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.

What Is Self (Not An Answer Just A Comment)

I was running this morning and noticed that the sky was so blue and the air so clear and I was me looking running feeling great feeling like I haven’t in a long time at peace. Even though I was running controlling my breathing and looking ahead avoiding the ice on the pavement I felt at peace. My mind was calm and empty wondrously clear. I remembered once more what I actually am not what I am defined by others and myself as being. This feeling of self is hard to describe. I am both the person who knows computers, music and is doing things, and the person who IS. The person who has had many lives, knows of them and looks forward to reconnecting with the ancient souls I have met before. I know that sounds peculiar but I have met some old souls and we have recognized each other. But I loose this feeling of Self in the business of the day. I loose myself and this is sad in a way because this makes time steal me away from myself. Ok so this doesn’t seem to make much sense but I think it helps me feel more like what I am and what is. So if you got something from it great otherwise I am happy knowing at least I did.

As Above So Below

Recently I saw a program called ‘The Pagan Christ’. In this program the documentary people discuss a book titled ‘The Pagan Christ’ where Tom Harper an Anglican priest discusses the possibility that Christ as a man did not exist but that the message was a retelling of ancient Pagan, Egyptian and Greek Myths. The message here is that the resurrection exists within each individual and is not an act that happened in the past ‘for us’. I am not going to argue here whether I think Christ existed as a man or not, rather I shall explore the idea of the resurrection of spirit within individuals. The possibility of God, the Creator in us, and the fact that we are divine in nature is frightening to me. It is frightening because I tend out of ignorance and habit to abuse myself in many different ways and if we are in fact divine then I habitually abuse God, the Creator by this self abuse. This potential for abusing the divine through the non pursuit of a truly spiritual life failure by non attempt is to me very frightening. We are all connected and every thing we do mindlessly tends to detract from what we are. How can we be truly reborn and grow the divinity within ourselves if we fail to pay attention to what we are doing. Aristotle said “Wise men do not hurry.” This does not mean they never do things quickly, rather that they pay close attention to what they are doing at the moment they do them. How many times have you thought about something you were going to do later in the day when eating breakfast rather than actually tasted what you were eating and paying attention to the feeling of the spoon in your hand the knife spreading the butter or jam on the bread or toast or even the smell of the toast as it is being made? This lack of attention to what we are doing is a time thief. We practice it constantly and forget in doing so who and what we are. So try to be in the moment and slow down your mind, not your body and pay attention to what you do as you do it. Do one thing at a time carefully and with attention and so do it well and in so doing find yourself and the divine within. I am trying to do this and sometimes I get a glimpse of what I can be and what I actually am.

Photo Shoot

Ok my band did a real photo shoot. Carrly loved having her picture taken. Me it was just another thing to do, Sean wanted out no way he enjoyed it. We did end up with a great shot though so it was worth it. This has nothing to do with enlightenment however but we, Carrly, I and Stweart and Anthea, had fun. Sean had a laugh when we went through the shots so it wasn't a total waste. The twirl shots we're going to use for the background in Around The Sun on you tube :)
We have a you tube account with nothing up so at last something to post.

I am going to get some sleep now as I had a good rehearsal this evening and am happy with everything except I Have Looked For You. Maybe next week it will come together.

These Posts

These thoughts were posted over a few months in a different location. I have liked how they are handled here much better so moved them over. I will continue to post as thoughts enter my head. I find that the idea of growing spiritually is always talked about but never truly discussed. Spiritual growth in most institutions has been for me in my experience impossible as the tenets of faith I 'have to espouse' often just bore me or are to me at least meaningless drivel or nonsense. I have been lucky enough to have connected with a group who encourage me to grow in my own way and are more than willing to help me do just that. The minister Wayne Walder is an intelligent caring individual who has helped me grow and who is wise enough to just point out what I need at the moment without judging or expecting me to believe anything. I find this so refreshing. I have begun to meditate regularly and I run daily. My life is changing for the better I feel and so my music improves as well. I find it still a real challenge to write the words for a song but I have had help and improvement comes slowly. At least now I do not think I am incapable of writing the words. Enough of this I'll put more thoughts up later.

