We need a "mature masculinity" in our time . . .

At our campsite while driving home across Oregon, I read some insightful words from Terry Jones' "The Elder Within:

"The elder male is not only an advocate for the young but believes that advocacy for men means being aware of a new psychology for men. I call this mindset 'mature masculinity': a concept of masculinity that honors archetypal maleness while at the same time accepting the reality of modern-day western society. This has resulted in new gender roles for men and women. Mature masculinity does not incorporate the juvenile or underdeveloped aspects called 'traditional masculinity,' such as the devaluation of women. Traditional masculinity is the unfortunate but predictable result of the male role socialization process beginning with the Industrial Revolution . . ."

Photos: (Top) Sagebrush, Smith River and Smith Rock, Smith Rock State Park, OR; (Middle) Haystacks and the Painted Hills near John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, OR; (Bottom) Lewis Monkeyflower and waterfalls on the Green Lake Trail, near Bend, OR. These photos were taken on July 31-August 1, 2015

Now men must take responsibility to turn a "War in Which Only One Side Shows Up" into a "Dialogue in Which Both Sexes Speak Up."

Making our way through Eastern Oregon, I found myself reading with fascination a book I purchased at Powell's Bookstore in Portland. One of the passages especially stands out in my mind:

"In the twentieth century women led us through decades of resistance to the devastation caused by immature masculinity. The assault of feminism and many men's acquiescence to its demands has ground down the assertiveness of too many men who feel confused about their power. There has, for too long, been a silence about the increasing destruction of diversity of MATURE archetypal masculine traits . . . Given our focus on feminism, men and women alike have lost track of what MATURE masculinity really means. Warren Farrell writes in 'The Myth of Male Power,' Have we been misled by feminists? Yes. Is it feminists' fault? No. Why not? Men have not spoken up. Simply stated, women cannot hear what men do not say. Now men must take responsibility to say what they want - to turn a 'War in Which Only One Side Shows Up' into a 'Dialogue in Which Both Sexes Speak Up.' "

Terry Jones, "The Elder Within: The Source of Mature Masculinity"

Photos: (Top) Lewis Monkeyflowers, Green Lake and Broken Top Mountain, near Bend, OR; (Middle) Mount Jefferson, viewed from Smith Rock State Park, OR; (Bottom) Sunflowers and red badlands, John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, Painted Hills District, OR. These photos were taken on July 31-August 1, 2015

The intellect is needed to make spiritual meaning.

Because body-oriented spirituality is so much the rage these days, those of us who are called to articulate meaning in a theological-philosophical manner are often misunderstood. We are frequently told: "Oh, you're just your head," or "You're practicing mental masturbation," or even "All of your conceptual insights are merely ILLUSION!" However, our current era is suffering from a lack of meaning. While the old traditional theologies are falling by the wayside, there are few new ones to replace them. While the realm of the conceptual is not the ENTIRE spiritual journey, it is definitely a necessary component. It is with a great sense of consolation, therefore, that I read last week about the "Magician" archetype in Terry Jones' book "The Elder Within: The Source of Mature Masculinity":

"In order to find our own individual centers, we need to be able to access the inner Magician. The magician's wisdom and expertise guide us in our understanding of the self. So, even though this archetype is really in his head, we need his focus on the intellectual to grasp the meaning of life. Mature masculinity depends on the balance of the fourfold way: intellectual, psychological, spiritual, and physical . . . It is from the magician archetype that we are moved to thoughtfulness, reflection and insight."

While I seek to remain grounded in the physical, emotional and psychological realms, it is the intellectual realm - the place where insight and meaning are found - that is my primary vocation and dwelling place in this life.

Photo: South Sister Peak reflected in Lava Lake at sunrise, near Bend, OR, August 1, 2015

Life is a series of open horizons . . .

"Life is a series of open horizons, with one no sooner completed than another looms ahead . . . More than physical features, they are horizons of mind and spirit, and when one looks backward, we find they have blended into the whole panorama of our lives . . . What a person finally becomes . . . is a composite of all the horizons she has explored, for they have marked her and left indelible imprints on her attitude and convictions and given her life direction and meaning . . . When there are no longer any beckoning mirages ahead, a person dies. With an open horizon constantly before him, life can be an eternal challenge."

