator or the One we teach what we have learned to that Spirit. In doing so we are altered by the encounter and prepared for the next round of learning. It is in the changing of ourselves as we grow that alters our past life’s memory and makes it difficult for us to remember the lives past. I think that this is a deliberate growth strategy else we would simply revert to old behaviour strategies from past lives if we remembered them as well as we remember what we have learned, or not learned, in this life.
Past associations with souls we have traveled with before however seem to have deep resonances. This is why when introduced to someone after a brief chat we feel like we have known them and they have known us for a very long time. When this happens the two souls together will do more than typical in any project they tackle together. They will find that together they create deeper, co-ordinate better and make things in a way that people who have worked together for a very long time have done even when they are only working together in this life for the first time.
When a person is self aware then they quickly identify the resonance I am talking about and can, by making the other person aware as well if that is needed, quicken the entry into a deeper and more and productive relationship.
Since these people can work from a long, maybe centuries or millennia long, mutual history they tend to communicate and relate in ways that are obscure to others around them. Sometimes the others become envious or disconcerted even jealous and trouble can arise. Mostly these relationships are very beautiful and joyous. When they fall apart however they go very sour for everything is in extremes.
My point here however is about energy and how it relates to the Self. Since energy can change but not be destroyed and changing energy is not simple being in the moment and grounded in thought without language places you in what you actually are not what your are perceived as being. The root of thought and consciousness below language is non emotional, settled and calm. It does not change but is the same every time it is touched. This energy point of awareness is in my opinion the actual Self. This is the Self that does not change the true I as it were that you remain and are even after death. This is the core of your learning that grows in complexity as you learn yet remains strangely peaceful and simple. When you leave this plain and travel back to the One you take all you have done and learned and teach the Creator what you have learned. The act of teaching changes you somehow and prepares you to return and learn more. I believe that the fact energy can be changed but not destroyed supports my hypothesis. This however, is like any other metaphysical belief in that it is not provable.
Peace.

Myth

A myth is a story, a spiritual story that holds up a mirror to some larger truth. It does this by using archetypes to illuminate the point being made. Since things spiritual are not typically measurable by scientific means we tend to state they have little value or are not “true”. So we tend to approach myths as art, or fiction and disregard the lessons that they are supposed to teach us as being not relevant or meaningless in the ‘real’ world. I do not believe this attitude is helpful nor do I think that the people of today do not hunger for something more spiritual in their lives. So I am going to use the story of Persephone and try to show how the truths in this story can help benefit us. I am not using this myth because it is better or more relevant. I am using it because I am more familiar with it than others. The story goes as follows…

Persephone is the goddess of the underworld in Greek mythology. She is the daughter of Zeus and Demeter, goddess of the harvest. Persephone was such a beautiful young woman that everyone loved her, even Hades wanted her for himself. One day, when she was collecting flowers on the plain of Enna, the earth suddenly opened and Hades rose up from the gap and abducted her. None but Zeus, and the all-seeing sun, Helios, had noticed it. Broken-hearted, Demeter wandered the earth, looking for her daughter until Helios revealed what had happened. Demeter was so angry that she withdrew herself in loneliness, and the earth ceased to be fertile. Knowing this could not continue much longer, Zeus sent Hermes down to Hades to make him release Persephone. Hades grudgingly agreed, but before she went back he gave Persephone a pomegranate (or the seeds of a pomegranate, according to some sources). When she later ate of it, it bound her to underworld forever and she had to stay there one-third of the year. The other months she stayed with her mother. When Persephone was in Hades, Demeter refused to let anything grow and winter began. This myth is a symbol of the budding and dying of nature. In the Eleusinian mysteries, this happening was celebrated in honor of Demeter and Persephone, who was known in this cult as Kore.

The Romans called her Proserpine.

Her names means something like "she who destroys the light."

Now we should examine this myth and what it actually is trying to tell us. Despite the obvious this is how winter began theme which is why the modern scientific mind tends to discard the Myth out of hand, there are some very interesting themes that if examined can help a person grow spiritually. First Hades abducts Persephone. This is a comment on how some attachments including that of love can be unhealthy. The love Demeter has for her daughter is also destructive because it is not controlled. So control of ones emotions is a theme here. Mythos will not tell you how to do something but it will point out what you should do to grow. Next Demeter’s rage causing destruction is a theme. Coping with anger is a serious issue and there are methods for doing so but allowing it to take over can be very destructive. Again the theme is self control. The next is an eating of a pomegranate causing Persephone to have to return to the underworld. This exploration of the underworld or deaths attachment to us here is curious. It tells us since Persephone can return to the living world over and over again that we too can have a resurrection of spirit within us. It also tells us that the recurrence of spiritual death within us is also possible but not necessarily permanent. We too can return back to health over and over should we choose to do so. So the main theme here is actually renewal. People can grow anew and renew themselves just as the seasons can come around and new growths begin.

As you can see here the obvious story of how spring began is not actually the point of the myth. Myths are to help a person grow in spirit by showing meta states of being through metaphor and entertaining stories. They need to be entertaining because that is what makes them memorable.