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Bumper sticker vs. rabbit hole?
You’ve seen the bumper sticker version of Campbell’s famous aphorism: it’s catchy, filled with portents, a sound and a fury signifying … like, something.
But like what?
Something like, “What, me worry?”
Or, “Don’t worry, be happy”?
Once you start asking these questions, a rabbit hole opens up and a Cheshire Cat begins to smile from the nearest overhead branch.
Aphorisms, like metaphors, can be a little slippery. In some ways, the more obvious they look, the less obvious they are. To get to the bottom of what they mean, you have to follow the White Rabbit all the way down. In this case, for instance, fully understanding a phrase like this one requires unpacking and sorting out exactly what “Follow,” “Your,” and “Bliss” all mean.
Whew.
“Follow” by itself would involve being fully conscious of the entire trajectory of the Hero’s magical mystery (mythstery!) tour. “Your”? That would require fully understanding your own existence. That’s a lot of heavy lifting.
It turns out that the best bet here is to follow Campbell’s own advice and focus on “Bliss.”
Aphorisms, like metaphors, can be a little slippery. In some ways, the more obvious they look, the less obvious they are.
Campbell’s advice
Here’s what he said originally:
Now, I came to this idea of bliss because in Sanskrit, which is the great spiritual language of the world, there are three terms that represent the brink, the jumping-off place to the ocean of transcendence: sat-chit-ananda. The word "Sat" means being. "Chit" means consciousness. "Ananda" means bliss or rapture. I thought, "I don't know whether my consciousness is proper consciousness or not; I don't know whether what I know of my being is my proper being or not; but I do know where my rapture is. So let me hang on to rapture, and that will bring me both my consciousness and my being.
I think it worked. (The Power of Myth, pg. 120)
This is terrifically practical advice. Getting a handle on “proper consciousness” or “proper being” feels like too much all at once, but bliss? That seems like a more promising place to start–even though we still have to follow that rabbit, and the first step is a bit of a doozy.
“Bliss” is the standard translation of the Sanskrit word ananda [आनन्द] and denotes the moment of ego dissolution in which the personal jiva attains to the status of atman in order to properly engage Brahman–with the proviso that you still want to taste the sugar without being the sugar. Ananda is, therefore, also deeply connected with samadhi, which is its highest form.
Yikes.
Whenever I run into technical definitions like this my mind races back to the moment in Monty Python’s Holy Grail when Galahad asks, “Is there someone else up there we can talk to?”
Translating technical terms from–shoot–from any other language (German, Chinese, take your pick) into English is rough enough. Even the simplest words defy easy translation. But attempting to translate ideas from ancient languages, across thousands of years, poses even greater hazards. Too often the subtleties of meaning are lost as you shift between forgotten alphabets and lost cultural contexts.
Fortunately, and much closer to home, similar translation issues are discernible in the meaning of “happiness”: specifically in how its definition has devolved from a more robust, ancient Greek understanding into the fuzzy-slippered, hot-chocolate-yummy-satisfaction we attach to it today.
Here’s the idea in a nutshell: think about the difference between being happy and feeling happy.
They look the same, but they aren’t.
Feeling happy vs. being happy
Feeling happy results from satisfying your immediate appetites or emotions. No matter how bad your day has been, for example, the sudden appearance of chocolate ice cream usually puts you in a better mood. Chocolate ice cream by itself, of course, can’t make you be happy, but it sure can make you feel happy. By contrast, being happy (being in a state of happiness) describes, for the ancient Greeks at any rate, the experience of flourishing in the life you’ve been given–hitting on all cylinders, so to speak. Their word for this kind of happiness is eudaimonia. You might notice daimon lurking in there. This is a big hint. A daimon was understood to be a guardian spirit assigned to help you live your life skillfully and with excellence, and that, in turn, is what it truly means to be, rather than merely feel, happy. So being happy always has the aftertaste of a bit of divine assistance.
To use Campbell’s language, as we move along our life’s journey we eventually come to a place of amor fati, a point where we can embrace our fate, our own authentic nature, and surf the curl of our own karma. No matter the circumstances we find ourselves in, then, we can still claim to be happy.
So, finally, winding our way back to all that technical language in the definition of ananda, think about those times when you found yourself being happy and not just feeling happy. In moments like that, your normal ego-consciousness is suddenly suspended: most often in moments of aesthetic arrest when the art, the poetry, or music sweeps you up and out of yourself. The “self” you’re being swept out of is the ego-consciousness (your jiva) and the “Self” that experiences this liberation or relief is the beginning of experiencing your true nature, your atman.
And that’s what characterizes, and what it means, to be in a state of bliss.
Here’s a practical example: can you remember the greatest concert you ever attended? I know there are some Dead Heads out there but, for me, it was Carlos Santana opening for Eric Clapton. At the end of the concert they played an encore, just the two of them, tossing musical ambrosia back and forth and into the audience, lifting the entire stadium up into stratospheres of ecstasy. And when they finished?
Everyone forgot to applaud.
That’s the bliss we need to follow. Chocolate chip ice cream–and bumper stickers–can help, but they won’t get us there.
Thanks for musing along.
MythBlast authored by:
Mark C.E. Peterson, Ph.D. is Emeritus Professor of Philosophy and Religious Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Washington County and past president of the International Society for the Study of Religion, Nature, and Culture (ISSRNC.org). Philosopher, gadfly, poet, cook, writing along the watermargins of nature, myth, and culture. A practitioner of taijiquan and kundalini yoga for over 40 years, Dr. Peterson is also a happy member of the Ukulele World Congress.
This MythBlast was inspired by The Power of Myth Episode 4, and Myth and Meaning
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In this episode, Campbell speaks to the relationship of mythology to psychology. He goes through the four functions of myth and emphasizes the fourth function - the psychological. He focuses on why this psychological function is so important in our contemporary world. The lecture was recorded at the Houston Jung Center in 1972. Host Brad Olson introduces the lecture and offers a commentary at the end.
This Week's Highlights
"I think the best thing I can say is to follow your bliss. If your bliss is just your fun and your excitement, you’re on the wrong track. I mean, you need instruction. Know where your bliss is. And that involves coming down to a deep place in yourself."
-- Joseph Campbell
The Hero's Journey, 253
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