Spiritual Evolution

Reality is more complex than we would like.
If we insist upon it making sense,
we will find ourselves despairing.
Reality cannot be neatly packaged ...
Reality is all that is, and this is often at odds
with what we imagine it should be.
Rabbi Yannai, an early Jewish sage 

 

 

    “Always keep an open mind about whatever you experience. Try not to jump to conclusions. Simply keep observing & investigating your experience thoroughly & continuously. Jumping to conclusions will prevent your understanding from deepening.”
    Ashin Tejaniya “Don’t Look Down on the Defilements – They Will Laugh at You." http://sayadawutejaniya.org/teachings/

      In medicine, a well-recognized source of diagnostic error is "premature closure" - when physicians fail to listen to patients long enough to hear the full history, wrongly assuming they already "know" because they've "heard it all before." 

    It takes effort & humility to patiently, intentionally retain an open, beginner's mind, especially for 'experts' burdened by dogma.

     One definition of an expert is one who's incapable of further learning. This patronizing, colonializing hubris keeps governments, religions, professions & other large institutions fossilized decades, if not centuries behind progressive ideas.

      “While religion at its best calls us to a community of the curious and a unity beyond dogma & tribalism; religion at its worst calls us to worship the very things that divide us and to pit people against one another in the name of one fantasy or other.”
       Rami Shapiro. “Holy Rascals. Advice for Spiritual Revolutionaries.” Sounds True, 2017.  

    Dogmatic secular scientism & dogmatic religions are equally captivating, both promising certainty. For both, it's an open & shut case, all other worldviews are fiercely denounced, now adherents can get back to being busy doing stuff, end of discussion, thank you & good night!

      Reality is far too complex, paradoxical, and takes way too much effort for the vast majority to spend a lifetime exploring with an open mind / heart!  

    “The old gods are dead or dying and people everywhere are searching…” Joseph Campbell 

    Increasingly, people are becoming "spiritual revolutionaries, spiritually independent" or "mystics" - no longer followers, and find marching lock-step with any crowd spiritually confining, even suffocating. Their individual ego (small self) is sufficiently secure, so they do not depend on a group ego, a charismatic guru, or an all-powerful separate "other." Nor do they "other" the Divine, but instead experience Oneness with Source. This felt sense is often referred to as "Self" by mystics, Jung, Internal Family Systems, etc. Some of them resonate with the mystical level of some spiritual traditions, which may or may not be one in which we were raised.

    We ALL have firm opinions about people & things, based on minimal or wrong information.
    AND, we ALL consider others with such baseless opinions, to be bigots, red necks, etc.
    So, in the spirit of open-mindedness, I invite you to watch this 68 minute documentary about a couple who spent a very productive lifetime actually being open-minded enough to learn a great deal of valuable, worthwhile information about shamanism - about which our materialist culture only has disparaging innuendo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNloOTQoRzA

    “There is widespread agreement that seven kinds of practices are central & essential for anyone who would live a life to the fullest. These seven practices are:
        1) Living ethically,
        2) Transforming emotions,
        3) Redirecting motivation,
        4) Training attention,
        5) Refining awareness,
        6) Cultivating wisdom,
        7) Serving others.
    These are the seven practices that sages the world over emphasize as central & essential for a full spiritual life. Together they constitute a ‘technology of transcendence’ for awakening our potentials and living life to the fullest. Shamans were the first to develop this art …

    Shamanism can be defined as a family of traditions whose practitioners focus on voluntarily entering altered states of consciousness in which they experience themselves or their spirit(s) interacting with other entities, often by traveling to other realms, in order to serve their community.”
    Roger Walsh MD, PhD. “The World of Shamanism. New Views of an Ancient Tradition.” Llewellyn Publications, 2007.

“The breezes at dawn have secrets to tell,
don’t go back to sleep!
You have to ask for what you really want,
don’t go back to sleep!
You know, there are those who go back and forth
over the threshold where the two worlds meet,
and the door, it’s always open, and it’s round,
don’t go back to sleep!”

