Transpersonal Psychology and the Hero's Journey

Each of us are a product of our life experiences, the things that we are taught as children, the beliefs we have etc. Together these forces combine to create, for each of us, our way of viewing the world. This view of the world has a deep impact on the way that we live and in particular with how we process the stimuli that are fed to us every moment of our life to create knowledge within ourselves.

For ancient man, religion played a deep and abiding part in the construct of our world view. However, since the renaissance started to peel back the veneer of religion and allow us to understand the world around us, man has increasingly shed the beliefs of our ancestors leaving us bereft of many of the traditional rituals that allowed us to find our place in life and the universe.

Traditionally belief and ritual have played important roles in providing a basis for how we lived our lives. Religion, and more specifically the concept of God provided for us an epistomological putty that filled in anything we didn’t understand (why does the storms destroy my crops – ah it must be the wrath of God for my failing to remove that neighbor who doesn’t share my absolute knowledge of the truth – therefore if I don’t want to lose my crops next year I better get rid of that neighbor, or at least convert him to my ways that he may know the truth too). Ritual provided for us a way to undertake those key transformative journeys that marked the passage of key milestones in life.

Today so much of the epistemological putty has been prised out and filled in with scientific knowledge and understanding that we find God committed to being the God of the fringes. At the same time we have ceased to observe many of those key rituals and as a consequence we are left without a process for marking transition in our lives, and no belief framework in which to place ourselves and give us a yardstick against which to measure our actions.

Yet for many, the beliefs of the past are still an integral part of existence, even though the body of scientific fact has destroyed the basis for those beliefs (for example we once knew that we were the entire purpose of Gods creation and sat at the centre of the universe- today we know that we live on an insignificant planet in an insignificant solar system on the edge of one of trillions of galaxies). Our centre has been removed.

Yet in the midst of that we still have to live and try to find some purpose or meaning to our existence. Without those key transformative rituals, for example, how does a young man grow up and take his place in society without experiencing significant difficulties in settling to the role that society would have him fill.

How then, can we transform ourselves and effectively take our place in society?

Several years ago I started on a piece of writing where I drew on the work of Joseph Campbell, Carl Jung and many others to look at the transpersonal journey that many take in the second half of life. This piece of work has been sitting unfinished as I tried to deal with my own transpersonal journey. I have now picked it back up and I am going to try and puull the threads together.
Given the volume to be discussed and the range of issues to be considered, it is somewhat beyond the scope of a blog based discussion. Instead I will undertake this piece of work in the form of a personal wiki.

Sitting in a Chair and Looking in the Distance

All religions will pass, but this will remain, simply sitting in a chair and looking in the distance. (V.V. Rosanov)

I open this blog with Rosanov’s thought, for that is what I would like to do in this entry – sit in my own chair, look in the distance, and tell you a little about the view from here. I wrote the first version of this blog for the Joseph Campbell Forum some three years ago. Since that time much has happened in the world which has reinforced my thoughts at that time. So I thought I would update this blog.

It is important to note that this is my view. I am not making a declarative statement that "this is the way it is", nor attempting to get the reader to agree with my world view. One of my strongest beliefs is in order to find our authentic selves as humans, it is important to find our own path.

And where is this chair placed?

Over on the Joseph Campbell Forum, a thread started in 2004 titled "Self-Induced Transformations[context defines]" (my user name in the forums is "sladeb"), I suggested that during the journey through the forest there are times when all travellers need to stop and take a break – to pause at an Inn along the way, look at our maps, determine what we have learned and try to discover a little about what lies ahead (noting that the traveller who follows a new path can only know in general terms about the beasts roaming the forest). So my chair is placed in the window of that Inn, and I look to the forest ahead, noting that behind me lay many lessons which help forge how I try to solve the challenges of the future.

In the existentialist tradition one philosopher to whom I most relate is Karl Jaspers, who, like me, discovered the joy of human philosophy in the second half of life. In his work Jaspers turned the discussion of philosophy back to the issues of life as it is lived and experienced by the individual in one’s own time. He did not suggest abandoning consideration of the history or inherited traditions of philosophy, but rather that "Our own power of generation lies in the rebirth of what has been handed down to us. If we do not wish to slip back, nothing must be forgotten; but if philosophizing is to be genuine our thoughts must arise from our own source" (Jaspers, 1941). It is in the context of our time and our challenges that we must consider the lessons of myth, metaphor and philosophy.

