Tales we have heard and tell are all about our experience, a grander thing than the modern preconception of life would have you believe exists. What does this mean? That we underestimate the power of stories to tell us who we are. Although the human experience is open to retelling after retelling by any person who is blessed with a deeper understanding, if even for the brief amount of time it takes to write down the story, and who then tells the story in any of its various forms, such as films, the wise ones who have come before us have passed down stories that maintain the same details, names, and seemingly incomprehensible concepts that last as cultural sources for a far, far longer time than any of the many other stories that are made over and over again. What does this mean? It means that there is a certain value in the modern stories we’ve been weaned on: films ranging from crude-humored Me, Myself & Irene to subversive, philosophical Fight Club. For example, Fight Club and Me, Myself, & Irene both have incomplete people finding their value in life through a series of conflicts that lead to a higher-life, symbolized by the marriage of Jim Carrey’s healed character to Renee Zellweger’s redeemed character in MM&I or through the holding of hands between Edward Norton’s character and Helena Bonham Carter’s character as buildings implode in Fight Club. Although these stories may last a long time as influences on how people perceive life due to the format they are in (film), as well as that they are all reflections of the story of the human struggle, it is doubtful they will last as long as the stories that are preserved through the different religions of the world. Why is this? Probably because the layers of meaning are far more carefully articulated in these religious stories, to a point where they paradoxically seem like nonsense or bland tripe but are, in reality, careful preservations of deep spiritual truths. These stories come in various forms, from epic quests to the life stories of particularly revered actual people to stories featuring an entire people, or all the people on Earth. However, an approach to interpretation of these stories that manages somewhat to avoid bias due to religious affiliation and cultural background can lead to the conclusion that all these stories speak of the same “psychological” or spiritual journey and attainment of the individual person, regardless of place or time. Of these stories, some of the most moving are those that are closely affiliated with lovers and the struggle for togetherness. Not only can we relate to them based on the social and sexual needs and values they represent, but the particular approach of love stories, as opposed to their more violent epic and heroic brethren, is sweeter and more touching. Four love stories from different religions are quite worthy of analysis and comparison. These are the Scandinavian myth of Freyr’s wedding, the Egyptian legend of Isis and her lost love, the story of Ruth from the Hebrew Scriptures, and the tale of Baucis and Philemon. (note: The stories of Ruth and Freyr have been presented previously, in the section Four Stories. The paragraph dealing with Ruth has been changed somewhat, though the Freyr section has been lifted verbatim... almost.)
The Judeo-Christian tradition has fostered our modern perceptions that the different religions of the world cannot truly be speaking of the same things, unless you reduce their value to a simpler moral one. This means that Jews have long fostered attitudes of rejection toward the gods and beliefs of the non-Jewish nations, as testified in the numerous stories in the Tanakh, or Old Testament. This zeal was passed on to the Christians, who historically opposed the beliefs of the pagan nations around them, while also expanding geographically and converting foreigners (which included obliteration and absorption of foreign elements), leading to the dominance of Christianity prevalent in the world today (Baird and Kaufmann 163-167). Keep in mind that the pagan and gentile religions that have coexisted with Judaism and Christianity in the past have allowed for the validity of foreign religions and gods to an extent that Judaism and Christianity haven’t. Interpretations of the stories found in the Tanakh, though, point to a much deeper symbolism that transcends the differences held by the world’s religions, and gives them a value that is highly personal. The book of Ruth has as its main character the Moabite woman Ruth, paired with Naomi. Naomi and Ruth begin the story in ‘Paradise,’ when they have husbands and things are ‘right.’ However, they have a ‘fall from grace,’ to borrow imagery from the story of Adam and Eve. This fall is symbolized by the death of their husbands. It is a common theme in religious stories that the main character begins in a ‘state of Paradise,’ whether it is in a marriage that will be broken or, perhaps more literally, a childhood that will be lost. For example, refer to the stories in the Tanakh of Jacob or Samson, who begin their tales as young men in the care of their parents. Or, look at the Odyssey, where Odysseus has lost his blissful marriage to Penelope and must quest for a return to this state for many years. Similarly, the Israelites were in a joyful state at the beginning of their journey in Exodus, when they move to Egypt under Joseph’s care, but ‘fall from grace’ when they fall into slavery. A last example would be the life-story of the Buddha, who began as a pampered, wealthy young prince, but was shocked at seeing suffering and death in the slums of his kingdom, after which he went on a great quest for enlightenment, abandoning his princely life. Returning to the tale of Ruth, widowed and in a strange land, with great poverty in sight, Naomi and her daughter-in-law Ruth can only find divine completion in the land promised to Naomi’s ancestors. “So she (Naomi) set out from the place where she had been living, she and her two daughters-in-law, and they went on their way to go back to the land of Judah” (HarperCollins Study Bible 410). This journey is the worldly condition of separation from and