HUNGRY GHOSTS: REFLECTIONS WITHIN WESTERN CIVILIZATION

Hungry Ghosts: Reflections Within Western Civilization

Imaginal Constructs, Mixed Media by D.Shane Shelton

David Shane Shelton, MA, Indigenous Mind, Wisdom University, April 2012, with Thich Nhat Hanh 1841 Pearce Ct., San Marcos, Tx, jamiedave@grandecom.net, 512.754.0427

HUNGRY GHOSTS: REFLECTIONS WITHIN WESTERN CIVILIZATION Abstract

Carl Jung interviewed Chief Mountain Lake who told him to think through his heart. The details of this interview closely resemble the hungry ghost of Tibetan lore. The hungry ghost is what prevents the psyche of Western Civilization from further development. Alexander III of Macedon, in conjecture, can be made example of the hungry ghost as evidenced through the influences on him via King Philip II, Achilles, and Aristotle. The daily practice of mindfulness can then exorcise the hungry ghost and wrest it from the psyche. Mindfulness provides a tool to become consciously aware of our shadow projections in movies, television broadcasts, literature and general entertainment. Movies, in particular, offer a distinct visual insight, if watched mindfully, of the hungry ghost at work in both the undead and possession horror genres. Mindfulness pursued in daily activities leaves no space for the hungry ghost to flourish.

keywords: collective psyche of Western Civilization, hungry ghost, Alexander III of

Macedon, gods, archetypes, zombies, daily spiritual practice

HUNGRY GHOSTS: REFLECTIONS WITHIN WESTERN CIVILIZATION

Hungry Ghosts: Reflections Within Western Civilization

I: The Hungry Ghost in the Origins of Western Civilization

C.G. Jung, in his book Memories, Dreams, Reflections, reveals an unusually new perspective into the collective psyche of Western Civilization in an interview he had with a Chief of one of the Taos Pueblos in New Mexico. His name was Ochwiay Biano (Mountain Lake). Dr. Jung interviewed Chief Biano regarding Europeans. Dr. Jung describes the conversation joyfully saying: To be sure, he was caught up in his world just as much as a European is in his, but what a world it was. In talk[ing] with a European, one is constantly running up on the sand bars of things long known but never understood; with this Indian, the vessel floated freely on deep, alien seas. He went on to express his elation as catching sight of new shores, or discovering new approaches to age old knowledge that has been almost forgotten. Chief Biano cited his initial perception of the European settlers: Seehow cruel the whites look. Their lips are thin, their noses sharp, their faces furrowed and distorted by folds. Their eyes have a staring expression; they are always seeking something. What are they seeking? The whites always want something; they are always uneasy and restless. We do not know what they want. We do not understand them. We think that they are mad. When Dr. Jung asked him why he thought the whites were all mad, Chief Biano replied: They say that they think with their heads. To which Dr. Jung stated with surprise: Why of course. What do you think with? The answer: We think here, he said, indicating his heart (Jung, 63).

HUNGRY GHOSTS: REFLECTIONS WITHIN WESTERN CIVILIZATION This enlightening dialogue reveals a particular aspect of the spirit of Western Civilization. What Chief Biano describes is also apt as complementary to the words of Thich Nhat Hanh as describing the hungry ghost of Buddhist lore: They dont see

anything beautiful, true, and good. They wander around seeking something to believe in. Theyre like hungry ghosts. In the Buddhist tradition, we describe hungry ghosts as having a big belly and a very tiny throat, as slender as a needle. Theyre famished, but their ability to swallow food is very limited. Hungry ghosts are hungry for love and understanding, but their capacity to receive it is very small (Hanh, 2009).

II: Beginnings of the Hungry Ghost in Western Civilization (3 parts)

Let us endeavor to seek some semblance of a beginning to this crippling mindset (crippling to the further development of the collective psyche) which pervades Western Civilization. Let us briefly lift the veil of time back to Macedonia, circa 336 B.C.E. and speculate on the hungry ghost as illustrated through Alexander III of Macedon. The following, albeit, brief excerpt of time may not be the entirety of the karmic turning which ensued, however, it sets a hypothetical scenario, at the very least, to allow us to look more deeply at this hungry ghost through intuitive conjecture; to illustrate the possibility of the formation of, and continuing form of this mindset. Part I: Alexander III of Macedon In the context of Alexanders early life we have what amounts to three influences: his Mother and Father, specifically King Philip II, Homers The Iliad containing his hero, Achilles, and Aristotle, his mentor and teacher. As it concerns his Father, I am imagining a man who was perhaps not present for his son; a man who perhaps spent his time

