Something Happened

"The mystical theme of the space age is this: the world, as we know it, is coming to an end. The world as the center of the universe, the world divided from the heavens, the world bound my horizons in which love is reserved for members of the in-group; that is the world that is passing away. Apocalypse does not point to a fiery Armageddon but to the fact that our ignorance and our complacency are coming to an end. Our divided, schizophrenic worldview with no mythology adequate to coordinate our conscious and our unconscious--that is what is coming to an end. The exclusivism of there being only one way in which we can be saved, the idea that there is a single religious group that is in sole possession of the truth--that is the world as we know it that must pass away. What is the kingdom?  It lies in the realization of the ubiquity of the divine presence in our neighbors, in our enemies, in all of us."  Thou Art That, Joseph Campbell, p. 107 New World Library, 2001

On a cold wintry February day in 1979, at the request of an editor of The New York Times, Eugene Kennedy interviewed Joseph Campbell. He said that it inspired a  "happy, providential outcome" from an interview that was "in itself its own reward."  The resulting article appeared on Easter Sunday entitled "Earthrise--The Dawning of a New Spiritual Awareness." Bill Moyers read this article and set the wheels in motion for what became a PBS special in 1988. In 1991 a transcript of these six sessions was published in the now famous The Power of Myth. The soon to be world-renowned mythologist Joseph Campbell became a household name.

The book found me at a decisive crossroad.  I was not going through a crisis of faith; I was going through a crisis of belief.  I hear so many people talk about their "faith" when all I hear are their rigid beliefs.  Why do you need faith if you already know everything?  Faith can only exist in an atmosphere of doubt.  The Power of Myth didn't save my faith, but it helped me to redefine my beliefs.

During this crisis I no longer believed  the Bible of my childhood. I still believed the Bible, just not that one.  I no longer believed that God created the earth in six twenty-four hour days.  I no longer believed that all the animals in the world marched in pairs onto a boat where they somehow survived together for a year.  Don't wild animals get hungry in a year? I no longer believed that God caused the sun to stand still in the sky so that Joshua could continue the slaughter of his enemies.  I no longer believed that God told Moses to stone a man to his death because he was picking up sticks on the Sabbath day. Having a day to chill is important, but to torture a man to death? I no longer believed that when Jesus said "I am the way, the truth and the life, no man comes to the Father but by me", that He meant, "If you don't accept me as your Savior, you're going to burn in hell." I no longer believed a lot of it.  It was indeed a crisis of belief.  But it was not a crisis of faith.  Whereas my relationship with the spiritual trappings of my youth was shaky  at best, my relationship with God was unwavering. My faith had never been stronger.

What I did believe about the Bible is what I still believe. The stories of the Bible, though not literally true,  are very true. These stories have the power to change our lives. "Myth" doesn't mean "false";myth means truth, the ultimate truth beneath the story. God may not have created the world in six days, but something created it because we're still here. Every civilization has offered its "creation myth."  The Judeo-Christian creation myth as recorded in Genesis may not be the only account, but it is certainly as important as any other.   Maybe thousands of animals didn't live on a boat for a year, but the "flood myth" exists in hundreds of cultures from the beginning of recorded history.  Something happened.  Why not there was a big flood and God spared a lot of people so the world could go on?.  Surely God didn't tell Moses to torture a man for working in his yard on Saturday.  But maybe God is telling us that it's essential for us to have a day or at least an hour in the day to call our own, to do the things we really enjoy doing. Who knows? Maybe some people enjoy picking up sticks. When Jesus said "I am the way" maybe He meant "My way is the way" which is to say "Love is the way; you won't see the Father accept by love."

I have a good  minister friend who told the story of a little boy's reaction to standing beside the Grand Canyon for the first time. He said, "Something happened here."  That for me is the essence of Joseph Campbell. Who knows what actually carved the largest canyon in the world and exactly how it came to be, but something did.  Sometimes all we can do is stand and marvel. Sometimes all we should do is stand and marvel.

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."  "In the beginning God created..."  "In the beginning God..." "In the beginning..."  If the heavens and the earth were created at "the beginning" where does God come in? Before the beginning?   Joseph Campbell would tell me,  "David, it doesn't matter.  All that matters is that God was there and God  is here. Something happened."