In my own journey through the forest in recent years, after passing through the battle with the dragon "Thou Shalt," I entered the cave which the dragon guarded. Within the cave I found many boons to be had, including lessons from the past, looking-glasses to help understand a little of the future, and crystal balls that dimmed the clouds of my own prejudices and beliefs enough to allow a glimpse of the world through the eyes of another. It was difficult at first to see what prize would be of most value. After a time I placed these treasures in the context of the current world need and then it became easy to see which gifts were the ones I was best equipped to bring back to society. I grasped these and left the rest for others to find.

It is not easy to describe this gem, but suffice to say it is a contribution that is needed in our time. I hope I can articulate a little what the treasure is at this pause on the path.

Moving from the personal to the collective, as I look out the window and gaze into the distance there are very large mountains looming ahead - mountains which mankind as a whole must cross. Unfortunately, some of these appear to be heights we have crossed before, which some world leaders appear to be suggesting we should visit again (for example, the resurgence of Cold War rhetoric and behaviour). Some of the mountains have been raised by the geological impact of our own human journey (environmental problems, sustainability, global food shortages) and some just seem too hard for humanity to cross so far (religious fundamentalism, for example).

The sad truth is that those most impacted by the struggle to cross these mountains are those least able to carry the burden and adapt to the difficulties inherent in traversing such dangerous peaks. Global food riots and street protests triggered by the high cost of basic commodities, drought, severe storms and a rising level of global conflict all point to the challenges we face. And it is in the light of these challenges that I selected the tools and boons I have taken from the cave.

The tools I've chosen are those which I can best employ to help others safely cross those looming mountains. Extending the metaphor, some are core tools - the pitons and ropes of short term aid and the lifeline of basic medicines - to assist the struggling climber. But the most powerful boon, which the dragon had hoarded for far too long, proved the crystal ball that allowed me to dim the clouds of my own prejudices and beliefs enough to glimpse the world through the eyes of a fellow traveller. The abandonment of my own rigid belief systems has let me understand that belief and prejudice cloud our judgement and colour our view of the world. It is difficult to get struggling fellow travellers to grasp the rope thrown, or hold tight to the piton, when they think that they must sacrifice their own beliefs in doing so.

And so, with these tools in my kitbag, I look to the distance and see the mountains. The course I chart is coupled to the tools and boons I carry. And, having taken up these tools, like Campbell I found that somehow doors do seem to open; by using those tools to help others I am living out of the center of my own bliss.

This is not to say that I can dictate how the tools are used by others. How they use them will be their own responsibility.

(This is an extremely poignant lesson I recently learned. We struggled to provide assistance to the people of Myanmar to help them recover from the recent devastating cyclone - but, for their leaders, political exigencies proved more important than the provision of real aid to sustain their own citizenry.)

So much for the journey ahead. What have I learned from the journey behind?

It is clear that the only way that the human species can solve the complex problems that lay before it is for each individual to realize the unique treasures that he or she can bring to our human challenges. We in the West have invented many things to avoid the potential abyss of a Godless existence. Yet, as Paul Tillich pointed out, it is the "deep questions" which constitute our ultimate concern as humans, and the way that we respond to these ultimate concerns is called religion.

I cannot help but come to the conclusion that what is needed is a religion that allows every person the right to explore and experience life in his or her own unique way. Furthermore, this experience should, for the sake of a holistic approach to the wonder of life, include experience of the sublime, the Spiritual.

Equipping individuals with the tools to look beyond the boundaries of commonly accepted practice and belief to find new solutions that lead us forward is key to overcoming some of the so called "intransigent problems" of society.

This, I believe is the key message which I draw from the ancient hero’s quest myths. If one chooses to move beyond the boundaries of conventional religion, pass the guardians and enter the realm of the quest, one can survive the journey, learn new lessons, gain boons and bring those boons back into society - gifts of knowledge that allow humanity to step forward. In this realm, human mythology is essential to the work of many psychologists, anthropologists and philosophers. An understanding of mythology is key to Jung’s process of individuation, to Maslow’s peak experience, and to Assagioli’s field of transpersonal psychology.

And yet that path through the forest is, ultimately, an individual journey ...

A religion of the Self?

Per Ardua Ad Astra (Through Struggle to the Stars)

Per Ardua Ad Astra is the phrase embedded in the crest of the Royal Australian Airforce. It translates to "Through Struggle to the Stars". This phrase has taken on significant meaning for me over the last 12 months. Those who know me will know that I have been working on my PhD thesis for the last six years. When I started that journey I was very pessimistic about the future of the human race - species homo sapien sapien.