search for God, which will ultimately lead to a return to a proper state. As a foil to Ruth, Orpah, Naomi’s second daughter-in-law, chooses selfishness and leaves Naomi to look for a new husband. She is to represent those who refuse to awaken, distracted by self-centered concerns. Back in the land of Judah, Ruth spends an entire harvesting season gleaning from the fields of Boaz, a relative of Naomi whom she does not know well yet. This hard work is to represent spiritual seeking in an esoteric or spiritual school or branch of a religion, or, if one feels more generous, in life itself. A relative of Naomi, Boaz refers to Ruth as “my daughter,” in the same manner as Naomi refers to her (412). This could lead to speculation of Naomi and Boaz, as Ruth’s older protectors, to be aspects of God. Loving God in the feminine form (Naomi) guides Ruth through life properly (in the story, through advice) as a result of Ruth’s efforts to foster this divinity within her by protecting and nourishing her with hard spiritual work in the worldly fields. A less dramatic interpretation would say that Naomi is a symbol of the spiritual seeker’s teacher or guide (i.e. a "true" guru or shaman, priest or rabbi... as opposed to the great majority of spiritual leaders... not enlightened individuals, in my opinion). Ruth is eventually led, through following Naomi, to reunion with the divine in the form of marriage to Boaz. Ruth also shows a rejection of the ordinary, selfish, sexual mentality when she asks for marriage from Boaz, and he praises her for not going after young men or men from other religions. Instead of choosing a young husband for herself, as seemed only natural at the start of the story when Naomi advised her to leave her, Ruth has chosen to uphold the love of God, symbolized here by the family and marriage laws. Religious stories often have a climactic, symbolic rejection of inferior inclinations, those of competition and greed and sexual selfishness. This rejection can take many forms, such as a symbolic death and rebirth of the hero, the crippling of a sexual organ (as in the wounding of Jacob’s genitals/hip in Genesis, or as in the next story), or, as in the story of Ruth, an adherence to the Jewish ideals of marriage law. So, you can see, a tale that is often interpreted as having value only in representing an adherence to Jewish intermarriage attitudes, or fidelity to Law, or inclusion of foreigners, or as part of David’s and Jesus’ ancestors’ history, becomes a highly personal tale of the individual’s search for God and completion (HarperCollins Study Bible 408-415).
Among the religions rejected in the Jewish tradition, the ancient Egyptian faith stands out prominently, probably because of the tale of the Exodus, and also because of the fact that ancient Egypt was a powerful threat and neighbor to the ancient Jews, and is often maligned (perhaps symbolically) in writings such as Isaiah. The ancient Egyptians, though, also had an esoteric love story embodied in the journey of the goddess Isis. Her ‘Paradise’ is also when she is married, to the god Osiris. He was a great god, and popular with people and among the other gods, except with their brother Seth. Jealous of Osiris, he rigged a contest to see who of the gods could fit in a specially-shaped coffin. None of the gods could fit in it, except Osiris, for whom it had been secretly prepared. As soon as he was in it, Seth and his aides sealed Osiris in, and threw him into the Nile. Seen as two parts of the same person, it is pride (in Osiris’ wanting to win) that leads to the fall from grace of the Isis/Osiris person. Now incomplete in this pain-filled world, Isis set off on a great quest to find her lost love. Osiris’ coffin eventually washed up underneath a tree in the land of Byblos, where it was encased and caused the tree to grow tremendously. This is symbolic of the person maturing in an almost miraculous manner as the quest for spiritual fulfillment is lived through. The tree was removed by the King of Byblos, and placed in his palace. Isis heard of the miraculous tree, and guessed what might have happened. She found work in the King’s household, taking care of his child. Like Ruth finding a ‘spiritual school’ in Judah, gleaning wheat, Isis has found a place where she can come close to finding her lost half. Eventually, the King finds out her true identity, and allows her to take the tree back. Close to nearing spiritual completion, beautiful Isis must face the climactic event you can expect in all these stories. Seth hears what has happened, and takes Osiris’ corpse, and tears it into pieces. Isis finds the pieces with the help of Nephtys, Seth’s wife. If you apply a duality similar to that of Isis and Osiris to Seth and Nephthys, Seth and Nephthys become a sentient power that both helps the spiritual seeker and is the overseer/cause of her difficulties. With the pieces of Osiris gathered, the different versions of the story have different explanations for what happens next. Some tales say that using her magic, Isis was able to resurrect Osiris for a brief time, allowing him to impregnate her. Others say that she impregnated herself with his phallus, and placed a wooden one on the inanimate corpse of Osiris. Like Ruth rejecting the lower sexual inclinations of greed and competition and starvation for power by following marriage tradition, a symbolic rejection of such a mentality takes place in this story through the fact that Osiris now has a wooden phallus in the land of the dead. Either way, the lovers do not remain together. Osiris must depart for the land of the dead, while Isis remains above ground. The ending, however, is not symbolically tragic. The two halves have reached their great potential, a spiritual one that is to supersede sexual union. Isis is to give birth to the god Horus, who will reclaim the throne of Egypt from Seth. Osiris now presides over the souls of the dead, meaning that he now has the job of being a spiritual guide to seekers like Isis/himself, who must, like him, die a great death of the ego in order to reach a fulfilled spiritual state (Cotterell and Storm 290, 307).
