A favorite ice-breaking question at social gatherings is to ask guests to list eight to ten people, living or dead, who they would most like to invite to a dinner party. Besides Jesus Christ, Buddha, and Carl Jung I think that a person I’d simply have to have would be Hildegard von Bingen. Hildegard, or Blessed Hildegard as she is properly titled in the Catholic Church, was a medieval Christian born around the year 1098 who lived to the ripe old age of 81.

During a time when women had few occupations other than being wives, mothers, nuns, or midwives, Hildegard was a writer, artist, composer, linguist, philosopher, poet, visionary, political advisor, and healer. Her Ordo Virtutem is one of the first known liturgical dramas, making her a playwrite as well. She wrote hundreds of texts, including poems, songs, letters, medical texts, theological works, and plays, while also producing thousands of beautiful illuminations.

Although I have Scivias, the first of three volumes about the visions she had during her lifetime, what has delighted and engaged me most is Blessed Hildegard’s music. I bought Vision: The Music of Hildegard von Bingen, a contemporary production of her music, some time last year. The combination of native beats and new age arrangements with her “plainsong” style is wonderful. However, if you’re more of a traditionalist, Amazon music offers several different arrangements and productions of Blessed Hildegard’s music. Try out the music samples on different CDs for a real, uplifting treat from an amazing woman.

It amazes me that a woman who had so few options was able to do so much with her life. By the end of her long, robust life she was an advisor of kings, princes, and popes; had run two abbeys; had numerous visions and conversations with God, and produced extensive works as a medical healer and naturalist.  Living in an age where western women have unparalleled opportunities but make much less use of them, I’m an admirer of the women who came before us like feminine John the Baptists. They made it possible for us to have the means of wholeness, freedom, love, and meaning at our fingertips, even though we are daughters of Eve.

I’m including some of Hildegard’s art, with descriptions of the visions she had (and sometimes their meaning) alongside.

I saw a bright light, and in this light the figure of a man the color of a sapphire, which was all blazing with a gentle, glowing fire. And that bright light bathed the whole of the glowing fire, adn the glowing fire bathed the bright light; and the bright light and the glowing fire poured over the whole human figure, so that the three were one light in one power of potential.

Then I saw in the secret places in the heights of Heaven two armies of heavenly spirits who shone with great brightness. Those in one of the armies had on their breasts wings, with forms like human forms in front of them, on which human features showed as if in clear water. Those in the second army also had wings on their breasts, which displayed forms like human forms, in which the image of the Son of Man shone as if in a mirror. [. . .] these armies were arrayed like a crown around the others [. . .] they burned like fire, and had many wings, in which they showed as if in a mirror all the Church ranks arrayed in order. And I saw no other shape either in these or in the others. And all these armies were singing with marvellous voices all kinds of music about the wonders that God works in blessed souls, and by this God was magnificently glorified.

After this I saw a vast instrument, round and shadowed, in the shape of an egg, small at the top, large in the middle, and narrowed at the bottom; outside it, surrounding its circumference, there was bright fire with, as it were, a shadowy zone under it. And in that fire there was a globe of sparkling flame so grat that the whole instrument was illuminated by it, over which three little torches were arranged in such a way that by their fire they held up the globe lest it fall.

This vast instrument, in the shape of an egg, faithfully shows Omnipotent God, incomprehensible in His majesty and inestimable in His mysteries and the hope of all the faithful.

O Holy Fire which soothes the spirit
O fire of the spirit which I have tried
life force of all creation
holiness you are in living form
You are a holy ointment
for perilous injuries
You are holy in cleansing
the fetid wound.

O breath of holiness
O fire of loving
O sweet taste in the breast
you fill the heart
with the good aroma of virtues.

O fountain of purity
with whom it is considered
That God made the strangers one with us
and the damned saved.

O robe of life and hope for the companions
our brothers all of the church
and the belt of honesty
save the blessed.

Caring for all those
who are held down by enemies
and dissolve the restraints.
whom the divine will save and free.

O path of strength
that enters all places
in the high places and in the plains
and in all the depths
you call and unify all.

From you the smoke flows,
the ether files,
jewels have their qualities
water streams shown their way
and earth made green and fresh.

You always teach comprehending
by inspiriational wisdom with happiness.

Praise be to you,
who is the sound of praise,
and joy of life, hope and noble strength
giving the premium of the light.

It’s a privilege being surrounded by intelligent, spiritual people who use their abilities and energies to become even more well-read, well-rounded, and whole. I think it’s a great thing when people who live in such advanced and comfortable circumstances use the stuff of their blessing for personal and social increase. I’m reminded of Jesus’ parable of the talents, and how the fellow who buried his talents ended up with less than nothing. I’m most afraid of playing the harlot with my abilities, talents, energies, and time rather than investing my Self where she can bear much fruit.

