It's Baacck...

The widget brings it up every now and again:

Quote :

The old gods are dead or dying and people everywhere are searching, asking: What is the new mythology to be, the mythology of this unified earth as of one harmonious being?

Joseph Campbell; Inner Reaches of Outer Space

I've written multiple essays re my answer.

What is yours?

I hope people will wise up and wise up fast.

With the internet has come, much good and along with the good a whole lot of misinformation.

The gullible are taken in and follow the Limbaugh's and Beck's who are uneducated and unenlightened.

We need critical thinking skills and the ability to reason from cause to effect.

Excellent response, Alice.

What did you have in mind?

Something very close to the points you just made - synchronicities happening; Just read almost the same stuff elsewhere, too.

I think I'll be sticking to my faith in God, even if I was the last person on Earth to believe in him, and everyone around me told me to convert. No one can convince me he doesn't exist.

Why? I don't have the vocabulary skills needed to explain my reason. You would have to have lived my life, seen the things I've seen, felt the things I've felt, know the things I know, to even get a fraction of my reason.

P.S.
Sorry for the long absence, been really busy lately promoting my new movie, working on a lot of other stuff, and taking some time off to relax. Working on a new book though.

Most of us here believe in God. We just have different perspectives.

Different cultures experience that Source in different ways - same God, different points of view - all valid, all incomplete.

Quote :

The Blind Men and the Elephant
John Godfrey Saxe (1816-1887)

It was six men of Indostan
To learning much inclined,
Who went to see the Elephant
(Though all of them were blind),
That each by observation
Might satisfy his mind.

The First approached the Elephant,
And happening to fall
Against his broad and sturdy side,
At once began to bawl:
"God bless me! but the Elephant
Is very like a WALL!"

The Second, feeling of the tusk,
Cried, "Ho, what have we here,
So very round and smooth and sharp?
To me 'tis mighty clear
This wonder of an Elephant
Is very like a SPEAR!"

The Third approached the animal,
And happening to take
The squirming trunk within his hands,
Thus boldly up and spake:
"I see," quoth he, "the Elephant
Is very like a SNAKE!"

The Fourth reached out an eager hand,
And felt about the knee
"What most this wondrous beast is like
Is mighty plain," quoth he:
"'Tis clear enough the Elephant
Is very like a TREE!"

The Fifth, who chanced to touch the ear,
Said: "E'en the blindest man
Can tell what this resembles most;
Deny the fact who can,
This marvel of an Elephant
Is very like a FAN!"

The Sixth no sooner had begun
About the beast to grope,
Than seizing on the swinging tail
That fell within his scope,
"I see," quoth he, "the Elephant
Is very like a ROPE!"

And so these men of Indostan
Disputed loud and long,
Each in his own opinion
Exceeding stiff and strong,
Though each was partly in the right,
And all were in the wrong!

Thing is, God is a whole lot bigger than an elephant. So much so that coming to a complete knowledge is impossible, so if we each share our perspectives, we come closer to understanding our Source and each other.

How do you see God?
Good luck with the new book.

The new mythology is hardly new: the cult of the self, the worship of the new unholy trinity of Me, Myself and I.

One of my early poems (circa 1978) is, if anything, more applicable than ever today: (The original version referred to a then-popular, long dead entertainment magazine and that I've since changed to The New York Times and I added the new technologies to the original single source of technology driven oblivion--T.V.)

The Gospel (Revisited)

god is dead
he died of a bad review in The New York Times
that accused him of being
a fascist
and a prude

he is being replaced by a new
non-sectarian trinity
of
Me Myself and I
all of whom are
free
to kill god
and say

god is dead
god dead is
dead is god
is god dead

I think I have heard somebody suggest
(and therefore I have)
that the Department of Health is soon to issue
new and improved
antiexistentialistdespairpills
free of charge
to every adult
man and woman
sitting in front
of his/her
TV/Smart Phone/Computer
waiting for
godot

Understand the sentiment, Victor.

It isn't what Joe or I had in mind but it is, unfortunately, a valid perspective for too many people.

Just before writing the OP question in The Inner Reaches of Outer Space: Metaphor as Myth and as Religion, he wrote,

Quote :

...there are no more intact monadic horizons: all are dissolving. And, along with them, the psychoogical hold is weakening of the mythological images and related social rituals by which they were supported. As already recognized half a century ago by the Irish poet, Yeats in his foreboding vision "The Second Coming."

