Tag: Joseph Campbell

Build Me Your Myth

 

“Myth is much more important and true than history. History is just journalism and you know how reliable that is.”
― Joseph Campbell

 

Bring me a story
Build on your myth
Open to wonder
surrender to bliss.

Show me an image
Strike me a chord
Play on my symbols
Strike with your sword.

Take on new depths
with new clarity
to inner resources
the lock and the key

Show me my shadow
and I’ll reveal yours
no part of our being
held in reserve

Meld with my being
Unite us as one
Let long night bring us
to brilliant new sun

— G A Rosenberg

 

Blessings, G

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Free Your MindFree Your Mind by G A Rosenberg

 

Lost in the FlamesLost in the Flames by G A Rosenberg

Wishpoosh and Coyote – Creation Myth From the Nez Perce

“Myth must be kept alive. The people who can keep it alive are the artists of one kind or another.”
― Joseph Campbell

 

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The Nez Percè tribe in the Pacific Northwest tell of a great Beaver Wishpoosh who jealously guarded the primordial lake from all creatures wishing to swim in it. Coyote wanted to fish in the lake one day and ended up in a brawl with Wishpoosh. They fought from one end of the lake to another causing gauges and land masses to shift in form and break off causing the formation of the uneven coastline there.
Finally needing to recharge a bit Coyote transformed himself into a jagged branch and floated on the lake. Unfortunately Wishpoosh saw him and came along and swallowed him whole. Coyote transformed himself into a giant needle and started cutting Wishpoosh up from the inside out into a thousand pieces each of which became a tribe of humanity. The tribes that formed from pieces of the head became very wise. The ones that formed from the arms were very strong. The ones that formed from the legs became very fast runners. According to some versions of the legend, some were made without eyes or mouths so Coyote had to return to finish the job and did it sloppily which the Nez Percè attributed some of the strange looks that other tribes have.
Coyote is a trickster / scribe deity and the splitting apart of another deity has echoes of Set and Osiris. Also death by the prick of a needle has elements of the death of Baldaur in Norse mythology.

This is the first of what will hopefully be a recurring feature on Waking Spirals taking a look at myths and legends and perhaps will result in some art pieces as well.
Blessings, G

 

Ocean ReflectionOcean Reflection by G A Rosenberg

 

Inner Butterfuly MandalaInner Butterfly Mandala by G A Rosenberg

Call Waiting

“The hero’s journey always begins with the call. One way or another, a guide must come to say, ‘Look, you’re in Sleepy Land. Wake. Come on a trip. There is a whole aspect of your consciousness, your being, that’s not been touched. So you’re at home here? Well, there’s not enough of you there.’ And so it starts.”
― Joseph Campbell

 

At times it feels like the journey is all I’ve known. A call comes to shake me out of complacency into something new and I follow. Sometimes the call has yanked me from path to path and sometimes because I grew attached to certain aspects of the life I was living, I refused the call only to hear it come louder. Some of my roughest times is when I thought I was ready to leave and eagerly awaited the chance to start life anew only to feel the new adventure hovering above me and feeling a state of stasis, stuck in a time that had grown stale but with no impetus to start something new. Too bad I didn’t know during those times what I now know about responsibility. I would have jumped into a new adventure on my own.
We can be our own guides, our own wake up call. Just grab our bags and head on out the road or perhaps jump down the nearest rabbit hole. Noone has to stay in any place at any time. If you are where you are, you have your reasons for being there. As I have mine.
Blessings, G

 

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Golden EmblemGolden Emblem Mandala by G A Rosenberg

 

Container and Contents MandalaMandala Within the Soap Bubble by G A Rosenberg

Mystic Life Preservers

“The psychotic drowns in the same waters in which the mystic swims with delight.”
― Joseph Campbell

 

What makes a mystic different from a psychotic? This is an intriguing puzzle to me especially as I feel the answer is at the tip of my brain, somewhat obvious yet I can’t find the right words. Yet I have met so many people interested in answering the big questions, call the subject spirituality if you like. If that word makes your brain itch too much then use philosophy or metaphysics which ever one gives you the best water wings. Many of the people I’ve met who have sought answers have found them but in the process they seem to have lost themselves. Most often this seems to come from the acceptance of a definite answer that they know no one else will fully accept. That this bothers the same type of people who reject organized religion because of its limited scope baffles me a little but then we humans tend to be contrary creatures at the best of times.
As I was saying, the people who seem to flounder the most spiritually are those who are convinced that they have found the answer and that everyone else is wrong. I believe that with genuine mystics, the ones who catch a glimpse, return and keep swimming, they know that they grocked a big piece of the puzzle but they are willing to question that understanding and reject it if they find a better answer.
Perhaps ultimately that is the difference between the mystic and the psychotic. The Psychotic’s answers are concrete and inflexible and you know what happens when you try to swim while clutching concrete. A mystic’s answers conversely tend to be light and flexible and incredibly buoyant. I know which type I’d rather swim with.
Blessings, G

