(From the Cassiopaeans) A: The point is: stop filling your consciousness with monotheistic philosophies planted long ago to imprison your being. Can't you see it by now, after all you have learned, that there is no source, there is no leader, there is no basis, there is no overseer, etc... You literally possess, within your consciousness profile, all the power that exists within all of creation!?! You absolutely have all that exists, ever has, or ever will, contained within your mind. All you have to do is learn how to use it, and at that moment, you will literally, literally, be all that is, was, and ever will be!!!!!!!!
[Comment - If there is no Source, then, where do our capacities and possibilities come from, and why do we become alienated from them and, thereby, lose sight of them? Why is the universe like it is? Why should one suppose that it was always this way (which may get rid of the problem of having to account for origins but leaves an equally big problem of how did the universe come to have the possibilities it does?
Given (by their own admission) that the Cassiopaeans have not obtained 7th density being - and even assuming that 7th density marks the end of the line, so to speak, how can one be sure that the Cassiopaeans know what the Source of things is ? Maybe, just as they tell 3rd density beings that they wouldn’t understand or that they are not ready for such things yet, maybe the difference between 6th level density and 7th level density is many magnitudes of difference and that 6th density understanding is distorted as a result of these differences just as 3rd density understanding is distorted due to its inability to understand the nature of 4th density realities.
In addition, despite their criticisms of monotheism, the Cassiopaeans are making promises, alluding to secrets, and terrorizing with the possibility of 'punishment' just like some of the monotheistic religious traditions which they denigrate. The nature of the reward and punishment may be different in each case, but there is definitely both a carrot (“you will literally, literally, be all that is, was, and ever will be” and a stick (being eaten by the Lizzies and exploited by STS denizens) which is being used by the Cassiopaeans to herd Laura and company into a potential cul-de-sac.
What proof is there that there is no origin or source for our existence independent of the Cassiopaeans saying so? If one can pray to Jesus (peace be upon him) and 11 others and prayers are answered on a need relative to background basis, then, why can’t one pray to God and have prayers answered?]
(From the Cassiopaeans) Q: (L) That is all fine and dandy and sounds wonderful, except for one little item. You also say that the monotheistic concepts were IMPOSED on us to prevent us from knowing this. So, if we are all that is, how can something exist that can impose something so unpleasant on us?
A: Choices follow desire based imbalances.
[Comment - How do these “desire based imbalances” arise? What makes them possible? Where does desire come from?
The Big Bang theory would suggest that things haven’t been around for ever in their present state or condition. If one accepts such a perspective, then, how did the Big Bang take place and how did consciousness, intelligence, creativity, language, and spirituality arise out of the Big Bang?]
(From Laura Knight-Jadczyk) In the myths of archaic peoples, the rites and beliefs surrounding the idea of the "Regeneration of Time" vary from group to group and place to place. But, the themes are still fairly consistent in that before time can be renewed, there are certain phases of chaos that must be endured.
The energies of our archetypes can "fill us with radiant light, or overwhelm us with destruction and despair. They are our gods within, spiritually and instinctually." [Woodman, Leaving my Father's House, 1992]
(From Laura Knight-Jadczyk) Archetypal energies can be activated in a variety of ways. A specific archetype can be activated in the psyche of one individual, or in the collective psyche of a group or a culture. The danger lies in not understanding the nature of the archetype - in believing ourselves to BE the archetype itself and thereby confusing our personal values with some absolute and exclusive version of the truth. The crucial point that must be understood is the difference between allowing the archetypal energies to act through the self, as opposed to believing that one has become the deity. This distinction is the difference between hubris and humility. One must realize that one is a simple and sacred soul who has, for unfathomable reasons, been graced by the gods. Any attempt to alter the drama, any idea that one IS the archetype, and therefore has the right or ability to choose to act other than according to the divine script, can end in disaster.
[Comment - What does it really mean to speak of deities - in the plural? What is a Deity?
Is the basic qualification just a matter of someone or something possessing more power and/or knowledge? Why does that make the thing, entity or individual a god?
What are the energies of an archetype? What, really, is an archetype? Where do archetypes come from and what makes them possible and what function do they serve?
Why should a person let the energies of the archetype act through them? Does one have any free will or choice in this matter, and if one doesn't, then, what happened to this realm being the arena of free will, and why is my freedom of choice being impinged upon and violated through the presence of archetypes?
How and why do archetypes become activated in the psyche and what is there within the psyche which is capable of being activated and becoming a conduit of archetypal energy? What are the degrees of freedom with respect to such activation and response?
