This loss of a binding national mythology is both good and bad. Certainly in relationship to a national one that has left out so many groups- native Americans, African Americans, women, etc. However, I also think it has produced a loneliness that is crippling and at times dangerous. It is the existential crisis of our time and witnessed this past week with so many mass shootings. And in relationship to the personal, the pandemic has forced us to really look inward-I find myself dreaming more about my life up to this point and as Stephen mentions-it is painful to do so. The questioning is the most difficult part -the recognition that what we thought we knew about ourselves is challenged just in the consideration of that herethereto “truth” of self. We are much more or less that we thought we knew. The life we had prior to the pandemic kept this realization at bay because we simply did not have the time to think about self. I think about Campbell’s heroic journey cycle and I am at the point of “the dark night of the soul”, trying to find a way to that transformation. What helps is knowing that it is possible because the myths have told us so.

There are insights in myth that can help us-we need to find them-to read them-hear them- talk about them. Stephen and Norland, what myths do you find helpful in speaking about what we are witnessing in these days?  Where shall we begin?

Richard,

Your thoughts here are so important to consider as I begin my day. I have been rather “sick” of seeing the sun-we have had no rain for so many days now and I see the sun “destroying” the grass, the flowers, the trees. It reminds me of two thoughts I have considered over time-one is that nature is ambivalent and that as Campbell said-“all life in the field of time is dual.” The forest fires raging in California at this moment attest to the destructive force of nature and the heat is not at all life -nurturing/nourishing.

How are we to see this side of that star in the sky admired by the ancients-source – revealer in some sense. That is to say revealer of the gifts that would otherwise not be seen. It is difficult to “see” in the night-the darkness. And yet, I crave the darkness-thing that is only seen because it reflects the light. It gives a moment of quiet -I am always happiest at the approaching night. So much of the energy that is pulled away by the constant appearance of the sun-the light , does not inspire as Apollo would have had it; rather I am left empty of the energy that really inspires contemplation, art and music.

As for your words regarding breathing and community-it makes me think of singing with the choir , we must breathe together, to produce sound as in one voice , as in the one breath that will produce the sound. I like to think of the universe in its creation as one breath, and sound brining into existence all that we see and cannot see. Breathing and sound join and we can hear the music of the spheres. Certainly, all that is earthly produces sound/music-a breath that we hear in the wind, the rain, the persons we encounter, the falling rocks, the rushing waters. Hildegard von Bingen suggests that music is the one way for humans -both in body and soul to incarnate the heavens-the universe and in this way we participate in the harmony of everything that is alive. She argues that the arts as “the arts as the breath of as the breath of God, the breath of God flowing through the human body…”. So, your suggestion regarding, Just as breathing requires inhaling and exhaling, a functioning and flourishing society requires the interaction of the individual and the community. [ Richard Sumpter], That kind of collective/ cooperative breathing ,might just save us all.

Thank you for these thoughts

James et al,

Thank you for posting the two links above. Yes, it is language that often positions us to think in dualities and to some extent this is easy-we choose a side and stay there. What is more difficult is to remain in the centre-to have to consider the tremendum fascinosum, because it requires a reconsideration of how we are thinking. There is always fear associate with such a leap but I think it is more life supporting. Perhaps we will at the very least eliminate some of the conflict that is based on thinking in this dual way that Campbell outlines in his interview with Moyers.

Consider also the wonderful experience of the mystery itself-we have become so arrogant to believe we know it all -this pandemic has proven it. Science is a gift that allows some ability to understand how we may deal with illness such as this one, but only on a certain level. There is a mystery here-pandemics continue to visit us -to invite us back to the mystery of it all. Viruses are not conscious of doing evil or good. They do “virus things”- invade, search a host, replicate, infect. God did not send it either-as Campbell points us-we are ill equipped to capture this in language. Nonetheless, I think myths can at least point us to this great mystery. I like the Hindu story of Brahma and the three gods that in conjunction with Brahma [Vishnu and Shiv] create the universe that is vast,  seemingly unending, and lead us to the brink of the mystery-Vishnu-the Lord of Speech seems only to provide us with some tools of expressing the mystery-not understanding it , but rather, being conscious it exists. We spend a life time in pursuit of understanding the mystery -the wise one is the one that understand it is not possible-but we should not stop trying. For me, humankind has created some of the most beautiful expressions of what this mystery might mean-poetry, fine art, music. Campbell expresses this in his sojourn into the Chartres. It is a sojourn into the mystery that is the transcendent. Poets express using the metaphor-the poet/philosopher Levinas understood this in his ethics of substitution. The metaphor in not the thing-in-itself. Rather it is the thing that points us to the transcendent.

