Homo Sapiens, Creation, & Atlantis

Posted on July 29, 2018 by marcia

AS always, do your research:

Edgar Cayce (Credit: Edgar Cayce’s Association for Research and Enlightenment, Author provided)

27 SEPTEMBER, 2017 – 22:50 JIM VIEIRA

Edgar Cayce, Six-fingered Giants and the Supernatural Creation Gods of Atlantis: Part 1

“The primitive mind does not invent myths, it experiences them.” — Carl Jung

For nearly 30 years I have returned to the famous “Sleeping Prophet” Edgar Cayce’s readings as a road map to try and piece together the complex origins of civilization and the creation of Homo sapiens. Cayce (March 18, 1877 – January 3, 1945) was an American Christian mystic born in Hopkinsville, Kentucky who answered questions on subjects as varied as healing, reincarnation, wars, Atlantis, and future events while in a trance state.

While only possessing an eighth-grade education (not me, HIM, but almost), Cayce would ultimately transmit not just a stunning volume of material (over 14,000 readings and some 25 million words) but also a remarkably detailed and complex body of work. A nonprofit organization, the Association for Research and Enlightenment , was founded to facilitate the study of Cayce’s work.

Intellectual Giants on Human Origins

I have conducted a lengthy comparative analysis of the Cayce material, the literature of Rudolph Steiner, the Rosicrucian’s, the Freemasons, the Theosophists, Plato, as well as worldwide indigenous oral traditions, myths and legends. What came forth was as unexpected as it was bizarre.

Virtually all the sources claim that Homo sapiens were created in supernatural fashion long ago on the lost continent of Atlantis, which once existed in the Atlantic Ocean. A continent that had as part of its population giants and little people. Long-lived androgynous creator gods sometimes described as possessing six fingers or toes, are claimed to have birthed humanity. Atlantis was claimed to have been eventually destroyed by a great flood roughly 12,000 years ago and survivors were said to have brought the arts of civilization to Egypt, the Americas and several other locations in its aftermath. Cayce reveals the following in reading 364-11:

“Please give a few details regarding the physiognomy, habits, customs and costumes of the people of Atlantis during the period just before the first destruction.” These took on many sizes as to the stature, from that as may be called the midget to the GIANTS – for there were GIANTS IN THE EARTH IN THOSE DAYS, men as tall as (what would be termed today) ten to twelve feet in stature, and well-proportioned throughout. (1)

Rudolph Steiner also had the following to say regarding these inhabitants of Atlantis, “Everything that refers to ‘giants’ in legends is absolutely based on knowledge of the truth … [W]e feel it to be absolutely correct, from the spiritual scientific point of view, that the giants are stupid and the dwarfs very clever.” (2) Secret society literature, oral traditions and religious documents like the Bible all proclaim the existence of ancient giants as well.

Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925), founder of Steiner School system of education

( Public Domain )

On Creator Gods

As intriguing as all this was however, my investigative mind kept drawing me back to the mystery of androgynous creator gods – the first beings, who were considered the architects of humanity, who inhabited genderless androgynous forms back in deep antiquity. Let’s turn to Edgar Cayce scholar W. H. Church to help us understand what is meant by this.

“In what we may term it’s primitive or pre-Atlantean phase, before the emergence of its first mighty rulers, in the days of Poseidon and Atlas, or the enlightened reign of Amilius, at what was to become the all-time zenith of Atlantean civilization, the new continent was being busily colonized. Already it promised to become what Cayce would call the “Eden of the world”, and home to a most unusual race of androgynous soul beings…In Hindu mythology, the seed of our present human race were sons of God, who, during the root race associated with the Atlantean epoch, had devolved into semi-divine, androgynous beings, self-imprisoned in bodies, that had physiologically changed, becoming human in appearance. In this form, they began taking unto themselves wives who were indeed fully human in appearance and fair to gaze upon.” (3)

This description is very reminiscent of the Biblical story of the Nephilim who took on human wives. Indeed, the Bible clearly speaks of Giants, six fingers and toes, androgynous creator gods and a great flood.

