Was ist Äufklarung?

Webesters online dictionary defines enlightenment as such:

Main Entry: en·light·en·ment
Pronunciation: \in-ˈlī-tən-mənt, en-\
Function: noun
Date: 1654
1 : the act or means of enlightening : the state of being enlightened

2 capitalized : a philosophic movement of the 18th century marked by a rejection of traditional social, religious, and political ideas and an emphasis on rationalism —used with the

3 Buddhism : a final blessed state marked by the absence of desire or suffering

The word Enlightenment is associated with the philosophical, artistic and scientific movement that took place during the 1700s. The enlightenment philosophers and thinkers worked to resist and reconstruct traditional ideas of society and religion. Although enlightenment worked to combat religious ideals with rationalism, many of the concepts of this period are mirrored in the ancient religion of Buddhism. Immanuel Kant in his essay Was ist Äufklarung? Written in 1784, attempts to explain the workings of Enlightenment. Kant states that “Enlightenment is man’s release from his self-incurred tutelage. Tutelage is man’s inability to make use of his understanding without direction from another.” The path to enlightenment starts with a release. Those who seek to be enlightened must shed their desires to be led. According to the Dhammapada (a collection of Buddhist texts that is traditionally thought to be the words of Buddha) Enlightenment is “Better than power over all earth, better than going to heaven and better than dominion over the worlds is the joy of a man who enters the river of life that leads to NIRVANA" (Dhammapada 13, 178). When a person frees them self from their “tutelage” and begins to think freely, they enter into a life that is free and filled with joy. But there are road-blocks on the journey to enlightenment. We our are own worst enemies. Our own “laziness and cowardice are the reasons why so great a portion of mankind, after nature has long since discharged them from external direction…remains under lifelong tutelage, and why it is so easy for other to set themselves up as their guardians” (Kant). Laziness keeps our minds stagnate. Our ability to be free thinkers is curbed by our ability to be ruled. Society nurtures our laziness by stunting our growth. “If a man when young and strong does not arise and strive when he should…and thus sinks into laziness and lack of determination, he will never find the path of wisdom.” (Dhammapada 20, 280). During our youth it is important to build the work ethic needed to grow mentally as adults. If we do not possess the drive to think freely it only becomes harder with age. Kant says “if I have a book which understands for me, a pastor who has a conscious for me, a physician who decides my diet, and so forth, I need not trouble myself. I need not think, if I can only pay- others will easily undertake the irksome work for me.” Even during the 18th century, man was provided by the world around him. In our day and age everything is a button-click away. Problems can be solved by taking a pill or consulting a life-coach. These conveniences can be great, but when they become our only source of action then our ability to become enlightened has vanished. The distractions of life leave us pacified. There are no big questions we need to answer because scientists, priests, teachers, doctors, ect. will take care of everything for us. We as a society rely on the Ethos (authority) of others instead of doing our own soul searching, our own research and “it is from not awakening to this truth…from not penetrating it, that this generation has become tangled like a ball of thread, covered as with a blight, twisted like a rope of grass, and cannot win release from sorrow” (Campbell 276). We must untangle ourselves from society's restraints and free our minds as much as we possibly can from the conditioning of our surroundings and “have courage to use your own reason! – (for) that is the motto of enlightenment” (Kant).

Voodoo

Wade Davis: a Harvard scientist, witnesses first-hand a Haitian voodoo ritual:

The person leading the ritual is known as a mambo. There is a long ritual of drawing symbols on the ground and offering libations to the gods. Once the ceremony begins, drums are played and the libations are consumed by women referred to as “initiates.”

“The mambo next poured a container of water to the cardinal points, and then poured libations to the center post of the peristyle, the axis along with the spirits were to enter.” (Davis 47)
The drums and dancing are used to summon the voodoo gods into the ritual. The dancing lasts about forty minutes, according to Davis, until “the woman’s violence ceased; slowly she lifted her face to the sky. She had been mounted by the divine horseman; she has become the spirit. The Loa, the spirit that the ceremony had been invoking, had arrived.” (Davis 49)
The young woman was now possessed by the Loa. Davis was awe struck by what he witnessed next. The girls expressed their new god-like abilities by engaging in inhuman acts.

“The initiate, a diminutive woman, tor about the peristyle, lifting large men off the ground to swing them about like children. She grabbed a glass and tore into it with her teeth, swallowing small bits and spitting the rest onto the ground. At one point the mambo brought her a live dove; this the hounsis sacrificed by breaking its wings, then tearing the neck apart with her teeth.” (Davis 49)

The room was sheer chaos; the women were deep in a trance tearing apart the room.
“Then as suddenly as the spirits had arrived, they left…as the others carried their exhausted bodies back into the temple I glanced…back across the table of guests. Some began nervously to applaud, others looked confused and uncertain.” (Davis 49) The experience was like nothing Wade Davis had ever witnessed in all of his travels in South America. The Haitian culture and view of religion is much different then our own. Haitian practices are a strange mixture of Christian rituals infused with African spirituality and magic. “As the Haitians say, ‘the Catholic goes to church to speak about god, the voudounist dances in the hounfour to become God.” (Davis 73)

Davis, Wade. The Serpent And The Rainbow. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1985. Print.

Today

Today is Wednesday, just a normal day of the week to you and me. Today is another work day, school day or hopefully a day off. These descriptions of Wednesday are mundane and routine but it once held greater meaning.

