Myth, Magic, and Mysticism

My Friends,

An oft noted Zen story has a punch line like this: "If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him."
I have never much liked the story because it has always seemed that we ought to bow when we meet the Buddha, which is all the time. Hence our life can and should be one of ceaseless bowing. Like all Zen stories this one has a whole bunch of history that leads to the punch line. In this case the student has a fixation about signs and symbols, and has created a duality about the sacred and the profane. Yeshua of Nazareth had something to say about this: "It is a wicked generation that requires a sign." In both instances the wisdom is this: The Divine Eternal is always right in front of us, within and around us. When we try to package it, and create the Divine as being in opposition to normal and every day life we are worshipping the finger that points to the moon, rather than the Light that is emanating from the Moon. It is better to get rid of our self-made idols and illusions.

This may seem like a rather inconsequential point, but look around us. People are literally fighting and dying, inflicting incredible cruelty on one another so they can insist that their sign, their symbol, is the singular one that has power and dominance in the world. It is so sad and ironic that those who claim to follow Jesus want to be Caesar themselves rather than to be the beloved disciples of Jesus. Jesus asserts time and again that his Kingdom is not of this world, of worldly societies, and that he and his teaching makes no claim for power. He asserts that the true life of the spirit must stand always in tension with the culture, with the powers and principalities that rule in this world. In like manner the mystics and wisdom teachers of other traditions entreat us to transcend the world, so that we can be a true presence of compassionate service in the world. A wisdom teacher as Gandhi invites us to be ourselves the change for good we might wish from others, by having direction, discipline, and commitment in a life of spiritual transformation.

To help us have insight we need to consider the basis of mythical religion and the mystical path of the spirit. Human beings are inclined to understand the world and make meaning through story. Such meaning-making stories on the tribal or cosmic level are myths. Often myths serve purposes that have much to do with tribal, national, or individual egoic imperatives. They never fully encompass the unitive and sacred dimensions. In contrast true mystic experience is beyond thought and paradigm. Direct mystic transmission is its own wisdom, its own meaning. There is no meaning except the "Isness That IS. "

Myths can be oppressive or they can be liberating. Some mythic systems are open and encompassing enough of the Wisdom tradition that they are a doorway into the mystical dimension and mystic experience and practice then infuses the myth with power and truth. The great spiritual traditions have fused both myth and mysticism to a high degree. Sadly not many of their adherents are willing to pay the price and make the commitment to take the transformative journey to that level.

In the brief span of my life there has been an awakening of the great mystic traditions of the world and a growth in the numbers of practitioners. They are speaking to each other across cultural and ethnic boundaries and able to communicate their experience of the Great Circle of Being that cannot be spoken or encompassed in the mythic paradigms of religion. This is a hopeful sign. And there is a growing urgency that the consciousness of humankind break free of the oppressive myths that have held us in bondage and in conflict with our own humanity, with other humans and with other beings who inhabit the living systems that sustain us. This awakening is needed to save us from the destruction of one another and of the planetary system of life through greed and exploitation. We must all come to know our communion with the One Life, the One Being who is our true Life and live it out with profound awareness and commitment. There is no other way.

Peace and blessings on all beings,
Bill Ryan