By C.S. Thompson

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Some people look out at the universe and find it empty and meaningless- a place with no spiritual significance, a dead mechanical process. This sort of person will openly state that life is meaningless; that there is no purpose or genuine effect to any of our choices. Such people live in a dead world without color or sap in it, and the main source of their personal suffering is this very fact. Despite this, or perhaps because of it, they find spirituality intolerable- living as they do in a world of despair, they find joy itself offensive and painful, as if a blind person were to name sight a delusion.

This sort of person looks out at the world and sees nothing there. He recoils from that nothing in despair and revulsion, or else blots it out with apathy- and he reviles anyone who does not do the same.

The spirit-filled response to the universe is to look out upon its beauty, its complexity and its inherent magic, and say, "God is here," whether or not the word 'God' is actually used. The difference between this and the first sort of response is the same as that between health and sickness.

The universe we live in is a breath of the divine. The awareness of this fact is, in itself, God. God is a way of seeing, a stance taken towards the world. This stance contains both joy and fear, because those things which are truly beautiful inspire awe mixed with terror.

And for that reason there are two types of atheists- because some atheists also take this stance, see the universe with sanctified eyes, and are exalted spiritually in the same way. They simply do so without using the word 'God.'

And for the same reason, there are two sorts of spiritual people (although this is an over-simplification). Those to whom their faith is a living flame are exactly as I have described them. But there are many for whom it is only a formality, an empty if respectful nod in the direction of custom. There is no exalted joy or sanctification in their creed; there is only obedience. There is no wrestling with the awe of eternity and its unequivocal claims on us; there is only shame. It is a willful rebellion against this obedience and this shame that inspires most atheists.

Taken outside of the realm of the sacred, the claims of the spiritual are simply ridiculous. But when atheists refer to such claims as ridiculous, they are battling a paper dummy. Because the claims of the spirit do not relate to literal fact, and should never be contested on this mundane level. They refer to what is Beyond. If you have never felt the breath of the Beyond, this will only be meaningless to you. But if you have, you will understand.

The scriptures and the sacred texts are indeed the Word of God. But that need not reduce them to an historical account of certain events which occurred in space-time. The events of Myth occur in Eternity- they neither occurred in space-time nor are they bound by it. God created the universe and everything in it, but not as an architect creates a house. So if God is spoken of as a Divine Architect, this is True in a way and yet not factual. To insist on viewing it as factual is actually to reduce it, or rather to reduce our understanding of it, hemming in our ability to see the divine behind fences of our own creation. We deny the Eternal when we seek to measure it by the temporal.

By this I do not simply mean that all scriptures are metaphorical. I mean that they are superessential, or that they hint at that which is superessential. In that sense they are metaphors, but not in the common sense. This is not a case of one thing from the universe of space and time standing in for another, but of something utterly beyond time and space which is evoked for us by a poetic image. Myth is a case of the Eternal becoming incarnate in the temporal through the medium of our sense of poetry. When we awaken to its mysteries, its magic transforms us, and in that moment it incarnates within us. We become signposts on the road to the Infinite.

When we trap our understanding of the eternal in the temporal, then we degrade and reduce it. When we allow the eternal to become manifest in our understanding, then we shine with its brilliance. The path to this brilliance, however, is a dangerous one.

There is a reason that the great spiritual traditions of the world require a teacher, someone who can lead you where they’ve already been. In the words of a modern Sufi named Mushtaq Ali: "There is an old Sufi saying ‘No one can lie to you like you’. The Teacher's job is to point out to you when and how you are lying to yourself. There is another old Sufi saying, ‘The one who attempts the path without a guide has Shaytan for a guide’."

Unfortunately, those who attempt the path with a guide all too often have Satan for a guide as well, for who can claim that real masters outnumber false prophets? For whatever reason, and wisely or unwisely, most of us will probably walk the path on our own. Mushtaq Ali goes on to quote Mohammed Shafii: "The path is unknown, the night is dark and the road is full of danger. Dangers include preoccupation with selfishness, false visions, misinterpretations of mystical states, arrested development, fixation in a particular state, appeal to various drugs to create false mystical experiences and not infrequently overwhelming anxiety and insanity."

These are significant risks, but they are not the only ones. At any point along the way, our narcissistic human natures can lead us from the path, causing us to mistake a deadly spiritual trap for genuine understanding. This danger has been recognized for many centuries. A Scottish folk ballad from the Middle Ages describes the confusion:

Let no one imagine that these dangers are hypothetical. The philosopher Schopenhauer suffered terribly from his inner demons. As Nietzsche wrote, "He was absolutely alone, with not a single friend; and between one and none there lies an infinity." Schopenhauer has been described as "gloomy, cynical and suspicious... obsessed with fears and evil fancies." As for Nietzsche, his decline was still more terrible. He went incurably insane and lapsed into dementia, spending his final years as a pale ghost of his former self. The price of bad philosophy is not merely the holding of a questionable opinion. Very often it is the soul of the philosopher.

