"Sanctify - Article and Interview on Mythology" with Muhammad Maroof Shah, Kashmir. By Willi Paul, Planetshifter.com

First, a little Greek mythology:

Titans were gargantuan, all-powerful descendants of Chaos. They bestrode the earth before the demigods and humans and lesser mortals. Among the later-arriving, ever-failing mere people were politicians, bureaucrats and politically correct wusses who made America weak and uncertain in our day. Then, in 2015 in Midtown Manhattan, a new titan - stout of frame, loud of voice, crowned with a hair-pinned mane of flaming tangerine - descended to earth on a golden escalator and said he would do America a YUGE solid and become its president.

And so Donald Trump has. And now he's shaping from the Chaos a new Age of Titans in America and around the world.

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"Understanding Myths as Saving Truths - Reading Joseph Campbell on Costs of Misreading Myths" by Muhammad Maroof Shah

Utter failure of our education in the schools and the pulpit is evidenced by equation of myth with truth (lie), asserting that the Quran has no myths and laughing at great myths of world's religions or wisdom traditions – and also calling other religions myths – and not knowing how theology and art are better served by proper understanding of myths. Fundamentalism is based on gross misreading of some key myths of one's own and other religions. Many common myths of major scriptures and certain details of Quranic myths in hadith literature have been such a problem of many modernist scholars and modernist critics of hadith. Much of wisdom literature, such traditional resources as Puranas and in fact every scripture, great art and poetry and such phenomena as Joyce and Mann abound in mythological themes that can't be appreciated without deep understanding of myth. Failure to appreciate the point that Imam Hussain has been appropriated as a mythic hero in Islamic tradition has been at the back of so many shallow critiques of rituals and celebrations of Muharram.

A major problem in understanding prophetic traditions on last days or apocalypse (on which also depends ideological or political use of religion, especially in Semitic traditions) is illumined by reading great mythologists. So much polemics on virgin birth, ascension narratives and debate on Dajjal, Beast of the Earth (Dābbat al-Arḍ)), Mahdi, second coming of Jesus, coming interfaith battles shows how little is understood of deeper realities of myth couched narratives. Religion can't be understood without understanding mythology it is tied to and world mythologies, like world religions and theologies, illuminate one another. We find myths all pervasive in religious narratives from the myths of genesis/creation to the story of Fall of Adam and mysteries surrounding birth and career of prophets and eschatological descriptions and what we daily experience as dreams. Myths conceal deep wisdom that needs to be decoded or realized.

If we agree with Joseph Campbell, one of the towering mythologists and valuable contributors to modern interpretation of religions and arts, that "The goal of life is to make your heartbeat match the beat of the universe, to match your nature with Nature" myths that express this connection are crucial for such an enterprise. For Campbell cultures live by virtue of myths and our task is to relate to the inherited treasure of myths to make life a rapture. There is a bewildering number of myths in world cultures whose underlying logic or unity Campbell tried to identify and he found many important insights that the world has ever since treasured. Here is a peep into his explorations in the world of myth that we need to consider.

Campbell wrote: "Myth is much more important and true than history. History is just journalism and you know how reliable that is." "Mythology is not a lie, mythology is poetry, it is metaphorical. It has been well said that mythology is the penultimate truth--penultimate because the ultimate cannot be put into words. It is beyond words. Beyond images, beyond that bounding rim of the Buddhist Wheel of Becoming. Mythology pitches the mind beyond that rim, to what can be known but not told." This recalls AKC's statement in his great little classic Hinduism and Buddhism regarding myths as penultimate truths. This point may be understood in light of Heinrich Zimmer's saying: "The best things can't be told: the second best are misunderstood." Campbell comments: "The second best are misunderstood because, as metaphors poetically of that which cannot be told, they are misread prosaically as referring to tangible facts." Both fundamentalist advocacy and secularist dismissal of religion is connected to misreading of myths, myths we indeed live by but not as literal truths but as coloured by Imagination. As Campbell notes, "Myths are public dreams, dreams are private myths." And more elaborately: "Mythology is composed by poets out of their insights and realizations. Mythologies are not invented; they are found. You can no more tell us what your dream is going to be tonight than we can invent a myth. Myths come from the mystical region of essential experience."

