Andrew Cort's Blog, page 42

How To Begin

When Rev. Forrest Church died in 2009, the New York Times wrote:

"The Rev. Forrest Church, a longtime pastor at the Unitarian Church of All Souls on the Upper East Side who spent the last three years of his life, after being told he had terminal cancer, articulating a philosophy of death and dying and a complete expression of his liberal theology in two books, died on Thursday in Manhattan. He was 61.

"As the senior minister to the liberal and affluent All Souls congregation since 1978, Mr. Church preached a message of love, compassion and social service in stirring fashion, inviting his listeners on a shared quest."

Here is one of his articles. I've chosen it for today, August 14, 2011, a Summer's Day.

How To Begin (Changing Your Life)—Thoughts for a Summer Day


Let me share with you 10 simple hints on beginning—on how to re-boot your spiritual life, if it has become automatic or stale. Getting your soul in shape may lead to awe-inspiring mystical encounters some day. Yet how to begin (or begin anew) isn't the least bit mystifying. Here are 10 simple thoughts to launch you on your way.


1) Begin here. How deeply you would long for all the things you take for granted, if suddenly you lost them. So much of what we want we have already, so want what you have. Begin here.

2) Begin now. You have everything you need. Everything. Plus the bonus of today, one day more than you will have if you wait until tomorrow. Begin now.

3) Begin as you are. At your fingertips is a treasure trove of memories and dreams. Put one good memory together with one good dream and you are ready to begin. (Good memories are memories that make you feel good about yourself. Good dreams are the stuff of which tomorrow's good memories are made.) Begin as you are.

4) Begin by doing what you can. No more, but also no less. Don't throw yourself against the wall. Walk around it. You can't do the impossible, but so much is possible. So many of the things you haven't tried you still can do. To get around the wall, you can set out in either direction—the wall has two ends. The important thing is to start walking. Begin by doing what you can.

5) Begin with those who are closest to you. They can cheer you on only if you let them. Invite them to give you a hand—bow. And to lend you a hand—ask. And to take your hand—no one can take your hand, if you bury it in your pocket. You say they won't cheer you on, help you out, or take your hand? Maybe not, but how will you know without asking? Begin by asking.

6) Begin by turning the page. Today you can open a new chapter of your life. If you are trapped in your story (stuck in place, botching the same old lines), revise the script. Practice a new line or two. When reading a book, we sometimes reach the bottom of a page only to realize we have been glossing its words without registering their meaning. We haven't been paying attention. We don't have the faintest idea what we've just read. So we go back to the top of the page and try to concentrate. It happens again. Sentences dissolve into words. Words into sounds. The books of our lives are no different. Resist the temptation to wallow over some dark passage until you know exactly what went wrong. You never will. Besides, perfection is not life's goal. Neither is unnecessary pain. If you are stuck, open a new chapter. Turn the page.

7) Begin by cleaning up your slate. Don't erase the past. File it by experience, to keep it handy should you need it. But don't obsess over it. Ticking off a growing list of grievances gets you nothing from life's store. As for the things on your "To Do" list that you'll probably never do, place them under a statute of limitations. When they serve no longer to inspire but only to haunt you, x them off. Not only is there no reason to carry over unnecessary indictments from one day to the next, but you'll also never reform the things you can about yourself, until you stop trying to reform the things you can't. Begin by cleaning up your slate.

8) Begin by looking for new questions, not old answers. Answers close doors. Questions open them. Answers lock us in place. Questions lead us on adventures. Socrates boasted himself the most ignorant man in Athens. Each new insight raised a dozen questions, extending the compass of his ignorance. Yet beyond every ridge he climbed there lay a wider vista. The more questions we have, the farther we can see.

9) Begin with little regard for where your path may lead. Destinations are overrated. And never what we imagine. Even should we somehow manage to get where we are heading, we won't end up there. Until life ends, no destination is final. In fact, the best destinations are those we look back upon as new beginnings. Good journeys always continue. So don't be driven by desire (that empty place within you), never to rest until you reach your goal. Invest your joy in the journey.

10) Begin in the middle. Our lives will end mid-story, so why not begin there? Don't wait around for the perfect starting pistol. Or until you are ready. You may never be ready. No reason to wait in the grandstand for some official to guide you to the gate. Jump the fence. Enter the race in the middle. Here. Now. As you are. By doing what you can. With those who are closest to you. By turning the page. Cleaning up your slate. Looking for new questions, not old answers. And with little regard for where your path will lead.

Finally, before you begin, a bonus suggestion—Begin small. Dream possible dreams. Set out to climb a single hill, not every mountain. Soul work needn't be strenuous to be high impact. You can begin transforming your life with a single phone call. Or by writing a kind letter. Or by opening your blinds to let the sun flood in. Don't say it's nothing. It's everything. For you have now begun.