We must be careful to avoid the trap of pseudo-spirituality- philosophies that make you feel better about who you already are, or that cater to your darkest and most paralyzing fears. Both traps can be equally addictive in different ways. You’ll be drawn to lessons that feed your ego instead of challenging it, and even when you study useful things, you’ll draw the wrong conclusions. Instead of selecting the lessons that could provide the balance of forces you need, you’ll select only those which build up your favorite imbalances.

There is a fad for a particular kind of pseudo-spirituality, in which one conceives of oneself as a heroic character in a private legend, and in which the goal of the quest is worldly success. This may appear to resemble what I am talking about on the surface, but its spirit in fact is totally different- the wishful thinking of a so-called dream, that deals only with this world and the things of this world. To call something like that a legend is to prostitute the term. What I am talking about is beyond the self, is a service to something beyond the self, or else it is nothing. When you yearn for one of the things of this world it turns to ashes in your hands. If you are lucky, the world denies it to you, exposing it for the fraud it always was. My goal is therefore not worldly success, but a transformation. I aspire to purify and forge the spirit, to polish it until it gleams like steel. I aspire to incarnate the sacred.

But if we are to proceed alone, we must do so carefully. Like any traveler on a dark and dangerous path, we will do better if we have a roadmap, a lantern to light our way, some extra supplies. I call this roadmap the Balance of Forces.

At its most basic level, this is a simple principle: to be a stoic on the outside, and a mystic on the inside. In all my dealings with the external world, I seek to apply a rigorous discipline, a self-control and imperturbable spirit that is never shaken, always calm. A spirit that is quiet and reverent, respectful and dignified.

But this spirit is only the surface, for it is complemented by its own opposite. Beneath the calm exterior is a spiritual intoxication, the mystic's absolute surrender to the love of God. Like a man throwing himself from the top of a waterfall, or a starship crossing the event horizon and plunging into the black hole, the man of the Balance of Forces holds nothing back. He lives in the heart of the fire in everything he does, and the love of God burns and consumes him. He lives in a constant state of ecstatic awe.

Of course, the opposite of this core principle is equally valid- to be a mystic on the outside while remaining stoic on the inside. To fall to one's knees in ecstatic prayer and yet remain serene within. The principle is essentially the same from either perspective.

While this is the simplest expression of the principle, it is not the only one. The Balance of Forces manifests in every pair of opposite qualities, one of which will be apparent on the surface while the other is hidden. One way to express this creative tension is in this phrase: the esoteric and the exoteric in opposition and unity.

There is an opposition, for example, between physical disciplines and mental disciplines. The two are rarely united in a single person. But the devotee of the Balance of Forces will manifest both, and whichever of the two is apparent at any time, it will be complemented by its hidden opposite. To study classical poetry or calligraphy, for example, as well as a martial art. The mental discipline and the physical discipline oppose and complement each other, contributing to the Balance of Forces.

There are any number of such oppositions, dynamic pairs of esoteric and exoteric which may be cultivated. There is no need for a standardized list, no need for a doctrine, but here are a few examples of the variations that are possible:

1. The Positive Way and the Negative Way: The divine is served through overt acts, such as daily prayer and the earnest seeking of an ethical life. The divine is also sought in the surrender to silence, through meditation and apophatic theology.
2. The Ecstatic Way and the Ascetic Way: A Spartan life divorced from materialism is the way of asceticism. The state of euphoric ecstasy is achieved in celebration.
3. The Martial Way and the Literary Way: mastery of a physical discipline, such as a combative form, and of the arts of poetry, philosophy and scholarship.

The purpose of all of these things is to cultivate a balance, a harmonious and integrated development of all our faculties. Imbalance is one of the gravest dangers of the solitary seeker, surpassed only by narcissism in its destructive potential.

I do not personally claim that I have avoided that particular trap- only that I give thought, by principle, to its avoidance. One principle in which I strongly believe is this- the solitary seeker must never permit himself to be seen as a spiritual teacher, nor permit anyone else to become his disciple. The solitary seeker is exactly that, and must either submit to discipline and abandon that path, or walk it steadfastly alone with no pretense to becoming a guide. His ideas can be presented in literary form, but that is all. They are private visions- personal gnosis- and if they should move and inspire a reader then all is well. Because the same reader can reject any aspect of this vision and seek out his own.

Therefore, for what it is worth, I present the following, which has proven to be of some use to me: the Mythic Ascent.