HUNGRY GHOSTS: REFLECTIONS WITHIN WESTERN CIVILIZATION politicizing and enforcing his authority over his kingdom rather than assisting in the raising of Alexander as there were servants and hired instructors responsible for his

proper upbringing and training. In many a childs story, including my own, and perhaps King Philip II as well, this lack of Fatherly presence creates a void, some key element of our psychological construct never set in place which creates a more unified self. We subsequently pass this learned behavior, this gap in affection and compassion, on to future generations. Alexander, as any other, would rely first on his Mother and Father. It is, in this particular telling (which is purely of my Imaginal construct), not uncommon, and assuming a lack of parental influence, to find an imbalance within the psyche, to be offkilter in what Dr. Jung describes as the anima/animus complex; Alexander is no exception. Having been denied this nurturing love and compassionate guidance (in this potential unfolding), a vortex of longing, more ferocious each passing year, creates a platform and develops a foundation for the hungry ghost to manifest (thinking with his head, not his heart) to seek an external source to fill said void left undeveloped by his Fathers lack of nurturing. Part II: Achilles (Hero Worship) Under his pillow, it is said, Alexander kept a dagger and a copy of The Iliad. Alexander, no doubt, honed in on Achilles and the most heroic feats of this potent, if not fictional warrior. The story is ripe with tragedy and violence, yes, but also with a heros personal loss combined with interfering gods and all of their laws preventing his vengefully filled quest! I present, then the death of Petroclus. What more can spur a great warrior to action than the loss, the killing of a close loved one such as Achilles

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beloved Petroclus? And he projects a gods-be-damned attitude to avenge Petroclus death, even if it means his own death; Achilles seems to want to avenge himself upon the gods themselves for allowing Petroclus death. Alexander has come of age and is primed to inherit an oncoming war with King Darius III of Persia; wants to wage this war with Darius. Alexander appears to want to use this war to acquire affection and love. He has become possessed by the hungry ghost to voraciously pull in from the phenomenal realm without contemplating what can be generated from within. The gift of giving and providing a nurturing environment to others was never taught to him. Pieces need to fall into place, however, for the plan to work. A close loved one needs to be murdered, his Father; and, an enemy nation needs to fall to avenge this wrongful death. The laws of the gods need to be circumvented. Circumventing the will of the gods, however, potentially leaves one blindly seeking and grasping onto the world to give without anything given in return. Without daily contemplative ritual (the giving), riding a horse without reins, for example, there can be no invoking of the gods; and without invocation there can be only very limited co-creation with the eco-field and a diminishing potentiality of the psyche. Part III: Aristotle (Taken Under Wing) In the way, however, stand the laws of the gods, archetypes to which we still ignore to this day in some form or fashion; all of the daily rituals becoming cumbersome to the prize of glorious warfare. Many hours and days must Alexander have considered this barrier to his plan and, too, the built-in weakness of the hero, this

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weakness of Achilles also a design of the gods to fit their plan. His own weakness must be found out and isolated. Enter, now, the mentor, Aristotle! While it is difficult, in the very least, to wheedle back down to Aristotles initial formulations and what it was he instructed Alexander, precisely, we do know this astounding philosopher has had his mind influenced by none other than Empedocles and the infamous Plato. From Empedocles, Aristotle further built up the idea of the primordial elements as the building blocks of, well, everything. Regarding Aristocles, more commonly known as Plato, it is my opinion that Aristotle found him mired in antiquated beliefs and, after Platos death, publicly ousted the philosophical decrees of his teacher to establish himself as the authority on such mental meanderings. Aristotle proceeded in his molding of this new young mind in Alexander to teach him about active versus susceptible elemental factors in reality, and, on a more subtle level, to undercut authority. Alexander, according to this logic, set in motion these active agents to engage the susceptible agents. As well, Aristotle, it is said, did not hold the gods in honor. Gods were not logical, they could not be conceived of with the senses; and he was a man who believed solely in a sensory reality, this being contrary to Platos teachings yet key to Alexanders plan. Alexander, ultimately, contorted these teachings to fit into his own objective reality. He would be the mover, the active agent to set things in motion for himself first, and Macedonia; he would remove non-virtuous men, such as his Father (history has a continuing debate as to who plotted and murdered King Philip II, for the purpose of this exercise, we shall side with those who follow the conspiring of the son) and King Darius and non-virtuous gods whose laws only seemed to create barriers.

HUNGRY GHOSTS: REFLECTIONS WITHIN WESTERN CIVILIZATION One such barrier to overcome in the creation of his legend rests in the Gordian Knot, which some claim Alexander merely hacked it in twain with but a sword-stroke

(http://en.wikipedia. org/wiki/Gordian_Knot). The Gordian Knot is akin to the path, the Tao, set out by the gods. If the Tao is not adhered to or, at least, generally pursued (we do not want to fall into a dogmatic position), the end result or goal can still be obtained, yes, but the growth of the psyche, the blossoming of the spirit potential is lost for the path contains the components for growth and transformation. This subtlety was lost on Alexander. He went on, as we know, to ravage his way through Persia and partly into India without ever realizing he had lost insight and access to the subtle realms, the movement of subtle energies swirling all around us and our natural world, by discarding the rituals of his people. In short, I ask, was Alexander III of Macedon the first to bend the rules? Was he the first to cheat to get his way?! He was trained all of his life in the art of warfare and, once embroiled in the ten-year onslaught, he purposefully acted contrary to the understood standards and practices of warfare in order to obtain victory; he purposefully discarded daily rituals honoring the gods and circumvented a natural order to will his reality upon the world. Alexander embodied the hungry ghost, rather became possessed of it, and marched. And this is a behavioral pattern of the hungry ghost and has been taught to subsequent generations to this present day.