                     
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Did you like this post? Leave a Comment and tell us what you think! (The reader with most comments this month will win a Free Copy of The Purpose of Religion: Enlightenment, Meaning and Love in Jewish, Christian and Islamic Symbology)
Thanks,
Andrew Cort








(Tomorrow: Sri Aurobindo)

Buddhism (In 362 Words!)

by Benjamin Riggs

Recently, I received an email asking me to explain Buddhism. Here is my answer:

First of all, Buddhism is the recognition of suffering. Second, Buddhism recognizes that suffering is not dumb, but intelligent. So, we look at our own suffering, so as to see the pattern or path that gives rise to our dissatisfaction. Then, we turn around and walk backwards down the path of suffering. Walking backwards down this path is a process of "un-doing" commonly referred to as meditation. Finally, we remember the basic experience of being that we forgot long ago. Through the practice of meditation, we rediscover the basic experience of "oneness" that we misplaced when we imagined a world of "multiplicity." This discovery is known as enlightenment, which is the transmutation of suffering into bliss. But suffering is only capable of being transmuted into bliss, because it was bliss in disguise all along…insanity is simply sanity misunderstood!


So, Buddhism is an acknowledgement that our life is the path. That nothing—absolutely nothing—is to be discarded. Buddhism is faith in the indestructible nature of truth. This faith is so whole and so complete that even confusion is part of the path. In fact, our confusion is the path, as the observation of confusion is insight. Therefore, practicing Buddhism is an exercise in complete vulnerability. Buddhism is an experiment with vulnerability; being willing to open up and see our bind spots. The path that gives rise to suffering is an exercise in futility, where we attempt to create certainty or solid ground, which forces us to ignore the fluid nature of reality and gives rise to these "blind spots." So, the practice of meditation is then a mindful participation in vulnerability. This experiment reveals the indestructible nature of basic awareness—the experience of experience, which is without beginning or end.


In short, Buddhism is an experiment that reveals our true nature. In vulnerability, it is realized that we are not apart from or other than life. So suffering slips away, as we cease to feel disconnected and lifeless. In observing our confusion, we realize that we are of "one substance" with truth. Enlightenment is the selfless experience of life—an acknowledgment that "I" is but an example of Life. Enlightenment is touching the earth.*********

Benjamin Riggs is the Spirituality editor at Elephant Journal. Ben is also a teacher of Buddhist meditation and spirituality at the Refuge Meditation Group in Shreveport, LA. Ben has written extensively about Buddhism, contemplative philosophy, and meditation practice on his blog. Above everything he is committed to presenting Buddhist and contemplative principles from a practical, contemporary, and western point of view. If you would like to follow his blog, The Web of Enlightenment, on Facebook then Click here. If you would prefer to follow him on Twitter then Click here.

To be notified when Ben publishes a new article on Elephant Journal, click here to join his Elephant Facebook group. Think these sort of bio's are cheesy? Then click here to read my real bio.

The Modern Shaman: Awakening From The Consensus Slumber Of Our Culture

By Hank Wesselman

In the Western world, when we hear the word "shaman," most of us tend to conjure up an image of a masked and costumed indigenous tribal person, dancing around a fire in the dark, involved in some sort of mysterious ritual, accompanied by singing and drum beats. But inside that cultural shell of mask, costume and ritual, there is a woman or a man with a set of very real skills. The shaman is the master of the trance experience.

All true shamans are able to achieve expanded states of awareness in which they can direct the focus of their consciousness away from our everyday physical reality and into the inner worlds of the dreamtime while very much awake.

The first thing they discover is that these inner worlds are inhabited, for there they encounter spirits--the spirits of nature, the spirits of the elementals, the spirits of the ancestors, and the higher, compassionate transpersonal forces, many of whom serve humanity as spirit helpers and guardians, teachers and guides.

It is this extraordinary visionary ability that sets shamans apart from all other religious practitioners. And it is through their relationship with these archetypal beings that shamans are able to do various things, initially on behalf of themselves and then increasingly on behalf of others. What sorts of things?

At the top of the list is probably 'empowerment.' Working with the assistance of their helping spirits, shamans are able to restore power to persons who have lost theirs or who have been diminished by their life experiences. Shamanic practitioners are able to access information from 'the other side' through divination; some are skilled at guiding the souls of the deceased to where they are supposed to go in the afterlife, an ability known as psychopomp work; and many shamans are master healers at the physical, mental-emotional, and spiritual levels of our being.

And in their role as master healers in the imaginal realms, many shamanic practitioners are accomplished at restoring the fabric of a client's soul, a transpersonal healing modality known as soul retrieval.

Sanctified by their initiatory experiences and furnished with their spirit guardians, the shaman alone among human beings is able to consciously travel into the spiritual worlds as cosmic explorers.

Now here's something interesting: Because of my work as an anthropologist and because of my books about my own experiences on the shaman's path, I have been brought into close connection with increasing numbers of modern spiritual seekers at conferences and workshops over the past 28 years, and I have watched, riveted, as non-tribal Westerners successfully achieve shamanic states of trance, and often on the very first attempt.

The Shamanic State of Consciousness

This evidence has led me (and others) to suspect that there is a biological-energetic "program" on our DNA, on our genetic "hard drive" so to speak, and it has been my personal experience that when this program is "double-clicked" with the right "mouse," higher functions coded into the personal mind-body matrix may be awakened. In response, our conscious awareness may expand dramatically, allowing us to have that direct, transpersonal connection with the sacred realms that defines the shaman.

