3 posts tagged “myth”

I just listened to a radio show from one of my friends on Facebook on the topic of Gnosticism and the Hymn of the Pearl.  I get a lot out of myth and the resulting analysis of them, and so this section of his talk was very interesting to me.

Basic story:

"The Hymn of the Pearl tells the story of a prince sent by his father, the grand King of Kings, down to Egypt to fetch “the one pearl which resides there near the ravenous dragon.” His Father promises him that once this is accomplished, he could “put(back) on that jewel-studded garment” which was made out of love” for him and would become a herald for the kingdom along with his “well-remembered brother.” Leaving his kingdom in the East, he arrives in Egypt and hurries “directly to the dragon and camps near his den.” In order “to guard against the Egyptians and against intercourse with their impurities,” he puts on their “style of dress” in order to go undercover as well as to shun any suspicion that he was a stranger in their land. As fate would have it, the Egyptians become aware that he is a stranger, form a plot to snare him and knock him into a slumber with their matter-laden food. With a taste he succumbs into forgetfulness, no longer remembering he was “a child of the king” and so becomes subservient to their king. Then he sinks “into deep sleep under the heaviness of their food.” Meanwhile, his parents recognize that he is suffering and also “suffer” over him. So the King of Kings sends a letter, exhorting him to “arise and become sober out of sleep,” since he had “fallen under the servile yoke.” He is instructed to “call to mind” his garment full of gold and his mission regarding the pearl. Heading back home toward the light, he encounters “a female being” that lifts him up and helps guide him on his return journey. Finally he is reunited with his beloved garment and “perceived in it” his “whole self as well.” From here he enters the royal realm of peace."

The basic explanation was that the Prince represents the soul.  It starts in the heavens, then is encased in bodily form in order to blend in while on its search for the pearl.  The soul then forgets its purpose, forgets that it even had another home.  Once a message from above comes to wake him up he is finally able to complete his mission and return to the fullness.

The interesting part of the talk comes in the discussion of what the pearl means.

"With this, the pearl can be isolated as “part of the divinity lost to darkness” which can only be reached if the prince retrieves it. In this sense both the prince and the pearl are the soul. He goes further in asserting that the “interchangeability of the subject and the object of the mission”(savior and soul/prince and pearl)”is the key to the true meaning of the poem and to Gnostic eschatology.”

Nice.  We are both searching and waiting to be found.  I love the subject/object ambiguity. :)

And then the meaning of the cloak:

"The pinnacle moment to understanding the cloak’s purpose is when the prince states that while they derived from “one and the same,” they were “partially divided: and then again” they “were one with a single form.” When he saw the garment, he saw in it his “whole self.” From this one may suppose that whatever the prince is so is the cloak and could even haphazardly guess that they are both soul. But they can be one form and yet fulfill different functions and even identities."

Awesome.  I just love the multi-faceted explanation.  The intricacies you can get through this sort of complicated myth and symbolism are what really excite me.

I posted this on a message board.  I think it's pretty scattered, but it's got some good stuff from Joseph Campbell in it, so I figured I'd post it. :)

*****

Thou Art That: Transforming Religious Metaphor

Joseph Campbell

There was one part of the book that I thought would make for some good discussion here. He explains the significance of the two trees in the Garden of Eden and what it could mean. To do this, he also brings in the Buddhist myth of the gates that lead to Nirvana. Some might object to that saying you have to work only within one tradition, but I think considering all religions as a piece of the puzzle can lead us to a much much better understanding.

Anyway, here we go:

"What is that tree of immortal life? Even after examining it in depth the rabbinical discussions of the two trees in the Garden, it remains something of an enigma.

"Look closely and you may see, as I do, that they are the same tree. You are in the Garden and the tree is the way out. The way out is through learning of good and evil, a process that is symbolically expressed by eating the fruit of that tree. It is as if you are walking from a room where all is one into a room where, as you pass the threshold, all is suddenly two.

"Look back at the gate of the Garden where stand the two cherubim with the flaming sword between them, and you are out, in exile from the place where all was one.

"What is the way back? The idea appears to be that God is keeping us out of the Garden, forbidding our reentry. In the Buddhist tradition, however, the Buddha says, 'Don't be afraid, come right through.'

"But what does that mean?

"Of the two guardians in the Buddhist theme, one has his mouth open, and the other has his mouth closed: they are opposites. One represents fear, the other represents desire.

"The fear is that of death and the desire is for more of this world: fear and desire are what keep you out of the Garden. It is not God who keeps us in exile, but ourselves."

He goes on to say that people are converting to the Eastern religions all the time these days because it's obvious that the meaning and relevance to their daily lives is right there. Christianity....not so much. But that doesn't mean we don't have that meaning...it's just hidden underneath so much literalism and historicism.

"This is what the story of the expulsion from the Garden of Eden is all about. It is not about an historical incident but about a psychological, spiritual experience, a metaphor for what is happening to us right now."

We make an unconscious decision to leave transcendence when we are very very young. And it's in our nature. We live in a world in which transcendence doesn't really matter if our goal is survival. Especially in the modern world, where transcendence has been all but sapped out of everything in our daily lives. And yet the way in is the same as the way out, only reflected as in a mirror. We have to see that the world is more than just opposites, but we're held back by our fears and our desires. It's our very feeling of separateness that keeps us separated.

We distinguish between heaven and earth, good and evil, right and wrong, up and down, pretty and ugly, mind and body etc. The whole world is made up of pairs of opposites for us. That is the world we live in where all is suddenly two. To get back to the Garden, we have to realize that all is also one. That the opposites are really the same thing. That is why God is often described in paradox. God is this and God is not this. God is both, for he transcends our pairs of opposites, and for him all is one. There is no other physical place where we will go to be in the Kingdom of God. That's thinking in opposites again. It's something that's already here, and yet is on its way. Heaven and Earth are one.

"The Kingdom will not come by expectation. The Kingdom of the Father is spread upon the earth, and men do not see it." - Gospel of Thomas

and

"With the moon walk, the religious myth that sustained these notions could no longer be held. With our view of earth rise, we could see that the earth and the heavens were no longer divided but that the earth is in the heavens. There is no division and all the theological notions based on the distinction between the heavens and the earth collapse with that realization. There is a unity in the universe and a unity in our own experience. We can no longer look for a spiritual order outside of our own experience."

We have to find things that open us up to transcendence and let us see the world beyond the pairs of opposites. If our symbols are failing us, we must find new ones...or breathe new life into the old ones. If our religious laws aren't serving us and helping us to reach towards God, we can't cling to them. For the Law was made for man, not man for the Law.

And we've got so much. The world is literally littered with shattered symbols. Ideas and myths that once structured society lie in ruins all around us...including parts of our own traditions. If we search and pick up the pieces and put them together, perhaps we can regain that sense of transcendence that is all too rare in our day in age.

I wonder if that whole thing didn't make any sense. I wish I was better at explaining things in more common language.

Someone asked me to explain the power of metaphor, so the first thing I did was run over to Laura's blog and look it up. ;)

I found her post on Joseph Campbell, and linked them to it (I hope you don't mind!).  Then, I stumbled on this documentary about him and I just had to share it:

Beautiful.