Defending Joseph Campbell

A friend of mine asked me to explain to him why Joseph Campbell is my guru. It was an interesting conversation. My friend has never read Campbell, but he has heard me describe the impact that Campbell’s work has had on my life. My friend was thinking along the lines of self-help authors like Stephen Covey.

I explained that Joseph Campbell wasn’t really setting out to help anyone that way. He was merely a scholar, a man who devoted his life to researching the things that pleased him most to think about. This is what I admire best about Joseph Campbell. That it turns out that he and I found joy in the same topics is just a blessing beyond measure. He is definitely a kindred spirit.

What I ultimately shared with my friend was the story of my life at the time I discovered Campbell’s work. I was very much a church going Bible believer of the most literal sort and I had no real grasp of the concept of metaphor. Sometimes I think it is difficult for any devout Christian to truly grasp and appreciate metaphor.

I was introduced to Joseph Campbell in a college literature course about the Grail Legends. Joseph Campbell is an authority on the Arthurian legends, something I have loved almost my entire life.

It was in listening to Joseph Campbell lectures that I discovered that essentially everything is metaphor. All we have are symbols and stories to give meaning to our existence. Everything, even our lives, is metaphor for the fundamental truths of the universe. We are merely reflections of something much greater than ourselves. I believe that we each incarnate to create a mythology out of the life we have been given. And the great thing about this mythology we create is that we get to be the hero in the story. We don’t have to be the victim in our own life story. We are the ones writing it.

What Joseph Campbell did for me was give me another way of looking at God. It was not long after studying his work that I quit thinking about God as an entity separate from myself. And I will tell you this, that one discovery has brought more joy into my life that any other thing I have figured out.

So, while I understand my friend’s skepticism if he was equating Joseph Campbell with Stephen Covey, in my mind the two are incomparable. Stephen Covey offers people helpful hints to be a more financially successful person, Joseph Campbell offers people the keys that unlock the mysteries of the universe.

It is my opinion that you can’t read Joseph Campbell’s work without becoming a little smarter.

A touch of grace

Why are we humans so attached to our problems? I suppose it could just be me, but even with all the spiritual self-discipline I have at times, sometimes I still struggle and grapple with a problem until it’s too painful to handle anymore before I will let go.

The thing about letting go is, even though it usually happens while one is at the edge of the pit of despair, the relief is immediate and palpable.

I had a particularly emotionally difficult night a couple of nights ago. So many things coming at me from multiple directions. Way more than I could process and expect to sleep at all before work. By the time I got home, less than 4 hours before I was supposed to be at work, I was freezing from walking outside for a couple of hours and my heart was heavy. I got into bed trying to warm up, but lay shivering for some time. As I was lying there hoping to settle down enough to go to sleep, I experienced a moment of grace.

My thoughts were racing from an earlier interaction with a friend that caught me off guard. I was crying. And I realized that, with regard to the particular situation that was troubling me, I have no answers anymore. It needed to be turned over to God. Trying to figure it out, which is something I have been putting effort into for far longer than just recently, causes distress.

When I reached the end of my rope, I prayed…in the name of Jesus, something I haven’t done in a long time because I am no longer a member of a church and I don’t consider myself a Christian by the standard definition. What happened was a small miracle. It was after 3 a.m. and I get up for work at 6 a.m. I was tearful and cold and felt very alone. It was one of those situations where I could have lain awake for hours, but knew I needed at least a little sleep to be able to do my job. So I simply said: I am out of answers, this situation requires grace, not obsessive worry. Jesus, please take this burden from my heart so I can rest a few hours before work. Then I fell asleep.

It was amazing because the effect was immediate. I said the prayer, closed my eyes and went to sleep instantly. I don’t fall asleep that easily on a normal day when everything is good. I’ve always had trouble shutting my mind off. I feel tremendous gratitude for this miracle.

Two very big lessons came to me from this experience.

The first is that even though it can feel uncomfortable, that dark place, the place of despair where you’ve run out of ideas, that’s not a bad place…unless you stay there spinning your wheels. That moment is the moment of grace, if you are willing to receive it. If you are willing to truly let things go and put no more energy into struggling. It’s really quite beautiful.

The other insight I gained from the experience is just because I am not a Christian by other people’s standards does not mean that I am no longer allowed to call upon the name of Jesus. That is a relationship nobody can take from me and I should never have given it up voluntarily.

