The essay that follows addresses the need our species and this planet has for creative people to evoke a spirit of sacred service within the arts. In doing so, I explore principles many highly accomplished artists draw upon as they embrace their vital roles as prime functionaries of an emerging global mythos — a term that refers to the overarching worldview or story a culture accepts about itself and its place in the universe. The content of this essay is heavily informed by the work of mythologist Joseph Campbell.

Manny Otto

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TO ARTISTS

I believe filmmakers, writers, musicians, poets, dancers, painters, actors — generally creatives and innovators of every type (including scientists and engineers) — serve as a kind of adhesive that binds human society, culture, and spirit together. In this context, the creative community possesses the power not simply to render an image of a “positive” future, but to serve as the actual architects of our future civilization.

We currently stand on the threshold of an important transition for our planet. It is perhaps as important as the emergence of life itself! That the essence of this shift is inner development and how artists can enable this for our species en masse will be one of my primary points.

My first goal is to awaken a compelling context within you; a knowing of your purpose as a “creative” (if that isn’t alive and strong in you already). The goal following that is to effectively initiate an exploration in your life of the empowering information, experience, and techniques by which you can fulfill your distinct purpose intentionally and skillfully.

Furthermore, I’ll be placing an emphasis on understanding the greater system we live within on our planet, as well as on achieving a personally relevant understanding of humanity’s mythological heritage — i.e. the structuring narratives humans have devised to come into alignment with the natural order of the world. These fundamental areas of focus play an important role in supporting contemporary creatives’ natural mandate to optimize and heed our inner awareness and vision, leading ultimately to us radiating a clarified form of our insights towards the general global populace through the medium of film, music, books, interactive multi-media experiences, etc.

To illustrate what I mean by this idea of the relationship between the creative individual and inner awareness, I quote here from one of the last books the American mythologist Joseph Campbell wrote before he passed away in 1987. The book is The Inner Reaches of Outer Space: Metaphor as Myth and as Religion. In Chapter 3, “The Way of Art,” Campbell writes, “My wife, Jean Erdman, who is a dancer, discussing one day the relevance of an appreciation of the psychological connotations of myth to the practice of an art, remarked: ‘The way of the mystic and the way of the artist are related, except that the mystic doesn’t have a craft.’”

This concept of the artist as a mystic with a craft is central to what follows…

“Gaia” — our planet as a living organism

The perspective from which I write is fundamentally grounded in the idea that the earth is a living, self-regulating organism in its own right. As most of us know, the ancient Greek goddess of the earth…that is the earth, is called Gaia. In his classic video The Global Brain, Peter Russell states:

“We might then consider our days and nights to be like the heartbeat of Gaia; the seasons to be her breaths; the tropical rainforests resemble her lungs; the oceans act like the circulatory system. So, if the whole planet does behave as a huge living system, what then, might we ask, are we doing here? What is humanity’s function in this system?”

Exploring humanity’s function is certainly a large task, but Peter Russell makes a very compelling case that we might regard the whole of humanity to function as a crucial element of a planetary nervous system, an element that is capable of either being occupied by malignant or benign activities in relationship to the health of the entire organism, known mythopoetically as “Gaia.”

The obligation of artists to the entire species and ecosphere

A secure future for humanity requires a BIG shift, and the essence of this shift is inner spiritual development. Artists possess the responsibility and the means to enable this for our species. According to Joseph Campbell, speaking in The Power of Myth: “Myth must be kept alive. The people who can keep it alive are artists of one kind or another. The function of the artist is the mythologization of the environment and the world.”

When I first heard Joseph Campbell speak this definitive statement related to the role of art and artists within the context of humanity’s purpose on the planet, I was struck by the resolute tone in his voice. It was 1992, I was 22, and my life’s course was delivered a mandate that I would serve to embody and perpetuate the spirit of this statement. It clearly requires qualification, but once understood, I believe it leads to an irrevocable realization that the creative community can have a profoundly consequential influence on the development and course of the human spirit.

Myths are the structuring narratives humans have devised to come into alignment with the natural order of the world. They are the device we use to connect with our purpose within a greater system — i.e. Gaia, et al. They encode insights into the mystery of existence in ways that language, at its surface, could never render. They employ metaphors, the building blocks of poetic analogy, to communicate, as Ananda K. Coomaraswamy would say: “the representation of a reality on a certain level of reference by a corresponding reality on another.”

