Spiritus Monday: What You Get

“There is an Indian fable of three beings who drank from a river: one was a god, and he drank ambrosia; one was a man, and he drank water; and one was a demon, and he drank filth. What you get is a function of your own consciousness.” Joseph Campbell (1904-1987)

The temptations are two—for me, at least—to retreat nonsensically into the half-full or half-empty cliché or to quarrel with Campbell’s proposition either for his worldview or over his language choices, which may not be so different at the heart of the matter.

What I acknowledge is what I get? Dare I go further—what I think is what I create?

Another spin on the notion comes from Ludwig Wittenstein (1889-1951): The world of those who are happy is different from the world of those who are not.

Well then, the world for those who are mostly content differs from those who generally are not. Those who are grasping, for example, whether for power or money or fame, to my way of thinking always beg the question of how much will be enough.

But, I am sidestepping Campbell’s main thrust. At the very least, consciousness suggests a level of awareness, and perhaps even more, an attentiveness. Discernment.

Or, to march at the topic from another direction, leave it to Thoreau (1817-1862): Where there is not discernment, the behavior even of the purest soul may in effect amount to coarseness.

No doubt the world is a vast, scaled consumable. Maybe I am what I consume. Must it be all just garbage in, garbage out?  And what should I say about current political rhetoric?

So even more, I must maintain a high level of alertness. To be continually sounding my conscience is how I read the task. To admit the good stuff. To be conscious of what is life-sustaining water and what is not. Filth is Campbell’s word du jour.

As for the ambrosia, “Man’s got to know his limitations”. And that would be from Dirty Harry.