Jalal al-Din Rumi

 

      “Spiritual practices are methods that can begin to soften our stance toward our self, toward life in general, and to open us to what transcends the habitual. They are invitations to become intimate with the wisdom of silence & stillness.”
      Dorothy Hunt. “Ending the Search. From Spiritual Ambition to the Heart of Awareness.” Sounds True, 2018. 

      “Silence is the basis and the background of everything. We are an expression of this primordial silence & stillness. But the habits of our mind overlay this simple truth & keep us from experiencing ourselves as a full-spectrum human being."          Sharon Landrith

 

 

Hero's Journey

    Some still imagine that they're floating along on a lazy, hazy "smooth ride," but a jarring wake-up call has been clanging for some time. Real life is dragging ALL of us - personally & collectively - to rehab right now.

Personal level - one's health
    Anne Lamott's older brother “John still had such a handsome, hard casing that when God finally reached a tipping point with him, He or She had to use a very heavy hand: John got severe rheumatoid arthritis, which sent him to bed for days on end during flare-ups. He cut his work life in half, needed a cane to walk, and then a cart for longer distances, like getting around the Chico’s Costco. Then his liver began to harden and die off in spots. And those things he had always kept at bay – the grimy, the real, and the powerlessness – were now obvious aspects of his life. The smooth ride was over.”
    Anne Lamott. “Small Victories. Spotting Improbable Moments of Grace.” Riverhead, 2014.

Collective level - earth's health
    "The people who have contributed the least to the climate crisis, whose wise indigenous cultures have been plundered to create hyper-individualistic economies, and who have the least financial resources to manage their local waters, air, and soils are already suffering the most. It is shameful that instead of joining hands to face the climate derangement, the current global geopolitical order is inflicting gory violence upon people in the Middle East, where everyone will be displaced by ongoing global heating in the next few decades.
    A vibrant and ongoing sense of local community that takes meaningful actions cannot be created without vulnerably connecting over stories and releasing our layers of personal and collective grief, rage, fear, and guilt-shame.”
    Kritee Kanko PhD "Climate Grief, Communal Power. A Zen Teacher Invokes the Parable of the Mustard Seed to Call for Intersectional Solidarity from the Larger Buddhist Community." Tricycle, April 4, 2024.

Personal Unconscious - Universal Consciousness?
    A week or so ago, I had a strikingly clear, memorable dream. I was driving in downtown San Francisco towards an archway, where the road appeared to simply end. So I stopped the car, got out, and walked a little bit ahead of the car and to my shock, I saw that the road sharply bent straight down at a 90° angle, to the street ~10 stories below. There was no sign of crashed cars at the bottom.
    I walked over to the left, to an adjoining archway, and there too, again without any posted warnings, the road bent almost as sharply downwards, but here, there was a wide, extremely steep stairway down to the street far below, with no handrails, so that at least theoretically, one might survive the very long, extremely steep climb down.
    In the dream, I was absolutely incredulous, and mad that there were no warnings whatsoever, that this was the catastrophic end of the road for my "smooth ride."

    This dream suggests (screams) that our collective next move is unexpectedly, right now, & highly uncertain. Are enough of us up to having a genuine "hero's journey"? - "A sudden & unexpected journey, promising adventure & peril. A test of character, strength, & skill. An ultimate battle that tests the hero's resolve. A triumphant return home." Can we first learn & then spread the understanding that life has real meaning & purpose?

    Wise collective action is demanded, which must be lead by wise, mature leaders. Our collective behavior will demonstrate whether enough of the human race can quickly, radically evolve to become a blessing - OR - continue devolving as an unsustainable invasive species.

"How wonderful it would be when all beings
experience each other as limbs
on the one body of life." 

Shantideva

Simon & Garfunkel - A Hazy Shade of Winter

 

Hold On, Let Go

     This morning, I woke up from a deep sleep, and immediately sat down to meditate. The house was quiet. The sun shined in. I felt no desire for anything - generally (eg food, drink), or from the meditation. I felt peace, stillness, equanimity. Silence & stillness permitted clear awareness, which in turn allowed me to perceive what is appropriate to this moment, which was simply to be peace.

