Check out one of Tim’s best posts ever, almost a manifesto of sort [...]

But realize, it is really rough.

i also think that judeo-christian-muslim beliefs enthrone rather than slay the ego/hero consciousness. they in turn limit the natural pagan polytheistic mind of humanity which contains multiple gods/goddesses (archetypal centers)

and if you grab jung’s concept of the Self vs. the Ego, you have the Gnostic True God (the Pleroma) vs. the short-sighted Demiurge, who thinks he’s all there is and he created everything. which is the illusion of ego-centric consciousness.

as to campbell, i think his whole idea of the hero-cycle - the separation and return speaks to this as well. the hero/ego leaves what he knows, undergoes trials and tribulations, overcomes the monster (jungian shadow) and in the end becomes king (Self), or marries the daughter of the king (anima)

i think campbell invited us to go on the “hero’s journey” back to the fullness of the pleroma, and he knew the only way we could do that was if we were reconnected to the mythological picture language of the unconscious. being immersed in it would naturally involve us in these processes.

anyway, though our terminology may differ, you and i seem to be on the same page in the end. great stuff!

Everything became polarized by right and wrong, black and white, and those within the “occult” (as defined by the Church) were either killed or converted. That’s the basis behind “pop culture”. Science and Monotheism killed the hero, and thus to fulfill our hero needs, society turns towards celebrities, sports stars, anything. They need it because society says the hero is dead. Science says that you can’t break certain “human” barriers, and if you do, the Church condemns it as evil. And then those not associated with either, but still indoctrinated in a similar way (like pop culture itself) condemn those who believe in the hidden, believe in aliens, believe in “the Force”, believe in magick, believe in psychics, etc, to be weird or social outcasts.

If you really want to get into control system theories, here’s one for you:

-In order to prevent society from progressing, someone or something (could just be the fears of humanity or it could be an “archon”) has created a network of social control that pervades all levels of human existence in an attempt to keep the hero, and more importantly, the occult dead. Like Holograms, humanity processes in threes and anything to the 3rd degree has extreme power, especially if it hits all three areas of Mind, Body, and Soul. Well, Science is the social control of the mind, telling everyone that such things are impossible. “Pop Culture” is the control of the body, the society, telling the individual that such stuff is weird, nerdy, crazy, etc (all carrying negative stigmas). Lastly, Monotheism condemns the occult as evil. So there we have a really, really strong net of social control. But, it’s just a theory

But as Joseph Campbell said, the occult did not actually die, it just remained hidden within the unconscious waiting to return. Fortunately, the occult has returned (which was the message of the original Star Wars trilogy), and soon, there may even be new heroes or at least a rediscovering of old heroes, real or otherwise. This is why people are disenfranchised and unsatisfied with religion and science and “pop culture”. The occult is coming back, and perhaps, if you like the Mayan myths, we will make our next evolotion in Dec of 2012 (or be put back into our shackles deep within the cave by the Demi-urge).