Because of my understanding of religion and metaphor, it should have been clear to me that the name of Jesus does not belong to anyone exclusively. Jesus belongs to anyone who anyone who wants to connect with him.

In the truly difficult moments I am always somehow reminded that I am not alone. For this I am eternally grateful.

Namaste.

Money…the root of all evil?

Recently I read something that caused me to think about money. Not in the same ways I was there for a while, not with worry and fear, just wondering about poverty and wealth and whether one is more noble than the other. As much as I understand that money is a means to an end and of itself is neutral, I can’t help wondering why then is money such a hot topic for most people. Money is more emotionally charged than sex. It can sometimes break up a marriage faster than issues about sex, for sure.

I learn best by applying the rules of the universe to my situations. It’s also how I learned to think in law school. Apply the rules to the facts to figure out what is going on and what to do about it. The thing I like best about the rules of the universe is they are not arbitrary. Unlike man-made law, which often makes no sense at all, the laws of the universe are…well, universal. Cause and effect.

The book that started me thinking about all of this was addressing ambition and the ego, equating worth with material possessions. There seems to be a lot of this going on in America right now, so maybe that’s why it struck me.

“Again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” –Matthew 19:24

What did Jesus mean when he made that statement?

There is another passage in Matthew that comes to mind:

“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.” –Matthew 6:24

Both of these passages suggest that wealth, the accumulation of material possessions, is at best a slippery spiritual slope and at worst, the path to hell.

Just for the record, I do not believe in hell in the classical Christian sense as a place where souls are sent to spend eternity in torment as punishment for mistakes made while in the body. I recognize hell as more of a metaphor for the torment we inflict on ourselves by living ego-driven lives.

Since wealth is a relative concept, I wonder how I would respond if Jesus (in whatever form he would take) asked me to give everything I have to the truly poor and join him in spreading the gospel, the message of unconditional love. Would I do it? Would any of the people I admire do it? Louise Hay, Marianne Williamson, Oprah, Wayne Dyer. What do you think? These people have a lot more money than I do and I’m not even sure what my answer would be. And it’s not because I am financially comfortable. I’m still way too close to the edge for my liking.

Even the concept of being on the edge financially is relative. I know there are millions of people on this earth worse off than I am. And when one considers all the various levels of materialism, poverty itself is more of a concept or a state of mind than a reality for anyone. Who hasn’t known someone who complains about being poor when they have much more than most people? We all do it to some degree.

There is one more passage from the Bible that comes to mind:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” –Matthew 5:3

The notation for this passage interpreted poor in spirit as: Those who are not spiritually arrogant.

I have had to think hard to understand the passage about being poor in spirit. I don’t think it’s talking about people of weak faith. I think–and I could be wrong–that the passage suggests that we should have the heart of a poor person. Poverty is humbling. Poor people have to depend on others for even their most basic needs sometimes. It is equivalent to being an infant or having a crippling disability. In those cases there is total dependence. I think to be poor in spirit is to rely totally on God as the Source of everything good and to accept humbly and graciously the blessings we are given. Think of how it feels to be truly grateful for what you have. For me, those moments are as close to the kingdom of heaven as I have ever experienced.

At the end of the day it’s not money that is evil, it is what people are willing to do to accumulate and keep it that defines a person. There are a lot of rich people whose goodness is not diminished by what they have. I would like to believe that, like me, they wouldn’t necessarily be eager to give up everything and live a life of material poverty, but if they were called to do so, would do it with as much grace as possible.

Maybe it’s because I have so few possessions now, but there is a part of me that understands the reason monks and nuns take vows of poverty. Not having things is very liberating on many levels. The energy we expend caring for our stuff can be used for the good of the world.

Here’s what I’m thinking about for myself–getting rid of all my debt as quickly as possible and maybe working at a simple job that doesn’t require much from me and earning just enough to comfortably meet my expenses with a little left over to put in a savings account. If more than that comes I will deal with it as it happens, but I am not interested in chasing a lifestyle to the point where that is all I’m doing, trying to earn the money to acquire and maintain things.

Money lessons come the hard way for many people. That has certainly been true for me. The way I have simplified it is to recognize that money is nothing more than a representation of the energy from which it comes. It’s great to welcome it coming from the light, but not to go to the dark side in pursuit of it.

“Sell your cleverness and buy bewilderment.” ~Rumi

“To know you have enough is to be rich.” ~Tao te ching

The love of truth

Speak the truth in love.  That is the main thing I took away from my 5 years as a member of a Lutheran church.  It’s very interesting that leaving that church, which for me was leaving the Church, did not cause me to have bad feelings toward the church, its members, or Christianity in general.  I was more involved in that congregation than the one I had belonged to for the 15 years prior to it and I still love the people I knew there.

