Earlier, I mentioned the fact that the thing we usually think of as our individual "self" is actually a web of relations tied to something Larger. In that post, I called It "Life" or "The World Soul." In this post, I want to be more specific. Here, I want to say that, as a heterosexual man, this primary Web of relations can be identified as the Sacred Feminine - "Mother Nature," "The Goddess," "Sophia," "Earth Woman," "Gaia" - call her what you will. In any case, my perennial experience is that she CRAVES my attention, especially since - as a human being - I am called to be the major means by which She becomes self-conscious of Her own goodness and beauty. Last weekend, I backpacked three-thousand feet in elevation gain in order to camp right next to this spectacular meadow of Rosy Paintbrush, located on the west side of the Maroon Bells - Snowmass Wilderness. While there, I had the distinct impression that the Goddess indwelling that meadow was absolutely OBSESSED with getting my attention, and was therefore packing it with as many expressions of Her rose-hued beauty as possible in order to MAKE ME pay attention to the spiritual reality underlying ALL of matter.
Years ago, I came across a fascinating article by archetypal psychologist James Hillman, in which he offered a convincing interpretation for the reason why so many men in our culture become obsessed with images of human female beauty. In that article, he mentioned the fact that the Sacred Feminine - whom he referred to as "Aphrodite," the Goddess of love and beauty - has been SO oppressed and ignored by our overly-patriarchal corporate-industrial society, which seems so hell-bent on destroying the natural world, indigenous cultures, and everything that would make us heartfelt and human, that She is currently coming to us in any way she can, DEMANDING that we pay attention to Her. If we won't recognize Her within the natural world, within our current religious systems, or within our inner lives, then She has to come to us in the areas where we DO allow Her, even if in a distorted way - within the constant images of beauty produced by our media and entertainment industries, and within a seemingly endless number of internet websites. In the case of men, She has to OBSESS us with these images of beauty if She is to have any chance at all of getting our attention.
What the Sacred Feminine really desires, of course - as Hillman points out - is for us to find Her within our imagination, which is and has always been the lens necessary for discovering Her presence hiding within the entire web of life. But since we are currently so out of touch with our imaginative, myth-making capacity - something that was a staple of life within all indigenous cultures - She has to appear to us within LITERAL images of the feminine. However, all the while, as Hillman points out, She hopes we'll tire of mere literalism and seek Her in a deeper, more imaginative way. As Hillman's friend, Thomas Moore once put it: "The mystery of male sexuality is not to be found and lived in literal gender and literal sex. The Other can only be loved and pleasured when one has discovered the cosmic couple, inside oneself and in the world at large. Only when the male and female have coupled in out-buildings and economies and schools and politics will the god and goddess take their long night together with us."
What I find so liberating about this kind of insight is the realization that male desire - or ANY desire, for that matter - can be treated not merely as an aspect of the ego-self but as a quasi-independent Presence who desperately needs us to pay It our full attention. Hillman calls this "finding the gods in the disease." When we identify our own emotions as OURS alone, we find ourselves struggling and struggling with them, without any real victory. However, if we instead view our most challenging emotions as PRESENCES who desperately need our attention and help in bringing them into full, conscious self-awareness, then we suddenly begin to feel empowered to spring into action in order to HELP THEM OUT. In other words, instead of beating ourselves up for our obsessions and addictions, it begins to dawn on us that they are presences who NEED OUR HELP!. Jungian analyst Marion Woodman says something similar with regard to alcoholism and eating disorders. In the case of alcohol (which we tellingly call "spirits") the much-neglected spiritual dimension of our lives is calling out to be recognized and brought to the fore. And with eating disorders, the spiritual presence indwelling food (and all of matter) is - Woodman tells us - trying to get our attention in order to prod us into bringing its sacredness to the fore within our unbalanced corporate-industrial culture.
Some of the medieval mystics said something similar regarding the masculine aspect of the Divine; that is, of God. For example, Mechthild of Magdeburg, a 13th century German Beguine mystic, tells us that "we must guard ourselves against Divine fervour,” which obsesses us with the desire for union. In fact, she says that God tells her: “I must protect you from inordinate desire, both yours and MINE.” Otherwise, we burn up in our desire for union with the Beyond.
I find this kind of vision incredibly liberating. Instead of feeling isolated in my struggles with male longing - which I usually think of merely as MY desire and MY problem - I am instead able to view it as a spiritual presence - a quasi-independent being who indwells my desire - one that is trying to get my attention in order to have me help It - or Her - become more self-conscious of Its own beauty and goodness spread throughout ALL the Earth and human culture. And in that Rose Paintbrush meadow where I camped last weekend, the Goddess definitely went ALL OUT in Her desire to get my attention!
Photo: Rosy Paintbrush meadow; Silver Creek Basin, Maroon Bells - Snowmass Wilderness, CO; August 9, 2014
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