Music & Magic

It occurred to me as I listened to a piece I co-wrote with my friend that magic, prayer, meditation, understanding ones self in the Creator in this life for me is based in music. The power of some of the music I hear lifts my spirit to a new sphere of understanding. Music speaks directly to emotion from emotion, and despite our culture’s attempt to deny our need to feel deeply what we are and to be logical and rational at all times, music enables us to grow in spirit if we allow it to do so. My recent musical experiences have taken me back in memory, and closer to the One. I find that the songs and musical work give meaning to what I am and who I am becoming.

The reason for this out loud thinking of music is to complain about how popular culture is trying to make music into electronic wall paper and remove all but the shallowest emotion from it. Music cannot be rationalised or made logical although logic and rational thought are used to create it.

So for all who wish to write music, or sing and play it, remember that what you do can be sacred if you allow it. Yes even the silliest and funniest tunes have something sacred in them.

So don't be afraid of creating something, the art of creation is unbound spiritually. It is a manifestation of love.

Thoughts On Enlightenment

It occurs to me that the mystics while wise have the approach to achieving enlightenment wrong. We are all flesh and spirit. But the spirit is nurtured along with the flesh. Bodily pleasures like good food and sex all enhance our spiritual lives if controlled and approached with care and intent. After all a medicine man will tell you that a man is not a machine and that when the body is injured or ill that the spirit also is injured or ill. Healing only the body will allow the sick or injured spirit to cause the person to become ill once more till the spirit heals. This is why the medicine man will drum or work magic for the ill patient, to heal the whole being not just the sick body.

Expressing love physically does not necessarily make love more intense. Nor is it needed to love freely. The spiritual aspect of love is a giving without any expectation of return. There is no control of the loved one just a deep affection, pure and given. It is often returned in kind for all things require balance. I think denying our body’s needs and pleasures weaken the spirit we have within us.

This doesn’t mean we should not pay direct attention to spiritual growth, just that good food, having sex with a loved one doesn’t have a negative impact on our spiritual being. If it does anything it makes us more spiritually strong and aware should we allow it to do so.

Think of the Creator when you eat your next meal, give thanks and enjoy it fully. Then examine how you felt and feel about your connection with the Creator having been nourished by the food given you.

Keeping this in mind learn about what you are both physically and spiritually and grow in both together, balanced and at peace.

Time

Time is a strange thing we create for ourselves to be on, to waste, to lose, to be behind but seldom to enjoy. We use it to connect and think of it as a thing we need to manage. But step back and think a moment, does chopping your day into little planned bits that ‘must’ get done by a specific time make you happy. I understand obligation and needing to fulfill promises this is not what I am talking about. I am talking about how you feel with time. Do you get a great feeling of accomplishment when you have dealt with countless bits of tasks? Or do you feel like you have accomplished more after a good talk with a friend?

That talk for unplanned hours and the feeling of peace or joy after it is over is worth more time in my opinion. We spend too much time doing things and too little time living. Physics tells us that there is no difference between moving forward or backward in time. It is all the same no matter how you use the formula past or future.

So why can we not see the future? When you ask a policeman he will tell you people do not see the present so how could they see the future. All witnesses to an event see different things. Is this because of the infinite possibilities that exist till something is observed? When you look at something and make it real does the person you’re with have to see the same thing? Must they choose the same reality? Ask Schrödinger’s cat, because I do not know.

On Prayer

I have been told by people I respect and acknowledge as authorities to be trusted that prayer works. There is scientific evidence that this is true. The question is why prayer works, and why are the results of prayer so unpredictable.

I have a hypothesis as to why prayer works and is unpredictable, and also the reason some prayer has more effect than other prayer.

