Who We Actually Are
“Who we actually are!” This is the line at the end of my last blog entry. It was my reflection on the new landscape of our lives with Covid-19 entering the human world. As a global culture, we are all struggling with this question, in fear or fearlessness, and we are grieving enormous loss while we celebrate that each day we are still on our besieged planet.
With each of these entries, I want to tell a different myth that speaks to me personally and collectively to the Zeitgiest of our time and in a personal way, may encourage us to learn how to ask questions of imagination to get closer with any depth to:
Who we actually are!
The story for today, is a myth from India, called ironically, “The Good Year”. I relate it now in a shortened form taken from the collection of favorite myths of Robert Johnson, (Story Time With Robert). I have shortened it and quoted from this rendition as introduced by Murray Stein in this collection.
Robert was a Jungian Analyst, writer, and philosopher, who made his home in California. Robert’s second home was India and he traveled there for 22 years. A place he describes as terrible, beautiful and beloved. His work is rich in metaphor for our times.
The Good Year
Once there was a King. This king was young and he was a good king. The kingdom prospered, the people were happy, there was peace with the neighboring kingdom and everything seemed as good as it could possibly be. He had a loving wife, a grand household, he was beloved by his subjects, and everything worked, as an old fashion kingdom should. But there was something gnawing inside the young king and he did not know what it was.
He heard about a wise man that lived in the forest at the far end of his kingdom.
He said to himself, “I have to go and see that wise man because surely he has something for me.”
So the king set up his caravan of 500 elephants for his Queen, all of his Harem, a large part of his army, his cooks and many others to see to his needs. A large assembly like this moves slowly so they took several days to reach the forest.
When the king got close to where the wise man sat under a banyan tree, he was let down to the ground and he walked the rest of the way so as to be respectable to the wise man.
He came to the wise man that was sitting alone, meditating with only a lion cloth to wear and his begging bowl. The contrast between the two was glaring. The young king brought his presents, sat down and waited. He waited a discreet amount of time and then he said, “I ask that you would teach me.”
The old wise man sat still again for an extraordinary long time.
The tension in the air between them was great because the young king was so charged with expectation and desire to know what the old wise man knows.
Finally the old wise man drew a deep breath and roared forth a single word. “ RENUNCIATION”. Then the old wise man closed his eyes and the king knew that was the end of the interview.
The young king gathered up everyone and they all began the several days journey back to the palace. He focused deeply about this new teaching and the word renunciation and he thought he understood. It took a whole year but he reduced the size of extravagance and glitter of the court. He talked less, ate less, dressed simply, he reduced his haram. Everything was reduced. The kingdom prospered, the people were aware of something the king was doing was good for all, and were grateful.
At the end of the year, the young king, thought,” I must go see the holey man and find out what else to do”.
He went this time with fewer elephants, the Queen, a few cooks and soldiers, and only the favorites of his harem. They made a much smaller caravan traveling to the forest at the other side of the kingdom.
When they came to the holey wise man they found them sitting there just as before. The King walked up to him and waited a long period and asked the old wise man for further instructions.
The old wise man sat there again for an incredibly long time that seemed to stretch out forever. Finally the old wise man drew a deep breath and shouted a single word “RENUNCIATION”.
The king, not so surprised this time, waited a while and got on his elephant and went back to his palace. He paired things down even more. With fewer of his cooks, harem and soldiers, the palace took on a quiet dignity it never had before. The kingdom prospered even more. The people did not understand but they knew it was a good thing.
At the end of another year with all going well, he needed the presence of the holy man again. He went with only a few of his friends and he walked. He went to the old holy man and sat down beside him. Again he asked for further wisdom and you guessed it the holy man said only a single word, RENUNCIATION. Now the king was perplexed. What was he to do? So much had been given up and let go. Then he understood, that he had to take up residence under a nearby banyan tree and live in much the same way with the same austerity as the old holy man. He did just that. Couriers came to have him sign papers and make decisions about the kingdom. Everything was in good shape and the kingdom prospered even more.
A year passed and the king decided he needed another teaching from the holy man. He walked over from his banyan tree to sit beside the old wise man under his banyan tree and asked for more instruction. After a long time the old wise man spoke and shouted out again RENUNCIATION!
I know this is getting to be really exhausting for us to read, especially as Americans. We do not suffer well and our king is suffering to learn “Who He Actually Is”. Let’s stay with our young king and see what happens.
The king was beside himself this time; He had renounced the palace, the harem, and the kingdom, what more was there? So he went back to his banyan tree and sent away all of his friends except one. They devised the most austere life possible, eating only berries, making clothes from the bark of trees, drinking from a nearby stream, barely talking. You get the picture.
The kingdom prospered even more.
After a year, he walked over again with barely any energy left and asked the same question, the answer was the same from the holy man, RENUNCIATION. The young king knew he must renounce his life. He went back to his banyan tree, dismissed his one friend, and vowed that he would neither eat nor drink that he may make the final austerity that had been prescribed by the holy man. Soon he was one day from his death. He said to himself,
“This is the fulfillment of the teaching of which I have asked for, and I want only one thing… I want to go back and see the holy man just one more time before I give up my life in the final renunciation”.
“He got some native people to carry him because he was very week and he had himself put down before the old holy man. Again he waited with no problem, he had developed great patience through these teachings of his life. He said “Holy man, instruct me one degree further before the time of my death.”
And the holy man quietly said, “ RENOUNCE renunciation!”
The king was enlightened, and a flood of light came over him like a great wave. So he called for his servants and he had them take him back to the palace. He ate food and he grew strong. He approached the Queen again and he built up his harem to full strength. He employed all of his cooks again, and the army was brought back to full strength. He became the greatest king that India had ever had”.
(R. Johnson; N. Cullipher, ED. {2020}, Story Time With Robert; “The Good Year”, Hindu Myth, Intro. by Murray Stein, {pp. 7-15}, Chiron Publishing: Ashville, North Carolina.
Analysis:
The tone of this story revolves around the plot of letting go of abundance, of glitz and show found in material things representing power and prestige. Even with a good and humble King, there is much to learn about “Who We Actually Are” which seems to be the underlying theme and metaphor expressed in the myth. The king is missing something and he becomes a seeker. He follows instructions of the holy man, letting go of all his wealth, comfort, and the persona of a King. He becomes a humble ordinary man and changes his perspective. Our young King has a new attitude: One of quiet grace and gratitude for his human existence. This was the missing peace he was seeking. He survived his initiation into the suffering of human life by asking questions of the wise holy man again and again right up to what he believed was the end:
“I want another teaching, I have more to learn.”
It is then that he enters “transformation” and is reborn into his beloved and thriving kingdom. Our King has individuated threw renunciation of what no longer serves his authentic Self. Dr. Stein says in his analysis of this text, “The Good Year” is a story of transformation…what begins with ego inflation goes through a process of separation and integration that results in a living relation to the transcendent” (pp. 8-9).
It seems to me that the question for us living in the year 2020, is:
“What are we being asked to renounce and how does it feel to us? Is it along the lines of any of these types of renunciations?
Disown, abdicate, disavow, give up, quit, refuse, leave, forsake, abandon, reject,
Then of course this leads me to ask and ponder these questions:
“What is the good year for us?
“Is this year 2020 of loss and grief, fear and division collectively throughout the world, a good year?”
“Is this pandemic and political division our collective and personal path leading to our initiation and transformation?
Can we be like the King and have a “change of attitude” toward our own humanity and the humanity of our community, nation, state and world?
Will we transform and transcend?