Bliss

“You enter the forest at the darkest point, where there is no path.  Where there’s a way or path, it is someone else’s path; each human being is a unique phenomenon.  The idea is to find your own pathway to Bliss.”
Joseph Campbell

Feels like I have been hunting my whole life for that Arthurian forest. I have read volumes of victory stories shared by so-called soul wizards, well intentioned and often inspiring, but who’s maps leave me with a vague kind of vertigo. As I let go of the opiate of other’s answers, I find myself wondering about our pop-culture quick fixes that call compellingly to the already trod trail. Paths promising to quell the recalcitrant voices of the inner and outer critics with Peace, Presence and Bliss-NOW-and all for 30% off! However, I have come to believe these populated halls are hallow and can only echo the grail of wholeness.

Offering no map or magic carpet, Mr. Campbell simply “points”, as the great teachers do, to two fundamental truths:

1. We all know our own information best.
In looking for answers outside we give up inside authority and authenticity.

2. The “pathway” is forged, not followed.
The call to adventure must be answered alone to uncover the “unique phenomenon” of our Being, guided by the integrity of our internal GPS.

Personally I have learned the pain that pulses under the portrait of a life that tries to live the map of Paris in Bangkok–the emptiness that exists when the inner architecture no longer matches the outer manifestations. I repeat often these days this final quote I think Campbell would concur with. A reminder surely etched on the heart of every Knight and Knight-ess following the blessing of their Bliss in the timeless Arthurian forest that is our today.

“…the soul would much rather fail at its own life than succeed at someone else’s.”
David Whyte