Examining the mathematics of chaos we discover that very small effects have huge impacts on the environment. There was an experiment run that mapped the weather for a simple world. The experimenter upon experiencing a computer crash decided to re do the last 12 hours of weather in the simulated simple environment. By mistake he entered the wrong number missing a decimal digit. The print out showed only 4 decimal places but the program input 5. Having forgotten this when the experimenter ran the program he left out the last digit of the starting formula. When he ran the program it was apparent within the first few iterations of output that something had changed and changed significantly. In fact the deviation was so pronounced that the experimenter first examined the equipment to ensure that it was not faulty. Eventually he remembered that the printout was short a digit and was able to return to the original output by correcting that number. Another example of this is the Lorenz attractor which can be found at the link below in Wikipedia.

If you surf the net to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butterfly_effect#Illustration there is a java animation of this effect.

Now when energy is released into reality, that place we live in it has an effect on everything. In the film Where the Bleep Do We Come From there are photographs of water at a very highly magnified state that are significantly different because of what it thought at the water. This energy of thought then can have demonstrable and direct effect. Now prayer is thought energy. The more practiced at it the more energy is out put I assume. Now what if there are many people praying for the same or similar things. Wouldn’t that have a direct effect on the person being prayed for?

Well there is evidence that there is actually an effect, it is just that the effect is not predictable. The question I believe is answered in the chaos theory. And the fact that energies can cancel each other out. Now if you pray for someone to get well sometimes they do. And sometimes it feels like your prayer helped. Now there is evidence that prayer works. So why is this, the case in some times but not others?

Well the fact is the energy is uncontrolled, and not actually directed usually without some practice. Additionally I believe that other energies may cancel the prayer energy out, not out of malice but simply because of the nature of energy flows.

Now one of the main points of prayer is that it is directed energy. Also I believe that it is energy that either consciously or subconsciously people know the person being prayed for requires to balance themselves properly. This energy is then directed to the person who is being prayed for. The intent is what sets prayer apart from energy coming from another impersonal source, a battery for example.

To sum up, I believe that focused energy like that of prayer is what makes the prayer work. Especially if there is a group focusing the energy and the intent of the group is identical or at least resonant within the specific intent. The seeming inconsistency of prayer’s efficacy is due to either interference from other energies diluting altering or canceling out the energy released or lack of proper intent. The fact is we are all energy in one form or another and sharing it as prayer to help one another is inherent in man’s nature.

Music & Meditation

Meditation and music for me co inhabit my life. The act of creating music aids me to let go of troubles and to act more whole. Music also helps me meditate and keep myself grounded. I find that I loose my sense of self in the sounds and drift into a different realm with the right music. Gentle calming it helps me to create the stillness of the mind. Upbeat driven it helps me focus on tasks that require doing and to get the energy to do them.

But music by itself is a power that fills space with sound and can give emotion to another. It helps us share our deepest selves safely because even though it touches the deepest emotions within us it still is not exactly the same for another as it is for you or me. This difference creates a needed spiritual distance that we are subconsciously aware of so that we can share deep hidden emotions without linking ourselves into another’s feelings. This unbound sharing is the ideal. It is what we want from a partner, and a love for life.

When I create music I create sounds to trigger emotions in others. When I write songs I try to express myself and be a mirror to another, and when I write larger works I try to touch my soul and in so doing the souls of others. What we feel as people we all feel. There is not a single emotion that is totally unique to one individual. Yet how we feel these things is unique to each and every one of us. So while we have commonality we also have uniqueness and this uniqueness is expressed through music in a very ideal way.

Can we listen and not feel. I doubt it very much even if the feeling is ‘I hate that song turn it off.’

So what music is appropriate to meditation and to aid in spiritual growth depends on the individual. Some love flutes and gentle strings, while others like the piano or organ and others chanting voices. There is no wrong music just your music.