I am a lover of the truth.  And I am a lover of kindness.  Which leads me to ask: Is it possible to consistently deliver the truth with kindness?  Is brutal honesty ever necessary?  I say no, it is never necessary.  I think if a person can’t find a kind way to express whatever it is they need to say, then the thing is not important enough to say in the first place.

“People who are brutally honest get more satisfaction out of the brutality than out of the honesty.”  ~Richard J. Needham

My ex-boyfriend believed brutal honesty was the only way to go.  Consequently, he proceeded to tell me some of the most miniscule faults he saw in me.  It was very hurtful at times.  He called me clumsy and weak and once asked me if I ever loaded a dishwasher before in my life because I put a wooden handled steak knife in the machine.  He also told me fairly early on in our relationship that he didn’t love me and when I was away on business once, he told me he didn’t miss me.  Why?  I don’t even understand the point of it really. 

He and I never agreed on this topic.

There is an old saying that if you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.  That’s a very good (and simple) rule of thumb regarding communicating with others. It reminds me of something I often say about my fellow humans and that is: I have never met a person who needed me to show them their faults, but I have met many who needed me to show them their beauty.

The other reason I disagreed with the ex-boyfriend about his need to deliver the blunt truth without consideration for feelings is the futility of dispatching a message that cannot be received because the recipient feels attacked.  Why bother telling someone something in such a way that they won’t be able to hear you?  Most people shut down on some level and do not process information from a rational perspective when they feel defensive

When I am telling someone something, I want them to be able to hear me, so I deliver the truth with kindness and compassion and I do not bother with information the sole purpose of which is to hurt.  If the only thing that can be accomplished by saying something is to hurt the person you’re saying it to, then that thing doesn’t need to be said.  Because those kinds of things are usually about something that isn’t going to change or the person has no control over and they often contain no truth at all.

When some of the ex-boyfriend’s friends said bad things about him to me after the breakup, this was information that served no purpose but to hurt.  To hurt him and to hurt me.  I was doing all I could to keep an open and forgiving heart and give him the benefit of the doubt knowing that he did the best he could.  Like the situation with my parents, it was a pretty poor best by most people’s standards, but he did his best with the knowledge and awareness he had at the time.  His friends’ attempts to console me by bashing him is understandable given the society we currently live in but nonetheless, not helpful.

Speak the truth in love.  Anything that does not come from love should not be spoken.

Talking to God

Ever since I stopped going to church a few years ago, I haven’t been all that sure how to pray.  It feels different now.  And I realize that I have never really known how to pray.  When I was a church goer, I was given a form to work with, so I knew the words to say, much like magic spells, but the words lacked feeling.  Now I have many feelings seeking expression, but I find myself without words most of the time.  I can never quite figure out what I need to say.  I think I have been seeking the magic word or words that will unlock all that the universe wants for me.  What ends up happening is that out of concern for doing it wrong, my prayers are vague and pretty weak, I’d say.

I’m trying to focus my attention better when I am talking to God.  No wonder I am in the situation I am in.  My connection to God is severely strained. I need to get back on track with the things that are sure to help me get through my challenges more easily.  Why are the positive habits the first to go when stress happens?

If I could find the words, what would I want to communicate to God?  Mostly that I am very thankful for the love in my life and the blessings I have received.  I’m still here and I still have hope.  I would admit my shortcomings and keep trying to do better.  I would give thanks for the strength to get through these trying circumstances.  I would report that I feel a little weak and vulnerable and tired and I would ask for the protection and assistance of angels. When there are angels around I don’t feel alone. It feels like I have help and it brings me peace. Aside from that, it is pretty much thy will be done.

I hope to become more organized with regard to prayer and meditation.  I’ve been lazy and I need to step it up.  There are so many wonderful people in my life whom I love, and I want to take some time and focus my intentions on them in a positive way.  In the darkest of times, there is always something to be grateful for.  Sometimes it takes a bit more work to see that, but it is true nonetheless.

I’m interested in learning some new ways to pray and connect with the Source.  I’d love to know what works for others.

I think it’s very beautiful that there are so many religions connecting with God in their own way.  I have respect for all religions that do no harm.  I hope to learn as many as I can in this lifetime.

