YOUR CHOSEN STORY

In Transformations of Myth Through Time, Joseph Campbell writes about his idam – his chosen deity.  He says the deity itself has no existence.  It is simply a picture to put in your mind.  It achieves life if you make it your deity.  Then it becomes the guide of your life.  His personal idam was Pancaksara the deity of reading and scripture.  He said he choose it because he’d learned everything he knew from reading.

After I read about this deity I thought I should adopt it too.  Because, as I mentioned earlier, I love finding a good book with a story that’s going to teach me a bit more about human nature.  But the image I saw of this deity “coming to illumination through reading scriptures” didn’t speak to me. And then I remembered why.

Years ago, I went to see a buffalo that had been born white.  In the Native American tradition, a White Buffalo is considered sacred.  There is a legend, the Legend of the White Buffalo Calf Woman, that explains why this is so.

The buffalo I went to see had been born on a farm in Janesville, Wisconsin.  Her owners were very gracious.  Even though they didn’t understand the reason for Her sacred stature, they let visitors come and see Her.  Many of their guests prayed to Her.  They left offerings.  They cried when they saw Her.  Then they claimed that their lives changed after seeing Her.  They knew they felt changed by seeing Her.

What was She all about?  Part of the Great Mystery, I’m sure.  Because it’s a mystery, it’s probably best not to try to explain it.  Just enjoy the stories.  Enjoy the magic.  And so I did.  For many years I went back to the farm to see Her.  Even after she died, I went back to the farm to remember how wonderful seeing Her there had been.

Once when I was there, I started thinking about all the books I’d read and how hard I’d worked to get an education that would bring me my personal version of the American Dream.  I hadn’t found fulfillment in the part of the dream I was living.  I was longing for something I couldn’t name.  But I knew intuitively that it had something to do with putting the books aside and getting out into nature.  Hiking, biking, canoeing -- doing the things I used to do before I started my quest for the big job in the big city.

And so I left the big job in the city and headed for the hills.  Literally.

I know there is wisdom to be found in nature.  In the birdsong or the whistle of the wind through the woods.  I guess by Joseph Campbell’s definition Miracle, the White Buffalo would be my Idam – except Miracle, the sacred White Buffalo I saw, really did exist.  Doesn’t that make Her an even bigger mystery?

It’s almost springtime.  I’m going outside to learn.