Chasing joy...

I think that what we're seeking is an experience of being alive....

Joseph Campbell

Joy Collector

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The great American mythologist, Joseph Campbell, in one of his interviews with Bill Moyers for the PBS series, "The Power of Myth," responded to one of Moyers' questions about human search for meaning this way:

         "People say that what we're all seeking is a meaning for life. I don't think that's what we're really seeking. I think that what we're seeking is an experience of life...so that we can actually feel the rapture of being alive." 

The "rapture of being alive"...how many of us have been blessed enough to truly experience that? And how do you go about finding that? Surely we can't all spend our time sitting around "navel gazing" as some have mockingly described the meditative practices that blossomed in the late '60s and early '70s when Transcendental Meditation was all the rage and everyone was looking for a guru to teach them how to reach that state of pure detachment that is "ecstasy" or joy. 

And in truth, we actually can't find it by "dropping out" or complete detachment as some envision it. We find it by the simple act of being truly present to our own lives, to the moments of our lives, being completely aware and mindful of those moments and most of all by being grateful for each one of them. Elizabeth Lesser (Broken Open, 2004) describes it as, "It is a willing engagement with the whole messy miracle of life." By that she means that one cannot find rapture or joy by avoiding the pain or the brokenness in our lives. Quite the opposite - one cannot find rapture without embracing that, looking into the face of our fears and anguish and being grateful for it. It is there, where we would least expect to find it, that we realize and appreciate the joy of living. One cannot appreciate light without darkness, become blissful about spring if there were no winter or dormant period, know love without its lack. 

Here's the lesson in a metaphor - a poem I wrote some time ago called, "The Joy Collector." 

The Joy Collector

Like a lepidopterist, I set out to capture joy in my net,

searching in all the usual, obvious places,

in the garden of blooms I’d planted to be

an enticement for the rare and fragile, wingéd creatures.

And once captured what would I do

with each uniquely beautiful specimen?

Wait for it to finish out its brief life in a jar filled with leaves,

holes in the top and then, when it was living no more…

pin it to the corkboard, fix it under glass,

this now lifeless collection on display,

catalogued and labeled for me to show off my skills

as a butterfly hunter, satisfied, self-congratulatory? 

But true joy can’t be caught like that,

remaining as elusive as a Palos Verdes Blue;

rather it catches you utterly by surprise,

comes from places and events you least expect

and seldom where you are looking for it! 

Don’t chase after it…a butterfly hunter with a net -

and when you are very still, within and without,

perhaps even looking wonderingly another way

at something beautiful that catches your eye

and fills your awakening soul with delight,

she will settle gently on your shoulder, 

flutter in your heart...and live.

  

© Lianne Schneider May 2011

Be grateful for the darkness, for the pain, even for the grief - when you can stand still in the midst of that, then you will find your rapture, your joy. In truth, one of my favorite poets, Khalil Gibran said it best nearly 1000 years ago:

A "Heartful Mind" - Heroic Virtue #3

"The more powerful and original a mind, 

the more it will incline toward the religion of solitude."

Aldous Huxley

Bayou Sunrise *

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Meditation is “in.” Everywhere you turn, life coaches, self-help books, spiritual development mentors are teaching and encouraging us to meditate. Part of that spiritual growth and consciousness-raising effort is a quality called mindfulness – being fully present to the moment. So at first glance, you might think the title of this post refers to that and in a way, there is a connection. But they aren’t exactly the same thing. 

I hope you don’t mind my continuing to explore the ideas presented by Sam Keen regarding the qualities he considered essential in order to complete our sacred quest, our hero’s journey. That journey is, he says, first a pilgrimage INTO self-knowledge and then ultimately a journey out of and beyond that new self-awareness. We are reborn in that process to the virtue of wonder and have learned to be empathetic. That applies both to creating and receiving art as it does to any other aspect of life and I’ve addressed those qualities in the past two posts. 

The third heroic virtue is something Keen calls “a heartful mind.” It’s not an easy quality to define, particularly in a world where rational thinking, a scientific and analytical approach to problems or undertakings, and objectivity are the normative modus operandi. We speak of men as more analytical and less emotional than women and then remind women that sometimes to be successful in business (even the business of marketing art) we have to “think like a man.” In other words, we are advised to divorce our hearts from our minds and let the mind dominate who we are.  Keen says otherwise.  We must acquire a heartful mind, he says, and we can do that best through the “cultivated discipline of solitude” and the habit of recollection. Keen goes on to describe in detail why such solitude is necessary in a world where men and women have willingly become passive members of anonymous masses in mindless conformity. Perhaps that’s a bit harsh but think about how readily we adopt slogans or positions and sort ourselves into us and them. “Solitude,” says the author, “begins when a man silences the competing voices of the market, the polis, the home, the mass and listens to the dictates of his own heart. Self-love requires the same commitment of time and energy as any other relationship. I must take time to be with myself, to discover my desires, my rhythms, my tastes, my gifts, my hopes, my wounds. We need solitude to keep the relationship between me, myself and I alive and growing." 

I cannot help but think that there are few areas of life where solitude is more necessary – no, actually fundamentally required – than the act of producing a work of art. Writing, painting, even photography are solitary endeavors (even if one is with another!) And I must be keenly aware of who I am and what I want to express in order to undertake it. For myself, I cannot create at all in a chaotic environment, or when my solitude is interrupted by phone calls, duties and noise. I regularly take myself apart into what I call my “cave time.” [Another subject for another post!]

When the idea of this series first occurred to me, I listed the ten virtues and beside each I wrote the name of an artist I thought exemplified that quality. In some cases, that was more difficult than you might imagine, but in this case, I didn’t have a second’s hesitation. The person who came immediately to my mind is a man I am so proud to call my friend and whose work (for example, in his photo series, “Where the wind carries me…”) speaks consistently to the quality of heartfulness. That artist is photographer Ramon Fernandez. In a recent article in Trillium magazine, Ramon remarked, “I often think about the rhythm and flow of life,” adding that he wants his viewers “to realize how connected we all are to one another and to our planet.” An American living now in Costa Rica, he brings a true sense of presence to his photography and says his personal mantra is, “Home is not where you are, but rather who you are.”  This is an artist who understands exactly what a “heartful mind” is and how it impacts his art. Do YOU possess a heartful mind? Does it show in what you write, paint, or photograph?If it doesn't, perhaps it's time for a little solitude.

 

*The base image is in the public domain courtesy of the National Park Service