Follow your bliss, become the hero: A Palm Sunday reflection

“Palm Sunday” marks the beginning of “Holy Week”, regarded as the most important in the whole Christian calendar. Now some will say what do these events, that seem impossible to believe in, have to do with we who live 2,000 years later? What relevance do they have to we who live today? How can we possibly believe in them? Well, I would say there is so much here to teach us about human living, about spiritual living actually. There is more to the Easter mythos than the historical accuracy or inaccuracy of the Biblical accounts. In fact to get lost in the detail of what did or didn’t actually happen is to miss the whole point of the mythos. “Mythos” isn’t about whether something is true in a historical sense; “Mythos” is more about deeper universal truth; “Mythos” is more about the human condition regardless of time or place. Another way to think of “Mythos” is to see them as a metaphor. Here Joseph Campbell explains what is meant by myth or metaphor:

“Half the people in the world think that the metaphors of their religious traditions, for example, are facts. And the other half contends that they are not facts at all. As a result we have people who consider themselves believers because they accept metaphors as facts, and we have others who classify themselves as atheists because they think religious metaphors are lies”…

Joseph Campbell taught that mythos are metaphors for human life. That they are eternal and universal tales that can teach us about our lives right here right now. He believed that by understanding these mysteries we can begin to understand who we truly are and what life is all about.

With this in mind I can find so much in the “Holy Week” narrative that does speak to me, but then again there is much in other traditions, both ancient, modern and post-modern that speak to me too. I am a Universalist in every sense of the word. That said “Holy Week” compels me to look more deeply at Jesus, his teachings as well has his passion and death and how that can bring meaning to mine and I hope your lives.

Central to the “Mythos” is this concept of love incarnating in human form. Now it seems clear that this occurred in the life of Jesus as it is told in the Gospels. My main argument with traditional Christian orthodoxy is the view that this occurred only in one form and at one point in human history. This I find impossible to accept. I only have to look at my life and I know I have experienced this love in the lives of so many other people. I believe that we all have the capacity to become channels of the divine in this life. We can all incarnate love through our very being. We can all become the light of the world. Sadly, all too often we fail to do so; all too often we fall short and we betray one another. This aspect of our humanity becomes all too clear in the narrative of Holy week.

On Palm Sunday, the beginning of “Holy Week”, Jesus enters Jerusalem riding on the back of a humble donkey or Colt and is received by the crowds waving palm branches and shouting “Hosanna, hosanna in the highest heaven” The crowds welcome Jesus who they believe will save them. This though does not happen and just a few days later he is betrayed, rejected, brutalised and killed. The body is killed, the figure dies, but the love that is left behind lives on. It is this love that I believe is the true Easter mythos. A love that can live on and once again incarnate in the lives of all people. This is the universal mythos found in the “Holy Week” narrative.

There is though something more that is universal about the “Palm Sunday” and “Holy Week” narrative, than this concept of universal love. It is not just a mythos about Jesus, it is also about the crowd and all the people around him. People just like you and me. Just like them we can all get caught up in the crowd mentality can we not? We can all identify with the crowd despite the world in which we live being very different today. We share a common humanity with them. We are all formed from the same breath of life, we all have the Divine spark within us; well at least I believe that we do. We are not God’s though, although we can become the light of the world if and when we live in love. We are fully human just like those folk on the side of the street waving their palms grateful for any reason to celebrate, looking out for a hero to follow. People are always looking for something to celebrate, doesn’t seem to matter what this is. People looking for joy, looking for meaning, looking for a bliss to follow. People who just like us are prone to disappointment, who fail to live up to the very ideals they would like to strive for. People who fall short, get ill, and become bogged down in little and bigger things, finite human beings. People who are looking for hope, to lift them out of their suffering. People looking for someone or something to lead them to better things, to give them another chance to live better lives. People just like us who want to not only find, but also follow their bliss. People looking for a meaning to their lives. People looking out for a hero.

Jesus though is the central figure. It is he who is following his bliss continuing on what Campbell called his “Hero’s Journey”. A phrase inspired by James Joyce’s “Finnegans Wake”. The week begins with the triumphant entry, but soon turns into what Campbell has described as the stage known as “The Ordeal” There are many ways to describe this stage. It can be seen as a trial, a fire walk, an opportunity to choose between the transient things of this world and the lasting things of “heaven.” Perhaps our individual call to let go of the personal ego, with all of its mind-made facts and truths, and to grab hold of the Divine Nature that is the essence of each of us. Again, this is something we all face in life, if we remain open to it. We can all be the hero we have been waiting for, but still we are always holding out for another hero, someone to save us, or at least inspire us. It reminds me of a song from a film that I remember from my childhood.

