Paradise Lost – Part 1

I’ve studied myths and loved mythology for a long time. The stories themselves are wonderful as well as archetypal… outer representations of deep patterns and energies that make up the human psyche. As such, they’re maps that signify and point to core issues within our inner landscapes that must be explored, accepted, and moved through for us to have meaningful and fulfilling lives.

A theme that appears in many stories is that of “Paradise Lost.” The basic outline, simply told, is that a) “once upon a time” – long ago – things were good, much better than they are now. And then b) shit happened, ruining that blissful state, c) leading us to this dissatisfying condition we’re in now… and here’s what we need to do to get back “home.”

The most well-known example in the West is the Garden of Eden. There, the original utopia was shattered by disobedience (eating the apple) leading to expulsion, exile, and a long road of difficulties (our condition now) which — if undertaken with devotion and obedience — may lead to atonement and entry into a new paradise (heaven) which (unfortunately, I think) happens to be outside this current world.

Many theories try to account for the familiarity of this theme. Some are developmental or psychological, where paradise represents our time in the womb – floating in blissful warmth, all needs met – until we’re expelled into daily life, where nurturance and satisfaction of our needs is much less reliable. A comparable theory associates paradise with the innocence of childhood, the fall from grace manifested in the onset of adolescence and its attendant self-consciousness and sense of separation.

Other theories attribute it to an actual, but hazy memory, a whisper from the collective unconscious linked to the 2.4 million years of pre-history when, as small bands of hunters and gatherers, we were completely immersed and present within our natural environment, before agriculture and civilization (and its discontents) shattered this intimacy.

Since this theme of Paradise Lost and its attendant return is archetypal, it remains compelling, and today it can appear in wildly different contexts. For some, it represents an inner journey, and a person may be called to enter a prayer lodge or learn to “walk the good red road” in order to “return to his/her original nature” and follow the original instructions. Others may define it externally or politically, and long to “Make America Great Again,” return to “traditional values,” or imagine some promised land after we rid ourselves of colonialism, racism, capitalism, toxic masculinity, or fill-in-the-blank.

But, as Joseph Campbell said, “The Promised Land is not a piece of real estate.” It is a potential inner or psychological condition, but it is not an external place or condition that has ever existed in the outer world. The problems we see today have always been there.  Seventy thousand years ago, when Homo Sapiens migrated from Africa, we were not the only human species.  But as we spread out over the next 40,000 years, all our human brothers and sisters disappeared. Our fellow humans were among the first species we – homo sapiens – drove into extinction … other species following in rapid succession.

There never was, nor is, an outer paradise that we — with all the crises of the world — can return to. As Walt Kelly, in the comic strip, Pogo, once said. “We have met the enemy and he is us,” and there is no Shambala or Promised land that a war against poverty, terrorism, or capitalism will deliver us to. But if, in fact, Paradise represents a psychological or inner state, there may be a way — without making war or enemies –to engage and grapple with our terrible and wonderful world, that can bring us joy and rapture.      … to be continued…

April 20, 2020