I first heard about the Mythic Journeys project in December of 2005 at Deepak Chopra’s Alliance For A New Humanity Conference in Puerto Rico. The idea was in first trimester, just beginning to show the first signs of life.  I was invited to the conference as a presenter to lead the Breath of Life Dolphin Meditation. I felt so honored to be invited.

I facilitated, with Leslie’s assistance, the Dolphin Meditation twice to some large groups. I also had the opportunity to co-lead another guided meditation I created, the Deep Listening Meditation, on the beach at sunrise with Deepak Chopra. The whole experience was one of the highlights of my life.

I’m happy to report that the Mythic Journey project led by Michael Karlin and created by a 60-member team recently gave birth to a beautiful, inspiring and relevant 2-hour documentary. Leslie and I felt particularly blessed to see this film at its opening last night.

The Mythic Journey’s message that I believe is so important for you, I and the world to hear is that if we, as a human family don’t have a collective Story of Oneness to live up to, we die.  Even if we avoid completely destroying one another and our physical world, our souls will lack the richness of meaning. Throughout history, the great myths have brought people together for a conman good and created the greatest civilizations. We need a myth today more than ever to point us to the truth.

You may be asking, “What is a myth, anyway?” Isn’t it something that is not true? Shouldn’t rational folks simply ignore them because the facts don’t support the story? One of the great teachings in this documentary is that facts don’t always reveal the truth and the deepest truths of our lives are not always supported by facts. Think about this.

The work of Joseph Campbell is one of my greatest influences and possibly the most important spiritual teacher of my life. Before being introduced to Campbell’s work I considered myself a recovering Christian and was mostly agnostic in my beliefs. When I first watched Campbell’s PBS series with Bill Moyers, the gate opened.

Moyers asked Campbell to tell us about God, since he had most likely researched the subject more than anyone. Campbell’s response transformed me. He humbly said, “We first have to remember that what we refer to as “god” is simply a word. This word has many different names within many different cultures. By whatever name, it references something that we deeply feel to be true, yet, it is beyond concept and therefore, beyond our ability to speak about it directly. What we wind up speaking about and even creating wars over, are Masks of God.

Our greatest religious figures had direct realizations of the divine. By what method did they attempt to share the truths they discovered? In the only way that could approximate their direct experience, they taught through stories and parables or myths.

The trouble is people begin worshiping the messenger rather than taking in the message or accusing the messenger of being some kind of impostor spreading lies and myths. Campbell said that we refer to as “god” is in essence true but beyond concept and will always remain a mystery. If we can allow the myths to do their archetypal work within us they can pitch us out of our limited selves to have our own direct knowing of this divine mystery. The ego’s need for some illusion of certainty demands an explanation and wants to find some rational understanding of this mystery. Sadly, this often results in religious dogma.  Campbell cautioned us not to confuse the connotation with the denotation.  This one distinction helps me to read the Holy Bible with reverence.

The life and teachings of Joseph Campbell are the inspiration for the Mythic Journeys documentary. Shortly before his death, Campbell said that our greatest task, the task that would determine humanities evolution or dissolution is to discover or create a new story, a myth with which the whole world can begin to align, and a story of unity.

I feel my heart beating faster and tears beginning to form in my eyes as I reflect on these ideas and the birth of a great and timely film. Are these my tears or the tears of unity longing to emerge from our collective heart? I do not know, yet they flow.

Is this what the film refers to as a myth leading me to a deeper truth?

Michael

You can find out more about the film at: www.mythicimagination.org