Living Myth and Loving Nature | News Break
Myth provides spiritual instruction in the Law of One. The central mountain Black Elk the Lakota saw himself standing on is everywhere. The plants and animals of elemental earth, air, fire, and water speak messages to us in their own languages. Animals are our equals and, in some ways, may be superior. The shaman speaks to the plants and animals the magical goddess nourishes. The shaman overcomes psychological trauma, turns inward, and the unconscious is opened. The one universal language is love.
Our environmental problems are the result of being out of touch with nature. The goal of life is to make your heartbeat match the beat of the universe, to match your nature with Nature. All forms of life and all beings are connected thru Nature to the unified field of spirituality and the Law of One.
Beauty is everywhere in Nature. “In loving the spiritual, you cannot despise the earthly.” St. Bernard wrote, “What I know of the divine sciences, I learned in woods and fields” In quiet compassion, we find grace and salvation. Solitary contemplation in the wilderness must be implemented thru determined and faithful direct actions for the individual and society.
Thru observing, respecting, and learning from Nature, we learn of universal law. St. Francis and even Bernie Sanders teach us honest love of nature, truth, and respect for all people is the way to live the Law of One. As Native American wisdom teaches us, every part of Nature and the Wheel of Life is sacred. As St. Francis of Assisi prayed, “Make me a channel of your peace.”
Joseph Campbell was a popular modern professor of mythology influenced by Dr. Jung. Campbell’s Myths to Live By (1988) contains interviews with public journalist Bill Moyers. Campbell’s work deals with the primordial archetypes of myth and the modern world, the mythological and psychological roots for the vital journey inward, the first storytellers, the importance of sacrifice and bliss, the hero’s adventure, the goddess, love and marriage, and masks of eternity. Campbell extols myths as primordial media to express wisdom thru the unified field of spirituality.
Campbell’s work expands on Jung’s understanding of the subconscious. Reflections on the Art of Living: A Joseph Campbell Companion (1991), selected and edited by Diane K. Osbon, provides a personal glimpse into Campbell’s research in the field, his thoughts on living in the world, as well as his coming into awareness about living in the sacred. Michael Toms’ interviews with Joseph Campbell in An Open Life (1989) deal with myth as metaphor, the power of the social contract, and the value of an open life as doorways into the unified field of spirituality.
Joseph Campbell found study of comparative world mythologies and archetypal motifs of the collective unconscious useful. In his Introduction to interviews with the eminent professor, Michael Toms saw Campbell as a “planetary elder or primitive shaman telling mythic tales around the fire.” Campbell was quite famous for teaching his students to “follow their bliss for everything that lives is holy.” Religion is not only for Friday, Saturday, or Sunday; it is for every day when living the unified field of spirituality and Law of One.
Myths retain elemental psychological value. Myths are clues to unite the forces within us. Thoth in ancient Egypt and Hermes in ancient Greece revealed secrets of immortality to initiated priests of mystery schools. Live by the myths that as a child permitted you to forget time. Campbell noted about devotional rituals: “When the outer object of vision and religious contemplation is removed, the inward search began” Talismans are only as powerful as belief.
Universal archetypes like the wise old storyteller, young hero, and love goddess remind us of important roles to fill. The fertility goddess compassionately teaches from the heart chakra the sanctity of the earth. The hero for example hears “the Call,” goes on a spiritual and physical adventure to help others, and then brings back a message without reward. The hero must survive an ordeal for an initiation into immortality. Even in a modern myth like Star Wars, multi-dimensional presence via intuition is more important than technology. The hero must integrate the shadows or slay them. The hero must essentially confront the distant darkness and transform consciousness like Jesus in the desert or Moses or Mohammed on the mountain top. Suffering is part of life but an initiate like Buddha overcomes it. Each person must find his or her own way thru the wilderness of being.
Symbols in the collective unconscious have the power to open our eyes and guide us to safety. Thirteen (13) is the symbol of transcendence, rebirth, and transformation. The Seal of Solomon was the Star of David made of thirteen (13) stars and the first American flag conceived by St. Germain, the magnetic professor who inspired the revolutionaries at Independence Hall. The primordial cross symbolizes the four directions and the four corners of the world from ages before Jesus. The Devil of Christian mythology was handed Poseidon’s trident at great cost to the legend of Atlantis. Drugs, dance, and sex are substitutes for our desire to experience transcendence across time and space. Transformation by a wise healing serpent is the misunderstood ancient symbol of renewal in kundalini yoga. Intuition is required more than tuition to grasp or be grasped by myths.
Myths deeply instruct us on the facts of life thru the prism of the unified field of spirituality. In The Power of Myth, the great story-teller Campbell demonstrated myths are simply metaphors to help us determine the best principles for living. “What we are learning in schools is not the wisdom of life. We’re learning technology.” Mythology is the penultimate truth which can be enacted thru ritual. So, the medieval knight enacted practice of the virtues of love, temperance, wisdom, loyalty, and courage, the true lessons of the humanities.
Symbols in the collective unconscious have the power to open our eyes and guide us to safety. Thirteen (13) is the symbol of transcendence, rebirth, and transformation. The Seal of Solomon was the Star of David made of thirteen (13) stars and the first American flag conceived by St. Germain, the magnetic professor who inspired the revolutionaries at Independence Hall. The primordial cross symbolizes the four directions and the four corners of the world from ages before Jesus. The Devil of Christian mythology was handed Poseidon’s trident at great cost to the legend of Atlantis. Drugs, dance, and sex are substitutes for our desire to experience transcendence across time and space. Transformation by a wise healing serpent is the misunderstood ancient symbol of renewal in kundalini yoga. Intuition is required more than tuition to grasp or be grasped by myths.
Originally published at https://www.newsbreak.com.