TURNING and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

Surely some revelation is at hand;

A couple of years ago, after that same message appeared on my little widget, I wrote this blog:

http://www.annjoiner.com/apps/blog/entries/show/3204042-campbell-on-yeats

Quote :

Part of the book's Prologue, the poem and comment follow a passage on Adolf Bastian's three "primal compulsions" of humankind:
1 - "...the innocent voraciousness of life which feeds on life."
2 - "...the sexual, generative urge."
3 - "...the irresistible urge to plunder."

Campbell summarizes them as, "feeding, procreating, and overcoming." They run counter to a later development, "...the quality of mercy, empathy, or compassion," which he points out, "...like the will to plunder, is an impulse launched from the eyes....not tribal- or species-oriented, but open to the whole range of living beings."

"In our present day, when this same planet Earth, rocking slowly on its axis in its course around the sun, is about to pass out of astrological rangeof the zodiacal sign of the Fish(Pisces), into that of theWater-bearer(Aquarius), it does indeed seem that a fundamental transformation of the historical conditions of its inhabiting humanity is in prospect, and that the age of the conquering armies of the contending monster monads -- which in the time of Sargon I of Akkad, some 4,320 years ago, was inaugurated in Sothern Iraq -- is about to close."

He writes of "dissolving monadic horizons" and a "weakening" of the "psychological hold" of the old myths and their "social rituals," using Yeat's poem as an example. The "new mythology" will be a global one, he writes, saying it is,"...rapidly becoming a social as well as spiritual necessity."

Problems arise when we take the metaphors for literal fact. In doing so,we lose the very real importance of their messages for all people of all times.

"The elementary idea...of the Promised Land cannot originally have referred to a part of this earth to be conquered by military might, but to a place of spiritual peace in the heart, to be discovered through contemplation....For as the various ethnic forms dissolve, it is the image of androgynous Anthropos that emerges through and among them."

The theme for the second semester of my 10th grade Lit class was, "We are all more alike than we are different."

Part of my own perspective includes the idea that we each contribute to the socially accepted construction of reality.

A positive outlook can help to create a more positive worldview. It is up to us to do whatever we can to contribute to that positive outlook.

But again, that's just me.

Missed you, BTW

Welcome back, Victor--please don't stay away so long.

Anne,

You are as always eloquent, optimistic and a positive force for good.

We need positive myths that help us to strive to become more than we are and that foster a better understanding of ourselves, of the human condition, and perhaps guide us towards positive change. What we too often have (locally and globally) are myths tailored towards empowerment intended to make us feel good about ourselves, our planet, our place in the universe that have little to do with reflecting universal truths or teaching us to acknowledge, address and rise above our individual and communal weaknesses.

We build myths with the confectioner's art that are pleasing to the eye and palate but provide absolutely nothing of value to the heart or soul other than the comfort of self delusion. They are created and marketed by Hollywood to make us feel good about our failings, excuse our shortcomings, reassure us that good and evil are in the eye of the beholder, that the ends justify the means and that we have the capacity within ourselves to be anything we wish if naysayers can simply be made to shut up and get out of the way.

I'll go back to hiding with my nose in my research for awhile. (My thanks to you, and Alice, for the kind "welcome back" sentiments, though I will likely only peer back in sporadically in the near term as I am truly swamped.)

I'll yield to our more positive colleagues . . .

Quote :

We build myths with the confectioner's art that are pleasing to the eye and palate but provide absolutely nothing of value to the heart or soul other than the comfort of self delusion.

You say that like it's a bad thing ... lol

I think most of us have questioned the existence of God, wanting proof.
Then we saw God in nature. We viewed the wonders of the world and couldn't believe that it happened by accident.
What is questioned most is not the existence of God, but the manner in which we honor him. Religious philosophy is the problem. Fighting wars over religious belief/doctrine has killed millions. It is insane to think one has a handle on the truth. When we finally know the truth, we won't be here to share it with anyone.

True, Abe.

Campbell would say that we cannot know God; we can only know of the "masks" that are worn by God. Notice that in the quote he refers to "the old gods." Lower case - not capital letters.

