Great North

In my dreams of Canada, I’ve found a connection to Native American myth and legend.  Once again, my dreams have taken me from the personal to the collective.

“Canada” may appear in my dreams in many different ways.  A dream might use a map of Canada, a setting based in Canada, or an object related to Canada, such as the currency above.

By working with these dreams, I’ve come to associate this symbol with the higher self because Canada is “upper”—the topmost portion of North America.  My Canada dreams may tell me that I’m going in the right direction, or they may show me how I must change my behavior so that I can reach “True North”.

“North”, in Native American mythology and folklore, is a place of power and mystery.  North is where the hero goes after he has exhausted all other options—after he has traveled South, traveled East, and traveled West in his quest.

He waits until the end to “Go North” because North is the unknown.  Of course, he will encounter danger there—but also find that which he seeks…

…after using the power of his cunning to defeat whatever blocks his path.

So the Canadian North of my dreams not only symbolizes the higher self to me, but also the hero’s journey—the path, the tests that will take me to my true Self.  These dreams tell me what I must do in order to conquer my nemesis, the nemesis within.  These dreams are my roadmap.  Likewise, those Native American tales, though belonging to another culture, can provide us with a roadmap, a roadmap to True North.

The quest for True North involves many trials and tribulations.  Each of these tests is a quest unto itself.  When faced with a new problem, I’ll probably search for the answer in all the old places until I finally relent and “Go North”…

…into the unknown, into the darkness that contains light.  There, I will encounter the cause of my trouble and in finding the cause, find the solution.  In finding the solution, I will have no other choice but to enact the solution.

In Native American tales, when the hero goes North, he must surmount his fear of death.  The journey itself is a type of death; the journey is a series of small deaths.  When we finally reach True North, what we then encounter requires yet another death.  No wonder that we don’t want to go there.  No wonder that we do want to go there.

I can’t help but feel that we have nearly reached a juncture.  In order to solve the problems that beset us in this world, on this planet, we must Go North.  We have already tried—and failed—to find our answers on the well-worn paths.  Our old ways can not help us—our old ways have led us to this desperate place.

To Go North, we must go against survival instinct.  So that’s the paradox: to survive we must go against basic survival instinct.

© 2009, Michael R. Patton
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Bringing Them Back

In observance of Veteran’s Day, I am reposting this blog entry:

Twenty-five suicides were reported in the military for January 2009—a record high.  The last I heard, the problem was “under investigation” by the military establishment.

I thought about that statistic as I read a recent article in Utne magazine about the difficulty of bringing soldiers back into civilian society, back from war.

The author, Edward Tick, said that in the past, in almost all cultures, combat warriors relied on a set of rituals and/or traditional stories to help them recover and reintegrate into society.

He writes, “In Native American, Zulu, Buddhist, ancient Israeli, and other traditional cultures, returning warriors were put through significant rituals of purification before reentering their families and communities.  These cultures recognized that unpurified warriors could, in fact, be dangerous.

“The absence of these rituals in modern society helps explain why suicide, homicide, and other destructive acts are common among veterans.”

A functioning mythology would help us cope with the current crisis among military vets.  But that new mythology is not yet in sight.  Perhaps our society is now too diverse to create such a consensus system.

Some of these vets will find help in their religion.  But our churches really aren’t set up for this task.  I don’t think we should look to our government either—though they can certainly do more to provide services for returning military.

Tick, in his role as psychotherapist, holds healing retreats for veterans and civilians who have lost loved ones in war.  He writes, “Our vets enter the center of our circle and civilians pledge to accept responsibility for any harm done in their name and to help carry the veterans’ stories for the rest of their lives.  By sharing this burden we become a community united in service to war-healing.”

Ticks tells of one Vietnam vet, who in addition to individual and group therapy, found healing with a Native American tribe.  This tribe still maintains rituals that their warriors used in times past.

However, I think many veterans would reject therapy and group healing sessions.  At least, initially.  Therapy, for most of us, indicates a “broken-ness”.  Therapy forces you to revisit places you may wish to leave behind you.  Again and again, I hear vets say they just want to get back to a normal way of life.