The inner fieldwork of the eastern mystics suggests that this program is associated with the ductless glands, the brain, and the heart, organs that, in turn, are in relationship with those dense concentrations of energy known as chakras located in the core of our personal etheric matrix. When these physical and energetic mission control centers are activated, the relationship between them can dramatically affect the body and the brain, which may undergo striking changes in response.
The Technology of Transcendence

Now... in talking about the shaman's path, it is known that the traditional people in indigenous societies have developed families of techniques for altering consciousness in specific ways. These constitute a form of technology-the technology of transcendence.

Indigenous people know everything there is to know about their surrounding environments in great detail, and if there are psychotropic plants growing nearby, the ritual use of hallucinogens derived from these "plant teachers" is sometimes utilized for the purpose of expanding awareness and accessing the sacred realms of things hidden.

The same held true for the mystery schools in the ancient world, and the growing literature on hallucinogens reveals striking cross-cultural similarities in the reported effects of these natural substances on human consciousness. These include the capacity to channel the energy of the universe, to discover the most profound secrets of Nature, and to acquire wisdom that may be used for magical, medical, and religious purposes.

But equally powerful and far more widespread are the psychological and physiological methods developed by the shamans of the traditional peoples for altering consciousness and re-patterning it in specific ways--techniques such as fasting and sleep deprivation, physical exhaustion and hyperventilation, or the experiencing of temperature extremes during rituals of purification such as the sweat lodge.

It is also generally known that the intensely physical stimulus of monotonous drumming and rattling, combined with culturally-meaningful ritual and ceremony, prayer and chant, singing and dancing, can be equally as effective in the shifting of consciousness into visionary modes of perception. Not surprisingly, the use of drums and rattles by shamanic practitioners around the world is almost universal, and this is the method that my wife Jill and I use in our Visionseeker training workshops.

Western Considerations

Until relatively recently, most Westerners have tended to regard the whole issue of altered state experiences as mysterious, paranormal, or even pathological, and so some of us, in ignorance, still respond to the idea of expanded awareness and connection with helping spirits with fear and rejection.

By contrast, in a traditional indigenous society, each child grows up in relationship with elder ceremonial leaders and shamans who are able to access expanded states of consciousness intentionally for the benefit of themselves, for others, and even for the entire community. The traditionals know that virtually everyone can learn how to access sacred states of consciousness to some extent. They also know that some of us are real naturals at it.

This led me, a professional anthropologist and visionary, into the work that I am doing now-helping others find those inner connections that may utterly transform them, their lives, and their work in the world.

The Shaman's Path

Today, the shaman's path can be partially understood in scientific terms. It is known, for example, that the nature of the visionary experience can be determined, to some extent, by our focused intentionality, by our belief systems, and by the setting in which we find ourselves. These may serve as "patterning forces" that can shape the visionary experience once the initial state of consciousness has been destabilized by the drum, the rattle--or the hallucinogen, if one was used.

Based on 28 years of apprenticeship in this tradition and 17 years of teaching shamanic training workshops to Western people, I have learned that the ability to achieve the shamanic state of consciousness is a learned skill that improves with practice-one that can give the seeker access many varieties of experience, including connection with the spirit world if that is their intention.

I also know with absolute certainty that the program, once activated, allows us to ascend toward the luminous horizon of our personal and collective destiny in a completely new way.

The traditional people would agree with this statement because they know a great secret: Any human activity or endeavor can be enormously enhanced through utilizing and eventually mastering this sacred technology.

They also know that all of us, Westerners and indigenous peoples alike, are descended from tribal ancestors if we go back far enough... and they all had great shamans.

This fact reveals that the shaman's path is part of the cultural heritage of all people, everywhere, although it was largely lost in the West due to the ruthless suppression by our organized, state-level religions in the Middle Ages. Interestingly, shamanism is not a religion, nor does it conflict with any religious tradition. It's a method.

And when this method is practiced with humility, reverence and self-discipline, the shaman's path can become a way of life.

A Way of Life

By utilizing the shaman's time-tested methodology, we can awaken from the consensus slumber of culture at large, and it then becomes possible to personally experience reunion with unlimited power as well as connection with a mysterious, god-like mind...

We then know with certainty that no holy words or books, no secret ceremonies or rituals, no spiritual leaders or gurus or faiths can do this for us. Once the higher evolutionary functions are triggered within us, some mysterious predetermined schedule is set into motion, activating a program that cannot be given to us by any outside agency.

This is because most of us already have it.

Through my involvement with countless experiential workshops over the years, I have guided many thousands (perhaps tens of thousands) of non-tribal Westerners into the shamanic journey experience and I've listened to their stories of their inner adventures upon their return-accounts that would pass muster at any Aboriginal campfire.

As we approach the ending of this cycle of ages and the beginning of the next, a number of shamanic teachers in the Western world are creating a modern upgrade of the ancient mystical path of the shaman. In the process, a new spiritual complex is coming into being, one that reflects who we are now as well as who we are becoming.

