I read a lovely little book last night by Clarissa Pinkola Estes, a woman I first became acquainted with a few years ago when I was looking into an MA in Mythological Studies at Pacifica University. Actually the degree would have been an MA in Mythological Studies with an emphasis in Depth Psychology, as this university centers its education around the philosophies and ideas of such thinkers as Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud. For those of you who are asking, “What does a degree in mythology entail?” I’m glad you asked…and I think the Pacifica website does a pretty good job of summing it up:
Pacifica Graduate Institute’s program in Mythological Studies explores the understanding of human experience revealed in mythology and in the manifold links between myth and ritual, literature, art, and religious experience. Special attention is given to depth psychological and archetypal approaches to the study of myth.
Although I eventually deciding not to go forward with the degree, that hasn’t stopped me from my quest to become knowledgeable of all the writers and thinkers on the Mythological Studies reading list, and Clarissa Pinkola Estes is one of them.
Mrs. Estes is a Jungian-trained psychoanalyst, an award winning poet, and the founder of a human rights organization that focuses on broadcasting stories over the radio to trouble spots throughout the world. She grew up in a family that told many a story, something which later fueled her love of the oral tradition and her passion to share that with the rest of the world. My kind of woman!
I went a little crazy on www.half.com last week and ended up ordering quite a few books, most of which are on my reading list, and a couple of which were not. While Mrs. Estes and her book “Women Who Run With Wolves” are on the reading list, I ended up ordering a different book of hers that was not: “The Gift of Story: A Wise Tale About What Is Enough”. I’ll eventually read the former, but the latter was the one that really caught my attention. Actually it was the synopsis that made me push the BUY button:
“Stories that instruct, renew, and heal provide a vital nourishment to the psyche that cannot be obtained in any other way. Stories reveal over and over again the precious and peculiar knack that humans have for triumph over travail. They provide all the vital instructions we need to live a useful, necessary, and unbounded life-a life of meaning, a life worth remembering.”
After reading that I thought to myself, “I could have written that…that sounds like me!” Yet when the book arrived yesterday, I’ll admit I was a little disappointed; what I had assumed would be a lengthy and in-depth analysis of the nature of Story and its importance in our lives, was in actuality only slightly bigger than a 4×6 picture with only about 30 pages between its two covers. But sometimes the most powerful gifts come in small packages, and the story she told in those 30 pages was exactly as she had promised in her title…it was enough.
I’ll resist the urge to paraphrase her lovely story, but I will say that this is a book that I think all would enjoy. The question posed at the beginning is simple: “What is enough?” Take a moment to think about your answer; what does “enough” mean to you? If you had to leave your life right now and go out into the world, what would you take with you? Would it be something tangible, something meaningful yet transient? At first my answer was my journal-I would be devastated to lose my collection of ideas and writings, but I have so many journals…would I be able to take them all? Then I thought, my computer. My computer can hold all of my thoughts and ideas and musings, and it’s also something that can connect me with friends and family all over the world (provided I have an internet connection!). But then I thought about it some more, and I realized that although I would be sad to leave those behind, I don’t need a journal or a computer to harbor my thoughts and ideas and stories; those I can carry within me. The ancient people certainly didn’t have computers and emails to connect them…they simply had to walk and pay that person a visit, and when they told their stories, they did so by gathering together and sharing them aloud.
So I read the book, and her answer was so simple that I knew it to be true for me too (hint: it’s also the name of a chart topping song by one of Britain’s most popular boy bands) Answer: All you need is love. If you were stripped of everything you owned love will remain, and with that comes the power to connect with others and start anew. When you really think about it, she’s right…it really is enough.
I would like to take her answer one step further and ask the question: what is love? If you could take love with you, what exactly would you be carrying?
That is a seemilngly silly thing to ponder, but in all reality, I believe everyone goes their whole life in search of love. It is not so simple as to minimalize it and carry with you in your duffle bag! You might find it here and there in your mother's hug, or your boyfriend's kiss, but collectively what are we truly taking with us when we chose love?
1 John 4:8 says it best, 'Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.'
Upon searching for love in my life, I have decided early on that I will choose God because God is love. So many people have issues with love here on earth because they search for a love that fails in mankind. Men and women on earth can never fullfill your complete yearning for love. God's love never fails and it always provides for you.
Now I want to avoid simplifying God's love to something to take in your carry on luggage, but it is in truth both simple and complex. It is a paradox that I struggle with. Because although His love is simplified for us to share with Him, it is still something I will spend my whole life trying to attain and fully understand.
That is why I only partially agree with your author's response. I too would choose love, but only in the form of God's love.
I love your response Kev, and I would agree with you as well. I do think you would like this book even still, because I believe the message she was going for is a general love for humanity, and I believe that type of love is best attained in a love for God, because it is also written to love "love your neighbor as yourself". You offer a lot of beautiful insight, and I appreciate you for sharing it…some lovely lady will be lucky to have you shower her with your love someday! 🙂
Carolyn sent me a message to check out this little exchange, and yes, she is right. I need to be in the Turner family. You guys are just TOO cool.
Kevan–Will you marry me? Do I need a ring to ask you that? And does a key ring count because I could have that to you in a snap… 😉 haha
No, seriously, you know this is too tempting for me not to put my thoughts down. I love it!!
I love it… I love it… love it… love. Love. LOVE!
So many ways to approach this actually. On what level do we want to go at it?
Ultimately, we are all One. We are all the essence of God, floating back and around and upon itself to express Creation. The incredible mechanics of the God experience. From a view point of unity, one would not separate oneself from Love, as if you could take it with you, because God IS Love. We are God. We are Love. It is all the beauty of Unity. Of Divinity.
However, from a view point of the Relative… from the sense that God created the Absolute to be represented by a material world… we, as humans, can experience Love as contrasted by other experiences such as fear or anger. Love can be felt as the universal love (God's love) or as love toward another aspect of creation. I would go so far as to postulate that only God's love is completely unconditional. Can one learn to express this unconditional, "God's love" through human form? I believe so, yes. I believe this was the purpose of Jesus Christ (MY love!). Jesus incarnated to show that the human heart is capable of expressing completely unconditional love. And when this love is expressed, it is always directed toward God. It is the recognition that God resides within all people and within all of Creation. Then, a person is able to recognize the God force in another, and express unconditional love toward that essence. It is recognizing the Unity of Creation, so that in loving everything, all around you, you are unconditionally loving God at all times.
How beautiful!! What a journey to learn to love in this way.
What a great response Kelley! That was insightful in so many ways.
Jesus Christ (One with the Trinity that is God) definitely laid out His life as an example for how to love unconditionally. If only we all could love the way He did, every problem we have would be solved! Instead we are challenged daily by the Lord to make our best attempts at doing what Jesus would do. It will be a journey indeed!
PS–I am not above the key ring idea 😉