We need not spend our time trapped in the duality we have as humans created. We can experience the full aspect of what it means to be alive. I found that this is profoundly given to us in the film version of Lord of the Rings as the wise man, Gandolph tells Frodo that even Golum [the evil] has a role to play on the grand stage of life.

Hello to All,

Forgive me if I am a bit late in contributing to this important conversation-I am just finding out over the past days that many colleagues at the college where I teach are being let go because of this pandemic and what it has meant financially for the college. I live in western New York during the fall and spring semesters and in my native homeland of Germany when I am not teaching. There are vast differences in perspectives when it comes to understanding the divine gift of breath.

For the most part, German people have been willing to wear masks for not just their own protection, but for the other people that inhabit their cities and neighborhoods. In an earlier post, I outlined the origin of the German word for breath and its relationship to the gods-indeed it is a divine gift. It is significant that the word is connected to the divine in this way.

Its symbolic significance is something we all notice -in poetry-Zephyr -the west wind, in Christian tradition-the Holy Spirit, in the ancient creation myths, and yet it is taken for granted as we see in the response to the pandemic here in the US. The outrage voiced in having to wear one-the violence directed towards those who do and the agonizing death that comes when we can no longer breath.  I am deeply saddened by this kind of behaviour and wonder if this is a glimpse at something that has made us more ill-more than the virus-narcissism. We like the mythical character are reflecting a kind of deep illness that turns us inward and we feed upon our own selfishness-it is a formula for death. Is it something deep within us-the brain’s driving force to destruction? Sisyphus comes to mind as well. Why are we continuingly moving toward those things that do not  affirm life?  We are tempting the gods here with the life-destroying behviour we are engaged in-certainly so many young people are doing this.

Reading the myths I still think can help us to understand our limitations and that we cannot triumph against the forces of nature. As I write, I am digging deeply for those myths that are life affirming, ones that can teach us how to recognize again the face of our universal shared humaness/humanity. As I also wrote in an earlier post-it is simply not enough to as Campbell states, “participate in the world”, “say “yes to the world just as it is”-we need urgently to write anew a myth that can speak us-to save us young and old.

Thank you all for this forum-for all your words of wisdom. In a sea of despair it is obvious there is hope in the combination of ideas, words, good will from all in this group.

First a thank you to Stephen for responding to my post on breath[e]. The source of life, like water, food, etc. this act and might I suggest noble act [Campbell in The Power of Myth states that the very act of being born-having to breath o one’s own is heroic] is so oft perfunctory and we forget what is involved in doing this act. I think that is why I find the sensibility of the yogis and Zen masters  helpful in brining me into communion with this thing I do at every moment in the day. I am and not am in control of this act-more often not in control, but my ego makes me think otherwise.

Here is where I find connection to the two recent mythblast post by Bradley and John. I think it is another aspect in life where we might give some thought to its place, its abuses, but also its necessity in coming to understand ourselves. This I think has some important connections to Campbell’s work -he gives us stories that involve aspects of this thing called ego-John in his post today talks about it in its aspect of mentor-one should know what gifts might be shared -we need have our sense of self and what we can bring to a person, community, etc. The old tigre however, understands the need to sublimate that ego enough that sharing presents no threat to his worth, but rather provides food to the young tigre that will help him find himself. I love this story and I think it would help to nourish a community of people run amuck with this ego that produces so much damage as we witness today, yesterday and in the future if w do not change.