I have a friend who in recent times has been catching up with a load of films from her childhood, films she hasn’t seen, she is a similar age to me. She had never seen “Ghostbusters” or “The Goonies” and a whole load of others. By the way classic stories of groups of people being called out on their heroic journeys.

One film she had seen though was “Footloose”. Does anyone remember it?

It is story of a streetwise teenager Ren (played by Kevin Bacon) who moves to a small town in middle America, what would be called Trump country these days. The town is dominated by a fundamentalist preacher who has banned all forms of modern music and dancing. The town is deeply repressed and are “Holding Out for a Hero”, to liberate them. In fact the title song, performed by Bonnie Tyler depicts this perfectly

Where have all the good men gone
And where are all the gods?
Where's the streetwise Hercules to fight the rising odds?
Isn't there a white knight upon a fiery steed?
Late at night I toss and I turn
And I dream of what I need

I need a hero
I'm holding out for a hero 'til the end of the night
He's gotta be strong
And he's gotta be fast
And he's gotta be fresh from the fight
I need a hero
I'm holding out for a hero 'til the morning light
He's gotta be sure
And it's gotta be soon
And he's gotta be larger than life!
Larger than life

So many folk are looking out for such a figure? Well, this is the mistake. Our real task is to be called out on our own journey and become the hero we have all been waiting for. We have to slay our own dragons and bring back the treasure for all to share, just like the Goonies and the Ghost Busters. We have to follow our own bliss. Yes, be inspired by the examples of others, but not await rescue like some princess from a fairy tale. There are no white knights coming. We must become the heroes we have all been waiting for. We must be called out to follow our own bliss.

The “Triumphant Entry”, The “Palm Sunday” narrative and the whole “Holy Week” Mythos, is an archetype of “Following your Bliss.”

But what does it mean to “follow your bliss”? Well according to Joseph Campbell it is a sacred call to action. It is a call from your soul to light the fire within you to do what destiny asks of you, to bring yourself fully to life and therefore to become a light in the lives of others. Following your bliss is about doing the things that bring meaning and fulfilment despite the troubles that may accompany it. It is about meaningful living despite the very real suffering present in all life. As Campbell says by following our bliss doors will open up for us where we could only see barriers before.

Following our bliss is about saying yes to this call and beginning our own heroic journey. In doing so synchronicity will seemingly be abound and luck will follow. By following our bliss we seemingly become guided by something more than ourselves. This is what Campbell observed and it has certainly been my experience, at least for the last 20 years.

Following our bliss though is not an easy ride, quite the opposite actually. Yes there maybe moments of triumphal entry when all are for us and no one seems to be against us, but there will also be moments of suffering and betrayal when everyone and everything seems to be against us. As Campbell observed that like all heroic journeys there are tests and trials along the way. There are monsters and dragons to slay on the journey although most of these are the ones we carry with us. It is our fear of the adventure that is our greatest enemy. It is this that stops us taking the first vital step.

Human history is littered with figures who have been drawn out of themselves, have followed their bliss and begun their adventure thus inspiring others to do likewise. Some have done this on a mass scale, figures like Nelson Mandela, and many others have done so on a much smaller, but no less important scale. All have had to face their trials and tribulation and all brought so much light to our world. They were not special people though, they were ordinary people just like you and me; ordinary people who followed their bliss. Ordinary people who found the courage to be all that they were born to be.

The journey, is arduous at times and filled with fear, betrayal and all kinds of ordeals, there will be temptation to turn away. The key to the journey is to continue on, despite the very real fear. Just as Jesus carried on despite all the fear and doubt and all the barriers that built up ahead of him. He followed his bliss, what he saw as his destiny and in that “courage to be” this lived on as an example to us all of what we can be if we follow our bliss. We can become the “light of the world”. The one’s we and our world have been waiting for. We don’t wait for a hero on a white horse to come and save us, we need to find the hero inside ourselves and go on our own courageous journeys.

So as we stand on threshold of Easter, in this early spring on the days of new beginnings. Let us do so in trust; let us trust in life. That despite the many struggles, sorrows and grief’s, that despite the suffering present daily in life we can know love, beauty and deep meaning if we would but only find the courage to be and “follow our bliss”

Please find below a video devotion based on the material in this "blogspot"