Rite of Way to Bliss or At Least, Euphoria

I’m finishing up The Power of Myth after some stylistics excursions and as a result, am reminded of the power of rite. Campbell talks about ritual but nothing like Emile Durkheim in The Elementary Forms of Religious Life.

Am I ritual-less? Nah, probably not, but which rituals are the correct rituals?

“It is subjective” you say.

“Indeed” I harrumph sarcastically.

“Look,” you say, “if you don’t like the subjectivity of rituals, maybe you don’t like rituals…or subjectivity.” Then you motion for the door curtly, as if to imply my being thrown through out of it at a high rate of speed.

“I get it,” I’d say. Fully aware of my subjunctive tense. “You say subjective and maybe you even mean subjective, but you, yes you, reek of objective. Absolutely malodorous with it.” Then I would pinch my fingers around my nose to indicate the universal sign for sewage treatment pond, you know the one, then I would probably look you square in the eye (your good one) and wink as if to imply my own objectivity in a roundabout way, if you are picking up what I’m putting down.

Then you’d say you are tired of me and I would say some things I don’t mean.

Moving on…to

A peak experience is a moment accompanied by a euphoric mental state often achieved by self-actualizing individuals.^[1] The concept was originally developed by Abraham Maslow in 1964, who describes peak experiences as "rare, exciting, oceanic, deeply moving, exhilarating, elevating experiences that generate an advanced form of perceiving reality, and are even mystic and magical in their effect upon the experimenter."^[2][3] There are several unique characteristics of a peak experience, but each element is perceived together in a holistic manner that creates the moment of reaching one’s full potential.^[4] Peak experiences can range from simple activities to intense events;^[5][6] however, it is not necessarily about what the activity is, but the ecstatic, blissful feeling that is being experienced during it.^[7]

Campbell said that he had a peak experience running a race during his time at Columbia, where he was 30 yards back but knew (objectively? See what I did there) that he was going to win.

I am trying to think of a peak experience of my own. It is that last part of the paragraph that is throwing me, the “blissful feeling…during…”

I intercepted a jump pass in pee wee football once but was nothing like blissful during the experience but I did know (yes, objectively) just from the nanosecond look of the quarterback, that he was going to try to hit the tight end.

I had one night with a band at a bar that at the time was named O’Hooley’s where I could not make a mistake, felt like I could play anything I wanted to without fear of mistake, with complete (for me, anyway, subjectivity rears its ugly head) facility.

But did I feel blissful?

Have I ever felt blissful?

I think I need examples.

I’ve felt euphoric but I just don’t know about blissful.

Am I splitting hairs?

Can one be blissful splitting hairs?

Employing Reason For Manual Labor

Plodding along with The Power of Myth when I came across two very striking sections:

How would today’s conservatives survive if they knew the founding fathers were deists?

How would today’s conservatives survive if they knew our nation did not trust in the god of the bible but the god of reason?

So of course today’s conservatives just don’t believe the founding fathers were deists and they don’t trust in the god of reason.

Fair enough.

I can’t get over this deists statement. Campbell makes the statement like it is no big deal.

The difference:

Theism – god created the universe and plays an active role in daily outcomes

Deism – god created the universe but plays no role in daily outcomes

I was educated such that deism considers god a cosmic watch winder; he wound up the universe and then just lets it go. Hands off.

That, my friends, will not sit too well with people who depend a whole lot on god’s interaction with our ku-ra-zee world. What with the prayers, the trusting, the blaming, the moral authority, the reason the Browns suck, etc.

But Campbell is saying these men, these founding fathers thought it was up to us. Soooooooooo much responsibility Mr. Jefferson. Are you sure we can handle it?

Answer: No

Reason why? See second striking section where Campbell references the Chief Seattle Letter.

Provenance aside, the content is the matter here:

Chief Seattle's Letter
to the President of the United States, 1852
(attributed to Chief Seattle, but unverified; this is one of several versions)

"The President in Washington sends word that he wishes to buy our land. But how can you buy or sell the sky? The land? The idea is strange to us. If we do not own the freshness of the air and the sparkle of the water, how can you sell them? Every part of this earth is sacred to my people. Every shining pine needle, every humming insect. All are holy in the memory and experience of my people.

