Your Meaning

Multiple posts, anecdotes and stories have a seeker climbing a mountain or crossing rushing waters to reach a sage, yogi or guru. The seeker's ever-present question: What is the meaning of life? Responses range from sincere koans to multi-layered stories to snappy retorts. The replies remain open-ended. It's up to the seeker, the reader, to find meaning.

Joseph Campbell redirects the question. Life itself is not what holds meaning. We do. We are alive to bring purpose into the world. If we look at our lives, where do we find meaning? Generally, we find it in the presence of family and friends, in relationships with people and our surroundings. When we discover ourselves seeking life's meaning, it's often because we have lost touch with one of our primary or supporting relationships. This happens in various ways, from the death of a loved one to retirement to our childhood house being razed to a child's marriage and move. We feel grief because of the loss, whether it is something we deem positive such as retirement or our child's marriage or it is something we call negative such as death or a destroyed building. We think the positive losses should not create grief, but our hearts, our spirits, don't follow the course of our shoulds. We feel the loss and we are not able to control that sensation. This does not mean we aren't happy also. We often believe grief and joy don't occupy the same space ~ but they do. They both occupy our hearts.

What Campbell brings forward is that our search for meaning is truly the search for ourselves. Who are we? What brings us joy? How do we express ourselves in the world? When we feel lost or we have lost someone or something important to us, we have difficulty answering those questions. We want the outer world ~ or the Divine ~ to define the meaning of what we are feeling. But that doesn't happen. We are the meaning. All of what we feel is important and significant. It defines us.

In this moment, how do you define your life's meaning? What are you in the midst of doing? How are you living your life? What measure do you use to determine meaning? How do you deal with grief? Can you recall a time when both grief and joy were present in your life?

Your Unique Potential

When I first read this Joseph Campbell quote, I thought about the career I chose to pursue when I was in school. I focused on that pursuit being the definition of my unique potential. I went away from the quote for awhile.... left the image sitting in a folder on my computer. When I returned to it, the words seemed somehow changed.

What truly changed was my reading of them. That very first line snags my mind with a wild image: "...never was on land or sea." As though what we seek is unique to each of us individually even if the basic job descriptions or life descriptions share the same wording.

When I consider the number of times I could have let my own uniqueness shine, I realize that I instead spent a chunk of time fading into anonymity. Why? Several reasons. One is that I am, at heart, an introvert. Being in the limelight does not come easily to me. Another is the fear of failure. In order to truly succeed at stepping into a fuller potential, there is a better than even chance of failure. Now I understand that 'failure' is simply a word with greater or lesser emotion attached to it. For me, it used to be greater. It's growing lesser with each passing season. I also was negligent of the possibility of success. What would it take? Was my dream, my desire, big enough?

An important lesson I've learned lately is that it is never too late to reach for a dream. I've been blessed with a number of course changes during my life. Currently, I'm heading for another. It's all good ~ and bringing me closer to becoming something that "never was on land or sea."

Have you reached your fullest potential? How unique do you see yourself being? Is there something more calling to you? Are you willing to head for your own course change? Where would that lead you?

Predicting

"One cannot predict the next mythology any more than one can predict tonight's dream; for a mythology is not an ideology. It is not something projected from the brain, but something experienced from the heart."

~ Joseph Campbell, The Inner Reaches of Outer Space

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I love Joseph Campbell and I am grateful for the breadth of his work being recorded in some way. His books, interviews and presentations are fascinating and his creativity boundless. The above statement, two sentences, is packed with meaning.

"[T]he next my mythology..." What does that mean? Are mythologies created? Can they change or adapt to the current age? How much control do we have over their development? or their creation?

To better understand Campbell's statement, I looked for a definition for mythology that went beyond "a collection of myths" and found "...a set of legends, stories or beliefs, especially ones that have a religious or cultural tradition." In that context, each new or emerging culture could potentially develop its own mythology. I like that; it rings true in relation my experiences.

In the media, every 'generation' has received a reference term (Millenials, GenXers, Boomers, etc.). Each of those generations seems to develop some portion of its own mythology. What are the stories, the legends Boomers believe? What about Millenials? How are they different? How are they similar?

Belief in particular stories does come from the heart more than the head. There was a legend that grew around 9/11 regarding who had 'weapons of mass destruction.' Even though the reality proved different from that legend, many people choose to believe the myth.

Now there's a growing movement regarding Marriage Equality. The challenge from the old belief system and from the new mythology are clashing ~ and the new is emerging with a spreading victory across the country.
                                                                        
Although both of these are political situations, their truth lies in the beliefs of the people more than in anything solid. Our culture shifts with each new mythology as it builds momentum and finds footing. Joseph Campbell's statement bears validity today too.

What are the myths you've grown to believe? Do you think mythologies change with each new cultural group that arises? Have your beliefs shifted with the tide? or as you've grown older?

Meaning in Life

"If you want a meaning in your life, find a meaning and bring it into your life, but life won't give you a meaning. Meaning is a concept. It is a notion of an end toward which you are going. The point of Buddhism is This Is It."

~ Joseph Campbell, Myths of Light

Though I wouldn't call myself a Buddhist, I willingly acknowledge This Is It. This moment is truly all I have. I plan for the future: what I'll wear tomorrow; how soon I can pay off my credit cards; dinner plans with a friend. That keeps my mind's eye pointed in that direction. What I have, though, is NOW: the clatter of dishes in the sink, the people around me talking, the music playing over the radio..... and what's most alive in my soul.

What is it that's alive in my soul? In this moment, it's gratitude: for a warm place to sit; for the technology on which I am typing; for the tea I am drinking; for the people in my life, individually and collectively; for my employment.

For me, the most difficult part of This Is It rests in letting go of the plans, of the chatter of my mind about what more needs to be done, of the itch to tap the next screen and read the next text. I live and breathe our fast-paced, overwrought world. Besides that, I'm an information junkie ~~ in certain arenas. I love reading, learning, discovering. Those things keep me focused on the future, on tomorrow or, at the very least, on the next moment.

For now, I'll take a deep breath, let my fingers rest beside the keys rather than on them, close my eyes, and let the breath flow out of me.

How do you stay focused on this moment, the one you are in? Do you believe This Is It? or do you believe there is more? How do you balance yourself between the Now and the Then?

Life Awaits

Speaking with a friend recently, I referenced Joseph Campbell and the many ideas I learned reading and listening to him. This quote came to mind since it fits the current theme of my life.

I planned different tracks for my life over the years: where I would live, where I would teach, what and who I would teach, where I would travel, who I would be with (in every different sense of that phrase), how long I would be somewhere, how long I would do something.... I could go on and on.

Yet each time something new showed up and I shifted from my plan to what was waiting for me, I discovered a renewal that left me nothing but grateful. Maybe not at first, but when I stepped out of the way, breathed into the change and relaxed, it was beautiful.

It's the last line of this quote that brings out my grin. I don't know that I looked at the changes as shedding skin, but that certainly fits. My thoughts went more to the adage about the seed needing to die in the earth in order for the plant to grow. Both metaphors work. Beauty and renewal arrive when I let go of what no longer serves or suits me.

What skins have you shed? As the seasons change, what needs to change within you? How do you open yourself to the process of letting go?