Monday 2 April 2012

april 2, 2012

tonight, i watched part one of the "mythos" lectures by professor joseph campbell.

in these lectures, he discusses (in part) how the reconnection to myth and an understanding of the subconscious can help to mend a fractured sense of self and purpose and, as a result, give us a sense of place in the world.

there was lots of interesting material in the first lecture, but what stood out to me most was a point he made about illusion and compassion.

before discussing this point, he presented us with a common enough scenario: being confronted by the unexpected truth of a person in a relationship. he asks, in this moment when illusion is broken, how can we turn passion into compassion so that we can enter into a new level of intimacy and truth with that person instead of allowing the connection to the person to be broken along with the illusion?

shame and the fear of the shadow self play into our dishonest or incomplete portrayals of ourselves. the presence of that fear and shame is often why the deeper, more complicated truths about ourselves are left until later - sometimes creating illusions about who we are in the minds of our loved ones. we're afraid of parts of ourselves; afraid that our relationships won't withstand the revelations that are necessary to undertake in order to become truly "known".

it's something we've all confronted, and it's a very valuable question: how do we turn passion into compassion when an illusion is shattered - especially when it's one we hold particularly dear? how do we address illusions and acts of dishonesty so we can maintain connections rather than severing them?

1 comment:

  1. For me, understanding the real reasons behind the disillusioning acts of dishonesty helped me to find compassion and maintain the connection with the person that I cared about.

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