Follow Your Bliss

“Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors for you where there were only walls.” ~Joseph Campbell

It’s hard to believe that I would title my blog Metta 4 and write 34 posts before even mentioning Joseph Campbell.  If there was ever a hint from the universe of where I was headed spiritually, it was when I first discovered Campbell.  I just didn’t know it at the time.

The first time I heard of Joseph Campbell I was an adult in college.  I was raising kids, working and pursuing a history degree.  I took a literature class about the grail legends because, from the time I was about 10 years old, I was really into the Arthurian legends.  Part of the class involved listening to Campbell’s lectures as an expert on the Arthurian stories and myth in general.

At this time in my life I was also a hard-core Christian.  I think people who know me now have a hard time picturing this.  Sometimes I do too.  My kids were in private Christian school at our church, so I was at church six days a week, plus leading the youth group and teaching Sunday school.  Although I was never as judgmental as Christianity sometimes invites people to be, I was definitely into the lifestyle.  Sometimes when I think about it, I don’t recognize that person I used to be.

Joseph Campbell helped me understand metaphor.  Metaphor is a huge part of spirituality, in my opinion.  It is also a powerful form of communication.  Part of what makes it so powerful is that understanding it gives tremendous insight into the universe, while not understanding only means your brain is processing information, causing the mind to set things in motion and it’s being done unconsciously.  There are deeper messages in everything if you look closely enough.  But to do so takes discipline and many lack that discipline.

According to Wikipedia, Joseph Campbell used the term monomyth: “to express the idea that perhaps the whole of the human race is reciting a single story of great importance, which gets further broken down into local form, taking on different guises depending on the time and social state of the culture that recites it. This great story relates to humanity’s search for the same basic, unknown force from which everything came, within which everything currently exists, and into which everything will return. This elemental force is ultimately “unknowable” because it exists before words and knowledge. As this basic truth cannot be expressed in plain words, spiritual rituals and stories refer to it through the use of metaphors…”

It was understanding this that made me begin to compare Christianity to the world’s other religions.  And it was when I realized that “the great story” is only relevant as it applies to me and my interpretation of it and that every person, through their own mythological tale, their life, interprets the story for themselves, that I stopped letting people tell me how to interpret the Bible.

I spent 20 years letting other people tell me what the Bible means and never really questioning what I was told.  I did this because, at that time, I did not understand metaphor and its relevance in the universal consciousness.  When I began to understand, I realized that I had been reading the Arthurian legends almost as long as I had been reading the Bible, which was ever since I could read, and that I neither sought nor accepted anyone’s interpretation of those stories but my own.  What was the difference?  Why did I think I was capable of interpreting the Arthurian stories, in all their variations, but I was incapable of knowing the meaning of the Bible without making sure my ideas were okay with a group of people who had all agreed on its meaning (without my input)?

I will argue that the Arthurian legends are a body of work as big and impressive as the Bible.  That is not to diminish the Bible in any way.  It is a wonderful book full of really interesting stories.  Stories with meanings much bigger than the literal words on the page.

Each individual extracts a slightly different meaning from the stories because we all have a different and unique perspective.  So, just as each person will take a different meaning from the story of Perceval for instance, each person will have a different idea what the story of Abraham or Jesus means.  Each person decides what the grail means to them just as each decides what the cross means to them, if anything.

When I began to look at the Bible this way, it was the beginning of the end for me and Christianity, though I didn’t know it at the time.  Suddenly, when my way of interpreting the Bible became as valid as anyone’s in my mind, everyone’s interpretation of it, or any mythology for that matter, became as valid as mine.

During my time as a Christian I remember having a hard time with the concept that the truth is relative.  I always thought of truth as this objective thing that was constant regardless of who was perceiving it.  But that’s because I was caught up in the idea of right and wrong. When I started playing with the idea that there is no right or wrong, that there are just different interpretations of the story, I no longer needed a religion that claimed sole possession of the absolute truth of the universe.

These great stories, that cross every culture and touch every person on the earth, are important because their function is to help each of us tell our own story, our personal mythology.  Each of our stories is our gift to The All.  Each of our lives is a part of the the greatest Great Story and understanding metaphor will help each of us tell the best story we are capable of telling.

Joseph Campbell truly is my hero.  I knew it the first time I heard him speak.  And after years of reading his books and listening to hours and hours of his lectures, I now see that he set me on the path that led to my spiritual awakening.

