And a Reading Worth Remembering

Tom Robbins, on Joseph Campbell:

In actuality, myths are neither fiction nor history. Nor are most myths - and this will surprise some people - an amalgamation of fiction and history. Rather, a myth is something that never happened but is always happening. Myths are the plots of the psyche. They are ongoing symbolic dramatizations of the inner life of the species, external metaphors for internal events.

It is only when it is allowed to crystallize into “history” that a myth becomes useless - and possibly dangerous. For example, when the story of the resurrection of Jesus is read as a symbol for the spiritual rebirth of the individual, it remains alive and can continually resonate in a vital, inspirational way in the modern psyche. But when the resurrection is viewed as historical fact, an archival event that occurred once and once only, some two thousand years ago, then its resonance cannot help but flag. It may proffer some vague hope for our own immortality, but to our deepest consciousness it’s no longer transformative or even very accessible on an everyday basis. The self-renewing model has atrophied into second-hand memory and dogma that the fearful, the uninformed, and the emotionally troubled feel a need to defend with violent action.

There, I guess you probably know now where this old dog sits on the issues.

Music Worth Listening To

A while back the gang over at MadPriet’s Pub had a heated discussion on the Beatles and other song stylists worth putting hard money down on… I got to the discussion board late that day and felt one more voice in that joint would never be heard. Now that we’ve opened our own kennel over here, it seems a good time to say that for me (and I know you MP people all have your undies in a bundle over the Stones and the Beatles and the other 60’s, 70’s and 80’s bands), but for me, Paul Heaton is the best lyricist recording today… and what’s really really sad is that the his music seems lost and missing from the shelves of American stores. The good news is that Amazon UK ships to the colonies.

Three quick examples:

“If“:
If the Messiah
Is due back down
How come the highest priests
Dressed up as clowns

If the Bible’s made up
Which it is
The last laugh can’t be ours
It must be his

“Let Go With the Flow“:
And if he knows where he was standing
When J.F.K was shot
Chances are though time’s passed him by
He’s still standing within yards of that spot

“101%Man“:
I’ve seen these people described as mad
But find men kissing too odd
Say all their friends are gay when in fact
They gave a man in tight vest a quick nod

And all those threats if you keep kissing
They’re gonna go report you to god
Yet if Christ really had that many disciples
There was probably one of you in his squad

There, give me a stack of Housemartin’s, Beautiful South, and Paul Heaton CD’s and throw in a few Laurie Anderson tunes and I’m set for a long, long drive… Beatles? Stones? Time to move on…

There, now discuss among yourselves. Time for a dog nap.

Hiking With the Spongs

A number of years ago, my wife and I were fortunate enough to be able to go to St. Deiniol’s Library for a week long course with Bishop John Spong. In checking, he will apparently be back again in 2007 in October to teach a course in “Jesus for the non-religious”. Bishop Spong was entertaining, but in many ways, it felt like some sort of slippage in time for where his views were. The majority of attendees were English, and you could feel what a breath of fresh air that he was for them (not all Anglican). Seems like what he said was new and revolutionary to them… in a celebration of the library’s 200th anniversary (200, 300, 100, something, I forget, let’s just say the place is old) in a tent out back, Jack spoke to the public about his life and about his faith and about the things that he’d done in the past to bring justice and truth to the church. One young man stood up during the Q&A period and said that he lived in London, and quite frankly he had a hard time seeing what was particularly revolutionary about what Jack had said or done… that for him and where he lived, that was just the reality of life. All of which indicates to me that there has been progress in the way we treat each other and love each other and live with each other.

Late afternoons were reserved for hiking in the beautiful hills of Wales, and Jack and his charming wife invited the crowd to join them on the trails in the area. Now I can report back for all you StandFirm and Titus 1:9 people that I watched closely. I hid out in morning prayer to observe the good Bishop. I walked stealthily with Jack and Christine, and I can report that his horns and tail never once were evident. Occasionally his mind wandered off into subjects that were not terribly interesting or fruitful, but then that happens to all us old dogs I believe. I even took his picture when we were all out hiking, and much to my surprise his image was able to be captured! So while many think of him as “the enemy” and “satan incarnate”, I just found him to be a nice guy. Anyway, perhaps someone else out there in the blogsphere can attend this year and report back to see what they can find out….