"Distance does not make you falter. Now, arriving in magic, flying, and finally, insane for the light, you are the butterfly and you are gone" Goethe says. I fell in love with the Goethe poem "Holy Longing," while preparing for my research project on Joseph Campbell's advice to "follow your bliss." Like Campbell, Goethe championed a heroic, vibrant, and creative way of life: "Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it." I've seen magnets bearing this phrase grace the refrigerator of many a friend and acquaintance.
Sorting out Campbell's ideas about "following your bliss" is part of my work with the American myth of unlimited potential. The myth of unlimited potential is the belief that we can do, have, and be anything that we want, and that happiness and freedom are linked to unlimited opportunity. Although the bliss idea was peripheral to most of his work, "follow your bliss" probably made Campbell famous. He caught some flack for it and I wonder how many people, myself included, understand what he meant and trace the implications for our lives and global community.
At first blush Goethe's poem, Campbell's advice, and the myth of unlimited potential seem to be different ways to say the same thing, namely, that we can and should be passionate about our work and our desires. We should spend our time (that is, our lives) doing what we love. I've certainly devoted a lot of energy to this quest and I hate to think that a poem that makes me feel so good could reflect a problem. But we can't afford to let our soaring heroic icons and ideas flap around our perennially blue skies without finding out where they roost.
Are we interested in bliss or YOUR bliss? One has an ego in it, the other doesn't. Joseph Campbell talked about bliss as the emotional component of the underlying unity of all things. But the meaning and source of YOUR bliss is harder to pin down. It could be a function of destiny or luck or ego or some combination thereof, and it's commonly connected to personal happiness, not cosmic mysticism. We may not have to choose one or the other but I think we do need to understand the difference.
There is a Hindu story (Campbell used to tell this one too) about a guru and a young woman who delivered milk to him every afternoon. The young woman was often late because she had to cross the river and a boat wasn't always available at the appointed time. The guru was annoyed with the delays and one afternoon he scornfully said "Young lady, if one has the name of God on his lips and in his heart, anything is possible."
The young woman went way ashamed and determined to live up to the standards of this esteemed teacher. The next afternoon she arrived promptly. She was on time two more days when the delighted guru finally asked her, "My dear, how is it that you are now so punctual?" "Teacher," the young woman replied,"it's just as you said. When I get to the river, I meditate on the name of god and walk across the water." The guru was amazed and decided to try it. After all, if a simple woman could do it, surely a spiritual master like himself could walk on water too. The young woman lived on the other side of the river and he went with her and began to pray. The young woman set off, her feet barely sinking into the waves, and the guru followed. At first things went well but when he was several feet from the shore he began to sink. The young woman turned when she heard him cry out. "Teacher," she asked, "Why do you hold up the edge of your garment?"
The guru's ego weighed him down and his pride was the least of it. Any ego, that is his awareness that he was somebody, doing something, has weight.
Today, we can call the young woman's accomplishment "being in the flow," which is what I think Goethe tries to articulate in "Holy Longing." What longs to be burned, to meld, to melt, and to disappear is not consciously created, it exists in us and calls to us. This kind of bliss is not a matter of deciding what you want, but surrendering so fully to what is that you forget yourself and cease to exist. Can we do this? Is there a new balance to be struck between the individual and the cosmic, perhaps a new model for heroism or path to a meaningful life?