We know the sap which courses through the trees as we know the blood that courses through our veins. We are part of the earth and it is part of us. The perfumed flowers are our sisters. The bear, the deer, the great eagle, these are our brothers. The rocky crests, the juices in the meadow, the body heat of a pony, and man, all belong to the same family.

The shining water that moves in the streams and rivers is not just water, but the blood of our ancestors. If we sell you our land, you must remember that it is sacred. Each ghostly reflection in the clear waters of the lakes tells of events and memories in the life of my people. The waters murmur in the voice of my father's father. The rivers are our brothers. They quench our thirst. They carry our canoes and feed our children. So you must give to the river the kindness you would give any brother.

If we sell you our land, remember that the air is precious to us, that the air shares its spirit with all the life it supports. The wind that gave our grandfather his first breath also receives his last sigh. The wind also gives our children the spirit of life. So if we sell you our land, you must keep it apart and sacred, as a place where man can go to taste the wind that is sweetened by the meadow Flowers.

Will you teach your children what we have taught our children? That the earth is our Mother? What befalls the earth befalls all the sons of the earth.

This we know: The earth does not belong to man, man belongs to the earth. All things are connected like the blood that unites us all. Man did not weave the web of life; he is merely a strand of it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself.

One thing we know: Our God is your God. The earth is precious to him and to harm the earth is to heap contempt on its Creator. Your destiny is a mystery to us. What will happen when the buffalo are all slaughtered? The wild horses tamed? What will happen when the secret corners of the forest are heavy with the scent of many men and the view of the ripe hills is blotted by talking wires? Where will the thicket be? Gone! Where will the eagle be? Gone! And what is it to say goodbye to the swift pony and the hunt? The end of living and the beginning of survival.

When the last red man has vanished with his wilderness and his memory is only the shadow of a cloud moving across the prairie, will these shores and forests still be here? Will there be any of the spirit of my people left?

We love this earth as a newborn loves its mother's heartbeat. So if we sell you our land, love it as we have loved it. Care for it as we have cared for it. Hold in your mind the memory of the land as it is when you receive it. Preserve the land for all children and love it, as God loves us all.

As we are a part of the land, you too are part of the land. This earth is precious to us. It is also precious to you. One thing we know: There is only one God. No man, be he Red Man or White Man, can be apart. We are all brothers."

-Chief Seattle

Ah but sure, you can say we are a nation of laws and we simply deemed land ownership a matter of law. Sure you can say that.

What about land stewardship? Is that a matter of law?

And that brutal, cutting, honesty-sucks-just-like-reality line: The end of living and the beginning of survival.

Roll that up and smoke it.

 

So what if it is up to us to steward our living and our environment? What if god can’t help us? What if the founding fathers were desists and what if they were right about the fall of man?

What if reason is the god you should be praying to – no wait, instead of praying to reason, what if we had to use it? What if reason was the god you chose to employ?

mind=blown

Silly Little Freak

Started The Power of Myth last night after rummaging for something to read while I soak my aching legs in a tub filled with hot water. You humans call this a bath. So strange a word: bath.

Anyhoo, this Joseph Campbell has made me think.

I am pretty sure I am teaching this fall. The class starts Saturday and the community college is "pretty sure" I'm teaching it. Solid. Nothing like the 11th hour to cobble together 15 weeks of learning material.

I like teaching Psych because it is dynamic and easily engaging for neophytes; easy to light a thinking fire if you will. And I know you will you silly little freak.

Anyhoo, this Joseph Campbell said that "Preachers err by trying "to talk people into belief; better they reveal the radiance of their own discovery."

Pretty sweet huh? I get excited about learning and I think this little contagion spreads in my classes. Now granted, the radiance of my discoveries surely doesn't meet the criteria for science, nor does it even guarantee my discoveries will be radiant for you or my neophytes, but it does mean there is radiance.

Radiance is a good thing. Just don't get too close to the radiance fire you silly little freak.