It begins with the absolute and transcendent first cause of all, which may be personalized as God or seen in an abstract manner as the Way or the Divine. The Way produces from itself an emanation, an echo if you will of its perfect music. Like all echoes, this emanation is an imperfect copy, but it is still transcendently beautiful, still sacred and mysterious. This emanation is the realm of Myth: the gods and saints and angelic figures of our human mythologies, including all of our limited conceptions of God Himself. These in turn produce another emanation: the realm of the Mind, including both our reason and that which is above it, the place from which springs poetry and dreams, the dark sea of the subconscious. Just as the realm of Myth is an imperfect echo of the first cause, so the realm of our Mind is an imperfect echo of the realm of Myth. The realm of Mind has an echo as well, and that is the realm of mundane reality, the realm of the World. So from God is born the realm of Myth, and from Myth the realm of the Soul. From the Soul is born the realm of the Body, where we live and breathe.

The ascent back up from the World to God is achieved, not linearly, but by an increasing ability to live in harmony on all these levels. From the realm of the World, one has flashes of insight into the realm of Mind. As one achieves these with increasing clarity and frequency, one has insights through the Mind into that which lies beyond it, the realm of Myth. And from that realm one may occasionally even glimpse the power of God. As one progresses upward in understanding, the ability to see with clarity into each higher level becomes progressively greater. Conversely, if one is stagnating, this ability decreases, providing the seeker with a warning sign to heed and profit from.

The most important point for one's spiritual and mental health, is that no higher level should be accessed deeply unless one is at harmony on the level below it. To have visions of the ream of Myth, for example, while one was out of harmony in the realm of the Mind, would in all likelihood result in outright insanity. Lesser glimpses of the realm of Myth, however, can actually clarify and harmonize the Mind- so the key points here are balance and caution. Do not drink deeply from the water of life until you are prepared for its potency, but one part of that preparation is to sip from it with caution. If one has in fact ascended upward to a higher level, but some form of disharmony manifests on a lower one, then one must immediately return and attend to it, restoring harmony on this lower level before ascending again.

We must begin, therefore, on the level of the World, and our first goal must be to harmonize and purify ourselves within that realm. Here, all that is out of harmony must be corrected and transcended, beginning first of all with that which is closest and dearest to us- our relationships with other people. Is there anyone with whom we are not in harmony, anyone with whom we are at conflict? What is the nature and quality of our relationships with our family members, with our romantic partner, with our friends and colleagues? To the greatest extent possible we must achieve external harmony, in all our relationships with our fellow humans, and with all other beings, if this is possible. The World is our home and the place where we confront each other, and all our work in the higher levels is ultimately for its benefit. Too many spiritual seekers engage in damaging and destructive relationships, focusing only on their spiritual development while ignoring how they actually treat other people in daily life.

While you are seeking to harmonize your external relationships, you must at the same time harmonize your internal life, seeking the clarity and calmness with which to proceed. This includes a commitment to a stoic mindset, an immovable acceptance of all that happens to you. This is the first Balance of Forces to achieve in the ascent: External and Internal Harmony. To achieve these you must begin to move upward, for while one's relationships are the essence of the World, achieving harmony here requires an internal clarification, a development that is of the Mind. In that sense the Balance of Forces I have just described as External and Internal Harmony could also be described as the balance of the World and the Mind. One way to cultivate this balance is through one of the other approaches described above- The Martial Way and the Literary Way. The mastery of a physical discipline teaches us much about conflict and harmony, and the arts of poetry, philosophy and scholarship begin the task of expanding the Mind.

In clarifying and harmonizing one's relationships with others, one will inevitably discover one's own moral failings, and will be forced to move deeper into the Mind to address this problem. The lack of harmony in one's relationships is the result of a flaw, an attachment or addiction to some illusion- in fact, a whole complex of such attachments.

To combat these illusions, we must cultivate the virtues, of which there is also a Balance of Forces. The virtues in question have been described in various ways. The classic list of the Cardinal Virtues, for instance, would be Prudence, Temperance, Fortitude and Justice. In the words of St. Augustine:

There are also the Chivalric Virtues, which traditionally include courage, justice, mercy, generosity, faith, nobility and hope.

But the virtues of the reason are the external aspect, the virtues of the more accessible and understandable regions of the Mind. The other half of this Balance of Forces is found in the mythic, the experience of inspiration, vision and gnosis.

Inspiration is what happens when the realm of Myth first makes its sacred presence felt within the Mind. Art, poetry and music derive their power from this manifestation, but the unstable personal lives of so many artists are a testament to its perilous nature. If the power of the realm of Myth is glimpsed in inspiration, but the inspired artist has not yet achieved tranquility, the result is dangerous. Paranoia, instability and emotional turmoil, leading sometimes to mental collapse, are frequent results.

Vision is the word I use for our glimpses of the Otherworld- by which I mean the world of Myth, the realm of the Powers. Such things as sacred dreams belong to this category, but so do demonic nightmares, obsession and possession. The realm of the Powers contains darkness and light, wonder and horror; and even the wonder is perilous. The risk, once again, is to drink too deeply of this well without achieving harmony. But from these visions and inspirations one can reach the state of gnosis, esoteric wisdom and insight into the true nature of our reality.