Just to be fair, certainly women also need such figures -and the beauty of the story is that it can be read from a genderless point of view. Ah-yes, the old myths can speak to us, even if we are in the process of creating a new one-the mandate Campbell left us. I think that tigre never lost his majestic stature even if his body was no longer majestic. Rather there is a beauty in decline-honourable and loving. In a country where decline is feared, desperately held at bay to the point of patheticness, we might consider the old tigre and  what he still has to offer-we might consider the myths that were dreamed before us and what they might offer us in guiding the writing of this new myth. I sense the need to consult them again since at the moment we have no myth and perhaps they can fill that liminal space between what was and what is to come.

Hallo Stephen,

Your question has actually prompted me to think about my lack of connection to popular culture and especially American popular culture. I think you might already know I am from Germany, however, American culture has a very strong influence on what the world is connecting to these days. I am aware that Campbell found connection with the Star Wars movies. When I moved to the US in the 1980’s , I was not impacted very much by this popular series[although the German people loved this films and still do]. I think I probably did not understand the profundity in the underlying story as a retelling of a fundamental myth structure. I only began to view them differently after reading Campbell. I understand this mythic structure now,but since those films, I am not sure I have seen any other films where these fundamental mythic structures inform the story in the films.

I still find [when i ignore the theology that no longer speaks to me] the energy of the heroic message when I consider the suffering Christ. Mary-you ask me about the power of the image of the suffering Christ. I suspect it is a powerful image for it ability to express that pain that is deep and universal – a realization of vulnerability to abuse, to sacrifice in the name of something greater than ourselves, something we cannot understand but that is real. I make reference to Michelangelo Mensi’s [Caravaggio’] , Crowning with Thorns as an example of a metaphor of transcendence , of conversion in that sense of the apotheosis of the heroic journey-of an encounter with the eternal. It seems to me that this encounter is not simply with a representation of this encounter in the figure of Jesus but also that of the artist himself.  I image that Caravaggio must have been affected by this encounter with the thing he created. Campbell in his own work – a glimpse into immortality, into the profundity of life through the stories  he encountered must have brought him too some transformation-at least how in how I  read, Fire in the Mind.

So , back to Stephen’s point, I suppose I do not have this encounter with that which is transcendent, that which elevates us to a higher plane of realization about this thing called life through popular culture and while I understand what you mean by not being able to determine ahead of time what that new myth might be, I am not able to see the clues in popular culture that might suggest some of what it might address. Maybe we are not yet ready to re-create that new myth in this time, for no small reason being the speed with change in our  daily lives occurs. The ancients I think might have had time to contemplate the great myths that informed them about life-Campbell also shares this, and yet… oddly this virus has forced us to encounter many things-our mortality, our vulnerability, our human need to question. I am trying to not necessarily understand this all,  but rather to encounter it seriously, in the myths that speak of these matters. Then perhaps we have a chance at something new -a new myth.

I just returned from another strange encounter with shopping in the new way we are required to do so now. Standing in line [with a mask of course]was not the way I was accustomed to doing so-I never even experienced Black Friday. I did however have time to think-something again that was strange since one does not often do this when shopping. It is a beautiful day and I was unexpectedly struck by a though from Campbell’s, The Power of Myth in which he tells us that we are in need of a new myth and that myth must be about the planet-our relationship to it and by extension to one another. I find this both poignant and challenging. I found myself feeling alienated and suspicious standing in line and yet I realize we, yes, we need to learn how to live on this planet and one another in a different way-not as in the most recent ways where we fail to see the humanity in one another and one in which the earth is neglected, robbed of her beauty, and seen as a means to an end. Yes, Campbell was surely correct in his call. I am not sure what that myth might feel and sound like, but the call to create one is so needed at this moment.  I wonder if this might be one basis of conversation for us all in this new kind of summertime. Mars-your thoughts about rational language while quite as we say in German  grounded in Vernunft[ I use this German word because it most clearly expresses what I am thinking], I hope can be also expressed poetically-in language that can hold the profundity of such a new myth-a new turn [the volta in the poetry of Shakespeare’s sonnets] in the way we see the world. At the very least we can try-I know as Stephen points out, we cannot predict what it may be,  but in dreaming, painting, dancing and writing, stories,  perhaps we will be able to recognize it-share it and repeat it.