Linga

Shiva linga at the centre of the universe by Anantashakti (digitally enhanced by MC)

In Hinduism a linga or lingam is a stone pillar or a carving which some say has a phallic shape.

Some scholars associate this with mere sexuality. And the British missionary William Ward forcefully criticized the linga as a sign of a supposedly debauched Hindu religion.¹ For most Hindus, this colonial critique probably would be taken as Ward projecting his own repressed fears and desires onto Hindus and Hinduism as a whole.

Indeed, in Hindu metaphysical thought the linga is said to represent the creative, generative aspect of creation, just as the yoni represents the mysteries of the cosmos and, especially, those of cosmic origins.

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¹ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lingam

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Pantheism

Pantheism II: Helico / Markus Lütkemeyer

Pantheism (Greek: pan [all] + theos [God] = All is God) is the belief that God and creation are one. This is also known as naturalistic pantheism, meaning that nature and the cosmos are identified with God.

This cosmology finds expression in some New Age theories that proclaim “We-are-the-Universe.”

This view differs from Theism and Deism, which both understand God as transcendent to creation.

The term panentheism refers to God as existing within but somehow grander than creation (i.e. the whole is greater than the sum of its parts). This view is often said to be found in Taoism and Hinduism, as well as the works of Spinoza and Hegel.

But important differences among these perspectives are often glossed over.

The scholar of religion R. C. Zaehner suggests another term, panenhenism, for the belief that the universe is a unified whole without reference to any kind of ‘God.’ Zaehner’s term prefigures semiotic and postmodern concerns to ‘deconstruct’ words like ‘God’ and what they connote for various individuals and groups—e.g. women, visible, invisible as well as outspoken and silent minorities.

To critique the idea of pantheism gets complicated because terms like “the universe” or “nature” may mean different things to different people. For some they’re limiting concepts because they don’t include heaven and hell, as well as all the spiritual powers and beings often believed to reside in these places. Others, however, claim that the words “universe” or “nature” “simply mean “all that is,” which would include heaven, hell and everything else.

» Akhenaton, Connotation, Denotation, Monotheism, Polytheism

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World Tree

World Tree

Although tree symbolism is exceedingly diverse in meaning and form among world mythologies and religions, one of the most common motifs is the World Tree.

With important variants found in South American mythic art, the World Tree in Indo-European lore is said to be located at the center of the cosmos.

The tree’s roots dig deep into the earth while its branches point to the heavens.

David Leeming notes that the idea of the world tree is often linked to that of the world navel.

For the Tartars, a giant pine tree grows out of the navel of the earth and reaches to the home of the supreme ruler in heaven (David Leeming, The Oxford Companion to World Mythology, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005, p. 404).

As such, depth psychologists like C. G. Jung say the World Tree is a mythic symbol connecting mankind to the psycho-spiritual powers of the underworld, the earth and heaven.

But this tidy presentation of the notion of the holistic World Tree should not overlook the fact that the process of psychological transformation is not always easy nor without challenges.

Peter Butcher notes that new paradigms, i.e. larger ways of seeing the world, are often born of intense personal crises. While the holistic vision of the World Tree is an admirable ideal and perhaps worthwhile goal for some, others are not so fortunate and seem to be ruined by their inner adventures.

People who have experienced expanded states of consciousness often encounter a period of inner chaos or disorientation. This has been described as a Death, the Dark Night, a Fall into Formlessness, Being Swallowed by a Monster, Entering Hell or the Void, and so on.¹

Butcher says it’s essential for the seeker to “integrate a new way of seeing with old interpretations or constructs.”² In Jungian terms, the psyche must achieve a new balance between unusual inner experiences (as described above) and the demands of the outside world. And after a period of possibly alarming disorganization the self must successfully reorganize into a greater whole.

The notion of the world tree also has links to occult, Runic and Tarot lore because the most important world tree, Yggdrasill, is where the Norse god Odin hung himself upside down for nine days and nights in search of the secret of immortality.

Odin’s self-imposed ordeal is reflected in the Tarot mystery card of “The Hanged Man.” And it has also found its way into commentaries on Kabbalic mysticism.