The Balance of Forces between the virtues of the reason and the power of myth- between such things as Prudence, Temperance, Fortitude and Justice on the external side of things, and inspiration, vision and gnosis on the internal- is called the Balance of Reason and Inspiration.

In order to harmonize all of these aspects and achieve this Balance, one must travel so deeply into the mind that one leaves the realm of Mind behind, entering or at least seeing into the realm of Myth.

A number of seekers will ascend this far, and almost everyone will achieve some glimpses of it. But living continuously on this level is extremely difficult, so far is it from the everyday World and so many are the World's distractions from it. Therefore very few people will ascend beyond it, and most will have to be content with achieving these heights temporarily, before being called back to repair some disharmony at a previous stage. There is, nevertheless, a way to go further.

Having entered through gnosis into the realm of the Powers, the seeker now must achieve another Balance of Forces. The shining, terrifying and wonderful realms of Myth contain many images, a multiplicity of glorious images, in fact. There is light here, and there is darkness. There are gods and monsters in this place; there are angels and devils. Celebrating and honoring them in their mysterious beauty, the seeker must still gaze beyond them into what lies beyond. Not multiplicity, but total unity; not light and darkness but a shining blindness; not gnosis but agnosia- not wisdom but unknowing.

He must pass, in other words, from poetry into silence. In the penultimate stage the Balance of Forces is between Gnosis and Agnosia, but in the final stage the Balance itself disappears, because one has at last reached the Void.

Only a few of us will reach the ultimate heights. Most of us will spend most of our time at the level of the World and some of our time at the level of the Mind. If we are lucky we will glimpse the level of Myth, but from those dizzy heights we will be forced to retreat, because some disharmony at a previous level requires our attention. To remain in the realm of Myth when there are disharmonies at a lower level is to invite madness. But our experiences at any higher level need not be lost to us, because we can bring back whatever insights we can carry with us.

Here is the purpose, in my view, of Mythorealist art. This term simply means 'when myth incarnates in the waking world,' but from the point of view of the soul's ascent, this incarnation serves a sacred purpose. Whether in the form of poetry or painting or fiction, music or any other art, our glimpses of the realm of Myth are brought back to the World, shedding their light and their darkness on all that they touch.

I realize that the structure I have just described is rather complicated, so I will recapitulate in the form of an outline:

The first level is the World or the Body, and the first task in the ascent is to achieve harmony on this level, both in one's external relationships and one's internal state of mind. The Balance of Forces needed for this ascent is that of External and Internal Harmony.

Internal harmony leads us into the Mind or Soul, which is the second level of the ascent we must pass. Here we must cultivate the virtues of the reason, such as Prudence, Temperance, Fortitude and Justice. We will also begin to experience the powers of the mythic, which include inspiration, vision and gnosis. The Balance of Forces needed at this stage is that of Reason and Inspiration.

When gnosis is achieved, we enter the third level- the realm of the Powers, the place of Myth. If we can remain at this exalted level, we must go still further, achieving the Balance of Forces between Gnosis and Agnosia.

Agnosia, if it is achieved, leads us up to the Void, to God or the Way or whatever you wish to call it. At this fourth and final level of ascent there is no Balance of Forces, because there are no separate forces to be balanced- there is only the One.

This system does not involve a rejection of the World and the Body. The lower levels of existence are actually essential, if we are to get anything useful from our glimpses of the higher levels. Any particular system of culture and ritual- any particular religion, if you will- represents the level of Myth after it has been filtered through the level of Mind and then enacted through religious ritual in the level of the World. This enactment then leads the celebrants upward in the ascent through the Mind, bringing them to the level of Myth again. The seer is like a scout who goes on ahead, then returns for those he has left behind, to bring them back with him.

Without the structure of a particular mythology and a particular ritual, without the meaning to a particular community- without a context- the power of Myth can only be accessed in an unstructured way, and one will not be able to achieve the specific goals implicit in such a structure. It is in order to create such a structure that I make use of this way.

It has been observed, throughout the centuries, that disharmony itself is what attracts the flashes of insight from the higher levels. The emotional intensity of a disordered mental state appears to draw down power from the realm of Myth, leading to those flashes of dangerous vision for which the seer may be spiritually unprepared. But this by no means implies that a mind in harmony cannot attain to the same vision, and attain to it with less peril and greater clarity.

The spiritual experience, of any kind, is a relationship with the Beyond, with that which cannot be expressed in words or contained in logic. It is a relationship with the unknowable. It is through the ascent towards Myth that we can touch this mystery, cultivating the reason and then transcending it through poetry, cultivating poetry in turn and then transcending that through silence.