A religion whose culture is infamous for coming into conflict with early Christianity (i.e. lions) and Judaism (i.e. Massada) is that of the ancient Romans. A strong Judeo-Christian rejection of the dominant religion seemed obvious, as the Romans had it in for orgies and many gods and goddesses, including the emperor, or at least what he represented, both aspects of the religion being anathema to Judeo-Christian doctrine (unless you want to get into an argument about Jesus’ and Mary’s status). Regardless, a fantastic esoteric love story is that of Baucis and Philemon, found in the writings of Ovid. It speaks of the gods Zeus and Hermes, visiting earth disguised as wanderers. They knocked from door to door looking for hospitality, but were constantly turned away. This reminds me of an image I saw of Jesus, knocking at a door (the heart) in the darkness. This means that the divine is calling on one, like Samuel sleeping in the night, but that most people miss it most of the time. Like Orpah in the story of Ruth, rejection and resistance is the common order. Baucis and Philemon, an old couple, allowed the gods into their cottage. They prepared a humble meal for them, and the gods were pleased. The bowl of wine would not empty, and the old couple was scared. Miracles and potent experiences can scare or stun the seeker for God in the early stages of the life’s quest, but are only signs, perhaps, that the right path is underfoot. The gods revealed their identity to Baucis and Philemon, and told them that they would be spared from the gods’ wrath because of their hospitality. Their neighbors, though, were swept in a great flood, while Baucis and Philemon’s cottage became a large temple. This is an early experience of enlightenment, found in other stories such as when Jacob dreamt of a ladder connecting Heaven and earth or Samson eating the honey from the belly of a lion in the Tanakh. Granted any favor, the old couple decided that they wished to be the priests of the gods, and that they did not wish to live apart or to have to bury each other, meaning that they should die together. And so the old couple lived a holy life as priests, same as Ruth gleaning from the fields, or performing spiritual work. When the great day finally came, “each saw the other put forth leaves, Philemon watched Baucis changing, Baucis watched Philemon, and as the foliage spread, they still had time to say ‘Farewell, my dear!’ and the bark closed over sealing their mouths.” “One becomes an oak, the other a linden tree, and the two grow on together, side by side, branches entwined”(Mickelson 8). It is at this point that the story seems to end in a “bittersweet” and almost “grotesque”way (Needleman 8). You have to take it a little further, though. Bring to mind the duality of character exhibited by Isis and Osiris, for example. This isn’t just a bittersweet story about a couple’s love symbolically surviving death. As Jacob Needleman so eloquently puts it in his analysis of the story, “When the ancient wisdom speaks of the mortals becoming gods (undying trees), it is telling us about the birth of a new and higher self, or soul, within ourselves. It is this inner birth that has been served by the marriage of Philemon and Baucis” (Needleman 9).
Moving on to another culture, the Vikings thrived as pagan warriors, farmers, craftsmen, and traders from 750-1050 CE, though their faith was eventually overwhelmed by the work of the Christian missionaries. In Scandinavian myth, there is the story of the young god Freyr. Like Osiris causing a fall from grace with his pride, Freyr sat on the chief god Odin's throne when no one was around, which was forbidden. From it, the nine worlds could be seen. He beheld a beautiful woman in the land of the giants, enemies of the gods. She was the frost giantess Gerd, and when she opened a window in her hall, her arms shone brightly and the whole world was illuminated. Freyr experienced early enlightenment, a shocking revelation of his need for completion. He desired Gerd immensely, and he became despondent. He was miserable in his state, and his fellow gods noticed his lack of appetite and sense of alienation. But the divine plan does not wish us to remain in this state. His caring father Njord sent the servant Skirnir to fix what was wrong. A questing, heroic alter-ego to Freyr, Skirnir the servant, or reason, is selected to save the essential self, or Freyr, in a duality paralleling that of Osiris and Isis. After planning with Freyr, Skirnir went off on his quest to the hall that Gerd lived in, armed with Freyr's horse and sword. He was received by Gerd, and tried to woo her unsuccessfully several times for Freyr, in a situation reminiscent of Isis taking care of the King’s child and Ruth gleaning from the fields. It seems like the spiritual seeker got fed up with his failures, so he threatened to have the sword magically kill her in some versions, or that he would curse her, in others. Gerd gave in to Skirnir's proposal that she marry Freyr, and when they met nine days later, the warmth of his love melted her icy heart. Freyr and Gerd, the complete person in touch with the divine, lived happily from then on (Matthews 85).