From my perspective as an anthropologist who has spent large parts of my life living with indigenous peoples, this reworking must (and will) involve a re-enchantment of the world and of ourselves as well. And yet just what does this mean?
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About the author

Paleoanthropologist Hank Wesselman is a cutting edge scientist who walks in many worlds. He did his undergraduate work and his Masters Degree in Zoology at the University of Colorado at Boulder. He then served in the US Peace Corps, living among people of the Yoruba Tribe in Nigeria in the 1960s where he first became interested in indigenous spiritual traditions. He then went on to receive his doctoral degree in Anthropology from the University of California at Berkeley. For much of the past 40 years, he has conducted research with an international group of scientists, exploring eastern Africa's Great Rift Valley in search of answers to the mystery of human origins. His fieldwork has allowed him to spend much of his life living with tribal peoples rarely, if ever, visited by outsiders, among whom he first encountered traditional shamans.

Dr. Wesselman is also a shamanic practitioner and teacher, now in the 29th year of his apprenticeship. The books in his autobiographical trilogy Spiritwalker, Medicinemaker , and Visionseeker have been published in 13 languages and reveal the nature of his initiation into the shamans world of mystery and magic, documenting his investigations into a hidden reality that most of us have heard about, but few have experienced directly. Hank is also the author of The Journey to the Sacred Garden book with CD; Spirit Medicine (with Jill Kuykendall) book with CD; The Spiritwalker Teachings (with Jill Kuykendall)--a six CD set with booklet; and Little Ruth Reddingford and the Wolf (with Raquel Abreu) a story for children.

Last year he co-authored Awakening to the Spirit World with a fellow shamanic practitioner--Sandra Ingerman-- the winner for the best book of the year in the New Age/Body-mind Spirit category from the Independent Publishers Association and receiving the golden IPPY award... and now with his recent book The Bowl of Light , he gives us a privileged look into the mind of an authentic Hawaiian kahuna mystic providing us with insights into the end of this cycle of ages and the beginning of the next as well as who we are and what we are doing here...

Hank and his family live on their farm in Honaunau on Hawaii Island. Visit their website at http://www.sharedwisdom.com/

           

       

Did you like this article? Leave a comment and tell us what you think!

Thanks,
Andrew Cort


(Tomorrow: Forrest Church)

Lammas and the August Moons

by Dawne Skeye

[Special Note: Tomorrow, August 13th, is the Full Moon!]


The month of August begins with the new moon July 31st and Lammas or Lughnasadh the first harvest festival, usually celebrated Aug 1st. The Celtic festival called Lughnasadh honoured Lugh, the Celtic god of light; Lammas celebrates the grain and marks the time when summer harvest season gets underway. It's also a day to celebrate things that are coming into being in our physical, mental and spiritual lives - it's a time to look at the progress that we have made since planting seeds of intent in spring.

August new moon [8/13] is about adjusting to changes. Even positive changes provide stress in our lives. Are you stronger, healthier, more understanding, or compassionate than you were in spring? What has happened to the seeds you planted? Have some kernels of potential flourished while others perhaps didn't even sprout? Are there some things growing that you've forgotten to nourish lately? Or perhaps you have an abundant garden full of thriving fruitful promise. This new moon the chant "She changes everything she touches, and everything she touches changes" is very appropriate.


The August full moon is also known as the Barley Moon as the first grain harvest begins. Each crop that has sprouted and grown now holds the food for harvest and the potential of the next generation within each seed. During the harvest, the seeds that fall into the soil and become buried begin their resting time, knowing that when the last harvest is done, the time for sleep arrives. The first Harvest Moon is time to think about connections in life, to remember all the cycles of life that have gone before and will continue after our personal journey on this planet. This is a moon to remember the endless connections between all lives here, in all forms.

The first humans birthed the first children, and it continues all the way down to us, to our children, their children, and eons into the future. Each person on earth is related to all the others. Yes, there are many wonderful variations of human beings - how lucky we are to be individuals AND connected! This moon is a time to think about extended family and relationships of all kinds. It's also a good time to think about the legacy you are creating that will live on after this life cycle is over. It's a good time to think about business, partnerships, legal matters, what mementos you have and what they represent. It's about abundance, reward for efforts, celebrating the fullness of summer, personal and spiritual prosperity.


SOME CIRCLE IDEAS


• Wear tan, gold or yellow shades of clothing to celebrate the harvest. You could use altar cloths in these colours too

• Include ears of corn, wheat sheaves, or other grain on the altar

• Burn gold or yellow candles

• Decorate the altar with fresh local flowers

• Use a wheat sheaf, or corn husks to asperge the circle

• Cast the circle with barley, leave it for the wildlife when you finish.

• Serve oatmeal, wheat or other grain crackers, cookies or bread for cakes

• Hold a story circle as an activity, one person begins, the next adds on, and so on around the circle.

• Bring a picture of an ancestor and each person shares what the connection to the person means.

