Please don't interpret my three previous rants this morning as indicating I don't like myth. I *love* myth. I see a good myth the same way that Joseph Campbell did, as a kind of "consciousness battery" that "stores" the essence of a certain state of attention, a certain level of consciousness.
The best myths can elevate and inspire higher states of consciousness. But the worst can *lower* states of consciousness. I'm a proponent of being careful about WHICH myths one chooses to be inspired by. For example, many of the myths in the Bible and in the Gita and in the Vedas are about the glorious nature of *revenge*. I'm sorry, but I don't see those myths of warfare and genocidal slaughter as uplifting. I see them as a way of perpetuating a *low* state of conscious- ness by glorifying it. Many of the myths of humanity are about "heroes." And many of those heroes prove their herohood in battle; they are warriors. Do I see upliftment and inspiration in tales of the warrior mindset? Sometimes. Being will- ing to fight to the death for what one believes IS inspiring, IF "what one believes" is inspiring in itself. The noble warrior fighting for justice is way cool, IF it's really justice. But if what the hero is fighting for is really INJUSTICE (for example, the perpetuation of the caste system, or the ascendancy of one race or religion over another), is it really "justice" that is being portrayed? I've seen people on this forum justify war by pointing to the Gita, and holding it up as an example of how an evolved and/or enlightened person does and should act. I've seen people on this and other forums point to stories in the Vedas about some supposed "hero" killing enough of his fellow human beings to fill lakes with blood as noble, and in accord with the laws of nature. I'm sorry, but I think those folks may be missing the *point* of myth by focusing on the *wrong* myths. Which is more uplifting and consciousness-transforming, the myth of Jesus' anger when he's turning over the tables of the money-changers in the temple, or the myth of him teaching people to forsake anger and revenge and turn the other cheek? Well, kinda depends on the reader of the myth and what they're *looking* for in a myth, doesn't it? For those who *get off* on righteous anger, the temple myth prob- ably gets their Clint "Make my day" blood pumping. But for those who might be looking for a more noble way of living one's life on planet Earth, the "Turn the other cheek" myth might be more uplifting. Gordon Charrick once said (wisely), "You know you've created God in your own image when he hates the exact same people that you do." I say (possibly not as wisely), "You can discern the extent of a person's spiritual progress by *which* myths he or she chooses to focus on." Most of us here are familiar with the plotlines of the myths that make up the bulk of Indian, Biblical, Jewish, and Islamic traditions. Most of them center on war and battle and righteous anger and "justified killing." And if you *get off* on those tales, so be it. Me, I get off on other myths. Some of them are about the Buddha, and since *his* story wasn't written down until centuries after his death, *they* might be *just* as fictional as some of the tales of gods and goddesses cavorting in Brahmaloka. But the Buddha myths -- if they are myths -- are often *cooler* than the myths of other spiritual traditions in my opinion. They center on *rejecting* warfare, on *rejecting* righteous anger (and anger itself), and focus instead on Finding Another Way To Live, one that isn't so damned barbaric. Here are a few lines of one of these myths, from the beginning of the Dhammapada: We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts we make the world. Speak or act with an impure mind And trouble will follow you. As the wheel follows the ox that draws the cart. We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts we make the world. Speak or act with a pure mind. And happiness will follow you. As your shadow, unshakable. Look how he abused me and beat me, How he threw me down and robbed me. Live with such thoughts and you live in hate. Look how he abused me and beat me, How he threw me down and robbed me. Abandon such thoughts, and live in love. Cool myth. Not exactly movie material, though. You can't exactly imagine Clint saying this and the audiences in the theater cheering like they do when he says, "Go ahead, make my day," and then wastes the bad guy with the most powerful handgun known to man. They cheer at that, too, and then they leave the theater in a certain state of consciousness, and with a certain look on their faces. Compare and contrast to the look on the faces of the audiences leaving a showing of, say, Gandhi, after hearing Ben Kingsley say, "When I despair, I remember that all through history the ways of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants, and murderers, and for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end they always fall. Think of it...always." Different look on their faces, and different state of consciousness behind those faces. Many, many spiritual teachers through history have said, "What you focus on you become." I'm suggesting that this focus extends to the myths that we revere, and that we should take some care about which ones we choose to focus on.