Church continues,

“In the early days of Amilius rule, the separation of the sexes had not yet begun to take place. Though male in their outward aspect, the androgynous sons of God embodied within themselves the nature of both male and female in one person. By turning to the creative forces, they could become channels to bring into being androgynous progeny after their own kind imbued with a double soul and a double sexed body. In this way, sexual intercourse was unnecessary as a means of propagation.”( 4)

While life without sex doesn’t seem like much fun, it points to a supernatural origin for humanity, an idea shared by many ancient cultures worldwide. The “miraculous birth theme” or humans being made from clay or on a potter’s wheel recurs throughout world religions and mythologies. Examples are to be found in Genesis, the Qur’an, and Egyptian, Greek, Sumerian, Inca, Chinese and some Native American mythologies.

Androgynous beings Khnum and Thoth create humans on a potter’s wheel ( CC BY-SA 3.0

Many of these creators are described as androgynous like the Egyptian god Khnum. Khnum is depicted on a relief at Esna creating humans on a potter’s wheel while the androgynous Thoth writes the years the humans will live behind him. Interestingly the Temple of Esna was dedicated to an anonymous androgynous creator god and androgynous Khnum is depicted with six fingers.

Six Fingered androgynous Khnum, Temple of Esna, Egypt. (Author provided)

Several professionals have been exploring this strange case as well. In the Israel Exploration Journal, Volume 57, 2007, Irit Ziffer explores the idea of androgynous creator deities in his thought-provoking paper, “The first Adam, Androgyny and the Ain Ghazal two-headed busts.” Ain Ghazal is an ancient site in Jordan dated to roughly 8250 BC where some of the world’s most ancient statues were unearthed several decades ago.

Androgynous two-headed statues from Ain Ghazal. ( CC BY-SA 4.0 )

Ziffer makes a strong case that the two-headed statues represent androgynous creator deities. Another curious twist is that some of the statues have six fingers and toes, famously associated with the Biblical giant of Gath.

Six toed foot from Ain Ghazal Statue. Source Richard D. Barnett, Polydactylism in the Ancient World, Biblical Archaeology Review May/June 1990. (Author provided)

Ziffer explains, “Schmandt-Besserat proposed that the Ain Ghazal statues represented deities, She accounted for the polydactilism (a rare genetic syndrome) of the statues as a divine attribute, and, based on cuneiform literature, identifies the two-headed busts as the likes of the gods Marduk (according to the Epic of Creation, ‘four were his eyes, four were his ears’; Dalley 1991: 236) and Ishtar (‘Ishtar of Nineveh is Tiamat… she has [4 eyes] and 4 ears’; Livingstone 1986: 223; Schmandt-Besserat 1998a: 10–15).

The four eyes and four ears may stand for a doubled face. Barnett WHO (1986: 116; 1986–87; 1990) explained the polydactilism of the ªAin Ghazal statues as a mark of supernatural entities, such as the biblical Rephaim, a race of giants: ‘There was a giant of a man, who had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot, twenty-four in all; he too was descended from the Rapha (single form of Rephaim). When he taunted Israel, Jonathan, the son of David’s brother Shimei, killed him’ (2 Sam. 21:20–21).”

Thus, the prototype androgynous human, containing both sexes, was defined through the two-headed person, claims Ziffer. What we have here is quite stunning, some of the oldest statues ever discovered represent a worship cult of deities who were androgynous and possessed six fingers and toes. Remember, the statues of Ain Ghazal are over 8000 years older than the Bible.

Top image: Edgar Cayce (Credit: Edgar Cayce’s Association for Research and Enlightenment, Author provided)

By Jim Vieira

from: https://www.ancient-origins.net/myths-legends/edgar-cayce-six-fingered-giants-and-supernatural-creation-gods-atlantis-part-1-008859

On Shambhala

Posted on January 4, 2015 by marcia

5 April, 2014 – 14:03 aprilholloway

Mysteries of the Kingdom of Shambhala

Shambhala, which is a Sanskrit word meaning “place of peace” or “place of silence”, is a mythical paradise spoken of in ancient texts, including the Kalachakra Tantra and the ancient scriptures of the Zhang Zhung culture which predated Tibetan Buddhism in western Tibet. According to legend, it is a land where only the pure of heart can live, a place where love and wisdom reigns and where people are immune to suffering, want or old age.

Shambhala is said to be the land of a thousand names. It has been called the Forbidden Land, the Land of White Waters, Land of Radiant Spirits, Land of Living Fire, Land of the Living Gods and Land of Wonders. The Hindus call it Aryavartha (‘The Land of the Worthy Ones); the Chinese know it as Hsi Tien, the Western Paradise of Hsi Wang Mu; and to the Russian Old Believers, it is known as Belovoyde. But throughout Asia, it is best known by its Sanskrit name, Shambhala, Shamballa, or Shangri-la.

Shambhala is described as a land of paradise. Photo credit: Naughty Dog-Uncharted

The legend of Shambhala is said to date back thousands of years, and reference to the mythical land can be found in various ancient texts. The Bön scriptures speak of a closely related land called Olmolungring. Hindu texts such as Vishnu Purana mention Shambhala as the birth place of Kalki, the final incarnation of Vishnu who will usher in a new Golden Age. The Buddhist myth of Shambhala is an adaptation of the earlier Hindu myth. However, the text in which Shambhala is first discussed extensively is the Kalachakra.

The Kalachakra refers to a complex and advanced esoteric teaching and practice in Tibetan Buddhism. Shakyamuni Buddha is said to have taught the Kalachakra on request of King Suchandra of Shambhala.

As with many concepts in the Kalachakra, the idea of Shambhala is said to have outer, inner, and alternative meanings. The outer meaning understands Shambhala to exist as a physical place, although only individuals with the appropriate karma can reach it and experience it as such. The inner and alternative meanings refer to more subtle understandings of what Shambhala represents in terms of one’s own body and mind (inner), and during meditative practice (alternative). These two types of symbolic explanations are generally passed on orally from teacher to student.

As the 14th Dalai Lama noted during the 1985 Kalachakra initiation in Bodhgaya, Shambhala is not an ordinary country:

Although those with special affiliation may actually be able to go there through their karmic connection, nevertheless it is not a physical place that we can actually find. We can only say that it is a pure land, a pure land in the human realm. And unless one has the merit and the actual karmic association, one cannot actually arrive there.

A Buddhist depiction of Shambhala from Sera Monastery (private collection). Image source.

The Prophecy of Shambhala

The concept of Shambhala plays an important role in Tibetan religious teachings, and has particular relevance in Tibetan mythology about the future. The Kalachakra prophesies the gradual deterioration of mankind as the ideology of materialism spreads over the earth. When the “barbarians” who follow this ideology are united under an evil king and think there is nothing left to conquer, the mists will lift to reveal the snowy mountains of Shambhala. The barbarians will attack Shambhala with a huge army equipped with terrible weapons. Then the king of Shambhala will emerge from Shambhala with a huge army to vanquish “dark forces” and usher in a worldwide Golden Age.

Though the Kālachakra prophesies a future war, this appears in conflict with the vows of Buddhist teachings that prohibit violence. This has led some theologians to interpret the war symbolically – the Kālachakra is not advocating violence against people but rather refers to the inner battle of the religious practitioner against inner demonic tendencies.

Shambhala’s hidden location

Over many centuries, numerous explorers and seekers of spiritual wisdom have embarked on expeditions and quests in search of the mythical paradise of Shambhala, and while many have claimed to have been there, no one has yet provided any evidence of its existence or been able to pinpoint its physical location on a map, however most references place Shambhala in the mountainous regions of Eurasia.

