Into the heart of a great silence
Nazma Yeasmeen Haque journeys across a landscape of belief and imagination
Myth! In this age of information explosion that may not always be an index for acquiring more and more knowledge vis-à-vis an erratic pace of technological advancement. Who would possibly believe in the slightest that a myth has a role to play in human life? At first it is likely to sound anachronistic in terms of its being a story trying to explain an event, an occurrence involving some imaginary characters that is seemingly incomprehensible to the human mind. But there is so much more in a myth than meets the eye as Karen Armstrong takes us deep into the meaning, import, workability, congeniality and most of all into the humane qualities of it. She shows that a myth always existed in human life and, therefore, in a society, whatever kind that may be. Her utterances about a myth are intertwined with the mental state that one comes across in a heightened form of religious experiences that once were only liturgical in essence. A human life since that Paleolithic age down to our immediate environs is fraught with struggles, causing despair, distress, threats, challenges of various hues and magnitudes and eventually an end of this life culminating in death. She has begun her discourse with the life and living patterns of a Neanderthal man and makes a most profound observation, among a few others, relating to their graves. She says, "There are moments when we all, in one way or another, have to go to a place that we have never seen, and do what we have not done before. Myth is about the unknown; it is about that for which initially we have no words. Myth therefore looks into the heart of a great silence." A myth as she elaborates through examples of some human behavioural patterns that are products of human imagination and thought processes is extended even to a life beyond the present one. Karen Armstrong in her extraordinarily brilliant treatise has brought 'myth' out of its obscurity and placed it in a most down to earth shape in order to reach the human mind in a simple and appealing way. With her, we readers take a fascinating tour of the Paleolithic age when hunting was the main occupation, the Neolithic age when farming by and large replaced hunting, followed by the period of early civilizations that worked as a turning point in human civilization when people started building cities in Mesopotamia and Egypt in about 4000 BCE and later on in China, India and Crete. This period somewhat marked a beginning of conflicts on the one hand between growth and development in the physical sense of the term and, on the other, its associated fear of losing contact with the old world order wherein most people felt much closer to what was divine. As life for these people approached urbanization, a 'spiritual vacuum' arose among them of which they themselves were not conscious. As a natural consequence and to combat this malaise, the eighth century BCE witnessed a booming of religious precepts and thoughts like Confucianism and Taoism in China, Buddhism and Hinduism in India, monotheism in the Middle East and Greek rationalism in Europe. Prophets, saints and sages embarked on teaching humans how life should be lived for emphasizing a spiritual development of humanity where there ought to be a mythical underpinning that comes along with mysticism. The author has made it very explicit that words like myth, mystery and mysticism are akin to one another, that they "relate to the inner rather than the external world." This particular period was called the Axial age by the German Philosopher Karl Jaspers 'because it proved to be pivotal in the spiritual development of humanity; the insights gained during this time continued to nourish men and women to the present day' that spanned a period from the eighth century to 200 BCE. Oftentimes a myth fell into a contradiction with the Greek rationalism of the philosophers but then again the core value of a myth was recognized by great philosophers like Plato and Aristotle. The post-axial period extending to 1500 CE until the advent of the great Western transformation witnessed the three monotheistic religions, that is, Judaism, Christianity and Islam which, although claiming to be based historically, yet found the mythological dimension very much palpable in them. The work of the mystics bears ample evidence of this phenomenon of taking recourse to myth as they went into and described their experiences of attaining ecstasy while functioning in their inner world. The writer has given examples of a mystic's experiences while making "a journey into the depths of the psyche" through concentration that is common among all religions and describing them in myth, showing how certain mystical events have become wedded to the ideal of spirituality of people belonging to that particular religion. The last chapter of the book deals with the concept of civilization as conceived by the Western world that witnessed "the seemingly inexorable march of new technology" which came to the aid and uplift of humanity no doubt; but an over-whelming faith in materialism fell in a negative correlation with the nourishment and growth of an inner sense of spirituality that ought to be universal and true to human sensibilities. Compassion, fellow-feeling, empathy, extending a hand to people in trouble as a good Samaritan, rising above compartmentalizing the family of human bond in terms of religion, ethnicity, complexion, linguistics and many others are great divides among humanity. Such crises in human life and their consequences are depicted through the great writers' creation of novels, eminent poets' writings of fabulous poems and illustrious artistes' drawings and paintings that the author draws confidently upon them for her observations to be corroborated. Attachment to divinity is lost while humans are basically spiritual beings. All such great visionaries have been prophetic in their message towards mankind. How to re-create ourselves as rational yet spiritual beings yearning for a higher goal of life to be realized? Karen Armstrong has the answer to this puzzling side of the question in her most amazing deliberations on the subject of myth in a very simple way --- spelling out what it is, how and why we need it. Myth, like science, is a product of human imagination that works in a hypothetical domain of 'what if?' Such a world of imagination accompanied by rituals guides a person into getting new insight about dealing with the problems of life as a myth is not a passive contemplation of things or events. One has rather to act upon them. One of the most important elements of a myth is enabling a person to view things in their transcendental values, thereby not losing sight of sacredness in any endeavour. Since we are the makers of myth, we should search for meaning in it to be applied as and when a situation calls for. The therapeutic value that lies deep in a myth has to be brought to the surface to transform it into an act that is palpable. The author believes it very strongly and so do we that thus this hostile, fragmented and damaged world will be re-created. The meaning of myth acquires hitherto unknown significance in this short but mighty book on wisdom. Karen Armstrong, a painstakingly serious writer, is most vocal and practical as a catalyst in this book.
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