Sunday, November 11, 2012

Moving Towards Mythology

I've mentioned before that I have an interest in Zen and I practice sitting zazen. I've also mentioned that I'm a substitute rural letter carrier. So on days when I have to work I end up sitting in the car for atleast five hours a day. That gives me a lot of time to listen to podcasts. I've had to work the last couple of days so I ended up listening to some of Brad Warner's from over at Hardcore Zen. Close to ten hours worth, actually.

I enjoyed the podcasts. They taught me a lot about Buddhism, Zen, and meditation. But ever since I've started sitting zazen and taking zen more seriously I often think of this quote by Robert Bly:

"So, for us, mythology is more helpful than enlightenment or to put it chronologically, years of mythology need to come, accustoming the soul to darkness, before the soul is ready for enlightenment."--Robert Bly in the November issue of The Sun Magazine back in 1983

I know almost nothing about the mythology in the Zen tradition, or Greek mythology for that matter. So I'm finding myself moving in the direction of learning mythology and understanding the psyche from a depth psychology perspective.

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