Springtime Bliss

As the Springtime sun gains momentum and warms up our pretty Driftless town, I've started thinking more about inner happiness and what that means. I was recently describing to my husband a feeling that I had in my Servant Leadership class.  I told him that the ideas being talked about in class were so identifiable and exciting and thoughtful.   I  wish I had my own language to describe the ideas themselves but they are still sifting through my mind.  My experience in the class was one that I've had repeated during other "peak" moments in my life.  Whenever I have one of these moments or experiences, I want to grab onto it and make it last, whether it's endorphins during a run, listening to a great story,  learning about a new idea, listening to a piece of music that transcends in some way or sometimes just a walk outside or a really great conversation with my husband or a friend.  Psychologist Abraham Maslow describes "peak experiences" as:

feelings of intense happiness, and well-being, wonder and awe and possibly also involving an awareness of transcendental unity or knowledge of higher truth (as though perceiving the world from an altered, and often vastly profound and awe-inspiring perspective).  They usually come on suddenly and are often inspired by deep meditation, intense feelings of love, exposure to great art or music, or the overwhelming beauty of nature.

Check, check and check.  The experience definitely comes on without planning or prodding.  You can't schedule a peak experience.

I watched part of Joseph Campbell's TV series The Power of Myth with Bill Moyers.  This is not something to be devoured quickly.  The documentary is steeped in Cambell's study of mythology, religion and faith as well as personal quests.  He talks about the importance of rituals, particularly in primitive cultures and the subsequent  loss of rituals in modern society (which was also covered in my Servant Leadership class, hmmm...worlds collide).   He also talks about a Hindu concept that is a blend of three Sanskrit words, "sat" which means truth, being or the eternal, "chit" which means consciousness and "ananda" which means bliss.  The idea is that the path an individual ought to take exists inside him or her at all times.  Bliss is the method by which this path reveals itself.  To follow your own bliss is to identify your own purpose and pursue it.  Campbell refers to this as "the Hero's path".  The Hero's journey is a process of moving from a lacking state to the fulfillment of one's individual potential, not as an endpoint, but through the course of life.

I think my favorite thing that Campbell says about this quest is the fact that this is not a concept you go out and find or learn.  This is something already within you.  You just have to let it reveal itself.  It would be easy to misunderstand his message about following your bliss because it sounds simplistic when taken at face value.  Identifying and engaging with your bliss, though, is in Campbell's words "an intricate process of making choices in life and work direction."  Sometimes when I least want to do something, go exercise, attend an event, this personal breakthrough happens.  It can be a matter of breaking through the noise of the day. It also feels good but it isn't about hedonism, doing whatever feels good at the moment.  There is a higher power at work, "hidden hands", Campbell calls them. And I think his words reveal more of the meaning being finding one's bliss:

How to get rid of ego and turn it into messenger and servant and scout, 

to be in your service, is the trick.  

Servant Leadership approaches personal transformation in a similar way in discussing the importance of our own deep story and "taking a long, loving look at the real" (Fr. Walter Burghardt).  These things are discussed as a way of finding the deep meaning within yourself to discover what you then have to offer the world.  It's about connecting and social justice and eventually moving outside of self.  At least that's the way I see it.  I know there are those people out there that seem born knowing who they are and where they want to go and are out there doing great things.  And then there are those of us that took the slow route.

So, thank you Joseph Campbell for revealing some insights into these recent blissful Springtime moments.  Maybe it will lead me along my own Hero's journey.

And lest, this all seem too preachy:

"As you proceed through life, following your own path, birds will shit on you.  

Don't bother to brush it off. Getting a comedic view of your situation gives it spiritual distance. 

Having a sense of humor saves you."

--Joseph Campbell

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Campbell, Joseph. The Power of Myth. 1991.
Joseph Cambell and The Power of Myth with Bill Moyers, TV mini-series. 1988.
"Follow Your Bliss: A Process of Career Happiness."  Journal of Counseling and Development, 78 (Summer 2000): 305-314.
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"The job of an educator is to teach students to see vitality in themselves".

--Joseph Campbell