Ancient Zhang Zhung texts identify Shambhala with the Sutlej Valley in Punjab or Himachal Pradesh, India. Mongolians identify Shambhala with certain valleys of southern Siberia. In Altai folklore, Mount Belukha is believed to be the gateway to Shambhala. Modern Buddhist scholars seem to conclude that Shambhala is located in the higher reaches of the Himalayas in what is now called the Dhauladhar Mountains around Mcleodganj. Some legends say that the entrance to Shambhala is hidden inside a remote, abandoned monastery in Tibet, and guarded by beings known as the Shambhala Guardians.

According to Buddhist traditions, Shambhala is located in the Himalayan Mountains. Photo source: Wikipedia.

For some, the fact that Shambhala has never been found has a very simple explanation – many believe that Shambhala lies on the very edge of physical reality, as a bridge connecting this world to one beyond it.

While many disregard Shambhala as the fanciful subject of myth and legend, for others, a belief in Shambhala stirs an inner yearning to one day find this utopian kingdom.

Featured image: An artist’s depiction of Shambhala. Photo credit: Naughty Dog-Uncharted

By April Holloway

– See more at: http://www.ancient-origins.net/ancient-places-asia/mysteries-kingdom-shambhala-001529#sthash.mQh4txMF.dpuf

Eye Floaters & The I Ching

Posted on May 19, 2013 by marcia

Image credit: sxc.hu

Floaters and the I Ching

Posted on Wednesday, 20 March, 2013 | 4 comments
Columnist: Floco Tausin

In China, the Book of Changes (I Ching) is one of the most important books used for divination and self-realization. Its principle may have been developed from the perception of eye floaters during altered states of consciousness.

“Eye floaters” (mouches volantes or muscae volitantes in French and German ophthalmology) is a collective term used in ophthalmology for all possible opacities in the vitreous. Many of them can be traced to physiological disorders like retinal detachment or diabetic vitreoretinopathy. The floaters at issue, though – which are also the most experienced floater type – are considered as ‘idiopathic’, i.e. without pathological cause. I call them “shining structure floaters” (Tausin 2012a). They are seen as mobile and scattered semi-transparent dots and strands in the visual field, best perceived in bright light conditions (fig 1). These dots and strands float according to the eye movements which makes them hard to focus on.

Fig. 1: ‘Idiopathic’ eye floaters in the visual field (FT).

In Western culture, the phenomenon of eye floaters is primarily understood in line with modern ophthalmology as “vitreous opacities” (Trick, 2007; Sendrowski/Bronstein, 2010). However, there are alternative explanations: In the mid-1990s, I met a man named Nestor living in the solitude of the hilly Emmental region of Switzerland. Nestor, as well as his friends, have a unique and provocative claim: that they focus on a constellation of huge shining spheres and strings which have been formed in their field of vision. They interpret this phenomenon as a subtle structure formed by our consciousness which in turn creates our material world. Nestor and his friends call themselves ‘seers’. They ascribe this subjective visual perception to their long lasting efforts to develop their consciousness (Tausin 2010a, 2009). I did some research and found that in history of religion and art, a multitude of cases are known in which spiritually committed individuals report or depict abstract or figurative subjective visual phenomena they experienced in altered states of consciousness (cf. Tausin 2010b; Müller-Ebeling 1993). This may even trace back to Paleolithic times where early “shamanic” ritual practices and techniques of ecstasy gave rise to evolving homo sapiens’ awareness of so-called entoptic phenomena, including shining structure floaters (cp. Dowson/Lewis-Williams 1988; Eliade 1957; Tausin 2012b, 2010b). If so, these subjective visual phenomena were seen and interpreted by shamans and mystics over and over, passed down e.g. as religious symbols and artistic conventions, and eventually incorporated into the art and philosophy of the first civilizations (Tausin 2012c, 2012d). It is reasonable then to examine the I Ching for floater structures.