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¹ Peter Butcher, “Art Images Associated with States of Expanded Consciousness: A Study of the Individual Case,” Leonardo, Vol. 16, No. 3, Special Issue: Psychology and the Arts (Summer, 1983: 222-224), p. 222.

² Ibid., p. 223.

On the World Wide Web:

• “History of Ideas – the Hanged Man” » http://www.tarotforum.net/printthread.php?t=94131

» Aesir

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Yin-Yang

Yin yang, Dali

Originally uploaded by Alexandra Moss

Yin-Yang (yin=umbral, yang= bright)

This is the Chinese idea that all transformations arise from a dynamic interaction of two basic and complementary modes of existence.

The Yin-Yang cosmology harkens back to ancient Chinese philosophers (c. 500-200 BCE) who saw the world as an organic totality in which subject and object, self and other were essentially interrelated.

As John S. Major puts it:

The cosmos was “organic”; everything was related to and affected by everything else, without regard for mathematically or mechanically demonstrable cause and effect. No distinction was drawn between physical and mental phenomena, or between the “human” and “natural” worlds.

John S. Major in The Encyclopedia of Religion. Eliade, Mircea (ed). New York: 1987, Collier Macmillan, Vol. 15, p. 515.

The Chinese characters Yin and Yang originally referred to the dark and bright sides of a sunlit riverbank.

A definite Yin-Yang school of philosophy arose around 305-240 BCE, attributed to Tsou Yen.

By the time of Confucius, the Tsou Yen school had acquired scholarly and philosophical significance.

Yin represented the Earth and, according to this schema, the associated elements of darkness, passivity, femininity, negativity and destruction.

Yang came to be associated with Heaven and all the associated elements of light, activity, masculinity, positive forces and creativity.

Kevin at GreatVessel.com adds:

I think the feminine and passivity were actually Confucian additions. Confucius was pretty much a misogynist.

A core quality of Yin in the bright and shadow / strong and subtle paradigm, was of manifestation.

A very good example of this is procreation – the man fertilises (Inspiration / Yang) but the woman manifests the life in growing the embryo. Seen like this Yin is very powerful and not at all passive. (Though of course it can be passive at times).

Similarly all the running about working and commuting or whatever that many of us do in the modern world is actually manifestation and is Yin energy activity, not Yang as many suppose.

I am not sure equating the quality ‘destruction’ to Yin entirely does the quality justice. Yin manifests and un-manifests by withholding nurture. So a harsh frosty spell cutting back the verdant growth is very Yin.

Destruction is much more a Yang principle. The lightening which the ancient Chinese believed shook into being the new was a ‘positive Yang Force whereas over done it becomes the lightening which strikes down the tree.

Both Yin and Yang therefore have positive and negative valences which are not to be confused with good and bad. That hard frost which clears the ground makes way for new growth too.

Similarly Yin is not the negative of Yang (another bit of spin implied by Confucians) – The two exist in creative harmony.

Studying the Dazhuan (The Great Treatise approx. 3rd Century BCE) clarifies a lot of this as does studying the First two hexagrams of the Yijing which are the two exponents of these principles.

The Yijing predates Ying Yang theory… indeed the Ying Yang principle probably grew out of it and in turn replaced the shadow / light names within it. This is certain when one realises that all of the hexagrams are in pairs (in the King Wen sequence which is the one commonly used). Thus hexagrams 1 and 2 are a pair as is 3 and 4 etc. It only takes cursory study to see that these are in fact Yang / Yin pairs. Pairs of inspiration and manifestation. The King Wen sequence is between 1600 and 1200 BCE depending on which historian you subscribe to. » Source

Apart from the ongoing scholarly debates, perhaps most important from a contemporary perspective is the idea of dynamic complementarity. The two complementaries of Yin and Yang are said to be in a constant interplay and all phenomena may be explained through their interaction.

One interesting aspect of this process occurs when one modality in a sense eventually flows into its apparent ‘opposite,’ which in the field of psychology C. G. Jung called enantiodromia.

To sum, the Yin-Yang cosmology underscores the unity of mankind and nature, as well as the importance of transformation. In fact, for the ancient Chinese the idea of change was key, as we find with the oracle of the I Ching (Book of Change), from which Yin-Yang theory likely developed. » Gemini, Siva, Tai Chi, Taoism

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