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 It would be easy to regard this topic as simply an intellectual discourse and never realize the true importance of symbolism to mankind. I’d like to correct that misrepresentation right now. Symbols are important. More important than many of us would like to give them credit for. They quite simply, give us hope. They represent themes and archetypical patterns that make the intolerable, tolerable. They give life meaning when it seems as though life is crushing us into the ground.
As an example, the endless knot is found in numerous cultures and eras. This symbol existed long before the Celts adopted it. It appears likely they chose it as a symbol of their belief in reincarnation (a death and resurrection archetype). And it was their belief in reincarnation that infused them with their great ferocity in battle. Julius Caesar explained that "They wish to inculcate this as one of their leading tenets, that souls do not become extinct, but pass after death from one body to another, and they think that men by this tenet are in a great degree stimulated to valor, the fear of death being disregarded" (Gallic Wars, Book VI). In other words, they had no fear of death, which made them the ultimate warriors.
“Symbols point in different directions from those we apprehend with the conscious mind; and therefore they relate to something either unconscious or at least not entirely conscious” (Jung, Man and his Symbols, p. 90). Because individual symbols don’t have a dogmatic and fixed meaning, the dreamer or visionary must be the one to interpret it, and sometimes that interpretation must await other events before its full meaning is revealed (as in prophetic-type dreams and visions).
For that reason, the endless knot has numerous meanings, depending upon the people revering it. Wikipedia suggested 8:
- The Endless knot iconography symbolized Samsara i.e., the endless cycle of suffering or birth, death and rebirth within Tibetan Buddhism.
- The inter-twining of wisdom and compassion.
- Interplay and interaction of the opposing forces in the dualistic world of manifestation, leading to their union, and ultimately to harmony in the universe.
- The mutual dependence of religious doctrine and secular affairs.
- The union of wisdom and method.
- The inseparability of emptiness (shunyata) and dependent origination, the underlying reality of existence.
- Symbolic of knot symbolism in linking ancestors and omnipresence and the magical ritual and meta-process of binding (refer etymology of Tantra, Yoga and religion) (see Namkha.)
- Since the knot has no beginning or end it also symbolizes the infinite wisdom of the Buddha.
Since the earliest times, people have deliberately sought to induce altered states of consciousness. Rituals developed to bring the wisdom and insights of the invisible world to the physical world through frenzied dances, smoking peyote, fasting, being bitten by snakes, music, and other repetitious activities. Participants wanted to be “possessed,” per se, by gods or demons, the divine, supernatural, qi, and/or whatever else they might call it. Mass hysteria/possession occurs when their conscious mind and ordinary sense perceptions seem temporarily eclipsed.
Though they wouldn’t have expressed it as such, these people were seeking archetypes to better understand themselves, their society and the world at large. They were seeking inspiration outside of their consciousness because they believed that the ultimate truths—the pure forms of Plato, perhaps—would give their lives greater depth of meaning and purpose.
If I took the time, I could probably find an example of all the above archetypes in the Judeo-Christian bible—which explains its fascination and mass appeal. And since these archetypes emerge from the unconscious, one would expect that “altered states of consciousness” would play a significant role in the bible. And it does.
Inspiration and/or prophecies were often deliberately induced. Moses induced it through extensive fasting. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, “In ancient religions it was used to prepare worshipers or priests to approach deities, to pursue a vision, to demonstrate penance for sins, or to assuage an angered deity.” Prior to receiving the commandments, Moses was said to have fasted 40 days and nights.
Other Old Testament prophets used cultic dancing and musical instruments to whip themselves into ecstatic frenzies (see 1 Samuel 10:5-6; 19:20-24; 1 Chronicles 25:1). Prophets of Baal not only danced but cut themselves (1 Kings 18:26-28). If we jump to the New Testament, we that fasting was still a preferred method for inducing prophecies. The prophetess Anna regularly fasted and prayed (Luke 2:37); Jesus went without sleep, communed with nature (see Luke 6:12), and fasted (Matthew 4:2); and in Acts 13:2 a local congregation was “seized by the Holy Spirit” while fasting and praying.
As for the apostle Paul, his conversion description sounds remarkably like an epileptic seizure. A seizure which allowed his unconscious to break through and endow him with a “hero” archetype.
When I was 9 years old, I had a “religious experience,” that I’ve never forgotten because it was so powerful. My mom had taken us to church since we were babies, and so when this occurred, I immediately tried to put a religious connotation on it. Moments earlier, I had had a verbally explicit argument with my older brother. In a fury, I ran to my room. I can’t explain exactly what happened next. I don’t remember if I spoke to God or not, but I actually felt myself being transformed/changed. And I was never the same afterwards. My thinking was no longer muddled and unclear, but focused and more mature. I developed an insatiable hunger for the bible and church. I never cussed again. If I were to put that moment into an archetype, I would call it an “initiation” rite. I went into my room as one person and emerged as someone else.
That wasn’t my only experience trance-like experience. When I was 20 I went to Word of Life as a summer camp island volunteer. Word of Life is a very fervent bible school that operates summer camps for adults and children. The island was for the teenagers. For all intents and purposes, it was like a religious commune experience for me. I worked in the office a few hours a day, then participated in the scheduled activities. Besides regular revival type meetings, we had hour-long personal retreats where we were expected to meditate. And I did. Day after day after day.
Then it happened. As I was wrestling with God over a passage in Ephesians, my mind opened up. There aren’t words to describe it. A presence? An awareness? A voice? It left me with a heightened mental state and clarity of thought that didn’t dissipate until I returned home more than a month later. I radiated a glow that elicited over a dozen comments from fellow volunteers, and I felt at one with everything and everyone—at one with the divine. Honestly, it was such an amazing experience that I could see why people would want to artificially induce that kind of trance-like state.
I’ve never achieved quite that level of an altered mental state since then, though I’ve come close.
Because I believed that the study of scripture required more than the academics of history, culture and cross-comparisons with other religions of the era, I spent a lot of time meditating upon what I had learned and putting all the pieces together. With a field out back, I would go walking for an hour or more at a time, talking aloud to God about what I’d encountered. I was seeking inspiration. I wanted the truth and for that, I was (unbeknownst to me) trying to induce a connection between myself and God; to open the pathways between my psyche and the qi.
And yes, by the way, insight and inspiration did come.
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This was an excerpt from my upcoming book, After God: Making Sense of the World after Leaving the Faith. |