The I Ching (Yijing)

Bronze Age China was ruled by expanding dynasties and warring states. In 1027 BC, the Zhou established a dynasty that would last until the formation of the first Chinese Empire by the Qin in 221 BC. To legitimize and ensure their rule, the Zhou subordinated the king and the officials to a universal moral law, the “Heaven’s Mandate” (tianming). This law was thought to endow the king with heavenly, and therefore absolute power (Kohn 2009; Von Glahn 2004; Gernet 1989; Chen 1963). Ancient Chinese texts served to harmonize one’s conduct with the heavenly law. In the 5th century BC, these texts were compiled by K’ung Fu-tse (Confucius) into a canon of several classic works that also served as a basis of studies. The five most important (Five classics) are the Shujing (Book of Documents); Shijing (Book of Poetry); Lijing (Book of Rites), Chunqiu (the Spring and Autumn Annals, which are the official chronicles of the State of Lu), and the Yijing (I Ching) (Book of Changes) (Gernet 1989; cp. Raphals 1998).

Let’s have a closer look at the I Ching. Historically, there were several versions of the I Ching. It is likely that each Chinese dynasty had its own official version. According to scholars, these texts have developed from the oracle rituals of the Longshan period: animal bones and tortoise shells were heated to produce cracks which were the sources of divinatory interpretation (cp. Kohn 2009; Cheng 2009; Liu 2004; Lynn 1998). The I Ching, as it is known today, is based on the dualism of two principles yang and yin, depicted as an unbroken line and a broken line respectively. They represent the dynamic and creative forces of the Ultimate (qi/chi, later dao). Yang and yin lines are combined to eight trigrams (set of three) and 64 hexagrams (set of six). Each trigram and hexagram is attributed with a specific meaning, resulting in a complex and rich symbolism that is used for divination, undertakings and self-realization up to this day (cp. Roberts 2010; Kohn 2009; Ames 1998; Rawson/Legeza 1974).

Fig. 2: The development of the eight trigrams (pa-kua) from the Supreme Ultimate. From top to bottom and from right to left: The Supreme Ultimate (t’ai-chi); the male principle yang and the female principle yin; the four double line images: big or old yang, young yang, young yin and old yin; the eight trigrams: Heaven, Lake, Fire, Thunder, Wind, Water, Mountain, Earth (Prunner 1986).

Visually, the floaters spheres and the floater strings with their core-surround structure have nothing to do with the yang and yin principle, depicted as unbroken and broken lines in the I Ching. However, there are indications for arguing that the trigrams and hexagrams are stylized representations of circles or spheres. I will discuss three points: First, in the Chinese art, circles and curves were frequently reshaped to rectangles and straight lines. This is exemplified by the sun symbol in the ancient Chinese scripture and ornamentation (Fig. 3).

Fig. 3: Ancient Chinese pictograms for “sun”, “day”, “eye” etc. (Hentze 1951).

This also seems to be the case with the I Ching, at least if we consider the mythical origin of the trigram system: According to the legend, the eight trigrams are attributed to the culture hero and mythical ruler Fu Hsi (or Fu Xi) (Roberts 2010). One day, he was walking along the Yellow River when a white horse with the head of a dragon emerged from the water. On its side, there was a map (Ho Tu) consisting of bright and dark dots (Legge 1882; cp. Kohn 2009).

Fig. 4: Ho Tu (“map of the river”). The Ho Tu and its twin, the Lo Shu map, both were used for divinatory and numerological ends and as basis for Feng shui practice. (http://www.tao-chi-duisburg.de/I-Ching/Das_Ho_Tu/das_ho_tu.html (15.12.12); cp. Legge 1882; Prunner 1986).

It is said that the Yellow River Map inspired Fu Hsi to develop the eight trigrams, arranged in the four cardinal and four ordinal (diagonal) directions.