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A New DayThe New Day by G A Rosenberg

 

Storms Real and MetaphoricalStorms Real and Metaphorical by G A Rosenberg

Rapture and Art

“The goal of life is rapture. Art is the way we experience it.”
–Joseph Campbell

 

There is something about creating art and sharing it that is both enriching and blissful. It has definitely been a way to connect with people on a profound level and I am grateful for the art that flows through me and for each of you that looks at my pictures and reads these words. It has been a gift and one that I hope continues. I have gained a greater appreciation as well for the art that I look at whether it is that created by others or just the aesthetics of the world I live in each day. When I am out, I find myself snapping photos almost continuously of things that may seem silly to most but that strike me as sublime, whether it is the angle of a plant or flower or a shadow or even the texture of a particular wall or sidewalk. Lately some of my photos have been finding their way into my art so again there is that sense of exchange.
Blessings, G

 

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Winged FlightWinged Flight by G A Rosenberg

 

PileUpFive Star Pile-Up by G A Rosenberg

Don’t Shoot the Ego Messenger

“How to get rid of ego as dictator and turn it into messenger and servant and scout, to be in your service, is the trick.”
― Joseph Campbell

 

Aleister Crowley in his Liber III vel Jugorum wrote of a whole regiment designed to control the thoughts and train the ego. It involved razor blades and self-flagellation and while it may be effective may be considered a bit much for some people. Still the ego tends to be tricky. Even when we don’t believe that it controls us it can be the most manipulative and passive aggressive of servants. Also, the more we worry and obsess about whether our egos are controlling us or not, the more we can be sure that they are.
Perhaps it is better to just have awareness. Witness our thoughts and witness our actions and emotions and then try to have awareness of who it is that is doing the witnessing. This does not mean that to stop doing things volitionally. It does mean that we can be mindful of our actions and see where that leads us.
Blessings, G

 

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Unexpected Roadside AppearanceUnexpected Roadside Appearance by G A Rosenberg

 

Love's Strange MirrorLove’s Strange Mirror by G A Rosenberg

Moving Forward in Awe

“In marriage you are not sacrificing yourself to the other person. You are sacrificing yourself to the relationship.
You become mature when you become the authority of your own life.
Life will always be sorrowful. We can’t change it, but we can change our attitude toward it.
Awe is what moves us forward.”
― Joseph Campbell

 

I feel like writing that sentence down a hundred times. Awe is what moves us forward. It may be awful and it may be awesome but at the extremes the impetus to move may always be found. It is in the middle the doldrums when we don’t feel the awe that our life hovers along or as I use to say ‘circles the runway’. When we have ceased to find the new, the exciting either within or without. When someone complains to me about how they’re stuck and how they feel no forward progress in their lives I ask them to do an exercise for me, each day notice something beautiful and write it down. Believe me no matter how bad life can get, there are very few days in anyone’s life that does not contain at least one moment of beauty. Realizing that tends to revitalize the awesome very quickly.
Blessings, G

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Weighing of the HeartWeighing of the Heart by G A Rosenberg

 

Weighing VariationWeighing of the Heart (Variation) by G A Rosenberg

 

CrossoverCrossover by G A Rosenberg

I’d Love to Change the World…..

“If you want to change the world, you have to change the metaphor.”
― Joseph Campbell

 

How do we see the world?
Is it a battleground each day a new chance to emerge victorious or to flame out in defeat?
Is it a classroom with each day providing a new lesson which we look forward to lunch and recess?
Is it a comedy or a tragedy, each actor on a stage and who writes this stuff anyway?
Is it a cesspool in which we are mired until we can hope for freedom?
Is it a delicious orb where wonder happens all the time with no end to the potential for magic?
I believe that the answer to all the above questions is yes and by moving our view between these and many other possible true definitions of the world we can find ourselves opening up more and more to possibility and growth.
Is life a series of curses and blessings or is it a series of challenges to be met?
Blessings, G

 

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Rooted JourneyRooted Journey by G A Rosenberg

 

Blue Centre StarBlue Centre Star by G A Rosenberg

“Awe is What Moves Us Forward”

“The creative act is not hanging on, but yielding to a new creative movement. Awe is what moves us forward. ”
–Joseph Campbell

 

What fills me with awe?

  • Seeing flowers in the garden that weren’t there the day before

  • Seeing babies of almost any species

  • The extreme acts of kindness and helpfulness that people are capable of

  • The extreme acts of insensitivity that people are capable of

  • Every night when I look at a finished blog entry after the initial trepidation of  a blank screen

  • So many pieces of art and music and writing. The creative mind is a wonderful thing and I have been so fortunate in being exposed to the creative talents of so many.

  • Love in all forms

  • Appreciation for the things that I do from people.

  • Life on this planet

Blessings, G

 

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Island in the StormIsland in the Storm by G A Rosenberg

 

CrimsonsmCrimson by G A Rosenberg