For those of us who have experienced complex trauma, the idea that something greater than ourselves could be somewhere out there in the abyss (so to speak) is absurd. After all, for some of us, our caregivers were the only people we understood, and it wasn’t great. Moreover, the greater the power, the more it was our caregiver or the offender. Naturally, then, why would we even think about the possibility of a loving god, presence, energy, or force? This so-called god, energy, force, did not protect me when I needed it most, and so in the end, we land on life is to be lived like a needle on a record until it skips, eventually falling off until there is no music. For the younger readers, until a virus crashes your iPad indefinitely.
This is one theory, and I won’t dispute that, but what if we were wrong? What if there is an order to the chaos? What if Carl Jung had it right when he discovered the idea of synchronicity and broke away from Freud’s argument that the ego’s primary concern was led by urges and drives for gratification? What if synchronicity is real? Have a look at Carl Jung’s discovery.
Joseph Campbell helped define this further in his mythological studies, which led him to introduce ” The Hero’s Journey,” a story told about a hero that moves fluidly through stages of growth, oddly, the same story told in every culture around the world. Is this a coincidence?
As we begin to explore religion, it becomes even more fascinating that all religions seem to lead to the same teachings, taught in different ways. When we talk about meaning and purpose, I am not talking about a man who designs rules for dogma, although we could argue that religious dogma also has serendipitous laws. I am talking about wisdom, inner knowing, divine compass, a gut feeling, not rules. The inner knowing tapped into a greater wisdom, and we don’t know where it came from.
Have you ever had a dream where you experienced the most incredible, loving sensation and did not know where it came from? Have you ever walked into a house or a place of business and felt you needed to leave immediately, without knowing why? Have you ever met someone for the first time and known you needed to stay away from them? Have you ever taken a risk, wondered why you did, and then looked back months later to realize it was the best risk you ever took? This is your intuition, inner compass, gut feeling at work. If you don’t believe in anything outside of yourself then ask yourself what is this gut feeling? What is this intuitive knowingness? Why do we all have it?
My suggestion is to have some fun with this and begin exploring by reading or watching videos. We can get lots of information very quickly now. Here are some of my favourite reads:
The Power of Myth Joseph Campbell
Return to Love Marianne Williamson
Embraced by the Light Bettie Eadie
The Greatest Miracle in the World, Ogmandino,
A Man’s Search For Meaning: Viktor Frankl
Care of the Soul Thomas Moore
Anatomy of the Spirit Caroline Myss
Radha’s biography. A Canadian woman who was led to live in India by a guru.
The Divine Romance Paramahansa Yogananda
Favourite documentary/movies
Finding Joe ( The Hero’s Journey)
Bill Moyers interviews Joseph Campbell
Leap of Faith ( Steve Martin): Funny and inspirational
Star Wars (Based on the Hero’s Journey)
Crystal Arber CC 2015
Worthit2bme
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