I think we must first acknowledge that a soldier, a returning vet—a warrior—is not supposed to feel “okay”.  He—or she—should never be expected to reintegrate easily.  Whether or not they are wounded in body, we should accept that it is normal for vets to be wounded in mind, in soul.

I think what holds us back, in part, is our belief that we can have “good” wars.  We seem to believe that a good war, a just war, a war that the public supports, will not create a high number of emotional casualties.

So first, we must accept that all wars come with a high cost in terms of mental/emotional casualties…

…and that everyone—both military and civilian—bears part of that cost. 

Perhaps then we will begin to find effective, “consensus” methods of bringing these soldiers back into society.

The hope of fulfilling such a need would seem to be an impossible dream…

However, these recent casualties of war indicate that our social/mythological structures aren’t working for us.  And if something isn’t working, you’re going to eventually discard it…

…and find something that will work.

The article, “Sharing War’s Burden”, by Edward Tick, can be found in the September-October 2008 issue of Utne.

© 2009, Michael R. Patton
sky rope (subterranean rappel)
dream steps

 

Tools of Heroism

To best serve our purposes, the new mythology needs an expanded definition of hero (see entries for 11/02 and 10/26).

So I offer this insight from Joseph Campbell, as recorded in The Power of Myth, with Bill Moyers:

“We are in childhood in a condition of dependency under someone’s protection and supervision for some fourteen to twenty-one years—and if you’re going on for your Ph.D., this may continue to perhaps thirty-five.

“You are in no way a self-responsible, free agent, but an obedient dependent, expecting and receiving punishments and rewards.

“To evolve out of this position of psychological immaturity to the courage of self-responsibility and assurance requires a death and a resurrection.  That’s the basic motif of the universal hero’s journey—leaving one condition and finding the source of life to bring you forth into a richer or mature condition.”

In that statement, Campbell tells us why we need heroes and heroines.  We don’t just need heroes to inspire us, to show us the best in ourselves.  We need heroes to show us how to effectively navigate the necessary transitions of life.  How do we transition through the many deaths and births that a full life requires?  We don’t need pep talks; we need tools.  The hero or heroine finds these tools for us, and demonstrates how best to work with them.

Too often, we select a prominent individual and project the best of ourselves onto that person.  We actually use that hero to disown our own heroic aspect.  Yes, we feel inspired by that person—inspired to cheer, to clap for him.

We need people who are like walking maps.  But for these heroes and heroines to be effective, they must reject our projections.  In that sense, perhaps the best hero is the one who does not want to be recognized as hero…

…the one who throws the projection right back in our faces and tells us to carry our own positive shadow.

© 2009, Michael R. Patton
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Mirror Mirror

I was stunned…

…when political satirist Bill Maher, shortly after the 9/11 attacks, asked if the terrorists might be considered heroes.

However, trying to keep an open mind, I questioned my resistance to that idea.

Could those men possibly fit our current definition of hero?  Shouldn’t a hero or heroine believe in a cause that goes beyond personal interest?  Shouldn’t heroes be willing to sacrifice their lives for an ideal?

But what if we define “hero” as the ancient Greeks did?  If we define “hero” not as one who does “good” acts, but as one who does acts of monumental consequence…

…then perhaps these angry men qualify.

On the other hand, maybe their anger disqualifies them.  If a hero acts out of anger, then is he not acting from fear?

But what if the anger is justified?

I would say that if someone projects his hatred onto someone or something else…

…without looking into the mirror, without examining himself, without questioning the source of his feelings…

…then he is acting out of fear.

A hero may be afraid, but does not act out of fear.

As our hero looks into the mirror, he must be willing to see the one he would call “enemy” in his reflection.

I think we now have two different societies, two different cultures, looking at each other and not comprehending what they see—or at least, not very well.

They do not realize that they’re staring into a mirror.

© 2009, Michael R. Patton
sky rope (subterranean rappel)
dream steps