• Make a paper chain, three links per person; write something you are thankful for on each link

• Make a wheat wheel. Make a circle of braided wheat, tie it together and put it in the middle of the circle or on the altar. Give every person a small bundle of wheat, and then ask each individual to put a blessing into their stalks, dance around in a circle each person chanting their blessing. After the energy is released, tie all the strands of wheat onto the circle. Someone can keep the wheat wheel until it gets offered to the fire at Samhain.

• Make bracelets from 2 strands of red, 2 strands of yellow and 1 strand of black and 1 strand of white braided together, it symbolises the cycles of life.

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Dawne Skeye is the Maiden for the Circle of the Sacred Muse , an affiliate of the Aquarian Tabernacle Church of Canada, located on Vancouver Island, British Columbia. You can learn more about the Circle of the Sacred Muse at http://www.circleofthesacredmuse.com/, and Dawne's website at http://www.pagansouls.com/.




(Tomorrow: Shamanism)

Learning to Live Spiritually from Nature

by teZa Lord
  We are One with All

In many cultures the belief is firmly established (recorded first by ancient Eastern mystics in 1000-400 BCE yogic scriptures: the Vedas, the Upanishads; as well as core to the oral tradition of Native American beliefs and other indigenous People throughout the world) that all things in existence—everything, without exception—are Interconnected.

The brain cancer my friend has is no "accident." No dis-ease, any good or bad occurrence for that matter, is an accident, but rather the direct response, or consequence, of invisible forces at work. In the case of cancer it could be defective, inherited genes, or—as I suspect is true in my friend's use of the toxic process she unwisely chose to make her astounding woven copper sculpture—the horrific results of one's own actions. Or another's action, or lack of, upon us. Certainly we all know stories of how people fall deathly ill from society's lack: Chernobyl, for instance; Love Canal, another; the list goes on sadly, ad infinitum.

We do have the ability to reverse ill effects inherited from defective genes as well as we can choose to be smart, and more aware of how to take precautions about the ills spuming from our toxic world. The Wise Ones have always shown us how we can burn off bad karma by doing good deeds (performing tapasya, as described in yogic scriptures) or making amends. However, the process must begin with awareness. Nothing changes unless we, each one of us, decides to Wake Up!

In other words, we can transform bad things into being catalysts for good things by awakening to a higher understanding, by committing to acting more consciously, more aware, instead of closing our minds and our hearts to life's infinite possibilities all around us.

Only when we're closed to the possibilities of change do we succumb to negative forces like fear, depression, dis-ease, anger, judgment, and other distraught, nonproductive states.

Whether my friend Maya will be able to overcome the challenge of her terminally diagnosed illness or not, remains to be seen. Many of us working with the concept of choosing to perceive life as a spiritual journey, not just a worldly, physical and intellectual one, we firmly believe in the impossible happening: miracles if you will, happen in even the most dire of circumstances. Wouldn't you want to believe in a miracle, if faced with the terminal diagnosis Maya does?

What has already been done can be used to create new and better possibilities. We can choose to work hard to balance negatives with positives. Look to Nature as proof positive of how perfectly the world mirrors the cause and effect of positive versus negative actions. Tsunamis and earthquakes kill and plunder, yet they create space for renewal and regeneration in every instance. The evolution of the world's countless species, scientists tell us, happens by adapting to conditions that are harsh, deadly, toxic. Without change, everything faces extinction, even hope.

Nothing ends. Everything keeps evolving, recycling, metamorphing.

Nature balances Herself. This occurs time and again. Storms. Droughts, Floods. Wild Fires. Ice Ages. Plagues. Species' Extinction or Evolution. All these headline events are completely natural happenings of Nature's cyclic patterns. Spurts of growth, overpopulation, human-produced pollution—similar age-old, manmade patterns that result in equally devastating cycles that mirror Nature's own.

Cycles of life are constantly in motion. Birth, Life on Earth, Death. The part in between Death-and-Life we don't know too much about—yet. Even if you believe in an afterlife, whether you trust or fear you're heading for heaven or hell, these concepts I share here will greatly enhance your current happiness factor in spite of, or in addition to, your preferred beliefs. Religion is not being discussed here; spiritualizing the planet is. It's that simple.

What I wish to share is offered as a proven, tested belief system. All ideas I write about are supported by personal experiences, both mine and others beside me, who help to light the path-of-the-seeker. Many of us choose to set out on our own personal quests to answer life's big questions. I believe life is filled with magical, mysterious happenings—right here on Earth, in this country, this town, this street, this house where I live, at this desk from where I'm writing. I believe in unlimited possibilities starting with wherever we are, right now.

While reading these words, please try to approach these concepts from another angle than you ordinarily allow your beliefs to roam. Why not? What have you got to lose by trying on some new way of thinking? It's as easy as experimenting with a new style of clothing that just might spark up your self-image and bring heretofore unknown joy to your life.
The flip side of Taking Action outwardly: Going Within, Waking Up!
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This post is the 2nd installment of a continuous series "Maya's Book of Change" that begins with July 7, 2011 post "As We Think ... So We Are" on my spiritual blog, http://www.lordflea.com/. Please follow me on twitter and Facebook as teZa Lord: http://www.facebook.com/tezalord and www.twitter.com/tezalord

I send my Light, added to yours that surrounds our precious garden planet and all Her inhabitants. Ommmmm





(Tomorrow: Paganism)

Gods, Goddesses, Archetypes, and Synchronicity

by Carol Leigh Rice, M.A.