     Being open-mind-heartedly engaged with whatever the present moment holds makes most of us afraid, so we anxiously try to escape : http://www.johnlovas.com/2017/01/what-do-you-need.html

    "The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek." Joseph Campbell

     Be not afraid, it's your time to become a mature human being : http://www.johnlovas.com/2020/11/the-mature-human-being.html

 

 

What Does It Take?

Are we ready to lose EVERYTHING we can think of?
Yet it's only a matter of time that we DO.
So how do we BEST PREPARE?

      "It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live." Marcus Aurelius

     Many teachers have said that "meditation is learning to die before dying." In deep meditation we intentionally undergo "ego death" ie letting go of the "small self" - the reductionist model of who / what we imagined we were.

“Love says 'I am everything.'
Wisdom says 'I am nothing.'
Between the two, my life flows.” 

Nisargadatta Maharaj

    “Without being mindful of death, whatever Dharma practices you take up will be merely superficial.” Milarepa, The One Hundred Thousand Songs of Milarepa

 

    During general anaesthesia for an operation, "I was just going through the feeling of the essence of loss of control, and tears washed down my face when I had to think about it. That this is the essence of dying, to just let go, to dive down without any ground under your feet. That this is to step out of control, like in death. If we let go of the rational control over our own consciousness, we can get somewhere that forms us and that also forms the universe. I acknowledge that this is, in my opinion, a very important state of mind, a very important process for us all.”  Beate M's Near-Death Experience: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AE_8E6casn0

 

    "Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Matt. 27 Verses 45-46, Bible, King James Version 

 

    "And here I would advise a sort of intellectual humility. Near-death experiences are obviously deeply mysterious. Death has always been viewed as something holy by religions because it is deeply mysterious. Near-death experiences suggest at least that death isn’t just a flame of life that is slowly burning down, but that it is once again a phase of life that is of extreme importance for life as a whole. Even if you can’t see any of this from the outside, but for the ones who live through this process of dying from the inside, it is of extreme importance and a moment of clarity of the consciousness.” Near-Death Experiences and the Mysteries of Consciousness - Godehard Brüntrup in Conversation : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSvfoKZnnYs

     "Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less." Marie Curie

      "The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek." Joseph Campbell

"I was born
when all I once feared
I could love.”

Rabia Basri

    "On the day her first book came out ― a new translation of 'Dark Night of the Soul' by Saint John of the Cross ― Mirabai Starr’s daughter, Jenny, was killed in a car accident. 'My spiritual life began the day my daughter died,' writes Mirabai. Even with decades of spiritual practice and a deep immersion in the greatest mystical texts, she found herself utterly unprepared for 'my most powerful catalyst for transformation, my fiercest and most compassionate teacher.'" Mirabai Starr "Caravan of No Despair : A Memoir of Loss and Transformation." Sounds True, 2015.

"All shall be well,
and all shall be well,
and all manner of things shall be well."  

Julian of Norwich (1342 – 1416) English Christian mystic

    “So long as one is merely on the surface of things, they are always imperfect, unsatisfactory, incomplete. Penetrate into the substance and everything is perfect, complete, whole.” Philip Kapleau “The Zen of Living and Dying. A Practical and Spiritual Guide.” Shambhala, 1998.

    “I have watched people choose growth over fear as they navigated some of life’s most difficult transitions. I have seen how it is possible to approach the challenges of real life with openness & optimism – even with wisdom & joy.” Elizabeth Lesser. “Broken Open. How Difficult Times Can Help us Grow.” Villard, 2005. POWERFUL BOOK!

    “Rapture is not a selfish emotion. It is pure gratitude, flowing freely through the body, heart, and soul. Gratitude for what? For breath, for colors, for music, for friendship, humor, weather, sleep, awareness. It is a willing engagement with the whole messy miracle of life.” Elizabeth Lesser. “Broken Open. How Difficult Times Can Help us Grow.” Villard, 2005.

    "I just had to keep going, even though the cockpit was shaking mightily just before breaking the sound barrier." Captain Charles E. “Chuck” Yeager, first pilot to break the sound barrier

    “On the other side of a storm is the strength that comes from having navigated through it. Raise your sail and begin.” Gregory S. Williams

All of our days,
a single drop of dew
hanging
from a slender leaf.