This morning, one of the intelligent, spiritual people I’m privileged to know and love said something that made me laugh out loud because it was so honest and human. We were discussing greatness and mastery, subjects that have been on our respective minds lately. She said that now she hopes merely to be a good Self: whole, accountable, a good wife, a good mother. But in the past, she recounted, when she was less developed and more unaware,

“I thought it would be good if I died famous, or great, . . . or at least envied.”

I guffawed when she said “. . . at least envied,” because she had captured the vanity and wrong-headedness of humanity when she said these words. Why is it, I’ve wondered, that we refuse over and over and over again to go deep into that inner city, the City of God, the only place where we can find home, hearth, temple, and palace and live authentic lives? Why do we waste ourselves on what doesn’t profit, on what’s useless, on what’s not helpful? Why do we externalize everything of intrinsic value–selling our birthrights for a mess of pottage?

It seems that everyone has a hankering to be famous, and if we can’t be famous, we’ll settle for notoriety; or we long to be great in some way, to transcend the boundaries of our limitations and capabilities and soar above the crowd. But, if we can’t have all that, we’ll settle for being envied. Judging from the consumerism of Americans, it appears to me that the majority will settle for simply being envied.

 Envied by others! Never mind what we think of ourselves, because how often do people really consider themselves realistically? How often does one meet a person capable of being so realistic? I think: not often. There’s evidence for this everywhere, in nearly every human encounter. I think that in the old book of Proverbs, it says, “The beginning of wisdom is: get wisdom” and “get instruction,” because few people want instruction. It would be difficult to find a religious person who said he didn’t want to be wise, even more difficult to find a religious person who admitted he was unteachable and deluded, because it’s more human and comfortable to hide behind delusions than to see ourselves naked before a full-length mirror. But, still, “all men are liars.” We like to kid ourselves.

Delusions. I’ve been watching Big Brother this season because several of my adult and adolescent children watch it, and it’s been a fun field trip into TV land. I normally don’t watch television much, but if a series can grab our collective attention, I’ll watch it with the family because even television can be a tie that binds. One of the most interesting aspects of the show is people’s outspoken delusions. One player, who obviously didn’t play the game with intelligence or craftiness, stated when voted out of the house that she knew it was because she was a threat; another time, she bragged on her bubbly personality and how likable she was, when it seemed clear to the viewers that she was neither. We pitied her because she was so blind to her own flaws. Her blindness did make her more lovable, though, because we too are sometimes blind.

On last night’s episode, one of the most clever players stated that she had played the game without deception, at which we all burst out laughing: she’s been one of the biggest liars and tricksters this season! Afterward, we talked about our delusions, and how it’s human to deceive oneself and others; and how valuable real community and accountability are when one is trying to become better, holy, and whole. I love it that I live among people who tell me the truth about me. I’m desperate for that, because without their help I might live a life of delusion. These companions call me to be true to myself and to the gifts and callings of God. I thank God for them.

This brings me to the goal of the Christian life as I see it (because today I’m thinking about my faith): perfection. Matthew 5:43-48 has Jesus saying yet one more amazing, incomprehensible, impossible thing to human beings:

You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.” But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? If you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Therefore, you are to be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect (New American Standard Bible).

Be Ye Perfect. This word, “perfect” is the Greek word teleios [τέλειος], meaning ”complete.” Its root can be found in telos [τέλος], which means to set out for a definite point or goal, meaning the point aimed at as a limit; by implication, it is the conclusion of an act or state (a terminal result or purpose); and also signifying a paid levy or custom paid to the uttermost.

Passages like this thrill me to the core and drive me into the arms of God, specifically because of my education, training, and reading in psychology. In depth psychology, we talk of the pursuit and development of the real self; that’s what depth psychology is all about. So when I read Jesus’ teachings and I see him telling people to intentionally become complete, whole selves, just as God is complete and whole, well… I get EXCITED.

Look here at what it means, drawing from these Greek words, to become complete: It means that we’re to set out toward a definite goal (this is a journey); we will walk along some path or another, and we’ll arrive at a goal (there is one); we will encounter limitations, the greatest limitation being where we end and others begin; and when we become whole, complete, and perfect, we will have arrived at the “happily ever after” (there is one)–we will have achieved our purpose, paid the levy, custom, or dues owed (taxes or fees imposed by one in authority), to the utmost. We’ll be whole, complete, and perfect in the same way that God is whole, complete, and perfect.