Sigurd F. Olson,
"Open Horizons"

Photo: View to the west from the rim of Crater Lake, Crater Lake National Park, OR; July 27, 2014

Gary Snyder's Critique of Postmodern Philosophy

 

"For all the talk of 'the other' in everybody's theory these days, when confronted with a genuine Other, the non-human realm, the response of the come-lately anti-nature intellectuals is to circle the wagons and declare that nature is really part of CULTURE. Which maybe is just a strategy to keep the budget within their specialties . . .

"[But] it is not impossible to get a pretty accurate picture of Nature with a little first-hand application - no big deal, I'd take these doubting professors out for a walk, show them a bit of the passing ecosystem show, and maybe get them to help clean up a creek."

Gary Snyder

Photos: (Top) Beargrass with Goat Rocks in the background, Mt. Rainier National Park, WA, July 26, 2014; (Middle) Cliff Paintbrush in the fog, Mt. Rainier National Park, WA, July 26, 2014; (Bottom) Vidae Falls, Crater Lake National Park, OR; July 28, 2014

The blue mountains walk to the kitchen and back to the shop

 

Last night I heard Beat poet Gary Snyder give a reading at Colorado State University.  His humility, humor, warmth and large-mindedness gave me hope that when I reach 84, I too have a chance to remain vibrant and youthful.  The fact that Snyder still goes hiking was evidenced by the mountain daypack he had on hand to haul his various books and papers around. No briefcase for THIS poet!

I've always loved Snyder's ability to interfuse the human and natural worlds in his poetry and prose, a gift that comes in part from his lifelong immersion in the study and practice of Zen Buddhism.  This interfusion is especially evident in the following passage, taken from an essay entitled "Blue Mountains Constantly Walking,"  based in part on the fact that he lives in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California:

"The blue mountains walk to the kitchen and back to the shop, to the desk, to the stove. We sit on the park bench and let the wind and rain drench us.  The blue mountains walk out to put another coin in the parking meter, and go on down to the 7-Eleven . . . [Zen master Dogen says] 'such mountains and waters of themselves become wise persons and sages' - become sidewalk vendors and noodlecooks, become marmots, ravens, graylings, carp, rattlesnakes, mosquitoes.  ALL beings are 'said' by the mountains and waters - even the clanking tread of a Caterpillar tractor, the gleam of the keys of a clarinet."

Photos: (Top) Mountains turned smoky-blue by forest fire smoke, Crater Lake National Park, OR; July 27, 2014; (Middle) Clouds reflected in Crater Lake; July 27, 2014; (Bottom) Mummy Mountain at sunset, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; September 15, 2014

When we are quiet and patient, we can hear the land speaking.

"There is a way that nature speaks, that land speaks.  Most of the time we are simply not patient enough, quiet enough, to pay attention to the story."

Linda Hogan,
Chickasaw writer

Photo: Trees and Crater Lake; Crater Lake National Park, OR; July 27, 2014

Every person and being is composed of an endless number of ever-deepening layers.

 

One of the most important spiritual principles is the realization that every person we encounter - as well as every daily event and every creature in Nature - is composed of a never-ending series of ever-deepening layers. In Nature, for example, everything we encounter is symbolic of a deeper reality. The sky embodies the meditative principle of vast awareness, for example, and a flower speaks of the inner beauty of the soul. With people, especially those whom we find challenging, it is important always to search for an underlying suffering in the person's history that is the source of the behavior we find challenging. However, spiritual vision teaches us that DEEPER STILL lies a divine core - call it the true self, Buddha-nature, the indwelling Christ, God within, untapped human potential, or a thousand other names. Living a spiritual life means always searching for this deeper layer of sacredness, especially in those places where we least expect to find it. Indeed, that depth is precisely what we hope OTHERS will see in us, especially when we aren't on our best behavior! In fact, this kind of search for deeper meaning is, according to the Muslim Hadith Qudsi, founded in the deepest reality of all - the Divine Presence - who excitedly exclaims: "I was a Hidden Treasure, and I LONGED to be known." That treasure is hidden in each of us, and it is our sacred calling as human beings to uncover it, both within ourselves and in others!

Photo: Forest Fire haze makes for beautiful mountain layers; Crater Lake National Park, OR; July 27, 2014

Mutual Seeing Between the Landscape and I

I visit vividly-hued lakes in part because their eye-like quality reminds me that the landscape is alive with sacred subjectivity.  I am seen just as much as I see! 

And this mutual seeing - when motivated by a desire to find the best in the one seen - is ITSELF beautiful, as these amazing lakes so wonderfully express.  In fact, the landscape's seeing is able to occur - at least in part - because it borrows MY seeing. 