To the old pagan tribes of Europe the very land they lived on was created by the god Odin. Odin not only forged and shaped the Earth with his hands but he fathered many of the key gods that the different tribes worshiped. Because of this, he was known as the all father. Odin had many names: Wotan, Woden, Aldaföðr and Fimbultýr to name a few. Odin “was the personification of the air, the god of the universal wisdom and victory…and the eldest and chief among them he occupied the highest seat in Asgard” (16). Odin was feared and loved by all the ancient tribes. He was wise and a warrior. Those who worshiped Odin could look to him as an example. Odin possessed the traits that all Vikings wished to obtain. But Odin is also “supposed to have given his followers a code of laws where by to govern their conduct, in a poem called Havamal” (41).

“At home let a man be cheerful,
And toward a guest liberal;
Of wise conduct he should be,
Of good memory and ready speech;
If much knowledge he desires,
He must often talk on what is good.”

Because Odin provided his people with so much, they chose to honor him “The first toast at every festival was drunk in his honor” (41). Odin would be remembered and was believed to be present at parties and festivals. He would also be remembered during the week. In fact “one day in every week was held sacred to him, and from his Saxon name, Woden, was called Woden’s day, whence the English word Wednesday has been derived” (41). Happy Woden’s Day!

Guerber, Helene A. Myths Of The Norsemen. New York: Dover, 1992.

Soren Kierkegaard

Thoughts on what it is to exist.

“ It is impossible to exist without passion, unless we understand the word “exist” in the loose sense of a so-called existence…and it is just this that it means to exist, if one is to become conscious of it. Eternity is the winged horse, infinitely fast, and time is a worn-out jade; the existing individual is the driver. That is to say, he is such a driver when his mode of existence is not an existence loosely so called; for then he is no driver but a drunken peasant who lies asleep in the wagon and lets the horse take care of themselves. To be sure, he also drives and is a driver and so there are many who-also exist”

So many in our society are asleep at the reins, asleep at the will....




Thoughts on faith. Faith goes beyond reason. Faith involves risk. You must take a great leap to find faith and in turn become truly self aware.

"There is no other road to faith; if one wishes to escape risk, it is as if one wanted to know with certainty that he can swim before going into the water"

Joseph Campbell interviews.

Tiamat the Dragon

All across the globe images of dragons appear in ancient culture’s folk tales, myths, ceremonies and decorations. In childhood we are told stories of fearless knights rescuing damsels from evil dragons. Dragons are always treacherous, however they also are providers. “Chinese dragons are rain-producing…in India too the serpent kings guard both the waters of immortality and the treasures of earth” (Campbell 120 CM). The Maya viewed serpents as a “channel between the natural and supernatural realm” (Laughton 115). Once the dragon has been slain, subdued or controlled, they provide a doorway to treasure. Dragons appear as a common theme in almost every culture and in the “legends of Perseus and Andromeda, Hercules and the Lernaean Hydra, Siegfried and Fafnir, Beowulf and Grendel” (17 S.E. Hooke).

Explanations for the appearance of dragons could be that ancient people simply found dinosaur remains and incorporated said remains into their lives. Maybe dragons were real. This pattern may have also been derived from Tiamat; a dragon from the ancient culture of Babylon:

Tiamat “is a huge, bloated female dragon that personifies the saltwater ocean, the water of Chaos.” At the dawn of Babylonian creation “nothing existed except Apsu, the sweet-water ocean, and Tiamat, the salt water ocean” (S.E. Hooke 42). These two beings exist alongside the void. They form a union and from that union the other gods are created. Not only are the gods created but also conflict. Now that there are others, Apsu and Tiamat are disturbed by the noisiness of all the young gods. So like any good parent, Apsu decides to destroy them. Apsu’s plan is “disclosed to the gods who are alarmed” (S.E.Hooke 43). The young gods devise a counter attack. The god Ea “casts a spell of sleep upon Apsu (and) slays him” (S.E. Hooke 43). Ea creates a fortress to rest in after the battle. He resides “in profound peace. In this chamber the birth of Marduk takes place” (S.E. Hooke 43). Marduk is beautiful and strong. Marduk would have to rely on his tremendous strength because Tiamat is angered with Apsu’s death and begins to build an army. Tiamat “begets a horde of monstrous beings, such as the scorpion-man and the centaur” (S.E. Hooke 43). The gods are faced with how to deal with these newly born monsters and an angry Tiamat. Marduk, born from the gods who slew Apsu, is given the challenge to fight against Tiamat. In return, he will be recognized as a king among the gods. Marduk arms himself to the teeth with “bow and arrows, mace, lightning and a net held at the corners by the seven raging hurricanes” (44 S.E. Hooke). Riding a storm chariot into battle, he confronts the horde of monsters and “challenges Tiamat to single combat; he casts his net to enclose her, and when she opens her mouth to swallow him he drives in the evil wind to distend her and transfixes her with his arrow, splitting her heart” (S.E. Hooke 45). By killing Tiamat, the hero has slain the dragon bringing great reward. Marduk “takes…the tablets of destiny and fastens them upon his own breast, thus assuming supreme authority among the gods” (S.E. Hooke). A great boon is not only bestowed upon Marduk in his supreme power, but mankind as well. Marduk creates the Earth from the slain dragon’s body and then follows this act by actually creating human beings to inhabit the Earth and serve the gods.

Campbell, Joseph. Creative Mythology. New York: Penguin, 1976.

Hooke, Samuel H. Middle Eastern Mythology. Baltimore: Penguin, 1968.

Laughton, Timothy. The Maya. New York: Barnes And Noble, 2004.

The Bhagavad-Gita

"Just as one sun illumines this entire world, so the master of the field illumines the entire field."-Lord Krishna