Why do the same sort of archetypes seem to keep recurring? How many archetypes are there? Is this a function of the structure of the human being and what it is capable of responding to, or is it a function of the nature of reality? Are archetypes just one among a number of symbol systems, and, if so, are archetypes only relevant to certain levels or dimensions of being?
Are archetypes the result of a human hermeneutical projection onto reality according to certain experiential issues and themes which are organized or coalesced into categories of patterns that are then, manipulated by other forces or agencies (e.g., jinn, nafs, angels) to energize them and, thereby, induce the themes to influence a person’s life in various directions? Are archetypes related to the Names of God - that is, are archetypes manifestations of different dimensions of various Divine Names or combination of Divine Names?]
(From Laura Knight-Jadczyk) The essential part of the Renewal of Time archetype is the idea of the end and the beginning of a temporal period based on biocosmic rhythms and forming part of a larger system. The purging and expulsion of sin was the chief drama before the New Year could be born. Mircea Eliade writes:
"...This annual expulsion of sins, diseases, and demons is basically an attempt to restore - if only momentarily - mythical and primordial time, "pure" time, the time of the "instant" of the Creation. Every New Year is a resumption of time from the beginning, that is, a repetition of the cosmogony. The ritual combats between two groups of actors, the presence of the dead, the Saturnalia, and the orgies are so many elements which ...denote that at the end of the year and in the expectation of the New Year there is a repetition of the mythical moment of the passage from chaos to cosmos."
[Comment - The aforementioned phenomenon would seem to be fed by a human need or desire to: be purified; be born again; be restored to a state of purity ... to have the slate wiped clean. This need is not necessarily something which is a function of an external archetype that takes hold of us and plays out its drama, but, rather, it may be a reflection of psychological (and related social/cultural institutions and processes) processes and dynamics.
Archetypes may be projected functions of different kinds of longing within human beings - longings for return, for rebirth, for cleansing, for knowledge and wisdom, for love, for self-realization, to be a hero, to be a warrior, to be pious, to be mischievous and rebellious, to be desirable and alluring to others. These longings are, then, engaged by various forces and, in the process, energized and manipulated or exploited. Archetypes may give expression to a symbolic manner of indicating the presence of imbalance within an individual - imbalances which exist as longings that are not being put into, or acted upon, through an authentic spiritual perspective.]
(From: The Myth of the Eternal Return) "...In each of these systems we find the same central idea of the yearly return to chaos, followed by a new creation.
...Baptism is equivalent to the ritual death of the old man followed by a new birth. On the cosmic level, it is equivalent to the deluge: abolition of contours, fusion of all forms, return to the formless. ...All the rest is only the application, on different planes answering to different needs, of the same archetypal gesture: the regeneration of the world and life through repetition of the cosmogony." [Eliade, The Myth of the Eternal Return, 1954]
[Comment - Chaos may give expression to the call of nafs (the seat of rebellion toward truth), shaitan (satanic forces), dunya (the world which is generated through the entanglements of the collective dynamic of individual nafs), and the unbelievers. Chaos reigns when we are under the influence of something other than properly purified and calibrated internal spiritual faculties.
The flow between chaos and the alleged archetype of temporal renewal may just mark part of the ebb and flow of, among other things, faith. In other words, currents run between the possibility of chaos and the possibility of renewal. When we cater to non-spiritual dimensions of existence and, as a result, get pulled into a maelstrom of chaos, the God-given, human inclination (and this may be rooted in the heart rather than be a manifestation of some sort of archetype which grabs hold of us) is to seek delivery through rituals that offer the possibility and hope of becoming purified, renewed, reborn, and on course with respect to pursuing the actual purpose of life.]
"...Myth is the secret opening through which the inexhaustible energies of the cosmos pour into human cultural manifestation." [Campbell, The Hero With a Thousand Faces, 1949]
[Comment - On the other hand, myth may be an hermeneutical opening through which the energies of nafs, dunya, shaitan, and unbelievers pour into individual and social processes and assume forms that nurture and sustain the idols that often rule over and govern human life - idols which have usurped the role of, and short-circuited, the search for truth. To the extent we pursue myths or archetypes, and depending on the character of the myth or archetype being considered, we may, or may not, be straying from the pursuit of essential truths about ourselves and our spiritual capacity.
Why do "the inexhaustible energies of the cosmos pour into human cultural manifestation"? via myths? Who or what sets this influx in motion? What is the significance of such an in-pouring? Not everyone who believes in, or studies, myths agrees with the Joseph Campbell's perspective concerning such issues.]
