Conduct of Life: Session Twelve A
Session Summary - Illusions
How do we know anything is real? How do we know we ourselves truly exist? Emerson gets us to ask these existential questions in the way he paints his first few paragraphs. He sets a carnival-like tone, showing how nature mimics itself, rocks look like flowers, caves seem to be evening skies. Its like a magic show. As the imaginary organ grinds in the background, Emerson tells of an excursion to a Kentucky cave, and explores an approach to the illusions of life.A crowd of tourists oohs and aahs at the cave's displays, especially the starry sky that appears when all lanterns are extinguished. The view evokes wonder and community from people. But Emerson notices a lone candle hidden in a corner that is making the cave crystals twinkle like stars. He stands apart from the group's child-like communion because he's seen through the magic. A passive, contemplative approach isn't adequate. Emerson needs to see through to what's behind nature, but when he asks the scientific questions, he becomes the sad little boy in his essay. Science takes the mystery out of life. Ralph had another experience of this at the botanical gardens in France. Naming a myriad of beautiful flowers with just their Latin names disconnected him from their essence.
Illusions are successful because of the participation of the audience. We perceive and organize the data a certain way, each in our own way. "Organ-izing" becomes seeing through the orb of the eye, through a filter, and reveals a magic world. The things that give you joy or pain are existential. They come not from circumstances but from perception. This is like when you have different opinions about a movie when seen with different people or in different moods. Or how simple food becomes a banquet when you begin recovering from illness. We make our own joy. Emerson anticipated the modern scientific knowledge that the observer changes the observed by that act of observing. We live by myth, not chronology. We lack any true objectivity.
You need to suspend disbelief so you can participate in life. The observer stance disconnects you from experience, from community. To learn, you must first empirically enter the image, then parse out and analyze the experience. This is what Emerson came to after he reflected on his Kentucky cave experience. Of course, kids go through a developmental stage where they're labeling and categorizing everything. But if we stay at this place as adults and not include our imagination, we become sterile and collective. If you don't honor your own experience, you take in someone else's organization.
One area where the effect of images can be seen is vocations. Its hard to honestly answer the question "what are you doing now?" Usually we give a rosy hue because people want to hear you're happy. But thinking of vocation with imagination makes your work interesting. Paul can talk about mentoring as helping people with decision making. But he also sees an image of Gandolf (from Lord of the Rings). All the nuances and idiosyncrasies of this character inform how Paul mentors. The image becomes a channel for vocational imagination. Is it real or bullshit? The image creates the substance--without imagination you end up with a job. Hold it lightly or it destroys you. Illusions are dangerous, if seen as ideology. Imagination is god-like because images create new realities. If you hold an image loosely, you can enter a second naivete. The sensate or "as is" world becomes very elastic. But if we cling to our images, we make them into rigid rules and damage ourselves and others. Emerson says that the more sophisticated you are, the more elaborate & complex are your illusions. But we're all playing the same game. Even Time, Space and Love are illusory games, the process of projection.
The Protestant Reformation is a good case in point. Protestants condemned Catholic icons as idols. But Protestants idolized ideas. Icons don't limit a person because they encourage projection, imagination. Ideas as idols (dogma), become literal, brittle and limited. Imagination, projection can help us hold things more loosely, and thus be open to their depths.
We need to enter our illusions, both personal and corporate, more deeply. Crushers of illusions break people's ability to move from old to new. If you're disdaining, you don't trust God behind the illusions, and you encourage others towards reductionistic thinking. People over-analyze for safety, to avoid getting the heart involved. Marty's rock-digging friends started a recent expedition with mystical wonder at certain formations. But as meaning questions began to surface, they reverted to hard-core "objective" science. When our images start to seem like illusions, its painful and we become cynical as protection. Instead we should really find another illusion and keep going. We could ask "what myth do I live today?" Imagination adds color and depth to whatever you're doing.
History makers are those who see behind illusions, but treat their new sight with imagination. If we just go with things as they appear, "just the facts", we become wooden. But illusions can create new realities. Tolkien started with a course on Norse mythology, and ended up with powerful stories published world-wide. Arthur Conan Doyle started developing his deductive reasoning as a doctor and ended up with an endearing detective that influenced the whole world.
The real illusion is the "observer only" stance. This is the person being duped, by the myth of objectivity. The myth of the modern era is that we can absolutely know anything. It leads to literalism and materialism and life becomes very monochrome.
Emerson takes an interesting meander regarding women: "easily fascinated, they fascinate". He suggests women are more closely linked to the imaginative ability to form illusions. This could be read as sexism . But Emerson is pointing to an archetypal Sophia-like image, where the feminine side of god plays before god, co-creating reality. This is a powerful image of using imagination to do the practical work of living. He is anticipating modern psychology that recognizes the feminine function in all. But Emerson also recognizes the distinctness of the feminine psyche. How does this play out in our time, with our myth of sexlessness? Feminists have taken the idea of equality without imagination. This does damage, because it leads to fascism. Women think they're men and often act in patriarchal ways to maintain their ideology of equality.
How do we manage our myths? We don't know the value of our illusions, and we're not supposed to. We know there are correspondences, but what is the key? Our imagination is the key. There is a depth of sacredness in every day. Look very carefully at everyday. Small things really matter. The whispers of guidance come to us, but must be open to whispers.
To end, Emerson says our ground in reality is the simple virtue of being honest with yourself. Play no games with your Self. If you're authentic to your own myth (yourself as you really understand you) you'll be able to live morally within illusions. Do that which is within you. Live as if God is living and present--as if you're accompanied.
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