Fig 5: The eight trigrams arranged around the Ho Tu (http://www.kheper.net/topics/I_Ching/history.html (16.12.12)).

This is known today as the “Early Heaven” arrangement of the eight symbols or trigrams (pa-kua, bagua).

Fig 6: The “Early / Earlier Heaven” pa-kua by Fu Hsi (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bagua_%28concept%29 (16.12.12)).

How exactly, according to the myth, the transition from the dots to the trigrams was done is not known to me. My point here is that the trigrams have been developed from dark and bright dots. And that – with regard to the shamanic influence on ancient Chinese culture and the shining floater forms found on craftwork (Tausin forthcoming) – these dots might represent concentrated male (bright core) and female (dark core) floater spheres (Tausin 2011, 2010a).

This view is supported by my second point, the cosmogony or development of the material world that features the same characteristics in the seers’ seeing as in the I Ching (see fig. 2). Central to both the I Ching and the Emmental seers is an Ultimate called chi (qi) or t’ai-chi by the Chinese and “source” by the seers. Whereas seers claim that they see this source as a sphere (Tausin 2010a, 2009), the Chinese depict chi as a circle. This sphere or circle contains the two original opposites. Chinese philosophy understands these opposites as separate creative forces, yin and yang. Seers see them as dark and bright parts of the core-surround structure of floater spheres, or as the two kinds of spheres (dark core, white surround; white core, dark surround) respectively. The interplay of these forces gives rise to the diversity of the material world – and mundane consciousness – which increasingly substantiates and removes from the original abstractness of chi or the “source”. This process of diversification is depicted in the I Ching as the multiplication of yang-yin-combinations in the digrams, trigrams and hexagrams. Similarly, the Emmental seer see that the “path in the shining structure” is a way from many floaters to a constellation of few floaters to the “source” – based on that, they suggest that the “path in the shining structure” is an inversed creation process.

My third point is that the digrams, trigrams and hexagrams are a system to express the visual changes of shining structure floaters. In different states of concentration and intensity, floaters differ in size and the area ratio of core and surround, resulting in different luminosity as well (cp. Tausin 2011). Taking yin as the dark parts and yang as the bright parts of floater spheres, the digrams, trigrams and hexagrams are able to express these states in different degrees of acuteness. The figure below shows the transition of a male (yang) and a female (yin) sphere from the big relaxed (center) to the small concentrated (left and right) states, expressed by the trigrams.

Fig. 7: A possible correlation of trigrams and shining floater states of concentration. Source: author.

To address one last obvious question: If shining structure spheres have been transformed into straight broken and unbroken lines – why is that? I have mentioned above that the reshaping of circles to rectangles – or dots to lines – are an artistic convention of some of the Bronze Age Chinese art. But there could also be practical reasons: Lines are fast and easy to discern and write; they are space saving; and as trigrams and hexagrams, they express well defined states or phenomena. For example, the trigrams „lake” and „fire” are clearly distinguishable and therefore can be used for divinatory ends, while the concentrative states of shining structure spheres permanently alter and thus are less clearly assignable to particular concepts. In other words: the lines are better suited for writing and divinatory and philosophical reasoning.

Conclusion

The article is based on the assumption that ancient Chinese shamans or ecstatics have seen shining structure floaters and other entoptic phenomena during altered states of consciousness. They have understood these phenomena as meaningful and powerful signs and passed them down as spiritual and philosophical symbols and artistic conventions. I’ve made three points in order to suggest that floaters have become stylized and systematized in early divinatory texts which later were compiled as the I Ching. If so, two mutually exclusive conclusions follow from that, the ophthalmological and the seers’ interpretation: Either the I Ching is based on a “degenerative vitreous syndrome” which would prove its ridiculousness. Or floaters have a perceptual (and spiritual) dimension that goes far beyond the ophthalmological knowledge. Based on my personal experience and my research, I tend to the second.

from: http://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/column.php?id=244898

Ancient History & Mythology

Posted on February 23, 2012 by marcia

Ancient History Rocks

Emory Mort

World-renowned authority on ancient mysteries Graham Hancock joins rock’n’roll band Turbowolf to explore their mutual interest in theunresolved questions troubling the mainstream historical myths of our planet.

