From: David Buchanan (DBuchanan@ClassicalRadio.org)
Date: Sun May 11 2003 - 23:40:37 BST
Sam, Scott and all:
Sam said to Scott: ...................................................I do
not at all disagree that
there comes a time when the tradition must fall silent and say 'now you go
on your own'; my concern
is to say that the traditions are the silt/fertile soil thrown up by
previous sojourners, and that
we don't need to reinvent the wheel. I could be misunderstanding David, but
I think he's denying
that the faith traditions have any role to play, and that it is the
cultivation of the 'mystical
experience' which is the be-all and end-all. I think that's a mistake.
dmb says:
Yes, I believe you have misunderstood me on this. I'm saying that our
Western religious CAN and SHOULD play a key role in cultivating the mystical
experience. My complaint is that they don't do so. The churches, for the
most part, fail to lead people there. For the last 500 years or so and
certainly since the rise of Modernity, a literalism has crept into
Christianity so that it no longer understands its own myths and symbols
properly. Campbell and Watts, who were buddies, both show how the hero's
journey is expressed in Christianity. (Watt's was an Anglican too. I think
he even went to the same school as Sam.) I don't presently have the time or
ambition to go into detail about this, but Watt's discusses this in THE
SUPREME IDENTITY, published years before Campbell first presented the idea
of the hero's journey, and even more so in his MYTH AND RITUAL IN
CHRISTIANITY, which incorporates Campbell's insights. Very briefly, the
hero's journey is basically a map of the human maturation process. Its a
symbolic map of a psychological journey we all must make if we wish to
realize our potential as a human being. The mystical experience is the end
of the journey. Its not just some feel-good subjective grooviness. Its the
final culmination of a growth process, one that we go through over and over
as we move the stages of life. This is all depicted in Christianity, yet the
vast majority of Christians have no idea its even there. That's what the
churches don't know about itself and that ignorance is the cause of their
failure to provide real spiritual leadership. Don't get me wrong, there are
plenty of exceptions. I'm not necessarily talking about you personally,
because I wouldn't know. I'm speaking here as a sociologist or historian,
and in very general terms, when I talk about this ignorance and failure of
leadership.
Sam said to Scott:
I would not want to deny that some people seem to be able to simply bypass
it all. Yet those people
demonstrate their developed awareness through the high quality of their
lives, and so live in
recognisable continuity with the tradition (even if the social authorities
don't recognise that
continuity). Either way, unless you're a religious genius, I think you are
more likely to be able to
climb your mountain by journeying deeper into a religious tradition than by
seeking a particular
experience (which isn't to say that you won't have experiences on the way).
dmb says:
See? The idea that tradition and experience are rivals is precisely what I'm
complaining about. I'm saying the message of the myths in our culture
compells us to take a journey toward the mystical. If Campbell and Watt's
have it right, tradition and experience aren't supposed to be rivals at all,
but go together like sleds and snow, like peanut butter and jelly, like
coffee and cigarettes, like...
dmb adds:
We wouldn't want to attack tradition arbitrarily or in some degenerate
destructive way, especially if that tradition works, but if the tradition is
ineffective and the institutions stale and corrupt, well then perhaps it is
time for some change. Maybe its time for a hero. Maybe its time to breath
new life into old things. Maybe its time for a little moral regeneration or
outright revolution. You know the saying, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it"?
I think it IS broke and desperately needs fixin'.
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