Of Dragons and Saints

I came across quite an interesting convergence of ideas yesterday while re-watching Joseph Campbell’s “The Power of Myth”, the transcendent six episode interview he gave to Bill Moyers. While watching the episode titled, “The Hero’s Adventure”, Campbell explained how the hero’s journey is a consistent mythic theme present in all cultures throughout recorded history. The basic narrative, as Campbell explains it, typically depicts the protagonist as one whose life must be threatened in some way by a dragon or demon, which represents in a general way, our ego and our submission to its spell over us. Thus, the hero (ourselves) must kill it, tame it, or otherwise confront it before becoming eligible for a broader experience. The story is essentially one of death and resurrection, for it requires the death or submission of ego before a rebirth into a deeper realm of consciousness is possible.

After describing several European examples from the middle ages, with their obligatory nod to the standard Christian battlefield of Good vs Evil, Campbell then introduced an alternative example that came from an ancient Japanese tradition founded on Buddhism and thereby providing a much different inflection on the Hero’s confrontation. In this adventure, the young hero would encounter one of two different Deities, depending on the level of his/her own spiritual maturity. For example, if the hero is still clinging too tightly to the ambitions and desires of ego and are led by its every whim by a leash, then the deity encountered will appear as a monster, for it will threaten the nicely crafted illusion that ego has constructed for us. While the other deity, if we have tamed the ego and can stand indifferent to its posturing, will appear as benevolent and will even assist in the journey.

After hearing Campbell’s description of the adventures on offer, I immediately thought of a story from Carlos Castaneda that I read in my twenties. For anyone not familiar with Castaneda’s books, he was a young spiritual seeker in the early 70’s who supposedly became under the tutelage of an old Navajo shaman named Don Juan, and throughout a number of books, Castaneda described his journey (ambition) to learn the secrets of the spirit world from this master. I say “supposedly” because there is some doubt about the authenticity of the contents of his books, or whether Don Juan was an actual person at all. Critics felt the books were pure fiction, while others felt they were best understood as allegorical philosophy, somewhat like Nietzsche’s “Thus Spoke Zarathustra”. But regardless of those quibbles, Castaneda described events and lessons, whether real or imagined, that are intriguing and certainly worth the time to look into….at least for the more adventurous.

As for Don Juan, the spiritual landscape that he inhabited came from his awakening through Mescaline. As many tribes in the Southwest practiced, he smoked Peyote to break past consciousness; to slide into the world of pure psyche (echoes of Jim Morrison’s ‘break on through to the other side’ come to mind), and it was this knowledge that Castaneda was after. Month after month, Don Juan denied the young man’s requests to experience the Peyote journey, saying that he wasn’t ready for that particular lesson, adding that it could destroy him if he wasn’t ready. But Castaneda wanted the experience badly and persisted to the point that when the master thought the pupil was reasonably ready, he reluctantly agreed.

Leading up to his appointed trip, he taught Carlos how to mentally prepare, which mostly revolved around building the proper respect for the undertaking. For instance, the pipe used was kept precisely wrapped in a sacred cloth and stored in a beautifully carved box and could only be removed if certain rituals were mastered and performed. The box itself could only be picked up and opened in a particular manner; the pipe had to be lifted and removed with precise movements, and so forth. All of which being designed to produce the proper humility to the power it represented.

Throughout the preparations, Don Juan advised Carlos what could be expected, with his main concern being of a grave danger if he didn’t adhere strictly to the teachings. He warned Carlos that he will likely encounter a demon of some kind during the trip but couldn’t tell him how it would manifest itself, since it differed from person to person. Carlos was reminded that he would not be sufficiently armed to fight the demon unless he adhered strictly to his teachings. If this demon was encountered, it was gravely important not to look at it and to resist the urge to focus any attention on it. Castaneda was reminded to keep his mind open and free of attachments and failure to resist the potential demon could be disastrous.

When Castaneda finally had his date with fate and the full effects of the drug were beginning to come on-line, he described himself as sitting on the porch of Don Juan’s home when he suddenly noticed a Grasshopper seemingly staring at him from several feet away. Under the effects of the drug, he marveled at its beauty and quickly noticed that the more he strained to see it clearer, the more detail he could see. Completely spellbound to all its sublime glory, he strained ever harder to see more, and with his added focus, the insect became larger and larger with even more detail. The more he looked, the larger it grew, until it appeared enormous and was ready to devour him. He said the sound of the grasshopper’s jaws chewing were deafening and he became terrified but was powerless to stop what was happening.

This of course was precisely what Don Juan had warned against; a confrontation with his ego. Because Castaneda was still subservient to it, with all the ambitions and desires that it clung to, the sheer wonder he felt looking at it overpowered his ability to rise above its attraction. Castaneda didn’t realize it, but he had walked up to the edge of his subconscious and was a step away from losing himself in a place from which there would be no psychological return. The more Carlos had focused on the grasshopper, the more warped his ego was becoming, and the balance necessary to maintain a stable…..and sane personality was quickly dissolving.

Fortunately for Carlos, Don Juan knew the warning signs and was aware of the psychological damage that was about to take place and pulled Carlos away from the abyss by literally dragging him to the stream running beside his home and forcing him to snap out of it.

Carlos had stepped up to confront his dragon and was completely unprepared for the encounter. He still clung too tightly to his own ambitions and self-concerns, and therefore the Deity appeared to him as a monster, just as Joseph Campbell described it from that ancient Buddhist myth a millennia ago.

How is that for ancient wisdom?