From: abahn@comcast.net
Date: Mon Oct 06 2003 - 20:37:35 BST
DMB and Jim,
Jim said about Campbell: "All these people on "journeys and paths" - few it seem are contented with "here and now" which afterall, is all a man ever has. A man who follows a path is seeking something other than reality which is always here and now. Deal with the now. Deal with what is. Spiritual paths are avoidances! A spiritual path is an "away from" which is fear. There is nothing wrong with now. A man who is seeking something "better than" here and now never looks me in the eye. His eye and attention are beyond this time and place where he encounters me who is him. A man following a "spiritual path" therefore hateful of me and himself. I discern nothing heroic in that."
Andy: I just wanted to point out to DMB how Jim has taken a slogan or metaphor from Campbell (journeys and paths) and twisted it to suit his own purposes. I think he makes a point that we might want to listen to, but it has little reflection on Campbell's ideas. I want to suggest that his interpretation of Campbell is not based on any clear understanding of what Campbell says. Of course, I suggest this because I think David has done the same thing with Rorty. Jim may not want to read Campbell and the slogans that Campbell fans banter about may have helped pursuade him that Campbell has nothing meaningful to say. We can try to pursaude him differently, by giving him a better understanding of Campbell's message, but I have a feeling it won't do much good.
However, I will give it my best shot and then you, david, can also give it a go. When Campbell talks about journey's and paths he is refering to myths. The storys we tell each other. Pirsig wrote a couple such stories. I don't think anyone who has read these stories can deny that the protagonists in ZMM and Lila are undertaking a journey. These journeys are metaphors. This does not mean that we shouldn't be concerned with the "here and now." But, no matter how in tuned one is with the present, there is still a history that reaches accross a lifetime and far into the past history of culture and evolution. To be able to live in the present does not mean one should not be mindful of this history. Likewise, in the present one is often confronted with choices. Every choice one takes has a bearing on the future. Some native american tribes had a saying that included being mindful of seven generations into the future whenever one was confronted with these choices in the present. Being present and concern
ed with the now does not mean we should neglect our history nor the many possible futures awaiting us. Campbell's myths offer us the metaphors "journeys and paths" as ways one can live in the present while being mindful of both our history and the future.
Thanks,
Andy
A lack of historical sensibility is the original failing of all philosophers.
Friedrich Nietzsche
Jim
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