In a nutshell–in one little Greek word, in fact–we have the entire goal of the person: to become complete and thus to become like God. This is what we owe to God: all of ourselves, our whole, complete and entire selves; the selves we can be to the utmost, nothing more and nothing less. This teaching assumes that we’re not whole, and it indicates how we can easily see where we’re not by the ways in which we’re common and predictable, and do not love. This teaching also assumes that each person is able to become complete, and that we can make efforts in that direction.

The Christian life, as described by Jesus in this brief passage from the Gospel of Matthew, is the whole Quest metaphor in a few sentences. Certainly, I believe that every human being receives the call to adventure and has the choice of accepting the call, and setting out on the great archetypal quest in search of the whole self, or of denying the call and trading his birthright.

The questions I’ve been asking myself lately are:

•  How am I doing on this quest?
• Have I pursued the goal wholeheartedly, or taken too many detours along the way?
• Do I behave as if my completion as a human being is the only end, or do I behave as if other goals are more important?

The third Eve is me; it’s you, it’s us. We’re the bride, we’re the completion of the everlasting God. Without us, He makes Himself incomplete; and because He has loved us with an everlasting love, and because we are His body, He actively participates in our wholeness, seeking to “present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless” (Ephesians 4:27, New International Version).

I don’t know about you, but I hear wedding bells!

 | The Hero’s Journey | The Archetypal Quest | The Monomyth |

I stumbled across a fascinating video at The First Morning, and thought it fitting for inclusion in a blog about goddesses and their modern-day counterparts, beautiful babes.  The video, like the babes, is stunning.

That so many of these movie stars look so much alike makes one wonder if the standard for feminine beauty has changed  much over the years.  Take, for instance, Devi, the archetypal representation of all Hindu goddesses. Also known as Prakriti or Maya, she complements the male aspect of the divine; a depth psychologist can’t help but think of the anima and animus.

Surprisingly, the goddess figure is an aspect of the Mother Archetype. It seems, at first blush, a ludicrous idea to connect the movie stars of the YouTube video, or the image of Devi, with mothers. But any mother whose five-year-old son has just proposed marriage to her knows: Mom is a goddess.

Jung wrote that the mother archetype appears in numerous aspects. The most important are one’s own mother and grandmother, stepmother, and mother-in-law, followed by any woman with whom a relationship exists. Figurative mothers include the goddess, the Mother of God, the Virgin, and Sophia. In The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious (Princeton University Press, 1969), Jung wrote that, “Other symbols of the mother in a figurative sense appear in things representing the goal of our longing for redemption, such as Paradise, the Kingdom of God, the Heavenly Jerusalem…the Church, university, city or country, heaven, earth, the woods, the sea or any still waters, even the underworld and the moon, can be mother-symbols” (p. 81).

The mother archetype may be expressed through things or places representing fertility and fruitfulness: the cornucopia, a ploughed field, a garden; a cave, a tree, a spring, a deep well, the baptismal font; to vessel-shaped flowers such as the rose, or the lotus; hollow objects such as ovens and cooking vessels; and helpful animals such as the cow or the hare (ibid.).

Of course, every force has an equal and opposite force, and mothers are no exception. For every good mother and healing pot of chicken noodle soup, there is an evil mother–such as Kali, who devours her young. I’ll write more about evil stepmothers, witches, and mothers who eat their young another time, because they are just as compelling and interesting as the wonderful, Norman Rockwell type mothers we cherish in our hearts (whether our personal mothers fit that bill or not).

One of Jung’s most interesting ideas about the Mother Archetype was that the personal mother had far less power over her children than did the archetypes projected upon her by the children. In other words, the effects of one’s mother can be divided into actual effects produced by the mother through her character, attitudes, and actions, and those effects produced by the child(ren) and projected onto the mother as if they were real.  I like this theory, because everyone in the relationship gets to share some responsibility for the effects of the relationship. Jung quite reasonably looked for to the parents for causes of pathology in children, and afterward to the child’s own temperament and ability (or failure) to adjust to the circumstances of of family life.

The importance of the goddess and the divine Mother Archetype cannot be over-emphasized. I think that Jung himself wrote quite beautifully about the positive aspects of the idea of Mother-love:

. . . the mother-love which is one of the most moving and unforgettable memories of our lives, the mysterious root of all growth and change; the love that means homecoming, shelter, and the long silence from which everything begins and in which everything ends. Intimately known and yet strange like Nature, lovingly tender and yet cruel like fate, joyous and untiring giver of life–mater dolorosa and mute implacable portal that closes upon the dead (Archetypes 92).