Chris Thorsen

    “You needn’t worry about anything because this isn’t your real home. It’s just a temporary shelter. Everything there is, is preparing to disappear. If you look at it like that, your heart will be at ease.” Ajahn Chah, “Our Real Home” 

    “Death is our friend precisely because it brings us into absolute & passionate presence with all that is here, that is natural, that is love.” Rainer Maria Rilke

    Especially if you fear death - and most of us do - I HIGHLY recommend this wonderful book - you will feel much better about death AND about life!: Bruce Greyson. “After. A Doctor Explores What Near-Death Experiences Reveal about Life and Beyond.” St. Martin’s, 2021.

    "The more you understand, the more you love; the more you love, the more you understand. They are two sides of one reality. The mind of love and the mind of understanding are the same.” Thich Nhat Hanh

    “The big question is whether you are going to be able to say a hearty ‘yes!’ to your adventure.” Joseph Campbell

 Bill Hicks, 1992 - "It's Just A Ride"
( all over in 2 minutes :-) ! )

Gentle Reminders

The Peace of Wild Things
Wendell Berry

 
When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

 

      “I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority.” E.B. White

     “Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

     "We lie in the lap of immense intelligence, which makes us receivers of its truth and organs of its activities." Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

     “Place yourself in the middle of the stream of power and wisdom which animates all whom it floats, and you are without effort impelled to truth, to right and a perfect contentment.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

     “The goal of life is to make your heartbeat match the beat of the universe, to match your nature with Nature.”
     Joseph Campbell, “A Joseph Campbell Companion: Reflections on the Art of Living”

 

www.soteric.org/psychedelics

Feel the Radiance

     Check in with yourself first thing in the morning - HOW DO I FEEL? Is it:
'Shit, I'm tired. I don't know if I can handle all this #@><* today.'
             OR
'Yes! A brand new day awaits me! I wonder what new adventures I'm going to experience?'
      Your felt sense is probably somewhere along the continuum between:
• closed, up-tight, afraid/anxious/angry/pessimistic, and
• open, relaxed, kind/warm/realistic/gentle.
     NOTICE how the mood you choose to stay with, powerfully impacts the quality of your day, and ultimately, the emotional tone of your life.

     "My research has convinced me that we all have extraordinary creative, humanitarian, and spiritual possibilities but are often alienated from them because we are so focused on a very narrow slice of who we are. As a result, we aren’t fulfilling our full potential. We spend so much time looking outward for validation that we don’t develop the incredible strengths that already lie within ..."
      Scott Barry Kaufman. “Transcend. The New Science of Self-Actualization.” A TarcherPerigee Book, 2020.

“One way or another, we all have to find
what best fosters the flowering of our
humanity in this contemporary life, and
dedicate ourselves to that.” Joseph Campbell

      According to Abraham Maslow, most of us are partially alienated from our full potential, even after our basic needs for physical health, safety, belonging, & esteem have more or less been met.

     One of the author’s clients “was able to identify a core belief that had plagued him his whole life. Despite being raised by loving parents, he did not think or feel that he was lovable enough, and he felt compelled to compensate for this apparent lack. As a result, he could never rest as he was. He was always trying to be a different and better self. This is the self-improvement project that few of us are immune to.
     Almost everyone struggles or has struggled with an underlying sense of lack, of not being enough in some way. This belief can take various forms. Instead of thinking that we aren’t lovable enough, we may feel that we are not worthy enough. Have you ever secretly believed this? If we are honest with ourselves, we almost always feel like we aren’t ____ enough. You can fill in the blank.”
      John J. Prendergast. “The Deep Heart – Our Portal to Presence.” Sounds True, 2019

     It's easiest to see the paradox when others appear blind to how much they have: a billionaire acting as if penniless; a thin person being convinced they're fat; a strikingly attractive person being sure they're ugly. Their perspective, their capacity to see reality, is distorted or even blocked, by past ± ongoing traumatic conditioning.

