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The Mythopoetic Men’s Movement and My Personal Experience within it
I have been less active on this blog this week; I’ve been recovering from a mild stomach bug, probably picked up in all my travels earlier in the month to LA, then Baltimore, and home again. While I was resting I took the opportunity to plunge into Joseph Gelfer’s book: Numen, Old Men Contemporary Masculine Spiritualities and the Problem of Patriarchy. Joseph brought his book to my attention while commenting on an earlier post. It took some time for me to get it and then to get into it, but here we are. I will offer some thoughts this week (and probably next) on this provocatively titled book, and from my initial read.
Before I explore the book I’ll begin with a personal account of encountering the Mythopoetic Men’s Movement, one of the subjects of Dr. Gelfer’s review.
My early involvement with Robert Bly started with his interview with Bill Moyers in 1990: “A Gathering of Men.” This was perhaps a natural extension, both for me and many others, from our experiences growing up in the 60s, of our activism, our idealistic hope for change and and a strong desire to be part of that change. My personal men’s movement started as early as 1967 as a peace corps volunteer to Ethiopia where I experienced relationships with men that seemed unthinkable in the US. I formed strong bonds with several men, Ethiopian and Indian colleagues with whom I taught. By 1990 I had been re-culturated into American society, married, had two sons, divorced, remarried and added a step-daughter. Yes, I was well integrated into the “American Dream” at that point. But I knew too much, had seen and experienced too much to think that this dream is all there is to life on Planet Earth.
I went to a Bly/Michael Meade event in Washington, DC in about 1990, called “A Day for Men.” A thousand men gathered and crammed into Lisner Auditorium of George Washington University to listen to these two poets/storytellers spin a yarn and teach about what it might be like to grow into a modern man in late 20th century America. It was an awesome experience and I can still give myself goosebumps recalling pieces of the day. It hooked me into the “movement.”
I have since had several more experiences with Robert, did a weekend workshop with Robert Moore, another luminary of the early movement, read all the books with eager enthusiasm and finally made it to one of Robert’s annual gatherings in Minnesota, the Men’s Conference in 2002. (I had planned to attend the one in 2001, in fact was at the airport in Colorado to fly into Minneapolis, when the planes hit the towers in NYC; I didn’t go anywhere that week!). It was at the 2002 conference that I met Martín Prechtel, one of the conference leaders that year. I enjoyed this event so much that the following year I took my older son; we enjoyed the 2003 conference, especially doing it together. Maldoma Somé was a key leader and my son made an immediate bond with him.
Since that time I have continued reading and thinking, writing and reviewing material on all these subject lines that I first encountered with Bly, Meade, Moore, Prechtel, et al. I continue to study with Martín in his school, Bolad’s Kitchen. I do not consider what Martín is now doing part of the mythopoetic movement. First it is not about men but humans; second, it is definitely about spirituality, especially native spirituality as a guide to find our indigenous souls; third, it doesn’t really address the principal topics of the movement.
The movement has had many critics. Feminists voiced concern that it championed a return to strong patriarchy; there was a fear that Bly’s “soft male” would become hard and violent. I believe there was a lot of misunderstanding by those who viewed the movement from the outside and through the literature only. Myths and archetypes presented within the movement were never meant to be models for behavior but teaching tools to gain a deeper understanding of who we men are in an evolving and ever more complex society. We were learning to be present and participating men rather than the absent and withdrawn, or violent and domineering. My wife encouraged me to participate in the movement; her women’s book group read Iron John with enthusiasm and reportedly gained much understanding of their husbands, sons and even daughters.
I do not now consider myself part of the mythopoetic men’s movement (if, in fact, it still exists as a “movement”). I learned a lot from the leaders and teachers within the movement. What I gained drew me into areas of study and thought which continue to evolve and grow. Jungian psychology and archetypal investigations still hold my interest. The next book on my reading list is Matthew Fox’s The Hidden Spirituality of Men Ten Metaphors to Awaken the Sacred Masculine. His ten metaphors are archetypes. And whether these archetypes are real and “hard wired” into the human psyche (as Robert Moore professes) or simply metaphors by which we explore human behavior to learn how to improve it, I believe modeling that behavior is instructional and important for the evolution of consciousness and spirituality.
I will never apologize for my participation within the mythopoetic men’s movement. I gained too much, became a better man through its influence. But it was only one of many stepping stones. The movement was a beginning to open men to their higher potential. It was never meant as a be-all, end-all approach, but an awakening. Since the early days of the Vedas and Buddha we are all, as humans, called to awaken. For me the men’s movement was part of that call and part of my awakening process.
Tomorrow I’ll begin my review of Dr. Gelfer’s book. As a preview I will tell you he is quite critical of the movement. Stay tuned!
Alchemy and the Goddess
My posts have been sparse lately as we travel coast to coast and back home. Experiencing all these climates has been enjoyable but a bit hard on the environmental body controls. Rosemary and I are both a bit under the weather (so to speak) from the changes. It was good to get home to Colorado last evening and back to our regular schedules. My posts will be regular again as well!
Last night Rosemary and I hosted our “First Monday” Spiritual Exploration Group meeting here in Colorado Springs. We had a good turn out for our topic of the month: What’s All This Hype about 2012? What’s the Basis for it and What Do We Think Might Happen? I found some interesting references to both Alchemy and the Goddess in my readings in preparation for the discussion. There seems to be a strong synchronistic potential at work in my life. The books I am choosing to read and the topics I am choosing to write about and discuss all align with the topic of this post. More of this as we work through the week
The first story of my current book on Alchemy (Alchemy, an Introduction to the Symbolism and the Psychology by Marie-Louise von Franz) is from the Codex Marcianus. It is called The Prophetess Isis to Her Son and is about Isis seeking the secret of “the holy technique” – the preparation of gold and silver. Interestingly Alchemy and the Goddess are immediately linked not only in my mind (see my post on March 25) but in the very first material I take up on the subject!
The story itself is fascinating: Isis encounters an angel who wants to have sex with her in exchange for the knowledge of alchemy. She puts him off until she obtains the knowledge; then he admits this is above him and he needs to hand her off to another more powerful angel. The next day the more powerful angel appears; this one too wants to have sex with Isis. Again she refuses until she receives the secrets of the preparation of gold and silver. In the story the recipe is actually presented but the names of the various substances used are so arcane as to be not identifiable today. But Isis does obtain the secret knowledge and is allowed to share it with her son, Horus.
The significant part of this is where von Franz takes the discussion: she draws the parallel between this myth and the creation myth of the Bible where Eve is the source of the “fall” when she suggests Adam eats the apple whereby they gain knowledge. Of course the Isis story is a positive one: not only does Isis succeed in gaining the information she sought, but she also avoided payment for it by not having sex with the angels. The Eve story is negative: the payment for the knowledge gained is expulsion from the garden. Von Franz would say both stories are archetypal and related; they likely have the same source. The Biblical story is much younger than the Isis story. How is it that the newer story was twisted to have a negative outcome to the gain of knowledge?
And this becomes the crux of the evolution of western civilization, even consciousness! There was an ancient track that seemed to consider knowledge as good. And women were the seekers and keepers of knowledge. This track was diverted a few thousand years ago to declare knowledge as evil; and the cause of this evil was Woman! What is this all about?
Is knowledge good or evil? You might think this is a silly question in the post-modern world of today when science and technology are supreme icons of advancement. But this debate continues. How many people today would still say Eve was wrong in offering the apple, knowledge, to Adam? How many people today deny the science behind the evolutionary process? Believe it or not there is still a sizable portion of the population of this country that believes the Earth is the center of the Universe! (And I suspect these people do not want to discover anything that would contradict their beliefs.)
Is knowledge evil; is ignorance bliss? The question is not as simple as it seems. My posts will continue to consider the question – as we seek answers through knowledge!
A New Storm; A New Book
Yes, I do live in Colorado. And at this time of year anything can happen, even well into Spring. So, we are expecting snow tonight and all day tomorrow, with winds, with falling temperatures, a regular “winter storm watch.” Oh, and there’s a “100%” chance of this happening! Fortunately I just received a new book to get me through the snow-bound stage (which will probably only last a few hours tomorrow!).
