Into the Mouth of Madness Part II (or How To Not Do What You're Told)

  "I did it my way."

  -Frank Sinatra

In my last post I spoke about my desire to sit down and spend some quality time with my old childhood friend, The Bible. It's a book that for many has been the cause of a great deal of unnecesary guilt and shame (not to mention therapy), and yet for others has been a reason for joy and celebration. Reading a book this emotionally charged, and this dividing, with an open and curious mind may seem a near impossible task. But, I'm going to give it a try. My plan is to forget about all of the rules for how The Bible is supposed to be read, block out the voices of those who would dictate its meaning for me, and quiet some of the emotional resistance I've developed towards the book over the years (see last post). My thinking is that if I'm even a little bit successful with these three goals, I just might find some personal meaning in The Bible. Hey, it's worth a shot right? I guess we'll see...

Part I: Choosing a Version of the Bible

When I was a kid, my parents had this really cool book lying around our house called The Way. The reason it was really cool was because on the cover there was a photograph of a woman who looked just like my mom. And, being that I was probably around 7 years old at the time, it just didn't get much cooler than that. Funny thing was, I don't remember ever taking the time to see what was actually inside the book. Recently, I decided to look up "The Way" on the old Internets, and discovered that it's a "paraphrased" version of The Bible (i.e. a modern language Bible you can actually read without a thesaurus). After doing a bit more research, I also learned that the book is well-regarded as a fairly reliable source for lay readers. So, given that I don't really care if I'm reading an exact English translation of the original Aramaic, Hebrew, and Greek, I got myself a copy of "The Living Bible" as it's called today.

Part II. What's the Point?

Part of my goal with this blog has been to develop a personal mythology. Basically, I've wanted to identify those myths and works of art that enrich my experience as a human being in this world. And given that The Bible is a defining work of my Irish and German heritage, I think it deserves its fair share of consideration in my life, even if it hasn't been particularly useful up to this point. My goal, then, using the Four Functions of Myth as laid out by Joseph Campbell, has been to see how The Bible might...1) provide me with Philosophy that helps me reconcile myself with the realities of human existence, 2) provide me with a mythical model of adulthood, 3) provide me with a helpful image of the cosmos, and 4) enrich my understanding of a well-functioning human society. Basically, how does this book, as one of the thousands upon thousands of human spiritual texts in our history, fit into my life as an adult in the modern world?

Part III. What Exactly is 'My Own Way' of Reading The Bible?

I then took the time to identify a few of my personal beliefs that would significantly guide my interpretation of The Bible. Here's what I discovered...

• I am not reading The Bible out of any need or desire to worship a deity, prophet, or messiah. My aim in simple: To explore an ancient text in search of any wisdom and/or meaning it can provide me for life in the modern world. Many will no doubt say that mine is a self-centered view. And they would be right. But, from my experience, devoting my time to self discovery and improvement is just about the most selfless thing I can do. It improves life for everyone around me, and honors this one small chance I get at living.
• The events described in The Bible do not have to be interpreted as accurate, factual history. The flood, the miracles, the rising of the dead: the important thing is not whether or not these things actually happened or whether or not I believe they happened. The important thing is how they can enrich my life today.
• The language of The Bible does not have to be read literally. "God," for example, does not have to refer to a man with a beard who lives in a different dimension called Heaven. The Garden of Eden does not have to refer to a real geographic place. And the Ten Commandments don't have to refer to actual stone tablets. These things can all be interpreted figuratively.

Part IV. Finding the Meaning.

As a final step, I thought about how I could re-interpret certain elements of The Bible in a more symbolic way (and in a way that made more sense to me). What follows is a list of some of my personal interpretations of Biblical themes and symbols that I hope will make the stories more relevant to my adult life in this modern world.

• God: To me, God is the Universe. Nature. All things. This view of God is often called pantheism.
• Jesus: To me, Jesus was a man with a deep connection to God (again, the Universe). When he called us "sons and daughters of God" he wanted us to appreciate our importance in the Universe. He understood that we are special creatures, in that we are able to live lives of compassion, love and forgiveness. And he devoted his life to modeling this positive human potential, and encouraged others to follow in his footsteps. Essentially, Jesus represents the super human being we can all become if we accept the Jesus potential with which we are each born.
• The Cross: This symbolizes the existential burdens of life we all must carry as human beings. To live is to struggle with Death, Meaninglessness, Freedom, and Isolation. It's a cross we all must bear.
• The Soul: A person's humanity (i.e. consciousness, love, peace compassion, forgiveness)
• Heaven: Enlightenment, Transcendence. This is what we can experience if we embrace the full potential of our humanity.
• Hell: Suffering. This is what we experience if we lose touch with our humanity.
• The Good News: We can escape suffering by accepting our inner Jesus and striving towards our human potential for compassion and peace.
• Christmas: As a remembrance of Jesus' birth, this day, to me, is essentially a celebration of the new Jesus that arrives with every new childbirth. It's a day to honor new human life, and children in general.
• The Crucifixion: A symbol of Jesus' ability to embrace life with arms wide open, even when faced with life's existential darkness (isolation, meaninglessness, freedom, and death). More importantly, though, I think the story represents Jesus' ability to maintain his humanity (his forgiveness, his love, and his compassion) even when he has been crucified by his fellow man. Essentially, the message is that anyone can be a good human being when things are going well. That's easy. But to be truly Jesus-like and transcendent, you have to walk the path of love, compassion and peace in all situations, including times when you've been treated unfairly or rejected, whether the economy is good or bad, in times of war, and in times of peace. 

Part V. The Results

So that about does it for my process so far. Up next, I'll be talking about the stories of The Bible, and how they pertain to my own life today.