Religion vs Mythology

Religion in its purest form is mythology. In this sense, mythology is not a lie or something false. Rather it is a symbol or an image through which a fundamental, psychological truth is expressed, a truth that is too fundamental for plain, ordinary language. Religion deals with facts while mythology deals with truth. A fact is static, one-dimensional and informational. It belongs to the past and is dead in a certain sense.  A truth is always current, dynamic, personal, multi-dimensional, alive and often paradoxical. A truth is not based on information but on experience. For that reason, truth always is expressed through a symbol or image.

For the orthodox believing Christian, the life of Jesus on this planet is factual. It has a beginning and an end. We are told that he was born around 4 BC, more or less and died in 32 AD, crucified on a cross and eventually went up to heaven. A mythological reading of the story of Jesus reveals it as an ever-present psychological reality, alive and well in every human being. It is a pattern or structure which makes up the human psyche. If we can recognize that pattern in our own lives, then we will have really understood the meaning and message of Jesus. That understanding has the potential to transform our lives. We don’t have to have faith or to believe in the traditional sense. We have to experience and come to know and live the pattern that is already within each one of us. Mythology helps us to do so through symbolic imagery and metaphors.

Dead Bones

A preacher said unto me once:
You must either obey the Word of God wholly or cast It all aside.
However, you cannot extract from It that which pleases you.

And I replied:
The Word of God is food for the hunter in life.
And the hunter, when he has slain his prey, picks the flesh from the bones.
For he would not go hungry nor would he swallow dead bones.

And the preacher became angry with me and recited a passage from Scripture in argument.
And in his recital, he choked on his words and died.

© 1992 F Gelat

More parables at The Forbidden Heights

The Greater Shore

Two men came to the ocean shore to pray.
Both wrote their prayers upon the sand.
The tide came and erased that which they had written.

The first man in frustration wrote again his prayer upon the sand.
And the tide came again and erased his words.

The second man stood and gazed upon the horizon, smiling.
And from the horizon, clouds formed and drifted to the shore and descended in rain.
And he stood with his face and arms lifted joyfully to the skies,
while the first man, at his feet, was still writing his prayer upon the sand.

© 1992 F Gelat

More parables at The Forbidden Heights

The Forbidden Heights

Thousands of years ago, ten birds sat on a branch.
A storm came and tore the trees from their roots.
And the birds sought cover in the caves.
After the storm had passed, the birds remained upon the ground.
They had become accustomed to the earth and forgot about their wings.

Hundreds of years after, nine birds sat upon the ground looking out into the heavens.
And there, engulfed in the empty blue, was one bird soaring high with his wings spread wide.
And the nine gasped and shook their heads saying:
“He is mad. He has a demon within him!”

And the bird who was in the air heard their cries and said to himself:
“Oh my beloved madness, carry me even higher!”
He beat his wings faster and ascended into the heavens
until he was no longer visible to the naked eye.

Then the priest and elder of the nine cried in a terrible voice:
“Behold the anger of God that consumes the disobedient into naught.
From this day forth, cursed be he who dares spread his wings.”

© 1992 F Gelat

More parables at The Forbidden Heights

Religion

Two men beheld a beautiful Land on the other side of the River.
And both desired to dwell in that Land.
Each made use of a small boat and crossed to the other side.
When they arrived, the first man began to make his way to the Highest Mountain
to behold the beauty of this new Land.
The other man desired the same but he took the boat upon his shoulders
and began to make his way in a slow pace.
For he was a stubborn man who would not abandon his means.

The first man, who was more swift, had pity on the other.
He returned and took the second man and his boat upon his own shoulders
and made his way to the Mountain.
When they reached the summit, the first man was in awe over the beauty of the Land.
But the other man, although he too stood upon the summit,
could not behold the beauty of the Land.
For the weight of the boat upon his own head had robbed him of his sight.

© 1992 F Gelat

More parables at The Forbidden Heights

The Insane Asylum

You are probably reading this article while seated comfortably in a fairly secure environment. Most likely, you believe that you enjoy certain freedoms, including accessing this article or any other material that you wish to read. Even if you live in a land ruled by religious or political extremism, you feel that you are at least free in the privacy of your own home to speak, or perhaps whisper, and think as you wish.

But what does it mean to be free? To shop wherever you like? To read whichever book you like? To eat whatever you like? To worship whichever god you choose? Does the freedom to think whatever you like constitute the most basic right? What if you are not free to think as you wish and your other freedoms are mere illusions? What if you are enslaved by something that you cannot see, hear or touch? Would you want to know? What if your very perception of the world is a mirage that has been created in your mind? What if that which rules over you is not a person, government or even a god? Would you want to know? If you think you are free, then think about this…

End of Story: The Age of Disintegration

In every age there have been tumultuous times where it felt as if the world was coming to an end. Is our time any different? I don’t subscribe to any apocalyptic beliefs, but it does seem to me that the collective paradigm through which we have been living for a long time is collapsing on a global scale. It is doing so through a kind of convergence on disintegration where different aspects of our everyday reality are paralleling each other and speeding toward a single, convergent point of collapse, a singularity of sorts.

There are paradoxes everywhere that hint at this disintegration. In a world where we are instantly connected to each other through technology, it seems that we are more alienated than ever. In an age of convenience and modern comforts, we are increasingly restless and have less free time than ever. In the Information Age, very few are really tuned in to what’s happening. At a time when we are told that we are freer than ever with endless possibilities and choices, we feel trapped by our economic situation, our jobs, our familial responsibilities, social obligations, taboos or even our own boredom.