This is a difficult piece for me, and I hesitate to write it. I ask for the right mixture of courage and compassion. One of my mentors is Joseph Campbell. It is good to have mentors, elders, guides, ancestors in one’s life. They show us the ancient road. Joseph Campbell suggested that when you find a mentor or writer or elder that you resonate with if they are a writer read everything they have written. If they are a musician listen to all their music. If a filmmaker pay attention to all their films. Etc. In so doing you will get everything they have to give to you for your unique journey.
Among all the ideas that Campbell talked about that I liked, and there are many, the one that has influenced me the most is the mystical approach to life. He said that all walks of life have a mystical path. Unlike the orthodox or didactic path of tenets and tradition and regulations, the mystical path makes one’s experience of life the tenet or rule or authority.
As a result, the mystical path seems to be the one that would be perfect for our democratic participatory age that looks askance upon traditional authority and reveres authenticity. One can not get more authentic than one’s very life experience.
And in my field of endeavor, mental health, the trend is to rely upon evidenced based approaches. And again, what better evidence is there than human experience. What humans have done and what humans can do. What we are capable of, and what our potential is.
Our modern world is full of challenges. And pain. And yes suffering. And it is not unusual to hear someone in the midst of tragedy – maybe a mass killing or violent assault or some form of oppression or exploitation – say, “this is something that no one should ever have to go through.” Or now “I am committing my life to fighting so that no one ever has to go through what I am going through now.” I.e. “no mother should have to bury her son.”
Joseph Campbell says that life is something that should not have been. And the aforementioned statements echo Campbell’s sentiment. Life is too grotesque, too painful, too horrific, it is something that should not have been. The pain too great. The horror too blinding.
Campbell goes on to say that the mystic is the one who can say yes to life in all its glory and terror. The mystic is the one who enters into the totality of life whose heart is open to all of life in its various manifestations.
For to say that an event in life should not have occurred is to disagree with life. It is to argue with life. And I love a good argument. And I hope to argue with life again. To argue with life, to disagree with life takes courage and honesty and vulnerability.
The mystic is the one who argues, but does not remain in the dispute, but like Jesus says in the world you will have tribulation, you will have difficulty, but be of good courage, for I have overcome the world. The mystic like Jesus says yes life is hard, harder than hard, and there is something I can do about it. Life as it is is my opportunity.
The mystic is the one like the Buddha who says life involves suffering and there is a way to end suffering. The mystic says yes and, yes but to life. Mystics are world affirmers. They don’t deny suffering, which is brutality, nor do they over identify with suffering which is paralysis. They say yes to it all. They write a poem, or sing a song, or create a dance or piece of art, or become mindful citizens of life.
Life is something that should not have been, to get closer to home, your life, my life is something that ought not have been, but as I would often say my students in Senegal, when they would complain about the difficulty of their life, I would say yes, but life has a great deal of faith in you. And so do I.
the village 