Temenos – Rituals and Sacred Spaces
This is the view I have been meeting each morning while staying with my brother in British Columbia. There is a distinct silence in the early morning so far off the main roads and urban areas. It is as thought the space is inviting one to enter into a different level of consciousness, one that is deeply rooted with the earth, a soul space. I see my brother engage in a ritual of silence before the demands of his life kick in to fill his day with busyness. This is a ritual I have watched happen each of the days I have been here, a ritual I know must be part of his life , a moment of peace in a sacred place.
Rituals and sacred spaces – these are vital to the spirit and to the soul. My writing here is part of my ritual, a ritual that has been abandoned for a few days. Why have I missed posting here? I could say that life has kept me busy and I wouldn’t be lying as it has been an intense number of days, but that would still be an excuse. The ritual also needs a sacred space with both creating a sense of temenos. In Jungian terms, temenos is defined as: “A Greek word meaning a sacred, protected space; psychologically, descriptive of both a personal container and the sense of privacy that surrounds an analytical relationship.” – a physical space, a psychological space, a holy space, a place where one one engages in honesty with oneself and becomes part of an unconscious holiness. I haven’t created such a space for myself because of being distracted. It is only in pulling away from engagement with the local world I finally give myself permission to hear myself and rediscover the portable sacred space that exists within myself.
So what do I learn? There is a place and time that is always there for me if I allow myself to go there. Temenos is found within, not necessarily without.
Rituals ! we are starving for such!
and sacred spaces too. I get so sad thinking how deficit is the modern man’s soul.
Urspo
26 Jul 11 at 10:10 PM
Dear Robert,
Thank you for this Post and tremendous picture – how fortunate your brother is to enjoy all of this with his senses and his soul.
Rituals for me mean to give way to my feelings of gratitude in a physical symbolic ritual.
For instance, when we return home safe and sound from a long voyage , we are filled with gratitude that during our voyage we were “saved” from any form of disaster – as we know that man is not only entitled to experience good luck, but also has to experience his share of what generally is called bad luck.
To experience bad luck, always make me check myself what I did wrong to experience this bad luck as a lesson.
So when we arrive home, we always lit incense sticks in front of our stone Buddha’s – not from a sense of duty, but from and with a deep sense of sincere gratitude.
And so we think that we can understand the ritual “melting” moments of your brother.
Opa Bear
27 Jul 11 at 2:56 AM
I do see some rituals for some people that are close to be habitual actions. They are not consciously chosen or structured but they do work for those individuals. To have a ritual and a sacred space consciously chosen is to make both more powerful and healing for the psyche. Perhaps that is the greatest gift we can give to those who seek our counsel.
rgl
28 Jul 11 at 8:41 AM
I love the image of ritual that you share with your wife. The power of the ritual to have one engage with one’s soul, the collective soul and the world soul (anima mundi) is enacted and in the process we heal ourselves and in a way, a small bit of our world that also needs healing. Thank you Opa for your precious words.
rgl
28 Jul 11 at 8:44 AM
Stark honesty, however painful, is needed on this journey toward the Self; the unconscious will not tolerate anything less. One must be willing to face many cruel truths, those we keep hidden from the light of day, and those we keep hidden from ourselves. Not only do we have to die to a false image of ourselves, but we have to change our outer life accordingly. Change means change. We may have all the insights, but if we do not incarnate them, they are all in vain. We may have to die to our job, to a particular relationship, to our faith. Death is agonizing, lonely, risky. We have to be willing to suffer the loss of those things that stand in the way to freedom. It is the Horned Devil who says, “No, there is an easier way, a pain-free way. Come fly with me.” For the pain of actual transformation, the Horned Devil would substitute the delusion of addiction. Instead of flying, one has first to crawl.
> M. Woodman, “Dancing in the Flames, The Dark Goddess in the Transformation of Consciousness”(p.108)
IMO many delude themselves about “change.” They simply “change” the story they tell themselves and others about themselves in terms of the latest self-help fad(e.g. The Inner Child), while their outer lives are stuck in the same dysfunctional rut. As Woodman points out “Change MEANS Change.”
John Ferric
3 Aug 11 at 12:09 PM
Change is change. Sometimes we don’t see the changes that happen and arrive at the conclusion that change hasn’t happened. I want to remind us all that even the smallest changes will result in distant future changes that can’t otherwise be imagined. Change is about death and grieving. Something is lost with change, good or bad, and that loss needs to be dealt with. Too many changes at the same time can cause someone to retreat from all the changes into a stuck place leaving a fear and a distaste for what otherwise could have been a healthy journey of change. That said, some do pay lip service and use sleight of hand to try and convince others of change when there is no real intention to let go of the patterns of living, thinking and believing that have taken them through life to that point. It’s about appeasement, not about need. Thanks, John for the quotation and the comments.
rgl
3 Aug 11 at 7:48 PM