March: Myth, March Madness and Lent

Welcome back! We figured you might still be working through your February ‘goodie bag,’ the quizzes and additional resources from The Gottman Institute, so March may be a lite blogging month. Weeelll…that’s half true. March ushers a significant cultural observation for our principal (only, wink) blogger. Hold the sarcasm…we’re not talking March Madness, although I might have if a certain late, late show host was Irish instead of…not going to give any more spoilers. Promise…nah…maybe…we’ll see. What were we talking about? Oh yeah, cultural observation…that would be the Easter/Passover season, meaning that March is smack in between the beginning of Lent in February and the culmination on Easter Sunday in early April. What does that matter to you? Who said it did…just a way of saying…a pause is a great way to allow serious thought as we discussed last month to germinate…take a breather, and allow fresh perspectives to become clearer. (And that friends, might be my best improv of a certain late, late show host. LOL!)

Seriously now. Let’s start with Lent since that is already on the way. For those unfamiliar with this religious practice, it is a season beginning mid-February, just after Mardi Gras, with Ash Wednesday, a solemn ceremonial commitment to the 40-day journey of personal sacrifice. Lent precedes the redemptive celebration of atonement and renewal on Easter Sunday, usually in early April. As a matter of practice, to participate in Lent, a person takes a vow of fasting and sacrifice. In present day practice, fasting seems optional, but the sacrifice of something to which one has a particular attachment or penchance is how it is observed. For example, a certain blogger (ahem) self-observed an almost Pavlovian ritual of ‘dessert’ with lunch and dinner. To say been ‘dessert’ is subjective, because the attachment is not so much for sugary treats as much as it is for a taste of sweetness. The observation was made in seeing that a meal did not feel complete until it was capped with a swig of fruit juice, fruit, or sweet treat. So the Lenten journey is to better understand the imperative desire for sweet in juxtaposition with salt, sour, pungent, and bitter.

While on the subject of Lent which is largely a Catholic tradition, a new question popped up. The question concerned another tradition, the celebration of St. Patrick’s Day. St. Patrick was an Irish saint in the Catholic tradition although the celebration, also known as March Madness, is a matter of national pride, “Luck of the Irish.” So if March Madness which is synonymous with raucous drunkenness and running amok (so Monty Python) is really a commemoration for a Catholic saint, would it not be ‘sacrificial’ to give up the ‘sauce’ for the Lenten period as a real show of piety? I guess that depends on whether or not you have a particular attachment to beer and alcohol.

Finally, myth. In this case, when we talk about myth we are not referring to old wives’ tales, urban legends, and all things debunkable. Rather, we’re talking about great stories that take us on an inward journey through the imagination to teach, enlighten, and inspire. Great myths are stories that connect the individual to a community and the noetic, something larger than ourselves. The story can be anything from the epic of a great battle, the uplifting of the mundane to nobility, the conquest of a great or fallen hero. No matter which is relevant for the time, myths are important to life and living.

Today, great stories have a way of reaching a critical mass that moves humanity forward in both spiritual and tangible ways. Stories like the Star Wars, The Peaceful Warrior, The Alchemist, The Celestine Prophecy are some of the modern day myths that seemed to move us forward as a whole, out of the ordinary grind of making a living, to the expansive view of living purposefully, and making a difference. The recent movement surrounding the law of attraction is not included because, in my review of the book, much of it’s practices focused self-serving interest (attraction), how to get more, instead of the radiance of self-less love (agape), how to be more. If you can’t see what I mean in saying this, then consider, think of the most magnificent living example of a rise to fame and fortune, someone who in your view harnessed the law of attraction to change their fortunes and succeeded. Now think about someone who through no or very little means, quietly accomplished something so huge and so meaningful that it’s almost impossible to imagine such devotion and dedication. Now do you see the difference?

Despite the overwhelming wonder of spellbinding visuals, Avatar fell short of being that great story for our time because of one small detail, the hero gives up his own life to assume something he is not. It’s not quite the same as the explorer who is himself but learns to connect with a strange and foreign culture. Basically, the search for that great transformative story for present times is still on. I’m optimistic.

We promised lite, and lite it is. Have a great week!