So you can see now that no one religion has a hegemony over truth and reality. I am still saddened though, when I become aware of prejudiced attitudes because of religion... Particularly problematic to me has been coming to terms with some of the social and doctrinal aspects of Judaism, and the attitudes derived from them, that I have become keenly aware of over the past year or so.* A wonderful thing to remember, though, is the advice Father Pat Hawk, also a Zen roshi, or teacher, gave to me. We narrowed down what had been bothering me to “exclusiveness.” He told me, and it hit me like a ton of bricks at the time, that I should be more “inclusive of the exclusive." In this essay, though, the myths covered allow one to see another important thing: That the life of the individual person, looking for completion in all that he or she does, is a truly wonderful, divine process, and that there is perhaps no better way to allegorize this reality than by speaking of it in terms of lovers and the search for togetherness.
*I've long since gotten over this. Problems accepting aspects of other religions are the result of selective exposure to (often overblown) negatives of social institutions, and lack of exposure to positives. These "negatives" can also not be that negative, but just parts of the religion that are best accepted neutrally. In the case of Jewish exclusivity, it's been a defining trait in the survival of the religion as one often belonging to a minority group. Also, perhaps even more important than being exposed to "positives" in a religion one has trouble accepting (which can lead to a bipolar approach to the religion), is being exposed to the fact that whatever religion one is dealing with is an ordinary religion composed of ordinary, everyday people.
1. The main character(s) live in a state of bliss. A person’s childhood maybe? Or, if the story represents something on a smaller scale, then the blissful life may be the ignorant state before a problem arises and is dealt with.
2. There is a fall from grace and/or an early experience of enlightenment. The beginning of suffering, a longing for a higher life, or something like that.
3. The character is on a journey, looking for completion. A better life is desired.
4. An appropriate practice is found for attaining the higher life. Maybe a deeply religious path? Maybe an intense form of living in order to find happiness?
5. Meaning is found in the character’s life. Is this solving the problem regarding self-identity and happiness?
RUTH AND BOAZ- Jewish
1. Ruth and Naomi are married to unnamed men.
2. Their husbands die, and the two women face great poverty and hardship.
3. Ruth and Naomi set off for Judah.
4. Ruth gets to work at the fields of Boaz, a relative of Naomi.
5. With Naomi’s guidance, Ruth approaches Boaz, and they marry.
ISIS AND OSIRIS- Egyptian
1. The gods Isis and Osiris are happily married.
2. Osiris is sealed in a box by jealous Seth. Thrown into the Nile.
3. Isis goes off on a great journey to find and rescue her lost love.
4. Isis works as a nurse for an infant prince at the household of the King of Byblos, where her husband is entombed in a tree.
5. Isis is impregnated by her recovered husband. She is to give birth to the great god Horus, who is to rule Egypt. Osiris becomes a ruler of the underworld.
FREYR AND GERDA- Scandinavian
1. Freyr is a young god, living in Asgard, home of the gods.
2. He sits on Odin’s throne, from which all the worlds can be seen. He sees Gerda, a beautiful giantess, and desires her. He cannot marry her, as the giants are enemies of the gods, and grows despondent.
3. Skirnir, a servant, is sent on a quest to woo Gerda for Freyr.
4. Received at her hall, Skirnir works relentlessly to convince her to marry Freyr.
5.Gerda gives in to the wedding proposal, meets Freyr, and they fall in love.
BAUCIS AND PHILEMON- Roman
1. Baucis and Philemon live a modest life as Roman peasants.
2. Disguised as travelers, Zeus and Hermes are received as guests. They reveal their identity to the couple.
3. The couple had fed the gods.
4. Baucis and Philemon serve as priests to the gods.
5. The day of their death, Baucis and Philemon turn into trees, and remain side by side, branches entwined.
REFERENCES
Baird, Forrest E. and Walter Kaufmann. Philosophical Reflections on Mind, Matter and God. New Jersey: Pearson Custom Publishing, 2003.
Cotterell, Arthur, and Rachel Storm. The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Mythology. New York, NY: Anness Publishing Limited, 1999.
Hawk roshi, Fr. Pat. Interview. 17 April 2004.
Matthews, Rodney. The Usborne Book of Greek and Norse Legends. Great Britain: Usborne Publishing Ltd., 1987.
Mickelson, Jane L. “The Tale of Baucis and Philemon.” Parabola. Spring 2004: 6-10.
The HarperCollins Study Bible. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers, 1989.
Needleman, Jacob. A Little Book on Love. New York: Doubleday, 1996.