Known as the best-selling non-fiction author of books such as “The Sign and the Seal”, “Fingerprints of the Gods”, and “Supernatural”, Hancock explains how he accidentally began his career as an explorer of the unexplained in rural Ethiopia, why ancient maps provide troubling news for the strict evolutionary worldview, and why most mainstream historians refuse to investigate the mounting evidence that ancient megastructures such as the Great Pyramid and The Sphinx are dated incorrectly by thousands of years.

Standing in front of the steaming Roman Baths of Bath, Hancock says to Turbowolf at the end of Episode 1, “I can’t help feeling that there’s something missing from the story…” This video provides a quick and powerful reminder that we still have much to acknowledge and integrate from our past if we are to create wise global myths in our current time.

from: http://www.realitysandwich.com/ancient_history_rocks

Heroes, Risks, and Myths

Posted on October 18, 2011 by marcia

Lloyd Glauberman, Ph.D.

Clinical Psychologist, Hypno-technologist

Steve Jobs, Joseph Campbell and the Myth of the Hero

Posted: 10/17/11 03:22 PM ET

It’s easy to get caught up in the frenzy of praising the accomplishments of Steve Jobs since his death. In fact, it’s virtually impossible to overstate his importance. His is the first face on technology’s Mount Rushmore. With a computer chip in hand, he was Jordan with the ball, Baryshnikov in flight, Da Vinci with a brush. His work epitomized perfection. But it wasn’t always that way. The path of success was strewn with failure. And it was out of the ashes of epic failure that Steve Jobs’ life took a turn toward the mythic.

But first, a bit of mythology.

In his book “The Hero With a Thousand Faces,” Joseph Campbell describes the archetypal narrative that transforms an everyday man into a hero. Based on Carl Jung’s theory of the collective unconscious — a shared storage of images and themes that transcends culture — the hero myth reflects a story of a man either being pulled out of his ordinary life or choosing to leave and begin a great journey, whose ending is unknown. During his mythic journey he encounters great difficulties but eventually understands what his purpose in life is. He is tested to his limits, what Campbell calls a “supreme ordeal,” and is forever changed. With his new powers and a renewed sense of purpose, he returns to his society and makes a tremendous impact.

I think it’s safe to say that the life of Steve Jobs clearly fits the structure of the hero myth. If we substitute the Apple Corporation for society, we have a near perfect fit. Let’s review a few key moments in the formation of his mythic narrative.

Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak founded Apple and attempted to build an alternative to the PC world of Microsoft. Their first two computers, Apple I and II, did not initially sell very well. Later, Jobs developed the first computer with a graphical user interface, the Lisa, named after his daughter. It was way too costly and bombed. By that time former PepsiCo CEO John Sculley was in charge at Apple, and he fired Jobs because of the Lisa debacle. Our hero was banished from the kingdom. Having failed on a huge scale — the Lisa cost tens of millions of dollars to develop — he was now unemployed.

In order to prove he was still relevant in the computer world, Jobs started a new computer company, NeXT. Again, he failed. The NeXT computer barely sold. And worse, while he was gone, Apple had success with the Macintosh, which became the first successful computer with a graphical user interface. Jobs clearly was facing his “supreme ordeal.” You don’t fail twice on a stage this large and not a have a crisis of confidence. Jobs’ ego must have been teetering on the edge of an abyss. Yet, as the gods would have it, a series of events occurred which afforded him an opportunity for redemption. Apple began to falter, and they asked him back. The kingdom was in trouble and needed the old king to return and save the day. Jobs took back his throne. But it wasn’t immediate glory. Apple continued to flounder for a while, even needing to borrow $150 million from Bill Gates and Microsoft in 1997. Imagine how difficult that must have been to borrow money from Darth and the evil empire.