One of the good things about this blog is it gained the attention of Joseph Gelfer who is doing some really interesting work down in the Melbourne, Australia in the field of masculine spirituality. I just received his book, Numen, Old Men Contemporary Masculine Spiritualities and the Problem of Patriarchy. He warned in one of his comments to me that he takes apart the whole, so called “mythopoetic men’s movement” of which I’ve felt some kinship and even participated in from time to time. So, I am not surprised and full of anticipation to read his second chapter titled: “The Mythopoetic Movement: Getting it Wrong from the Start.”
Robert Bly, Michael Meade, Robert Moore and several others were at the forefront of this movement beginning in the mid-80s. I’ve been in workshops and read much material from these three men in particular and have enjoyed what they offer. In his preface Joseph writes: “I had a deep, intuitive feeling that I could identify a masculine spirituality that did not perpetuate patriarchy and homophobia…” Yes, exactly what I am looking for and what I am working to reveal in these random posts on “men and the Goddess.” During his research for his book Joseph discovers an underlying patriarchy within the men’s movement; he states: “All but a few…who articulated a ‘masculine spirituality’ were actually articulating a patriarchal spirituality.”
Yes, I can see that to an extent. And I did read critical reviews and commentary on the mythopoetic movement at the time of its zenith that stated much the same thing, that patriarchy was alive and well within the movement. But, for me at least, it was a beginning. And there was much good work done by some within the movement. I have moved on. Many have. And I hope that this new book by Joseph Gelfer helps advance this whole notion of masculine spirituality. I will keep you informed of my progress as I move through his research and findings.
Meanwhile I have been working for “the goddess.” Yes, I have revamped Rosemary’s website with a modest update to include a new video of her describing what she does. The site flows a bit better now, but stay tuned for a major overhaul in late spring as I shift her to a WordPress hosted website. Check out the video at www.rosemarybredeson.com. And, for goddess sake, if you haven’t subscribed to her FREE weekly ‘ezine’ Wisdom Connections, each issue of which contains a new message from The Divine Feminine on how to live more consciously, do so when you visit the site.
Do you have a connection to the Goddess?
Balance – Can you find that still point within?
Happy Spring! On Saturday, locally at 11:32 am, we officially greeted Spring’s arrival. And while your weather may not have been appropriate for this season of growth and greening, at least here in the northern hemisphere, it was nevertheless a point of balance for everyone everywhere. The equinoxes are celebrated as a time of year of equal light and dark. The Sun is up for very close to 12 hours and it is down for 12 hours. For example Sunrise on Saturday here in Colorado occurred at 7:04 am and Sunset was at 7:11 pm. Balance.
How do you define balance? And here I’m asking about your sense of balance as an individual moving through your life on Planet Earth. Of course there are many kinds of balance: balancing while riding a bicycle, balancing on one foot in a yoga asana, balancing a diet, a check-book, balancing times of work and play, activity and rest. These are all examples of physical balance. There is also balance to be found in emotions: balancing joy and sorrow for example; and balancing of mental activity: right and left brain balancing, creativity with logic; and there is spiritual balancing to consider: balancing an understanding of self and Self, sensing the presence of God and Goddess, masculine and feminine energies within.
The balancing of day and night amplifes this sense of balance in our lives at this equinox time. It is a good time to examine all these areas of balance to determine if there might be some shifting to do. Balance is not a static or rigid sense of maintaining a status quo of some sort. There is an essential dynamic to balance. When riding a bike subtle shifts in the body are required to maintain balance; and, of course, forward motion greatly adds to the balancing act. All balancing acts require adjustments and tests to find and maintain the balance point.
Spiritual balance can be found, tested and adjusted on the inside. There is a still-point within where the breath eases, where the mind quiets, where emotions become submerged; this is a fulcrum of balance. Some people feel this in their heart-center, the fourth chakra, middle most of the seven. Some people find it in their dantien, especially the lower dantien in martial arts applications. It is in this inner balance point where God meets Goddess, where self meets Self, where the natural world meets emptiness, where no-thing meets the All. This is a highly dynamic center, full of life and change. But it is is a quiet place and the changes are subtle.