     Much of our attention is absorbed by the repetitive, self-centered STORIES we keep telling ourselves - "the story of me." We habitually dissociate (www.johnlovas.com/2019/12/complete-experiencing-healing-trauma.html) into "self-talk," and too often neglect to directly engage with what's actually taking place in real time. We're so worried about ourselves (based on past traumas & other aversive conditioning), that we find it difficult relating & responding wisely to reality.

     At the same time, the advertising industry so expertly conditions us to believe that buying & owning more & more of the latest stuff is the only path to happiness, that we distrust & ignore all other options. A lot of us become perfectionists & workaholics, since working harder & better + achieving more & more + buying bigger & better is the only current socially-sanctioned path to happiness. But noticing that we're no happier, we double-down to work even harder & better + achieve even more + buy even bigger & better.

      “In an age of great material excess, we suffer dislocations from the energies of our deepest being and, in return, suffer emptiness, anomie, aimlessness ... (And) our culture’s treatment plans ... are materialism, hedonism, narcissism and nationalism, as well as a coursing nostalgia for a world that never really existed.”
     James Hollis. “Living Between Worlds. Finding Personal Resilience in Changing Times.” Sounds True, 2020

     Surprisingly slowly, we start realizing that no matter how many widgets we crank out per hour, no matter how "perfect" each widget, no matter the recognition at work, no matter how huge our house, no matter how fancy our cars, and no matter how extravagant our vacations, we STILL feel that gnawing "lack"! 

     Some sadly will nevertheless ride this train to the bitter end: cynicism, bitterness, burn-out, heart attack, stroke, death. 

     Some, however, try to understand & investigate - "lean into" this unpleasant persistent lack and realize that all of us have qualitatively higher needs than more money, recognition, & material possessions.

“Find a place inside where there’s joy, and
the joy will burn out the pain.” Joseph Campbell 

      What if we directed attention towards the subtle feel of our own life energy? What if our deepest desire was authenticity to who/what we (all) basically are?

     “There is a light in the core of our being that calls us home – one that can only be seen with closed eyes. We can feel it as a radiance in the center of our chest. This light of loving awareness is always here, regardless of our conditioning. It does not matter how many dark paths we have traveled or how many wounds we have inflicted or sustained as we have unknowingly stumbled toward this inner radiance. It does not matter how long we have sleepwalked, seduced by our desires and fears. This call persists until it is answered, until we surrender to who we really are. When we do, we feel ourselves at home wherever we are. A hidden beauty reveals itself in our ordinary life. As the true nature of our Deep Heart is unveiled, we feel increasingly grateful for no reason – grateful to simply be.”
       John J. Prendergast. “The Deep Heart – Our Portal to Presence.” Sounds True, 2019

"Just Stories" - OR - Scripts ?

     "Einstein was asked what he thought the most important question was that a human being needed to answer. His reply was, ‘Is the universe a friendly place or not?’ And indeed, our answer to that question is the cornerstone on which many of our values and beliefs inevitably rest. If we believe that the universe is unfriendly and that our very souls are in danger, peace will be elusive at best." 
     Joan Borysenko. “Fire in the Soul. A New Psychology of Spiritual Optimism.” Warner Books, 1993.  

     Wisdom traditions suggest that we pay very close attention to our myths. Some of our personal & collective myths are far wiser, & serve us far better, than others. (Even when our personal / collective myth makes us miserable, 'it's human nature' to stick to it tenaciously - much like abused people are very reluctant to abandon toxic relationships.)