But then the magic started. First came the iMac and then the flood of handheld devices that catapulted Apple from death’s door to the most dominant technology company in the world. The hero’s journey was complete.

It’s easy to look at Steve Jobs and think only of success, especially if you were born after 1990. By the time you were a teenager Apple products had transformed the culture. They had so many successes that it felt like Motown during the 60s. Hit after hit. But if you look at his life just through the lens of the past 10 years, you miss the point completely. For it was the early years — the years of failure and suffering — which taught him how to sustain a vision and never give up.

So when you talk to your children about Steve Jobs and want to give them a gift — a bit of wisdom they can use when things don’t go as planned — tell them about Steve Jobs’ life, all of it. Tell them how the early Apple computers sold in the hundreds, not the millions. Tell them about the failures with Lisa and NeXT and that Apple was once a desperate company struggling to survive. Tell them that Jobs himself said these very same things at his 2005 commencement address at Stanford.

Then, and only then, can one understand and fully appreciate Steve Jobs’ accomplishments. Risk taking and resilience — the core characteristics of the mythic hero — allow success to emerge out of failure. Steve Jobs didn’t succeed in spite of his failures, he succeeded because of his failures.

Steve Jobs is the quintessential American hero.

from: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lloyd-glauberman-phd/steve-jobs-american-hero_b_1014063.html

Tom Kenyon on Myth

Posted on September 8, 2011 by marcia

(My Commentary: Myths are pervasive throughout cultures, and in many ways support us in all we are. At this time, it is well to look at the ideas within both ourselves and our culture as things change so rapidly and concepts morph and take on new meaning and symbolism. The Divine Spark always holds within itself a bit of madness, but then madness is something that can take on many forms and is, at times, the sanest approach to a shifting vibration.)

The Myth, The Hero, And The Lie

By Tom Kenyon

The concept of a living myth has intrigued me for many years, ever since I discovered Dr. Carl Jung’s work with archetypes during my undergraduate training. The idea of a living myth is alien to many in our materialistic society. For most people, myths are imaginary stories from another time, seeming to have little modern relevance. But a living myth is forged in the depths of our psyches, and it is both alive and potent with psychological power. Although living myths exist only in the subterranean passages of our unconscious, they nevertheless affect our outer world in very direct ways.

These mythological realms live unseen for the most part in the shadowy mists of our underworld. But occasionally they push through the veil of self-forgetfulness and land splat in our conscious everyday world. The young man rushing for the last touchdown of a football game, the crowd driven to their feet by mass hysteria, has suddenly been thrust into the myth of the hero. The mother who rescues her child from danger becomes, for a moment, the heroine.

There is power in myth, and every society instinctively knows this. In times of national crisis (i.e., war) societies quickly cast themselves as the Hero within their own minds. Anyone who opposes them becomes villainous. And when a culture begins to turn fascist, people are viewed as villainous just for asking intelligent questions about national policy and cultural attitudes. This pattern has been clearly repeated, ad nauseam, throughout all history, our current global crisis being no exception.

But no matter how unwieldy the global situation appears, it is fundamentally fueled by individual spiritual, psychological and economic choices. As individuals change their personal choice making, we will see an immediate shift in global affairs. And so it is to the individual that I wish to turn my attention in this discussion.

It is a long strange road we will take together here. We shall travel through lands of psychosis, mental illness, creative brilliance and spiritual illumination. Hopefully, we will gain some insights, along the way, that will help us in our own lives. And perhaps we will find, in the experience of others, some insight to help us in the extraordinary psychological and spiritual challenges we are facing at this time.

And so let us begin.

Chromographics Institute

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Tag Archives: Myths