To paraphrase that famous phrase of Meister Eckhart: "The eye through which I see the landscape is the SAME eye through which the landscape sees me!"  This insight enables me to realize that I AM NEEDED to help make the seeing landscape conscious!

Photos: (Top) Iceberg Lake, (2nd) Grinnell Lake and  (3rd) Lake Josephine, all in Glacier National Park (MT) The closeup photo (Bottom) is of a part of Crater Lake, OR;  All photos taken in late July, 2014

During meditation, the interior lake of awareness remains vast and calm regardless of the hue of our particular emotional state at the time.

Like Crater Lake at different times of day, the particular "color" of each meditation session is bound to be different than any of the others. 

But through it all, the interior "lake" of awareness always remains expansive and peaceful, 

regardless of the changing hue of our particular emotional state during any given session.

Photos: Crater Lake from sunrise through early evening; The red flower is Pumice paintbrush; Crater Lake National Park, OR; July 28, 2014

These wild ice waters sang themselves into my soul more enthusiastically than ever.

"These wild ice waters sang themselves into my soul more enthusiastically than ever."

John Muir 

Photo: Lewis Monkeyflowers and Vidae Falls; Crater Lake National Park, CO; July 28, 2014

Our depression and self-forgetfulness are a reflection of LIFE's depression and self-forgetfulness.

 

In light of all of the discussions about depression that are occurring this week since Robin Williams' tragic suicide, I want to add an element that I feel is missing from the discussion. In our society, whenever any of us struggles with some kind of attachment, addiction or persistent emotional issue, we almost invariably believe the problem is completely OURS. We think that it is OUR depression or anger or lust or fear, or whatever. But what if we were to realize instead that the thing we call our "self" with its problems is actually a set of relationships within a wider web, a relationship with Life itself? What if our problem is actually a mirroring of LIFE's problem, and what if we are called gently to help Life with ITS anger, lust, confusion or depression? Sufi teacher Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee puts it this way:

"Just as the individual can forget her true nature and real purpose, as many of us have painfully experienced, so can life itself forget. Life is an interdependent living organism that reflects the collective consciousness of humanity. As humanity has become obsessed with materialism and forgotten the sacred nature of life, so has life forgotten its own sacred nature, its primal purpose of divine revelation. We need to redeem this desecration, give back to the world an awareness of its divine nature. This is the work of the mystic. The mystic, the spiritual seeker, belongs to the core of life, to the mystery of life's revelation. We carry within our spiritual centers the secrets of life, and we know the deep joy in recognizing life's need for what is real, what has been hidden within the heart. Part of our purpose is to give these secrets back to life: to help life become aware of its true nature." Indeed, "The first step on the spiritual path is to recognize that it is not about 'me' . . . The WORLD needs our help in order to evolve. We are midwives to a new awakening of the earth that is taking place NOW."

I firmly believe that the depression and confusion we feel so persistently in our time is actually the depression and confusion that Life Itself - or what Renaissance thinkers called "The World Soul" - is experiencing because Its ability to become self-conscious within the human mind and heart has been severely deformed through humanity's reciprocal self-forgetfulness. If we began to realize that this World Soul desperately NEEDS us to throw off Its forgetfulness and to remember who It is, would a large measure of our depression - formed through a sense of seeming isolation and alienation - begin to be healed? It is certainly an insight well worth exploring.

Photo: Sunrise on Crater Lake, with a Limber Pine in the foreground; Crater Lake National Park, OR; July 28, 2014

Because of the interpenetration of all things, beauty can be transferred from one place to another.

 

The vivid hues of Oregon's Crater Lake stun the observer into a state of awe, an experience which can then be transferred to the mundane events of daily life.  For beauty involves a symmetry and balance between external loveliness and the grandeur of a beautiful attitude - one that involves the qualities of awe and wonder.  In beautiful places - like National Parks - the former element predominates.  In everyday life, the latter aspect - an attitude that can be PRACTICED - comes to the fore.  Since every element of life interpenetrates every other element - which, in this case, would mean the beauty of extraordinary places on the one hand and the mundane occurrences of life in society on the other - the two aspects can easily be shuttled back and forth.  All that is needed is a good memory (and perhaps photos life these) and a willingness to embody a beautiful attitude.

Photos: A bay and a pond on Crater Lake radiate their beauty; Crater Lake National Park, OR; July 28, 2014