Gods and Goddesses * Living Templates
The ancient Greeks, and Plato especially, were aware long before Carl Jung and Joseph Campbell that the Archetypes were much more than symbolic components of moralizing stories. Whether as the Forms or Gods and Goddesses (he used both terms), Plato understood the Archetypes to be cosmic building blocks which literally organized all of the world we see, including human lives. Precise definitions as to how Gods, Goddesses operated as Archetypes were not really spelled out, but on a general cultural level Greeks and Romans – and many civilizations before them – believed that Archetypes, as Gods and Goddesses, could be seen at work in the lives of individuals and nations in epics large or small. These came complete with a recognizable "story" line and with the possibilities of "plot and character development" all along the way.


The lives of the Gods and Goddesses were notable for many dramas and their personalities for many foibles, but it was felt that it behooved men and women to know these mythological prototypes as well as a doctor might know anatomy and physiology. The mythological stories and plot-lines, often intermeshed with each other, were moulds into which the stuff of human life was cast. Myths were often very complex and thus revealed the multiple aspects of any given situation in the human condition.

Knowing the names and qualities and stories attached to the various Gods and Goddesses was part of learning about the way life worked at levels of power and pattern not amenable to controlling or changing at human whim. One could recognize and work with mythic energies, but to try to change the myth itself that one was given, in a sense, to live through, was to let Ego take the reins and risk crashing the chariot in races it was not built to complete in. There were limits, beyond which one exceeded one's "moirae" – it was incumbent upon each to sense when their reach – and their Ego – exceeded their grasp.

Mythological patterns were givens into which one stepped at birth, tailored costumes handed to one as the play began…One came knowing one's lines in the main outline of the plot, as it were, though highly personal subplots and the way a plot played out could be quite unique to each person. There was some room for improvising as one went along, and how one played the Game and their role within it was the point, not inventing a new game out of thin psychic air.



Astrology * The Tarot * The I Ching
The Planets and other heavenly bodies were likewise thought to correlate with the Gods and Goddesses; hence Astrology's longstanding use of mythology to the interpretation of the birth chart. The Tarot is another set of images in which the appearance of a card – the Priestess or the World or other – is understood not to be random at all, but to be a living sign showing the essential nature of the energy running through the inquirer's life in the area about which the inquiry is being made. Similarly, casting the coins of sticks of the I Ching is said to invite a living conversation to take place between the person and the I Ching – a dialogue between the person's unconscious and the "psychoid" energy out of which the particular hexagram emerges.

It becomes apparent that in philosophy, literature, alchemy, astrology and other arts, every effort has been made since early times to teach humanity about the Archetypes and the Mythology which they create and through which they manifest. Timing, and the seasons of life have their "Gods", as do the days of the week. Archetypes are organizers – designers – of time, space and matter. Archetypes pull energy into living patterns suffused with existential meaning born first in the personality and character and ultimately transmuted to spiritual qualities. Hence the Archetypes have always been understood to be Gods and Goddesses.

Synchronicity
The planetary patterns in the birth chart, the Tarot spread that falls, the I Ching hexagram and its changing lines that emerge – all these issue forth from a larger "field of energy" lying behind reality as we see it at any given time. Yet they seem to uncannily resonate to the reality we see around us. Carl Jung called this resonance synchronicity. Jung could see that events separated by space could be synchronized (brought together) in Time (and vice versa).

But what causes synchronicity to happen? What is directing the traffic? Jung believed these "random" yet highly significant and meaningful "coincidences" had to be organized by something outside them. He concluded that Archetypes, exist outside Time and Space and are therefore capable of organizing events within Time and Space – that is, inside our everyday reality. Archetypes then are "psychoid", that is, they bridge the world of the psyche and the world of matter - in fact, Archetypes are active in both worlds shaping matter through psyche.


As Jung, Campbell and many others have noted, something else is going on. The events in synchronicities are drawn together by Archetypal energies in a process that suggests a meaningful Whole – and an Author. The mystery of the Whole may yet elude us, however, for there is a Treasure Hunt here, a major theme of so many great mythologies!

In time we discover that the Treasure is deep with, in spiritual life. We are led through an awakening and drawing together of parts of ourselves into a Whole. Jung realized that what he observed in the psyche led up to a process of personal maturation hidden in plain view in the Mandala. The Archetypes pointed to a way in which this process was guided by essentially cosmic, spiritual forces over which a person had no control, but with which they could work in creative partnership.

Thus the cultivation and development of each part of the self leads to its ever richer contribution to a Whole which has a sacred Center drawing all the parts into it. The parts retain their unique individuality, yet find greater joy and meaning once they come to see and to accept the Whole not as a place of their death, but of vastly expanded Life.


