Cult.
More often than not it will be a tragedy.
For our strength taken too far, becomes our weakness.
No
Not one.
I disagree.
But the story, the narrative itself is where the magic lives. The accounts - the fiction - of those Dionysian returners, is a tradable product that creates a lot of changes, many of them positive. Every cult offers something to the new followers which works; new friends, a new technique for making one feel calm, a new language to learn, amazing building projects, music and works of art.
And yet, fundamentally we all know that the changes that overcome the dead, annihilate them into the fabric of the world - and not out of it to somewhere better.
Perhaps the only lesson worth taking from these stories is that none who faced The Deep accepted annihilation as the end.
From the Descent of Inanna who Opened her ear to the Great Below, to the story of Persephone who was dragged screaming from endless summer-fields of flowers, sunshine and friendship. To the hapless Dumuzi, the husband who doesn't notice that his wife is in deep, deep trouble. As far as I can see, catabasis, the descent, did not make any of the mythic travellers who bravely crossed between starry sky and earth, over seas, and through the gates of night - any wiser, or kinder.
No
Not one.
Siduri, barmaid at the tavern at the end of the world, on the shores of the sea of death, tells Gilgamesh:
"Go home Gilgamesh - everyone dies - be a good king to your people, love your wife, love your little child and hold his hand"No one who returned from the Great Beyond, became better, kinder, or more clever than they had been, or were in anyway improved by their encounters with The Deep.
There is only one lesson
To know how precious this life is.
Accept the blessings and roll with the curses.
And I'm sorry to say but as far as I can tell, any deals struck with The Deep do not improve life, they just change things - for others - and not in a good way. Of all those mythic characters 'who saw The Deep' none returned with anything more profound than the right to say to the living that they had indeed seen The Deep and that it is grim; quite frankly they may as well have taken a nuclear powered ice-breaker to the Antarctic.
But surely, the Deep is more than that?
And I'm sorry to say but as far as I can tell, any deals struck with The Deep do not improve life, they just change things - for others - and not in a good way. Of all those mythic characters 'who saw The Deep' none returned with anything more profound than the right to say to the living that they had indeed seen The Deep and that it is grim; quite frankly they may as well have taken a nuclear powered ice-breaker to the Antarctic.
But surely, the Deep is more than that?
Surely there is Profound wisdom to be gained -meditation that sinks one down into the plenum void, union with the Ultimate Nature of Soul?
I disagree.
But the story, the narrative itself is where the magic lives. The accounts - the fiction - of those Dionysian returners, is a tradable product that creates a lot of changes, many of them positive. Every cult offers something to the new followers which works; new friends, a new technique for making one feel calm, a new language to learn, amazing building projects, music and works of art.
Unfortunately beyond the initial 'weird difference' that change one's perception of life, there will also be the promise of Summerland, restricted to those who have paid enough follow the correct teachings, and have attended the correct initiations; entry into the endless heavenly grasslands is also a matter of orthodoxy, a follower dare not try a different path for fear of exile.
Mythically speaking - Inanna and Persephone returned from their Descent, shocked and traumatized and trailing demons. Depressingly there is no escape from the consequences of The Descent, only a bargain that will include more loss.
And yet, the myth of The Call says that annihilation is the basis of initiation into becoming a new and better person; a theme often core to personal development.
.
I would say instead that annihilation is inevitable, but how we deal with it is all.
A 'Year Zero' policy appeals to the traumatized mind, as the heroic task.
And to leaders who manipulate others to release the protector, (the war to end all wars) there is the vicarious thrill of being alive whilst others die.
The desire for, and prizing of annihilation comes from a necessary and terrible capacity we all have to hurt those who hurt us when we must save ourselves and our family. Unless this is informed by wisdom this is also the internal capacity to tear down a self that isn't 'good enough', an endless task of destroying things 'to keep one safe'.
And yet, fundamentally we all know that the changes that overcome the dead, annihilate them into the fabric of the world - and not out of it to somewhere better.
The grass is greener over the burial.
The dead flesh gives birth - in Aristotelian thought - to worms and flies.
Only the living can change themselves into something more than they are now.
Perhaps the only lesson worth taking from these stories is that none who faced The Deep accepted annihilation as the end.
This is something that really needs to be understood...
I'd sum it up as
Experience is a tool.
Nevertheless
Hearing The Great Below...
And knowing the journey has to be made
A traveller requires a map.
And a book of etiquette.
In cultures that respect and describe The Deep.
Perhaps stories contain holographic maps...
Rewriting those stories for a scientific age
Is certainly a challenge.
For
The Deep is Thanatos and Eros
Locus coeruleus,
Nucleus accumbens
The periaqueductal Gray,
And the pre-frontal cortex..
Without stories that weave sex and death into life..
We are left with only a thousand names for SSRIs.
And Therapy (as one more cult?)
Comments