Anyone on a spiritual path should consider reading The Hero With a Thousand Faces, or get a copy of the Bill Moyers series The Power of Myth, in which he interviews Campbell at length.  Doing so will give you a whole different perspective on life.

As above, so below; As below, so above.

Many blessings.

Cheryl

A guru for the rest of us

My blogs have been a little whiny lately and I apologize for that.  I’m going through something.  It doesn’t feel serious, but nonetheless it makes it harder to be my normally positive self.

My adult life has been spent practicing some kind of spirituality or other.  I spent 20 years being a church going Christian soccer mom, then discovered Buddhism and since then it’s been a spiritual free for all.  This is not a bad thing, in fact it is and has been a very, very good thing.  I feel liberated from the confines of Christian dogma and legalism.  And I feel no obligation to categorize or define my beliefs.  I know of no religious organization to which I feel compelled to be a member.  And I’m totally okay with that.

I have gone from fundamental Christianity to an unnamed form of New Age spirituality.  Through so many different channels.  Books like The Game of Life and How to Play it by Florence Scovel Shinn and You Can Heal Your Life by Louise Hay changed my entire outlook on life and the world.  From there I found Marianne Williamson and A Return to Love and ultimately A Course in Miracles. I have gone from a very narrow religious and spiritual life to embracing angels, numerology, astrology, reiki healing, crystals and so much more.  My mind dismisses nothing as impossible now.  My search has opened the entire universe up to me and I am so grateful.

Most days this path brings me joy and peace.  And then there are days like today.

I have been in a slump recently and it is affecting my thinking and my ability to see things from a perspective that feels good.  And I am nearly ashamed to admit that it is because I feel very lonely.

Since I have been on this path of spiritual discovery and self-responsibility, I have alienated my entire family except my children and nearly all the friends I had.  I have added a few new ones and reconnected with some of the more open minded people from my past, but I go to bed alone every night and I spend most of the rest of my time alone as well.

The part of this that makes me mad at myself is that I know I could be making better use of this time.  I recently finished a big work project so I’m in between things and have time on my hands.  Do I spend that time reading things that will inspire me or spend more hours in meditation like I did when I was going through some of the roughest parts of the past few years?  No, I have been spending time feeling sorry for myself.  Not constantly, I am still a very optimistic, upbeat person.  But I haven’t felt well lately and walking my spiritual path is difficult and heavy these days.

Part of what inspired me to write this blog is the feeling that nobody gets it.  I can read the words of Marianne Williamson and Louise Hay all I want and it doesn’t relieve the loneliness.  In fact, when I feel the way I’ve been feeling all I can think is that Louise Hay would be disappointed in me.  Believe me, that doesn’t help.

I will say that of the authors I have read in recent years I believe that Marianne Williamson and Doreen Virtue would both understand what I’m going through.

What does Marianne Williamson call these moments?  AFGO–Another friggin’ growth opportunity.  I love that woman.

I guess what I am looking for is some humanity in this spiritual stuff.  We have so many shining examples of successful people who have turned it all around and are now happy, radiant spiritual gurus that we should all aspire to be like.  But what I would like to know is where is the guru for those of us who are mired deep in the world of human “reality?”  Those of us who are trying to walk the same spiritual path as the people we admire so much while losing jobs, struggling with finances and finding ourselves alone just for being on this path to begin with.

There is the truth, which is that we are all one and that it is very important to stay positive, to love one another and to help each other.  And then there is the day to day reality of living in this world in this body at this time.  And for me, one who feels like a spiritual infant, going it alone is sometimes very difficult.  Finding my way through these dark places back to the light is not always easy and sometimes I don’t feel like I have the strength to reach out to anyone, let alone find a supportive group to be a part of.  Not that I have ever truly felt a part of any group I’ve been a member of.

It would be nice to know that others on this path have bad days too.  The books, blogs, Facebook pages and Twitter feeds do not always show this very human element of the world of spirituality.  As for me, I feel like if I post a tweet that is anything but 100% positive, people will stop following.  I’m probably wrong about that, but it doesn’t feel like something I can do, at least not at this time.

It’s going to be okay.  I always make it out of these places, I just wanted to say to the world that this is work, it’s not all rainbows and warm puppies.  Sometimes it is loneliness, judgment, misunderstanding and struggle.  But we endure…and we keep moving forward knowing tomorrow is a new day full of promise.

I’m listening to the Beatles and All You Need is Love just started playing.  That’s what I’m talking about.  It’s all going to be okay.  This too shall pass.

 

KarunaMettaCAT