     “Why mythology? Because the right side of the neocortex, the higher brain, operates on stories and myths, not facts. The success of TV series like Game of Thrones, films like The Lord of the Rings and Star Wars, and the Harry Potter books attest to our fascination with fantasy and myth. At the same time we tend to underestimate the power of myths, dismissing them as charming fables or entertaining tales. But as the scholar Joseph Campbell made clear, myths aren’t just plotlines for comic books and summer blockbuster movies. They affect us to a far greater degree and at a far deeper level than we realize. From a very young age, we fall under the spell of powerful myths that influence the way we perceive the world and, consequently, the choices we make every day.
     Mythologies represent the beliefs and values of particular groups or cultures. To a large extent, the guiding myths of the West differ from those in other parts of the world. Certain myths, however, seem to be universal, written on the collective human psyche and conveying archetypal energies that crosscut time and geography. The most enduring myths involve ordinary people embarking on heroic quests, often against their will, and overcoming apparently insurmountable obstacles to perform extraordinary deeds.
     The values and beliefs contained in myths are so strong that once you find your personal guiding myth, you feel compelled to change your life to conform to it. Change the myth and your values and beliefs change – and the facts of your life change accordingly.
     But you can only change your personal myth after you’ve upgraded your brain, because a broken brain automatically runs the old software, leaving you at the mercy of the four ancient programs of the limbic brain: fighting, fleeing, feeding, and fornicating. When we’re caught up in aggression, fear, or greed – or its opposite, scarcity – we’re unable to adopt new values and beliefs, even in the face of a serious crisis. Unconscious programming overrides our best intentions.
     At this point in our history, it’s pretty clear that the human species needs to be more collaborative, creative, and cooperative – qualities that are aspects of the archetypal mother figure. To bring balance back into our relationship with Mother Earth and with one another, we need to replace the masculine mythology of domination, conquest, and hierarchical power. And on a personal level, we need to overcome the self-focused, power-hungry, battle-fixated limbic mind-set.
     Updating your personal mythology means abandoning the seductive yet limiting beliefs that affect us collectively and create for each of us a living hell. Changing your personal myths requires interacting with familiar stories in new ways so that you can use those energies more wisely and efficiently. You could revise how you engage with your inner warrior, for example, by giving up violence toward yourself and others, and reserving your adversarial energy for only the most essential battles and the athletic field.
     We can become warriors who fight our own demons instead of looking for people to demonize and dominate. We can wage holy war on the infidel within – or even chuck the warrior energy altogether and see what our inner infidel has to teach us. In similar fashion, we could work with the pouting inner child who always wants things our way, or the jealous Aphrodite who demands that all attention and adoration be focused on us.” 
       Alberto Villoldo. “One Spirit Medicine. Ancient Ways to Ultimate Wellness.” Hay House Inc., 2015.  

The Birth of Dualism in the West

     “For the West, however, the possibility of such an egoless return to a state of soul antecedent to the birth of individuality has long since passed away; and the first important stage in the branching off can be seen to have occurred in that very part of the nuclear Near East where the earliest god-kings and their courts had been for centuries ritually entombed: mainly Sumer, where a new sense of the separation of the spheres of god and man began to be represented in myth and ritual about 2350 B.C. The king, then, was no longer a god, but a servant of the god, his Tenant Farmer, supervisor of the race of human slaves created to serve the gods with unremitting toil. And no longer identity, but relationship, was the paramount concern. Man had been made not to be God but to know, honor, and serve him; so that even the king, who, according to the earlier mythological view, had been the chief embodiment of divinity on earth, was now but a priest offering sacrifice in tendance to One above – not a god returning himself in sacrifice to Himself.
     In the course of the following centuries, the new sense of separation led to a counter-yearning for return – not to identity, for such was no longer possible of conception (creator and creature were not the same), but to the presence and vision of the forfeited god. Hence the new mythology brought forth, in due time, a development away from the earlier static view of returning cycles. A progressive, temporally oriented mythology arose, of a creation, once and for all, at the beginning of time, a subsequent fall, and a work of restoration, still in progress. The world no longer was to be known as a mere showing in time of the paradigms of eternity, but as a field of unprecedented cosmic conflict between two powers, one light and one dark.”

       Joseph Campbell. “The Masks of God: Oriental Mythology.” Viking Compass Edition, NY, 1962.

Universal Consciousness - Namaste!

     "In the field of consciousness research - and also in physics and astronomy - we are breaking past the cause-and-effect, mechanistic way of interpreting things. In the biological sciences, there is a vitalism coming in that goes much further toward positing a common universal consciousness of which our brain is simply an organ. Consciousness does not come from the brain. The brain is an organ of consciousness. It focuses consciousness and pulls it in and directs it through a time and space field. But the antecedent of that is the universal consciousness of which we are all just a part."
 
       Joseph Campbell. "Mythic Worlds, Modern Words." New World Library, 2004, p 286