The Christ Archetype
Jung believed the ultimate Archetype was a mysterious presence within the psyche – the Higher Self – corresponding to the Archetype of Christ. Like Jung, Joseph Campbell and Tom Harpur (The Pagan Christ) found the Christ Archetype to be universally present in various forms as a major myth found throughout history and in so many cultures of the world.

Within the microcosm of self, each of our smaller fragments, roles, mini-identities, find acceptance and larger purpose as they come together within the personality of this lifetime…Just so, our personalities from all of our lives come gradually to know themselves to be part of a larger Self – the Higher Self – which in turn knows itself to be part of the Creator. Each part is sacred, each self matters, and each contributes something wonderful and irreplaceable to the larger Self.

The Higher Self – as the ultimate Archetype embedded within the Creator, appears to make use of the major Archetypes. These shape us without our really seeing them, until we begin the process of conscious engagement with the life of the psyche (the unconscious) and relate its contents to our external lives. Within these great archetypal patterns we, as smaller selves within each lifetime, grow and develop in a journey through Time and Space. We may spend many lives exploring consciousness through myriad aspects of one Archetypal pattern, or combine several within one lifetime…they are vast, with multiple variations on themes which, nepenthes, provide broad frameworks which keep us from drifting in a sea of undifferentiated psyche.

We do not walk alone into a bare and propless hall, but enter upon a stage, with a script, within a lively ongoing play peopled with other, vibrant characters. Dark, Light, – the good, the bad and the ugly – all these are here, for without dramatic tensions, how could there be a play? And what would turn the keys in the locks of one's potential, if not the invitation – and challenge – to evolve?

(For further reading, especially on how Jung gradually pieced together his own understanding of "archetypes" I recommend The Essential Jung, selected and introduced by Anthony Storr).
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Carol Leigh Rice, M.A. is a Psychic, Astrologer, Writer, and Traveller on the magical Silk Road. This article is from her wonderful blog, Silk Road Visions. Her blog is filled with many excellent articles on a whole variety of spiritual subjects. Definitely worth a visit.

Here's the edition of Jung's work that she recommends:




(Tomorrow: Living Spiritually From Nature)

Buddhism (In 362 Words!)

Recently, I received an email asking me to explain Buddhism. Here is my answer:
First of all, Buddhism is the recognition of suffering. Second, Buddhism recognizes that suffering is not dumb, but intelligent. So, we look at our own suffering, so as to see the pattern or path that gives rise to our dissatisfaction. Then, we turn around and walk backwards down the path of suffering. Walking backwards down this path is a process of "un-doing" commonly referred to as meditation. Finally, we remember the basic experience of being that we forgot long ago. Through the practice of meditation, we rediscover the basic experience of "oneness" that we misplaced when we imagined a world of "multiplicity." This discovery is known as enlightenment, which is the transmutation of suffering into bliss. But suffering is only capable of being transmuted into bliss, because it was bliss in disguise all along…insanity is simply sanity misunderstood!
So, Buddhism is an acknowledgement that our life is the path. That nothing—absolutely nothing—is to be discarded. Buddhism is faith in the indestructible nature of truth. This faith is so whole and so complete that even confusion is part of the path. In fact, our confusion is the path, as the observation of confusion is insight. Therefore, practicing Buddhism is an exercise in complete vulnerability. Buddhism is an experiment with vulnerability; being willing to open up and see our bind spots. The path that gives rise to suffering is an exercise in futility, where we attempt to create certainty or solid ground, which forces us to ignore the fluid nature of reality and gives rise to these "blind spots." So, the practice of meditation is then a mindful participation in vulnerability. This experiment reveals the indestructible nature of basic awareness—the experience of experience, which is without beginning or end.
In short, Buddhism is an experiment that reveals our true nature. In vulnerability, it is realized that we are not apart from or other than life. So suffering slips away, as we cease to feel disconnected and lifeless. In observing our confusion, we realize that we are of "one substance" with truth. Enlightenment is the selfless experience of life—an acknowledgment that "I" is but an example of Life. Enlightenment is touching the earth.

Contributed by Benjamin Riggs
Benjamin Riggs is the Spirituality editor at Elephant Journal. Ben is also a teacher of Buddhist meditation and spirituality at the Refuge Meditation Group in Shreveport, LA. Ben has written extensively about Buddhism, contemplative philosophy, and meditation practice on his blog. Above everything he is committed to presenting Buddhist and contemplative principles from a practical, contemporary, and western point of view. If you would like to follow his blog, The Web of Enlightenment, on Facebook then Click here.. If you would prefer to follow him on Twitter then Click here.
To be notified when Ben publishes a new article on Elephant Journal, click here to join his Elephant Facebook group. Think these sort of bio's are cheesy? Then click here to read my real bio.