Perhaps, however, a more appropriate term for artists to consider is mythos — similar in meaning to myth, but conjuring less archaic and irrelevant connotations. A mythos is the overarching worldview or story a culture accepts about itself and its place in the universe. It is similar to an ideology with a very important distinction in that ideologies, coming exclusively from the brain and not integrating the wisdom of the heart, reject the underlying and supportive dimension of mystery that serves as the foundation of all religions and contemplative philosophies. In that sense, these ideologies are rootless in a context that transcends the narrow human experience of life in this universe.

In the sense that a mythos is a story we are telling ourselves, consider the artists, scientists, and innovators of all types to be the storytellers, regardless of the medium of expression.

What story do we want to tell ourselves as a species? Are we telling that story now?

What is our mythos prognosis?

Joseph Campbell often referred to the mythological state of our current times as being surrounded by a “terminal moraine” of mythic forms. Terminal moraine is the crushed rock and debris left in the wake of the movement of a glacier. Campbell noted that many cultures throughout history have known relatively harmonious periods of time characterized by a deep relationship to the particular mythological system that governed every aspect of their existence. He furthermore insisted throughout his work that a living, effective mythological system functions by putting the subject culture in accord with nature — when an individual or a group is living in accord with nature, nature yields its bounty (so the theory goes). In our current era, however, our experience is of one culture bubble after another crashing and colliding into each other and now we live with the mythic forms of these cultures scattered like so much rubble at our feet. Looking at our planet today, the mythos by which we live on a collective, global level is not placing us in accord with nature (let alone with each other). “Dysfunctional” or “ineffective” are arguably much more accurate descriptions of our current state of environmental harmony.

What are the factors involved in transforming an ineffective mythos into one that is effective? That begins by regarding our biological lives, that series of events beginning with birth and ending with death. Throughout life, cycles of sleeping and waking occur. Joseph Campbell asserted that our dreams, fantasies, and visions — derived from the energetic dynamics of the organs in our bodies in conflict with one another — connect the unconscious wisdom experienced in sleeping or deeper brain wave states with the limited consciousness of our ordinary waking states. These dreams, fantasies, and visions are the primary source of the most elementary and universal themes of our myths. This realm of consciousness may also be proactively accessed by participating in meditation and contemplation practices, as well as more immersed shamanic states of consciousness. Furthermore, we can turn with confidence to these perennial themes of myth for solutions to some very difficult challenges in this time of global dysfunction — this time of being out of “accord with nature.”

…and what might be the healing factor?

Reflecting further on the concept of our planet as a living organism introduced earlier, consider the metaphor of creative and spiritually-inclined people to be our planet’s white blood cells. I was introduced to this simple but potent analogy by a teacher called Eric Pepin. I’ve found it to be very helpful in understanding the role of people who feel called to a higher purpose in a world where most people are inclined to pray to the dieties of “health, wealth, and progeny” — what Campbell believed was the most common religion despite its many distinct names and forms. These typically common human priorities are often considered by creative people to be somewhat secondary to the pursuit of Self-realization and Self-expression. As we all know, white blood cells are functionaries of the immune system — they are the body’s healers — while red blood cells contribute to maintaining general homeostasis. In a similar manner, certain types of creative people (including scientists and engineers) find themselves inclined to consider themselves “in service” to others while surrounded on all sides by an “every man for himself” ideology. This analogy is not intended to perpetuate an elitist perspective on the part of artists, but to assist us in connecting more meaningfully to our roles as healers on this planetary being.

Artists, however, are a special kind of healer; a healer of errors in thinking and being. They serve a role that has always been served by individuals specifically selected and trained to steward the welfare, not necessarily of the body, but of the spirit and soul of the community.

Creatives play a shamanic role in the community

To understand how artists can contribute to the well-being of the spiritual and soul life of our global community, it is important to have an understanding of the variety of purposes myth has served for humanity in the past. In most of his lectures, Joseph Campbell would often present his Four Functions of Myth discourse on how myth connects us in a meaningful way to the developmental cycles and growth opportunities in life. In understanding how myth has served humanity in the past, we can turn to creating relevant relationships between humanity and our collective spirit on the contemporary scene.