(From Laura Knight-Jadczyk) Of course, at the time, I had no idea that I was acting out an archetype. The very thought would have filled me with horror. I remember that, back in the 80's when I was wrestling with the problem of why I had been born with such a huge question mark in my mind - with no apparent outlet for this questing energy - I knew that I must begin to do something. At the time, meditation seemed the right answer ...
I had my life set up and organized; I was married and had children and I had a "fairy tale" idea of how marriage and raising children was supposed to turn out. Anything that threatened that vision was to be rejected, pushed away and denied.
[Comment - The transition is not always from: fairy tale to truth. Sometimes, we swap one fairy tale for another; one myth for another; or, one archetype for another.
The change associated with the swapping process is perceived as constructive and beneficial because, as the saying goes - sometimes a change is as good as a vacation. Sometimes, change permits conceptual and emotional dust to be redistributed around the room of our being.
As a result, one feels one is solving problems and making progress. However, in actuality, one may only be caught up in an existential cycle in which, sooner or later, old problems recur, or new problems arise, or one’s sense of self-realization is thwarted, or one is induced to enter into a state of counterfeit intoxication where one is mesmerized by the change that has come into one’s life even as one begins to live a life of illusion and delusion.]
(From Campbell) - "The hero is the man of self-archieved submission. But submission to what? That precisely is the riddle that today we have to ask ourselves and that it is everywhere the primary virtue and historic deed of the hero to have solved." [Campbell, 1949]
[Comment - Yes, this is the question ... submission to what? Surely, the only acceptable answer to this question is: the Truth. Discovering the Truth, or parts thereof, is the challenge which must be engaged and resolved.
Then, the question becomes - what is the Truth concerning: purpose, meaning, identity, capacity, values, and behavior. On the other hand, not all things that are true will necessarily help one solve the foregoing problems.
For example, there are many things in the sciences or other disciplines which might, within limits, be considered to be true. Nevertheless, these truths will not necessarily help one to discover the nature of essential identity and unique spiritual capacity or what to do with these if and when one realizes the truth about them.]
(From Campbell) - “The first work of the hero is to retreat from the world scene of secondary effects to those causal zones of the psyche where the difficulties really reside, and there to clarify the difficulties, eradicate them in his own case (i.e., give battle to the nursery demons of his local culture) and break through to the undistorted, direct experience and assimilation of what C.G. Jung has called "the archetypal images." This is the process known to Hindu and Buddhist philosophy as viveka, "discrimination."
“The archetypes to be discovered and assimilated are precisely those that have inspired, throughout the annals of human culture, the basic images of ritual, mythology, and vision. These "Eternal Ones of the Dream" are not to be confused with the personally modified symbolic figures that appear in nightmare and madness to the still tormented individual. Dream is the personalized myth, myth the depersonalized dream... in myth the problems and solutions shown are directly valid for all mankind.”
"Such a one's visions, ideas, and inspirations come pristine from the primary springs of human life and thought. Hence they are eloquent ... of the unquenched source through which society is reborn. The hero has died as a modern man; but as eternal man - perfected, unspecific, universal man - he has been reborn. His second solemn task and deed therefore is to return then to us, transfigured, and teach the lesson he has learned of life renewed.” [Campbell, 1949]
[Comment - Perhaps, what is to be discovered and assimilated are not archetypes but, rather, the essential Self and all that this encompasses - both with respect to capacity and identity, as well as with respect to responsibilities. The aspiration for the Self does not “come pristine from the primary springs of human life and thought” but comes from who one is essentially - it does not come from outside, but from within.
Conceivably, archetypal history comes from the failed attempts at finding the Self . Those who go out to engage, and do battle with, the archetypes may have many stories to tell, and they may be transformed by their experiences. However, not all transformations necessarily lead to the realization of the Self.
Viveka - discrimination - is not a matter of struggling with the local myths in order to break through to the universal archetypal images. Instead, discrimination is to be able to distinguish myth (whether individual, social, cultural, or historical) from the truth about Self ... myths may be so many false hermeneutical renderings of experience in relation to the actual truth of human spiritual potential.]
(From Laura Knight-Jadczyk) Joseph Campbell has defined the heroic journey as follows:
"A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man."
Comment - Is it a power or a permission to disclose what is necessary for others to be able to realize that the possibility of Self-realization is not a myth, but a reality? The myth of Self-realization does not revitalize a human being. The reality of Self-realization is what revitalizes a human being.
One of the boons that is conferred empowers the hero with a permission to inform people that the possibility of Self-realization is not a myth but something which is attainable. A second boon is to provide the guidance necessary to traverse the path to Self-realization, and a third boon is to provide the support and nurturance which is necessary to activate the struggle to follow the guidance to realize the possibility one has been told about.
Notwithstanding the foregoing considerations, unfortunately, there are many people who are returning as “heroes” - either self-proclaimed or proclaimed by others - who actually are not heroes and have no boons to confer and they are spiritual charlatans and counterfeit heroes. Such spiritual frauds have no boons to confer, only abuse.]
(From Campbell) "...The adventure of the hero normally follows the pattern of ...a separation from the world, a penetration to some source of power, and a life-enhancing return."
[Comment - Why is the 'penetration' to some source of power? Why not to wisdom? Knowledge? Truth? Self-realization? Justice? Compassion? Love? Kindness? Nobility? Integrity? Sincerity? Honesty?]
(From Laura Knight-Jadczyk) The way it seems to happen, (and the reader will surely want to ponder Joseph Campbell's insightful analysis for connections and examples of their own quest), is that something that seems to be an ordinary chance encounter reveals another world archetypal forces.
[Comment - Rather than archetypes, perhaps Divinity comes into one’s life in the form of an hermeneutical catalytic agent (such as spiritual unveiling or intuition) which awakens some facet of one’s primordial nature (fitra) and arouses the individual’s himma (aspiration) for spirituality, knowledge, truth, wisdom, purpose, meaning, justice, and the like. These catalytic agents need not be archetypes but could be structural elements that are built into our spiritual potential by Divinity.]
(From Laura Knight-Jadczyk) The next event is what Campbell calls the "herald." It is a "crisis" of something completely supernatural and manifests powers that are not "ordinary" to the "real world." For me, this was the actual seeing of the Flying Black Boomerang in the sky over my house.
[Comment - Is such an event really supernatural or merely non-ordinary? Isn’t any experience which, by Divine Grace, opens one up to the possibility that things are not as they seem and enables one, thereby, to acquire some understanding with respect to the reality of truths beyond what one supposes or what one has been led to believe - truths which are central to discovering who one is and why one exists and what one’s potential is - isn’t any such ‘revelation’ a ‘descent’ of the Divine into the normal or mundane?
This event could be a book, a talk, a movie, a television/radio program, a meeting with a remarkable person, due to some form of reflection or contemplation, or a dream. Why does the event have to be "completely supernatural"?
The experience which begins to spiritually awaken us doesn't have to be non-ordinary. Rather, any experience which assists one to begin to see that the ‘ordinary’ is entirely non-ordinary and much deeper than we ordinarily suppose, is likely to herald a major transition in life.
Campbell seems to be saying that unless people have a supernatural event in their lives - or something of a completely anomalous experience, then, such individuals don’t match the hero profile. Whether or not this is true, the goal of life is not to become a hero in Campbell's sense - the goal is to realize the nature of one's essential identity and unique spiritual capacity ... the goal is to become a servant of Truth.]
(From Campbell) "...The "call to adventure" signifies that destiny has summoned the hero and transferred his spiritual center of gravity from within the pale of his society to a zone unknown. This fateful region of both treasure and danger may be variously represented: as a distant land, a forest, a kingdom underground, beneath the waves, or above the sky... but it is always a place of strangely fluid and polymorphous beings, unimaginable torments, superhuman deeds..." [Campbell, 1949]
(From Laura Knight-Jadczyk) For me, it was the big banana of all of these - and possibly the true source of all the legends about same: the world of 4th density inhabited by Drachomonoid beings, insect beings, and assorted other terrifying and fabulous creatures impossible to comprehend as "real" in the terms of our world.
[Comment - A potential problem with the foregoing is that although Laura may have been summoned, what the nature of the summoning is and who or what is behind her 'call to destiny' remains controversial. She believes she has been awakened to the Truth, but, in truth, she may have been awakened to a false paradigm with just enough elements of truth to induce her to believe that she is on the right track ... even as she is being led away from her essential potential .
Nafs or ego has many potentials and not all of them are spiritual or essential in nature. There are many forces calling us to a certain kind of destiny, and not all of these destinies are desirable.]
(From Campbell) “Refusal of the summons converts the adventure into its negative. Walled in boredom, hard work, or "culture," the subject loses the power of significant affirmative action and becomes a victim to be saved. His flowering world becomes a wasteland of dry stones and his life feels meaningless - even though, like King Minos, he may through titanic effort succeed in building an empire of renown.”
“The myths and folk tales of the whole world make clear that the refusal is essentially a refusal to give up what one takes to be one's own interest. The future is regarded not in terms of an unremitting series of deaths and births, but as though one's present system of ideals, virtues, goals and advantages were to be fixed and made secure.” [Campbell, 1949]
[Comment - Refusal or failure to discriminate between, on the one hand, the call of myths, idols, and falsehood, and, on the other hand, the call of Divinity is fundamental here. In effect, we are being called all the time - and not just through anomalous experiences - by both ‘sides’, and we are given many opportunities to make the correct differentiation.