(Tomorrow: Gods, Goddesses and Archtypes)

Rumi

As we begin a series of Guest Posts on the theme of Spiritual and Religious Wisdom and Unity, I thought it a good idea to kick off the series with this poem by Rumi:


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GUEST HOUSEThis being human is a guest house.Every morning a new arrival.A joy, a depression, a meanness,some momentary awareness comes as an unexpected visitor.Welcome and entertain them all!Even if they're a crowd of sorrows,who violently sweep your houseempty of it's furniture,still, treat each guest honorably.He may be clearing you outfor some new delight.The dark thought, the shame, the malice,meet them at the door laughing,and invite them in.Be grateful for whoever comes,because each has been sent as a guide from beyond.
                                                                                            - Rumi   (Translated by Coleman Barks)


And here is the award-winning film, "RUMI: Poet of the Heart," produced and directed by Haydn Reiss, featuring Coleman Barks, Robert Bly, Deepak Chopra, storyteller and mythologist Michael Meade, and religious historian Huston Smith. Narrated by Debra Winger. Performances by oud virtuoso Hamza El Din and musician Jai Uttal offer inspiring accompaniment to this beautifully produced film. A lively and provocative exploration of the genius and timeliness of Rumi's emergence in the west.


  
                     


Coleman Barks is a preeminent poet, scholar, and interpreter of the writings of Jalal ad-Din Rumi.  Here are two of his excellent collections.


                                                  



(Tomorrow's Guest Blog: "Buddhism", by Ben Riggs, Spirituality Editor of Elephant Journal)
                                                         

Tomorrow Begins a Series of Guest Blogs: A Dedication

Tomorrow, August 8th, we begin a series of Guest Blogs on Religious and Spiritual Traditions from around the world, with an emphasis on Unity and Friendship amongst different peoples and different faiths. The first post discusses the mystical Sufi poet Rumi. Subsequent posts cover such topics as Buddhism, Islam, the Kabbalah, Jung, Sri Aurobindo, Esoteric Christianity, Science-v-Religion, Intelligent Design, Gurdjieff, Paganism, Shamanism, Tantra, Alchemy, Martin Luther King, New Thought, Forrest Church, and much more.

I'd like to dedicate this series to an old friend of mine, Richard W. Trapnell, who, I recently found out, died several weeks ago after a battle with cancer. Back in 1969 Rich was Head of Class at my school and was getting ready to deliver an address during Graduation. He asked me to help him write it and, it being the 60's and all, we worked on a talk entitled 'Tolerance and Understanding'. I've seen very little of Richard over the years since then (he spent them in Australia!), and I don't know that comparative religion or spirituality were particularly important or interesting to him the way they are to me. But here I am, forty-two years later, still talking about the need for Tolerance and Understanding in the world. So Richard, this is for you. God bless you, and endless blessings on the next stage of your journey.

                                                       

The Unity of Three Monotheistic Religions

The three western monotheistic religions can be seen as three different versions of the same religion. All three worship the same God. All three teach their followers the importance of faith, love, and moral rules of living. The major difference is that each one emphasizes a different aspect.

Judaism, the first proponent of monotheism, is the religion of the 'Father'. The Mercy of the Father passed into the world where it was limited and transformed by practical Judgment before descending safely into the material realm. This quality of Judgment, which was therefore inherent in the nature of things here in the 'Below', led to the Mosaic emphasis on the Law: Moses taught rigorous rules of living (both literal and symbolic), which, if strictly adhered to here in earthly life, would purify the soul and help lead it back up through the harshness of Judgment (which would be satisfied), and into arms of the Father's Mercy.

But over time, the esoteric reason for all these laws and rules became lost in the mists of time, and the exoteric adherence to various now-meaningless rituals became an end in itself. God, the Father, had been lost!

Christianity then appeared as an attempt to remedy this. Christianity is the religion of the 'Son'. Christ's mission was to turn the soul's attention back to the 'Above', to re-instill its awareness of, and desire for, the higher realm of Mercy. For this reason, Jesus emphasized Love , and he demonstrated to his disciples that the Law was meaningless without it (he was very clear, however, that he was not here to change even one letter of the Law). Thus, the 'gates of heaven' were reopened, and the focus of the soul was turned back once again from the exoteric to the esoteric.

But then a new problem arose. This time, the World was lost! As Christianity evolved, its focus on the 'Above' became so obsessive that God's glorious Creation was deemed sinful and evil, and Christians were told to detest it and make every possible effort to transcend it.

The third monotheistic religion, Islam, is the religion of the harmonizing third force in the upper triad – the Holy Ghost, the Logos, the Paraclete (according to Islam, Muhammad is the Paraclete). Muhammad's mission was not to create a new religion, but to rebalance the two already-existing expressions of the One religion of the One True God. This meant that he had to readjust the equilibrium between the 'Above' and the 'Below', and renew humanity's appreciation for all of God's Creation – the exoteric realm and the esoteric realm.

To do this, Muhammad emphasized Faith . When the Muslim recites the words, "There is no god but God," this is a statement of absolute faith that God is All Being and All Manifestation. The accompanying statement, "and Muhammad is His Messenger," is a statement of absolute faith that the life of this world is connected to God, and God's 'Word' – as spoken through His Prophet – is what connects us to Him. To deny any of this is to deny God and to be an unbeliever. The real Islamic 'battle' is the battle to remain steadfast in one's Faith, despite all attempts of the lower self to defeat one's effort.