Campbell issues a warning against simplistic reductionist interpretations of myths. "Wherever the poetry of myth is interpreted as biography, history, or science, it is killed." Campbell explicates four functions of myths and here are the first two: "The first and most essential service of a mythology is this one, of opening the mind and heart to the utter wonder of all being. And the second service, then, is cosmological: of representing the universe and whole spectacle of nature, both as known to the mind and as beheld by the eye, as an epiphany of such kind that when lightning flashes, or a setting sun ignites the sky, or a deer is seen standing alerted, the exclamation "Ah!" may be uttered as a recognition of divinity." Myths are "epiphanies of the rapture of being" and artist "brings the images of a mythology to manifestation." What is at stake is seeing things in their divine glory, a task that art performs. How can one be an artist – and sage – if not educated in myths?

History of warfare between science and theology or between religions and sects or between what Voegelin called Gnostic ideologies and their other are partly a result of misreading myths. "In the popular nightmare of history, where local mythic images are interpreted, not as metaphors, but as facts, there have been ferocious wars waged between the parties of such contrary manners of metaphoric representation." Indeed "Instead of clearing his own heart the zealot tries to clear the world." Campbell charges tribal literalism of "misreading metaphors, taking denotation for connotation, the messenger for the message."

Campbell notes the problem mystics tried to solve: "the popular, unenlightened practice of prosaic reification of metaphoric imagery has been the fundamental method of the most influential exegetes of the whole Judeo-Christian-lslamic mythic complex." Campbell reminds us forcefully of traditional wisdom in his declaration: "Heaven and hell are within us, and all the gods are within us. This is the great realization of the Upanishads of India in the ninth Century B.C. All the gods, all the heavens, all the world, are within us. "His famous statement "Follow your own bliss" should not be understood as call for hedonism but what ancient scriptures asserted and what has always been the task of poets. "Poets are simply those who have made a profession and a lifestyle of being in touch with their bliss."

Some points Campbell invites us to consider: "Apocalypse does not point to a fiery Armageddon but to the fact that our ignorance and our complacency are coming to an end- The exclusivism of there being only one way in which we can be saved, the idea that there is a single religious group that is in sole possession of the truth-that is the world as we know it that must pass away. What is the kingdom? It lies in our realization of the ubiquity of the divine presence in our neighbors, in our enemies, in all of us." And "The hero of yesterday becomes the tyrant of tomorrow, unless he crucifies himself today." (What do we expect of our leadership?) "A ritual is the enactment of a myth. And, by participating in the ritual, you are participating in the myth. And since myth is a projection of the depth wisdom of the psyche, by participating in a ritual, participating in the myth, you are being, as it were, put in accord with that wisdom, which is the wisdom that is inherent within you anyhow." This answers those libertine Gurus and those rationalists who fail to understand why all religions consider ritual important. Mythology explains why sacrifice is so pervasive a theme in religions.

Something of some authors/ books should to be read by everyone for helping to know/make ourselves and the world better and add to the quality – real standard – of life. Amongst these must-read authors is Joseph Campbell. One sees how it is possible to become or imitate to an extent hero we have long cherished and moves much closer to seeing the world suffused with radiance. To be myth illiterate is to be uneducated and miseducated and amongst the later must be classified those who want to build heaven on earth and seek to retire Satan prematurely. Extremely important essay by AKC (whom Campbell greatly admired) "Who is Satan and Where is Hell," and selection of his explorations of myths in various writings should be included as essential reading for every preacher and theologian. These along with a review of Campbell's work in Old Meadow's Journeys East and Bateman's brief but valuable "What Did Joseph Campbell Believe" may be read to better appreciate Campbell's strengths and limitations. But a brief introduction to him on you tube in short duration videos is greatly helpful.