The failed life is the one in which the correct differentiation (between truth and falsehood) has not been made or has been made but rejected in favor of being recruited by our dark sides. One’s choices determine, in part, the role and function which one will assume in the Divine Passion Play. If Divinity permits, our choices will help color or shape the sort of locus of manifestation we will become and, as such, the kind of conduit we will be for the manifestation of different forces that resonate with the quality of one's intentions and choices.]
(From Laura Knight-Jadczyk) The next stage in the archetypal heroic adventure is the appearance of supernatural aid. In some stories it is a crone, a protective figure, who provides amulets against the dragon forces.
“The helpful crone and fairy godmother is a familiar feature of European fairy lore; in Christian saints' legends the role is commonly played by the Virgin. The Virgin by her intercession can win the mercy of the Father. Spider Woman with her web can control the movements of the Sun. The hero who has come under the protection of the Cosmic Mother cannot be harmed. The thread of Ariadne brought Theseus safely through the adventure of the labyrinth. this is the guiding power that runs through the work of Dante in the female figures of Beatrice and the Virgin, and appears in Goethe's Faust successively as Gretchen, Helen of Troy, and the Virgin. ...What such a figure represents is the benign, protecting power of destiny.”
“ ...Having responded to the call, and continuing to follow courageously as the consequences unfold, the hero finds all the forces of the unconscious at his side. Mother Nature herself supports the mighty task.”
“...Protective and dangerous, motherly and fatherly at the same time, this supernatural principle of guardianship and direction unites in itself all the ambiguities of the unconscious - thus signifying the support of our conscious personality by that other, larger system, but also the inscrutability of the guide that we are following, to the peril of all our rational ends.”
“The hero to whom such a helper appears is typically one who has responded to the call. The call, in fact, was the first announcement of the approach of this initiatory priest. But even to those who apparently have hardened their hearts the supernatural guardian may appear; for, as we have seen: "Well able is Allah to save." [Campbell, 1949]
[Comment - The inscrutability of the guide is not a function of the ambiguities of the unconscious, for guidance is not a function of the unconscious ... but of Divine support. This support moves in mysterious ways - according to a Divine Himma (Aspiration) and not human aspirations.
Furthermore, such support need not come in any particular form - but, rather, in whatever form Divinity pleases - mundane or extraordinary. Moreover, the “forces of the unconscious” are not necessarily what are at our side, but, rather, Divine currents that may operate in subtle or overt ways and make use of both conscious or unconscious dynamics.
Finally, the fact that Laura has included the quote from Campbell - namely, “Well able is Allah to save”, is interesting. This is especially so given how she seems to feel about the idea of salvation and Divine intervention.]
(From Laura Knight-Jadczyk) Having the Cassiopaeans come along precisely 11 months to the day following the appearance of the "Herald," in the personification of the Flying Black Boomerang, I was well on the path of the hero's adventure,
[Comment - For Laura to suppose that she is on the path of the hero’s adventure may be a little premature. Perhaps she is and, perhaps, again, she is not. In a sense, the default line of life is the Hero’s path - this is what God wishes for each of us - and, then, all too frequently, we reset the default line, through our own choices, and begin to move in other directions.]
(From Laura Knight-Jadczyk) “With the personifications of his destiny to guide and aid him, the hero goes forward in his adventure until he comes to the "threshold guardian" at the entrance to the zone of magnified power. Such custodians bound the world in the four directions - also up and down - standing for the limits of the hero's present sphere, or life horizon. Beyond them is darkness, the unknown, and danger...”
[Comment - There may be any number of possible destiny’s that await us, and it is through our choices that we determine, if God wishes, which destiny, from among the possible ones, is to be our final destination. We carve out from the possibilities of our essential, fixed potential that portion of our potential which we take as our destiny - not realizing that, with different choices, the destiny might have been different.
Like a sculpture that is to reflect our life, we chip away everything which we do not want to remain, and we may not always know if what remains is our essential Self or a portrait of Dorian Gray. If we do not choose wisely, the destiny which we choose to guide and aid us may lead us to a place other than we suppose. Moreover, the identity of a given threshold guardian as well as the nature of the game which is being played may be hidden from us by the nature of our intentions ... until time runs out on us.]
For additional exploration of the ideas of Joseph Campbell, please link to either: Hero, or: Ma and Pa T. Riarchy Lose Their Minds
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