There is God, or Source, an Absolute beyond our total comprehension, and there are masks, or metaphors, which are human creations that allow us to put a name to that Presence, and communicate with each other about It. The world changes, and after a time, the mask becomes an inadequate expression for the circumstances of our lives.

This is what myths are about. We tell stories to give us a sense of place in relation to each other and to the Unknowable. Those stories become our mode of living. From them we get our sense of who we are, what rules we ought to follow, and how we ought to live.

A myth is not a lie. A myth is a story that explains our place in the world. As we evolve, our myths can become outmoded.

There is another quote of Campbell's that I've posted that points out that our myths, at the time we create them, are perfectly in line with science as we understand it. The rift between science and religion begins when our scientific knowledge moves beyond the mask we have created. When that happens, people lose their groundedness. They have no guides, because the mask no longer fits their reality. That is where our doubt creeps in.

When that happens, we are lost until we find a new mask that comes closer to fitting the needs of our expanded world - our new perspective.

God does not change - God always Is, but sometimes we need a new mask, and a new mythology - a new set of stories - can help us define that new mask.

We run into trouble when we literalize our symbols and turn metaphors into facts.


For me, inside my head, when I hear or think the term, God, my mind conjures up an old bearded man, but my current understanding of this Source of Indescribable Power is not a being - not male; not female, but a Presence, a Source of All Beingness that is both and neither - at the same time, so I tend to use the word Source or Absolute or Divine, and since English does not have a gender-neutral pronoun, I might use Her as often as Him, or a combination, as in Hi/r, depending on the particular facet I am dealing with at the time.

So, my question in the OP was not so much asking if God exists as it is asking what your perception of God is,so that we might all broaden our perceptions into a "mask" that we can all relate to.

And doing this, finding this new mask, is vitally important, because until we do, we will not be able to create a peaceful world.

Thanks Ann. You have clarified muich.

I exist. That's enough for me. I go to church on Sunday and think about love and spiritual thoughts and "why" I exist. It makes my world more sensible. I meditate and pray because they give me comfort. Something within the human spirit does cry out for some vision of spiritual comfort whether it's stamped out or not. So much of sentient life includes nurturing the young, that I like to think it had a higher power example, that all sentient life is a piece of that God force that is beyond comprehension.

For some people, personifying God gives them more comfort than a ghostly spiritual question mark - and why not? They have as much right to their beliefs as anyone else. I just have issues when they tell me I do not believe in God because my vision is different.

I remember the rituals of the Catholic church, the faithful who followed them yet committed crimes against humanity. However, I am still awed by a sense of spirit in those grand churches with the stained glass windows and symbols of Christ on the cross, candles burning in memory of loved ones. I'm also awed in small chapels high on hills on little islands, remnants of the Spanish spreading their diseases - and God.

It's all part of the evolutionary path we follow, and it varies across the globe. When those beliefs finally reach the point of understanding where they no longer need to destroy another religion to practice their own, well, that will be a higher plane of spiritual development.

I sometimes talk against the worship of "symbols;" yet, I wore a ring to symbolize love forever when I married. I now wear a little gold ring that has meaning. Whether our symbols are religious or secular, we find comfort in the familiar. We want to believe.

i really like those observations and refections, DK.

Do you wonder if one of the reasons Yahweh insisted on not having any "graven image" was about a realization that it is so easy for the "symbol" to become, even replace, the god?

Diane,
you live on a higher plane than most. Your connection to the energy of the universe is felt.

Abe,

I actually agree with you. I fear no one as much as a person who believes that God "requires" their actions. The Inquisition and Crusades are good examples of that. We should seek truth and may hope to know it, but that is a far cry from saying we are justified in enforcing our truth on others at the point of a gun or sword, or burn them to cleanse them if they disagree with us. My poem, by the way, is not about God or religion. It is about the mindless arrogance of human beings who kill God simply because it is convenient and replace Him with nothing but their narcissistic, self-serving vision of themselves projected onto others, and then create "new myths" that they shove down the throats of anyone who looks suspiciously upon their self-proclaimed godhood.

Myths that only entertain are not myths but mere popular fiction. Archetypes are not built upon the glorification of the self but drawn from the collective subconscious mind and reflect common fears and aspirations, not transitory fads or politics.

Just my opinion . . .

An opinion we share, Victor.