As I have journeyed through my own voyage of discovery to develop my own philosophical body of work, I started out from the technology world of information systems developed for military and emergency service. From that launchpad I ventured into human psychology, human philosophy and thence into the realm of anthropology and human development. Throughout that process I developed an understanding of the human enterprise and its journey through the ages.

One of the key things I discovered was that, as a species, we are remarkably adaptive.

From our origins in Africa, the journey of the human enterprise has been punctuated by periods of significant advancement - events that changed the game for our species. It has also been punctuated by events that had the potential to render our species extinct. But through all those events, we learned to adapt, to evolve, to develop new skills and to triumph against adversity.

It is true as a species that we face some challenges that have the potential, yet again, to, at the very least, destroy the functions of human civilization. Perhaps even to render our species extinct. Yet we have this capacity to adapt that means I am optimistic about our capacity to not only survive, but as a result of challenge to adapt and evolve further. To emerge wiser and ready to continue our journey to the stars - for that is where our future lies.

As we ponder how to adapt to the challenges of climate change, of the development of a global society and ethic, lets also stand on this world and think about reaching out to the next one.

Maslow and Marketing

This blog was generated in response to a blog by Alison Macleod (http://thehumanelement.co.uk/?p=330) in which she noted that a UK based organisation was using Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs to divide the UK population based on their values (I assume as drawn from Maslow's work).

I partially concur with the views expressed by Alison regarding simplistic use of Maslow's work. However I do not agree with the following comments:

 "there’s really no evidence for his hierarchy.  Yes, it’s a useful sketch of motivation, and a very pretty pyramid, but there is no evidence that you can account for real people’s behaviour by invoking any part of it apart from the part about people requiring food and water."

If one were to view the pyramid in isolation as most do, then it may appear simplistic. It is very easy to dismiss images like this as "pretty pyramids" but in reality there is a deep basis for this work. If one is to take a position on this particular image, then there is a lot of reading to do. Maslow arrived at this representation of a portion of his work following long and deep research and the collection of large amounts of data.

If we are to to understand the image then we need to read the surrounding body of work. And then follow the reference sources. Such a journey will lead the individual to read Jung and Frankl (he notes the triumph of the human spirit even through the miseries of his own experience of Dachau)  and Freud, then through a journey of human thinking which will incorporate the thoughts of the Buddha and Christ  and many other thinkers. One would journey through the legend of the grail and many other great legends which conveyed human aspiration.

The work of Maslow tried to capture the essence of the human aspiration for something higher. The pyramid was a small part of that work. Marketers and motivators who use the pyramid to support things like dividing humans up into value driven sets are using the tool in a way for which it was never intended to be used.

But then that would assume that marketers and motivators actually have the motivation to read more than what is on wikipedia.

The Human Experience

I have been pondering what it means to be human and the role of religion and spirituality in the human journey. I think that we have, over the last 50 years or so tried too hard to deny the human spiritual experience.

I would like to place before you another way of looking at this question. There is an all too frequent tendency in many of us to stand outside and cast stones through the stained glass windows of other people's belief systems. Whilst it is true, for example, that the Catholic church has left itself open to ridicule and contempt as a result of the behaviours of a few, it is important to remember that it is just that - the behaviour of a few. In any human collective there will always be those who abuse their positions. In my own life I have witnessed abuses of power by those who seemed to be more concerned with the visible trappings of their own sense of self importance than they are with the needs of those for whom they had a responsibility and duty of care.

The founder of the Mormon faith recorded the view that

"We have learned by sad experience that it is the nature and disposition of almost all men, as soon as they get a little authority, as they suppose, they will immediately begin to exercise unrighteous dominion"

Enough said...

For myself, I find a great deal of value in the words of the sufi mystic Ibn Arabi "the colour of the water is the colour of the receptacle".

In all of the variety of religious experience there are gems that somehow resonate with a part of who we are as humans. Now I have no experimental basis on which to prove this is so, but I suspect that in the deeper parts of our unconscious (perhaps even down in Jungs Collective Unconscious) there is something that resonates with us and, for a moment, can draw us out of the mundane and remind us that our very existence is a miracle. The very fact that we can think about the fact that we think and ponder why the universe is and why, in all the infinite range of potential outcomes that the universe could throw up, it threw up consciousness and for a moment certain experiences can open something in us that senses awe.