The first “Psychological Function” of mythology is concerned with guiding the individual through the key stages of life beginning with birth and ending with death. The second “Sociological Function” concerns itself with preserving a social order that includes moral principles, civil discourse, social obligations, etc. The third “Cosmological Function” paints a broader stroke of the influence of a cultural mythos outward, as it seeks to saturate every element of the current cosmological image with mythological references. Finally, it is with the fourth “Mystical Function” that the individual is called to awaken to and maintain a sense of wonder and participation in the ultimate mystery of being.

Joseph Campbell often pointed out that throughout history it has been the duty of the great seers to perform the work of the Cosmological and the Mystical functions of mythology. In India they are known as “Rishis.” In Biblical terms they are known as “Prophets.” In primary cultures they are known as “Shamans.” In contemporary society they are known as “Poets” and “Artists.” Campbell also included scientists and engineers.

Our western culture has been largely preoccupied by a dominant mythos, a literal interpretation of Judeo-Christian forms, that does not respond appropriately to the real environment we are currently occupying. As Campbell says in The Power of Myth, this worldview: “…comes from somewhere else, from the first millennium B.C. It has not assimilated the qualities of our modern culture and the new things that are possible and the new vision of the universe.”

A few exchanges after the one just above, Campbell states: “The mythmakers of earlier days were the counterparts of our artists.” In one of my favorite exchanges, Bill Moyers asks: “In these elementary cultures, as you call them, who would have been the equivalent of the poets today?” With barely a pause, Joseph Campbell responds: “The shamans. The shaman is the person, male or female, who in his late childhood or early youth has an overwhelming psychological experience that turns him totally inward. It’s a kind of schizophrenic crack-up. The whole unconscious opens up, and the shaman falls into it.”

Although perhaps in a form not quite so dramatic for some of us, and perhaps even more so for others, I’m sure many of us who consider ourselves to be artists and creatives have had the sense from early on that our lives were to be unique and expressive of deep healing. In connecting with and maintaining this idea that creatives serve as shamans — as healing and change agents for our culture — exactly what culture are we serving and what mythos are we creating?

The path before us

“…if a person has had a sense of the Call — the feeling that there’s an adventure for him — and if he doesn’t follow that, but remains in society because it’s safe and secure, then life dries up.”
—Joseph Campbell

Joseph Campbell did not believe we could predict or create a myth any more than we can predict or create the content of our dreams. We can, however, engage in a way of life that enables us to be, like shamans, “hollow bones” through which pass deeper wisdom of a transcendent source to which we — supported by the techniques of our mystical craft — provide a temporal voice. In aligning ourselves with the greater energies of the earth and the universe, we can serve the emergence of a mythos for a global culture and community. In Campbell’s words from The Power of Myth:

“And what it will have to deal with will be exactly what all myths have dealt with — the maturation of the individual, from dependency through adulthood, through maturity, and then to the exit; and then how to relate to this society and how to relate this society to the world of nature and the cosmos. That’s what the myths have all talked about, and what this one’s got to talk about. But the society that it’s got to talk about is the society of the planet. And until that gets going, you don’t have anything.”

“…this is the ground of what the myth is to be. It’s already here: the eye of reason, not of my nationality; the eye of reason, not my religious community; the eye of reason, not my linguistic community. And this would be the philosophy for the planet, not for this group, that group, or the other group.”

“When you see the earth from the moon, you don’t see any divisions there of nations or states. This might be the symbol, really, for the new mythology to come. That is the country that we are going to be celebrating. And those are the people that we are one with.”

If you, the contemporary artist, poet, scientist or other such visionary, choose to embrace your role as a vehicle through which pours the current mythos for our global community, then I submit it is your responsibility to study the mythological foundations of your being: to come to a personally relevant understanding of the myths of the past; to deeply regard your dreams, visions, and interior messages, and take personal guidance from them; and to share your insights with others through the medium most appropriate to your experience.

In what way might we creatives be contributing to the next major leap in the evolution of our species? This is a question to which we’ll never know the answers through mere speculation alone. Action is required. We have but to dream big enough and know that we are not alone.

“…For the heroes of all time have gone before us; the labyrinth is thoroughly known; we have only to follow the thread of the hero-path. And where we had thought to find an abomination, we shall find a god; where we had thought to slay another, we shall slay ourselves; where we had thought to travel outward, we shall come to the center of our own existence; where we had thought to be alone, we shall be with all the world.”
—Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces