What is Life?
When we think of Life, we think of so many things. We think of the Life Force coursing through our veins. We think of Life Everlasting as charted for us in all the religious texts. We think of a world devoid of meaning without Life.
“The absence of Life is nothing, not death, but nothing.” Can we actually conceive of nothing? Of course not! That means death. And even with death, its contemplation has to occur in Life.
There simply is no absence of Life; that is absurd. We contemplate Life from the point of view of Life. And we have to be alive to contemplate its absence. In Mythology, all struggles are about Life and Death. The hero or heroine conquers one polarity in order to gain the other. They face death, or rather, their fear of death, in order to be filled with Life.
This is how it goes this eternal cycle – Life, Death, Rebirth. All heroes learn this and accept this. It is part of their struggle and their destiny. They do it to overcome fear. Fear is the enemy of Life. Only fear needs to be conquered, because Life without Death is not Life; and life without Life is mere existence.
Death does not exist except as a counterpoint to Life. Death gives Life its meaning by framing it within a limited context. But this death we speak of is not a real death; it is merely an absence of incarnate life. Life without death is absurd; but death, in and of itself, is simply an abstraction. Nothing dies really; it only transforms. All heroic journeys are journeys of transformation, from one form to another, from one dimension to another, until graduation occurs again and we move on to another form.
In ancient times these transformations were charted in Myths. Myths helped describe and explain the needed energies, flights of fancy, whimsical adventures and demons to which one would answer. Myths provided guidance to a population hungry for answers, in need of charts and graphs, glyphs perhaps, to move them along. A living, breathing mythology became legendary then, leading scores of men and women through the trials and tribulations of young adulthood. Recall that most myths were about transformation in particular, and this became the sine qua non of all myths. This was especially true for those tales that described the hero’s welcome return from confronting death in the “underworld,” to his or her regaining of more life on the surface.
The Myth of the Hero is the most favored of them all, and the one we see replayed in just about every action adventure film ever made. Heroes and Heroines are the ones who lead the way into the New Age, for they are the groundbreakers of our future. Currently, we are on a threshold again, getting ready to leap forward into a new cosmic unity, ready to break new ground and chart the new course. There is so much work to be done though. So how does it happen?
When Myths are alive they breathe Spirit into the population. They help all those who will listen, to understand that their lot in Life is much larger than what they’ve witnessed so far. Behind the scenes of their surface life, there is another “play” going on. One that would see them reach the greatest of heights, which in their regular circumstances, they would have thought to be impossible.
But from the perspective of myth, that is never the case. In those circumstances we actually do supercede our highest aspirations. We go boldly where we never thought we would. And we go deeper inward than we ever thought possible. There are no limits in either direction, only greater levels of personal accomplishment and satisfaction.
We, the human race, are here again at such a threshold, a crossroads of purposes if you will. We can live out our meager life in our everyday circumstances or we can transcend these and go further than we ever thought possible.
Only Myth can lead the way. This has to be a Myth grounded in the “soup” of Spirit, imbued with Divine Fire, and sustained by Love. Only such a living, breathing Myth can lead us forward now. Let us see if such a vehicle does indeed exist.
“The absence of Life is nothing, not death, but nothing.” Can we actually conceive of nothing? Of course not! That means death. And even with death, its contemplation has to occur in Life.
There simply is no absence of Life; that is absurd. We contemplate Life from the point of view of Life. And we have to be alive to contemplate its absence. In Mythology, all struggles are about Life and Death. The hero or heroine conquers one polarity in order to gain the other. They face death, or rather, their fear of death, in order to be filled with Life.
This is how it goes this eternal cycle – Life, Death, Rebirth. All heroes learn this and accept this. It is part of their struggle and their destiny. They do it to overcome fear. Fear is the enemy of Life. Only fear needs to be conquered, because Life without Death is not Life; and life without Life is mere existence.
Death does not exist except as a counterpoint to Life. Death gives Life its meaning by framing it within a limited context. But this death we speak of is not a real death; it is merely an absence of incarnate life. Life without death is absurd; but death, in and of itself, is simply an abstraction. Nothing dies really; it only transforms. All heroic journeys are journeys of transformation, from one form to another, from one dimension to another, until graduation occurs again and we move on to another form.
In ancient times these transformations were charted in Myths. Myths helped describe and explain the needed energies, flights of fancy, whimsical adventures and demons to which one would answer. Myths provided guidance to a population hungry for answers, in need of charts and graphs, glyphs perhaps, to move them along. A living, breathing mythology became legendary then, leading scores of men and women through the trials and tribulations of young adulthood. Recall that most myths were about transformation in particular, and this became the sine qua non of all myths. This was especially true for those tales that described the hero’s welcome return from confronting death in the “underworld,” to his or her regaining of more life on the surface.
The Myth of the Hero is the most favored of them all, and the one we see replayed in just about every action adventure film ever made. Heroes and Heroines are the ones who lead the way into the New Age, for they are the groundbreakers of our future. Currently, we are on a threshold again, getting ready to leap forward into a new cosmic unity, ready to break new ground and chart the new course. There is so much work to be done though. So how does it happen?
When Myths are alive they breathe Spirit into the population. They help all those who will listen, to understand that their lot in Life is much larger than what they’ve witnessed so far. Behind the scenes of their surface life, there is another “play” going on. One that would see them reach the greatest of heights, which in their regular circumstances, they would have thought to be impossible.
But from the perspective of myth, that is never the case. In those circumstances we actually do supercede our highest aspirations. We go boldly where we never thought we would. And we go deeper inward than we ever thought possible. There are no limits in either direction, only greater levels of personal accomplishment and satisfaction.
We, the human race, are here again at such a threshold, a crossroads of purposes if you will. We can live out our meager life in our everyday circumstances or we can transcend these and go further than we ever thought possible.
Only Myth can lead the way. This has to be a Myth grounded in the “soup” of Spirit, imbued with Divine Fire, and sustained by Love. Only such a living, breathing Myth can lead us forward now. Let us see if such a vehicle does indeed exist.
Maurice Turmel holds a PHD in Counseling Psychology and was a practicing therapist for nearly 25 years. Today he is a Speaker, Author and Songwriter. Spirituality, Inspiration, Motivation and Creativity are main interests. Dr. Turmel has authored The Parables series of books and a Spiritual Self-Help novel "The Voice." He has 4 CD compilations of Inspirational Blues available at: http://www.cdbaby.com/turmel
DR Moe is a Radio Show Host and can be heard at: http://www.webtalkradio.net
or at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Dr-Moe
He can be reached at drmoe@mauriceturmel.com