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Interview with Muhammad by Willi -

Humans write myths, correct? Then new myths are possible, yes?

Myths are intuited and then get written, like great poetry. New images and metaphors that better express our engagement with what is given in experience of shared mythic consciousness can't be ruled out by any age. So, if one wants to say new myths, one is only stating the obvious.

How do the best myths transmute the mythic vision (art) with the scientific (religious) mind set?

Myths are translations in figurative language. Once certain figurative language becomes less accessible for variety of reasons, human collectivities foster new language, new idiom and one can say restate what they already dimly perceive. Language of myths needs harmonization with scientific and religious impulses that in turn require certain openness by their very definitions as explorations in "open horizon."

What is your understanding of environmental archetypes and sound archetypes?

The significance of environmental archetypes is increasingly absent in modern consciousness and that partly explains modernity's problematic relationship with the environment. I think Sufis have especially been invoking in their use of psychology and esotericism of sound, music and poetry something that converges with the idea of sound archetypes. I am not sure if too much can be read in this convergence.

Are there "old myths" and "new myths?" Can myths fade out of our consciousness?

Yes. Yes.

My mythological drive is Nature-based. Is this supported in the canons? Campbell: "The goal of life is to make your heartbeat match the beat of the universe, to match your nature with Nature" myths that express this connection are crucial for such an enterprise.

The canon supports it if we agree not to restrict the term Nature to the truncated view assumed in reductionist mindset.

Is there One Truth? Can we have different "key myths" and still receive the same value?

The problem with the term One Truth is it evokes insensitivity to difference. The problem with relativism applied to this term is however greater as it takes away all ground of intelligibility and communication. Having said this, one can affirm indeed one language and saving value of myths across cultures and time. More precisely one may say similar if not the same value.

How does one get a "deep understanding ("couched narratives") of myth?" You write: "Myths conceal deep wisdom that needs to be decoded or realized."

By understanding them in the traditional contexts in which they have been efficacious. One needs to appreciate underlying metaphysics, symbolism and doctrinal value as "saving emanations."

I am challenging Campbell's idea that the individual is the Hero. I see that now the community is the Hero. Your thoughts?

I would draw attention to the point that in Campbell it is, ultimately, not as an individual in the sense modern individualism would have it but individual as a vehicle of the supra-individual spiritual mission of larger community, indeed humanity. In fact, mythic truth implicated in Campbell is in no sense a product of individual. Campbell would not mind the notion that the Community is the Hero. In fact, he clearly recognizes that sacrifice or death of hero is required for new birth of "ancient man" or real self and that, in turn, regenerates community. I don't dispute the problematic reception/translation of Campbell in terms that drew on the problematic binary of individual versus community. I uphold what Coomaraswamy stated so succinctly regarding two men doctrine shared across religions and traditional cultures and I don't think his friend Campbell would disagree with that formulation.

Our whole metaphysical tradition, Christian and other, maintains that "there are two in us," this man and the Man in this man; and that this is so is still a part and parcel of our spoken language in which, for example, the expression "self-control" implies that there is one that controls and another subject to control, for we know that "nothing acts upon itself," though we forget it when we talk about "self-government." Of these two "selves," outer and inner man, psycho-physical "personality" and very Person, the human composite of body, soul, and spirit is built up. Of these two, on the one hand body-and-soul (or –mind), and on the other, spirit, one is mutable and mortal, the other constant and immortal; one "becomes," the other "is," and the existence of the one that is not, but becomes, is precisely a "personification" or "postulation," since we cannot say of anything that never remains the same that "it is." And however necessary it may be to say "I" and "mine" for the practical purposes of everyday life, our Ego in fact is nothing but a name for what is really only a sequence of observed behaviours. Mythological expression of the same doctrine stated by Coomaraswamy in his little masterpiece Hinduism and Buddhism states:

"The Gods entered into man, they made the mortal their house". His passible nature has now become "ours": and from this predicament he cannot easily recollect or rebuild himself, whole and complete. We are now the stone from which the spark can be struck, the mountain beneath which God lies buried.... "You" and "I" are the psycho-physical prison and Constrictor in whom the First has been swallowed up that "we" might be all- He in whom we were imprisoned is now our prisoner; as our Inner Man is submerged in and hidden by our Outer Man. It is now his turn to become the Dragon-slayer; and in this war of the God with the Titan, now fought within you, where we are "at war with ourselves," his victory and resurrection will be also ours, if we have known Who we are. It is now for him to drink us dry, for us to be his wine.

Is Climate Change the dominant apocalypse narrative today? How do you see species extinction and corporate control of resources as apocalyptic factors?

Arguably. I wish to point out that traditional apocalypse narratives can be read to referring to/including climate change at one level though this doesn't reduce them to merely physical fact of climate change. Spiritual and concomitant pneumatological dimension retains its primacy.

Campbell: "Apocalypse does not point to a fiery Armageddon but to the fact that our ignorance and our complacency are coming to an end." What mythological evidence can you point to in this regard?

I think evidence should be sought from domains of which myths are expressions. The fact that sciences of interpreting, analyzing and comparing myths that have flourished in our time have amply demonstrated ignorance of exclusivist versions besides demonstrating new grounds for intellectual humility and problems in reductionist explanatory frameworks. The widespread dissemination of ideas regarding underlying existential/experiential basis of divergent mystical and religious narratives has served to clarify popular literal and dramatic understanding of apocalyptic narratives.

What are your key images / symbols of modern myth? Are these the same in the East and West?

I think this question is difficult to answer in view of the problem in precisely identifying modern myth/myths that are not reworkings of old myths. One may turn to great names in modern literature and art for formulations of old myths. Campbell's work in this area deserves more attention. I don't think we invent new myths but invent new ways of presenting, appreciating and engaging with old myths.

My myths are about the future not history. Is this correct according to Campbell?

Campbell is more interested in lived understanding of/ relationship with postulated timeless mythical content than locating them in history or future.

Are irony and metaphor mythical "triggers?" How do they work in pop culture?

I am not sure if it is the effective or even correct way of putting it. Myths call for culture and I would say folk culture captures their living essence better. Myths have transforming function – they are not drilled by mass media. They sanctify recipients. Pop culture today invokes/evokes certain ideological content that distort reception to saving message of myths.

Campbell: "Myths come from the mystical region of essential experience." Where is this exactly in the brain (psyche)?

Essential experience here has more ontological and spiritual connotations than you seem to grant. However, it is clear that the brain is not uninvolved in presenting them or elaborating them or giving them habitation or name and colour.

Your rapture may not be mine! Who decides?!

None decides. Rapture as far as it participates in the experience of Being, of Ananda has essentially certain universality. Kashmiri philosopher Abhinavagupta has clearly demonstrated this point while analyzing artistic works and aesthetic experience. This doesn't mean that every individual has his own path to this transpersonal domain, to a sort of transcendent plane that enraptures.

I have added a fifth function of mythology: resilience. Your feedback?

I think this proposed function rightly captures dynamism or adaptability of mythic narratives.

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Connections -

Muhammad Maroof Shah, Author and Columnist
marooof123 at yahoo.com

With a background in sciences and doctorate in English literature he has authored three books and 45 papers on issues related to religion, philosophy, literary criticism, environmentalism and mysticism in many national and international journals. He has delivered special lectures on philosophy and mysticism in many Indian universities including University of Rajasthan, University of Hyderabad and Kashmir University. He has been writing columns in local newspapers mostly on social and cultural issues.

Willi Paul, Mythologist
willipaul1 at gmail.com

As writer and musician, Willi draws heavily on the values of the permaculture and transition movements. Willi continues to explore sound archetypes and mythic visions at Planetshifter.com and thru his band, The Chaos Era.