For those whose heritage is of the West, if you ever get the opportunity to sit through a Catholic sung High Mass, seize it. And for a moment set aside any preexisting notions and prejudices and just try and sense the connection with the heritage of our western collective unconscious. Feel for a moment the mystery again.

In my own life's journey I have learned that in all spiritual experience there is something that resonates in us. Perhaps it is the shadows of our ancestors as they looked up at the stars from the plains of Africa and first began to wonder what life was about that resonates within us. Have you ever wondered what it was that first evoked that sense of awe. We know that as the jungle receded in Africa, our earliest ancestors had to adapt to life on the open plains. Perhaps (and this is pure conjecture on my part) they one night looked up and saw the stars and actually wondered... or perhaps it was a wondering on what happened when a member of the tribe died. But whatever it was, it opened up in us a sense of wondering, and from wonder to awe and thus the human journey took a significant step forward.

Unfortunately in our post-modern scientific world we have tried to bury this sense of awe. We have dared to suggest that because it could not be measured or quantified that his fundamental part of our human experience should be forever denied. I think that determination to bury so much of the human experience has reached it's crescendo in the attacks on the non quantifiable parts of the human experience embodied in works such as the God Delusion.

Awe and wonder lift us out of the mire of the daily human battle to exist. Awe and wonder transform mere existence into the wonder of life and love places a reason in our hearts to continue the journey.

Whether a certain religous view is right or wrong is irrelevant if within the maze of the religious experience an individual can for a moment sense awe and wonder. This is, in my humble opinion the core of the religious experience.

Ritual and the Human Journey

Whilst sitting in a solemn mass I pondered the role of ritual as a marker of significant moments in the human journey.Our ancestors used ritual to mark many things in their lives. The achievment of a goal (perhaps a successful hunt), the marking of life transitions (from child to adult for example) or an important date in the annual cycle of life.

As Christianity achieved a foothold it embraced the concept of ritual and provided rituals within the church that would mark these dates, times and occasions. Eastern religions too embrace, to this day, a series of festivals and observations that are ritual in nature which unite the community.  In our post modern world, sadly, we have all too frequently abandoned the rituals.

We are left with little that marks the passing of significant occasions, except an observance of public holidays that are based on religious festivals that have little meaning for many anymore.

But alongside the ritual markers for significant events are many other rituals that either provide a basis for helping us to get through the daily grind of life or allow us to highlight the things which are important to us. How about the ritual of love between two people? Could there be any ritual more deeply associated with a relationship than the rituals of intimacy? Or what about the ritual of sitting with friends over a good meal? Or just a simple cup of coffee?

So have we abandoned ritual? I think not. Yet we have an almost instinctive suspicion of ritual to mark more significant events. I think there is a desperate need, in the scrabble to find meaning in life, for us to reassert ritual in observance of life's passing journey.

Could I suggest to anyone thinking about the value of ritual to take the time to attend a religous ritual and just to observe. For me, in the western tradition in which I was raised, the pinnacle of this is the Anglo-Catholic high mass. For anyone who has this practiced nearby, there is a deep value to be found in participating in this ritual. For myself there is something that reconnects me with those who have gone before. I can, for a moment, indulge all my senses in a ritual which has its roots in earliest western tradition. I can recommend it regardless of your belief or otherwise in supernatural beings and concepts.

What is It to be Human?

Like many others before me, I have tried to understand what defines us as humans. What is it that makes us different from other animals? What is it that has placed us at the apex of all life on this planet?

I wonder if it could be that, unlike any other species, we are continually striving to make the life of our children a little better than our own. We seek to enhance the quality of life that they will enjoy. We seek to eliminate from the world they inherit, the things we found uncomfortable about the world we inherited from our parents.

Understanding that this may be one of the defining characteristics of our human nature though, throws into stark relief the behaviour that our generation has pursued. It is likely that no other generation will ever live as comfortably as the Baby Boomer generation. As a generation we have enjoyed a level of comfort unprecedented in human history. The problem is that in doing so we have consumed in excess of the resources that were ours to borrow. We are indeed, as suggested by Tim Flannery, the future eaters. We hand to our children a planet significantly degraded, which is stressed and is showing the first signs of a systemic collapse of the systems that support our life and consume our waste.

How has this generation so defied our human nature as to actually hand to the next generation something that is less comfortable than the life we enjoyed?