A hallmark of human consciousness is ‘The Quest” which IT exhibits endlessly, in great variety, from the mundane to the collective and mythic.
Now a personal aspiration or ambition can be a type of quest, requiring commitment and purpose, in selling the outrageous act we present in demonstrating to society “ I know what I’m doing”. This is also called “whistling in the dark” or “Scoopy Doo where are you”.
On a deeper collective level quests originate from dreams and ideals. Often they are impossible ideas; and they can take a long time. Consider for example “Flight”. How many people, over how many millennia, dreamed of taking to the air in flight; both literally and metaphorically? It was an illogical, impossible dream that defied common sense and experience (it being manifestly much easier to fall down than to ascend). Yet, we are now the heirs and beneficiaries of “air travel” as a contemporary fact of life. Our children take it for granted in having known “we can fly” all their lives (thank you Peter Pan). The same can be said for our digital technologies that can move images, sounds and ideas about the human world at near the speed of light. These were once impossible notions that are now current realities and even needs.
At an even more fundamental level is the human quest for meaning. The “Vision Quest” instinct to know: who are we and what are we doing here; how will we find our way … This instinct to transcend the known outer reality by exploring the inner landscape of the possible is not only as old as human consciousness but is synonymous with IT. Every great culture hero was “on a quest” and their success is what defines them as mythic cultural heroes: Eve, Innana, Isis, Gilgamesh, Moses, Buddha, Christ, Beowulf, Joan of Arc etc. etc. Each is a visionary living out a dream to solve “the unanswered question” to the satisfaction of their tribe, mob and people.
Among the greatest quests is the one known as the search for the Holy Grail. A mythic, redemptive “object of obscure desire” that is traditionally to be found in the wasted kingdom of a wounded and impotent king. This potent image of a healing and transcendent talisman is a story older than history and deeper than known human time. IT IS a shaman’s quest of power and meaning in service of the people for the highest good of all. We know it from stories of the Knights of the Round Table and Parsifal’s quest into the wasteland presided over by the failed Grail King who does not know the answer to the paradoxical question: “Whom does the Grail serve?”
This week we have witnessed a contemporary Holy Grail moment. Barak Obama accepting the mandate of his people as the first African American president of the United States. The “dream” articulated by Martin Luther King:
Now a personal aspiration or ambition can be a type of quest, requiring commitment and purpose, in selling the outrageous act we present in demonstrating to society “ I know what I’m doing”. This is also called “whistling in the dark” or “Scoopy Doo where are you”.
On a deeper collective level quests originate from dreams and ideals. Often they are impossible ideas; and they can take a long time. Consider for example “Flight”. How many people, over how many millennia, dreamed of taking to the air in flight; both literally and metaphorically? It was an illogical, impossible dream that defied common sense and experience (it being manifestly much easier to fall down than to ascend). Yet, we are now the heirs and beneficiaries of “air travel” as a contemporary fact of life. Our children take it for granted in having known “we can fly” all their lives (thank you Peter Pan). The same can be said for our digital technologies that can move images, sounds and ideas about the human world at near the speed of light. These were once impossible notions that are now current realities and even needs.
At an even more fundamental level is the human quest for meaning. The “Vision Quest” instinct to know: who are we and what are we doing here; how will we find our way … This instinct to transcend the known outer reality by exploring the inner landscape of the possible is not only as old as human consciousness but is synonymous with IT. Every great culture hero was “on a quest” and their success is what defines them as mythic cultural heroes: Eve, Innana, Isis, Gilgamesh, Moses, Buddha, Christ, Beowulf, Joan of Arc etc. etc. Each is a visionary living out a dream to solve “the unanswered question” to the satisfaction of their tribe, mob and people.
Among the greatest quests is the one known as the search for the Holy Grail. A mythic, redemptive “object of obscure desire” that is traditionally to be found in the wasted kingdom of a wounded and impotent king. This potent image of a healing and transcendent talisman is a story older than history and deeper than known human time. IT IS a shaman’s quest of power and meaning in service of the people for the highest good of all. We know it from stories of the Knights of the Round Table and Parsifal’s quest into the wasteland presided over by the failed Grail King who does not know the answer to the paradoxical question: “Whom does the Grail serve?”
This week we have witnessed a contemporary Holy Grail moment. Barak Obama accepting the mandate of his people as the first African American president of the United States. The “dream” articulated by Martin Luther King:
"I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal”… I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."
That day has come. The impotent Grail King “W” presiding over the wasteland of American ideals is to be succeeded by an innocent everyman who took on the quest by saying: “Yes We Can” (with acknowledgment and thanks to “Bob the Builder”). A wise fool whose reply to the question “Whom does the Grail serve” is a brave and compassionate one:
“... Its the answer that led those who have been told for so long by so many to be cynical, and fearful, and doubtful of what we can achieve to put their hands on the arc of history and bend it once more toward the hope of a better day.”
The “spear of destiny” becomes “the will of the people” in healing the land, the sacred law and the hearts of its people. A better day is possible and “the best is yet to come” because:
“… above all, I will never forget who this victory truly belongs to –
IT belongs to You.”
IT belongs to You.”
“The One” who expressed “The Audacity of Hope” in undertaking the quest succeeded through empathy and inclusiveness in an outrageous victory over fear and division, control and domination.
Or, as Frank Zappa once said:
These things don’t happen very often. I had my nerve didn’t I …”
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