When we find this place of balance inside ourselves all other parts of our lives come into balance. Stress eases, ease strengthens, heaviness lightens, lightness deepens, masculinity softens, softness toughens, roughness smooths, smoothness texturizes. The polar energies swirl about one another, as in the Tai Chi symbol: yin swimming into yang, yang spiraling around yin; dark to light, light to dark dynamically balanced, ever changing, always the same, never static, spiraling upward.
Enjoy these days of balance subtly moving toward lengthening days and the coming solstice. And sense that still point within, your fulcrum about which your entire life can be balanced.
Inner Work using Divination
As predicted we got our five inches of snow; it is still coming down as I write! And by equinox time tomorrow, 11:32 am locally, we will see the Sun and experience the light for half the day; and then we’ll have half a day of night: equal parts light and dark to balance our inner and outer natures.
I’ve been writing about inner work lately. I’ve cited several methods I have used with varying success to get in touch with the inner being, to process loss and grief, to get in touch with our spiritual bodies and minds, to get in touch with Self. And in clearing up one of my piles of papers yesterday I found a single typed sheet, isolated, waiting for me. I glanced at it before pitching it in the recycle bin and read a few lines. This sounds interesting, I wonder who wrote it; maybe I should set it aside to read later.
I read this note today; I had written it, who knows when, I discovered about half-way through the piece. It was a response I had written, perhaps 10 years ago, to a “shusta card” drawing I had done. Shusta cards are a deck used for divination that I was trained in some time in the 90s. I haven’t used them in years. I have used other cards on occasion. Divination cards are very useful as a means to communicate with our higher consciousness, the Self. One year I drew a card from three different decks each morning and wrote in a journal what I interpreted the cards to mean. It is fascinating to go back and read that journal now.
With that as introduction I offer this “reading” of self, and Self, for your consideration, not only as the message for today as we approach equinox, but as a method you can use to get in touch with your higher Self:
“I can not hope to serve others successfully unless I am serving myself to a point where it becomes clear I am host to God/Goddess, a point where wholeness is growing inside. Then there will be a platform from which to serve.
“Now my Shusta cards from this morning become clearer. Destiny, Self, Unconditional Love. Of course, I have a destiny which is unalterable and set in motion from the beginning of time. I know that, and hard as it is, I accept that, at least intellectually. It is harder to accept it emotionally, but once it is admitted, life becomes easier to bear. Acceptance of this condition is a step on the path to wholeness. Let the moment unfold as it will. I can’t change it. The minute details may alter but the overall pattern of my existence is set, so let it be.
“Self within the established pattern – what does that mean? Is there a self within the motions of the plan that has any importance? Perhaps only in the context of the Self can the self be considered significant. Everything needs context. The Self has its context in Oneness, the Unity of All, the Way/Tao, the Am that I am. I am that Oneness, that Oneness am I. In the great beingness, isness, suchness, I am, the Self. From this one point derives all existence. The self is the conscious level of the Self. It is awake, aware, and built to serve the Self. It gets in its own way a lot. It second guesses everything. It thinks way too much. Out of this thinking derives worry, guilt, and many other destructive emotions. The shadow emerges from the self. The Self has no shadow, can not be split or divided onto itSelf, because it is only the Self. Consciousness of the Self is the only path of salvation for the self. Dwelling in the Self is the source of hope. Awareness of the Self is the platform for wholeness, and service. All derives from the Self; the first derivative (dS) is the self. The only purpose, meaning is to be aware of the Self, to serve the Self, to reflect the Self in the outer realm of existence.
“Unconditional love is what the Self has for the self. The Self knows what the self has to endure; the entire plan is available to the Self, nothing is hidden. From this knowledge derives love. Self-love of self is the dynamo of the universe, of all creation. The Self is Love. Suchness, beingness is love; love is suchness. There is an identity here which is the key. Unconditional love is the root, the central core of the All. Yes, even the most dark and evil corner of all creation has love at its center. It couldn’t exist without love; nothing can exist without love. Love Is. If this is true, then the only possible response to everything is love. How can it be otherwise. Love can only generate love. See the love in all things and you become love. The self becomes the Self. And emptiness engulfs the self in an ecstatic state of bliss.”
I got all that from three little cards. It’s a good meditation to consider as we move to the balance of the Spring Equinox and into the new year of growth and activity.
Using divination cards is a wonderful way to get in touch with Self. Have any of you had good experiences with cards?