III: The Dark Ages of the Psyche That Followed

To concretize this conjecture, we overlay the symptoms of the hungry ghost once more. Alexander, conceivably possessed by the hungry ghost, set out with an insatiable

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craving. When our mind is disturbed by craving, anger, jealousy, then were no longer lucidand serene, and we perceive things in the wrong way (Hanh, 2009). He was not alone in this as Aristotle, too, had a craving to separate and further the distortion of our collective psyche with the subtle realms and with the feminine; he, as well, held jealousy for his own teacher. All of this has been carried forward in time and spread throughout the world in some form or fashion (i.e.: adrenaline junkies). But, we can see through this prior example how karma manifests into the phenomenal realm; we understand now that an inward quality pertains to outward action which leads to and cultivates purity of mind, namely virtue [or Te] (Shah-Kazemi, 2006). However, if the gods, or archetypes, are withdrawn from the activity, hungry ghosts are left to enter the vacuous space remaining. Aritstotle, in his personal mental meanderings, discusses karmic engagement when he describes rational versus irrational activities. In the rational thinking mind, there is a deliberate engagement of intellect while in the irrational there is an appetite of desire which causes a vicious cycle of suffering. He continues: first, there is the object of the appetite which stimulates it further to imagining it; forming, then, practical thoughts of it and, finally, manifesting in body movement and to action (Bakalis, 2005). Without virtues (Te in the Chinese philosophies), these karmic actions will end up causing suffering; without virtue, the hungry ghost enters and encourages these initial sparks of negative thought. Some of the virtues from the Bhagavad Gita are as follows: humility, modesty, patience, uprightness, service, purity, self-control, equanimity, and non-egoic sensibility. This list corresponds to knowledge because they are conducive to gaining more

HUNGRY GHOSTS: REFLECTIONS WITHIN WESTERN CIVILIZATION knowledge (Shah-Kazemi, 2006). I do not see that Alexander displayed any of these. Maybe he displayed patience, but more so he displayed a great amount of pride and pride is not simply immoral, it isan intellectual dysfunction (Shah-Kazemi, 2006).

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It was from Aritstotle, however, that he received an egregiously wrong perception - that of basing decisions on form and appearance only. This excludes the subtle realms archetypal information, the gods, to the point where one must suppress the information from our environment, our ecosystem, and the primordial elements. We havedoubt because we are basing our decision on form, on appearance. Wherever there is form, wherever there is perception, there is delusion[;]be very carefulbasingdecisions on the appearance of things, of the outer form (Hanh, 2007). This separation from the subtle realm and sole reliability on the sensory, gross realm quickly became a model for thinking and a model defining Western Civilization. Therefore we must ask ourselves if in fact the Romans may have been possessed. Were the Scandinavians entrenched in this mindset of the hungry ghost as they went aViking? I do, as well, see that the Europeans later were conceivably driven by this hungry ghost most effectively entering what we know now as the Americas. We see and experience this model everyday; we practice it. The largest scale to which we personally experience the hungry ghost is in the corporations of the West, in the video games we play, the movies we watch (not the movie itself but the way we watch them which is lacking in any shadow awareness) and the words we read and speak to each other; possibly even our own moment-to-moment thoughts when we leave the horse, that is, the hungry ghost possession, to run amuck without the reins in our hands.

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IV: A New Hope

[M]indfulnessgives rise to understanding, compassion, forgiveness, joy, transformation, and healing (Hanh, 2008). Thich Nhat Hanh provides us an ancient mental application here in mindfulness to use on a daily basis to counter the hungry ghosts possession of the psyche of Western Civilization; the afflictions therein, including the craving of adrenaline. Afflictionsare what block the light, so the practice is to remove [the] five hindrances (craving, anger, doubt, fear, forgetfulness) (Hanh, 2007). It is, Hanh warns, not so easy to thwart the hungry ghost in others. You have to help bring the size of their throat back to normal before they can swallow the food that you offer. That requires the practice of patience, continued loving kindness, and understanding. It takes time to win their trust. Until then, you cant help them (Hanh, 2009). As we imagine the conceivable historical inner workings of the mind of Alexander of Macedon unfold and influence subconsciously our own collective psyche, we take a close look at a corroded reflection of ourselves we may not be used to seeing, or may never have recognized having successfully repressed it. It was not just Alexander who blocked the light of our spirit, our consciousness, the development of our soul. A great majority of us, through the subliminal teachings and examples set by our parents all the way back to Alexander, learned to block the light of our spirit. If the five lights [of pure luminosity, the primordial elements,] are recognized as non-dualnirvana begins. If [they] are perceived dualistically andexternally [hell] begins (Wangyal, 2002). Alexander utilized the alchemy taught him, however without the profound depth

HUNGRY GHOSTS: REFLECTIONS WITHIN WESTERN CIVILIZATION provided by the gods. He perceived the lights externally, dualistically and set precedence for a dark descent of our psyche. And the Buddha said, We have to practice eating in such a way that will retain compassion in our heart. We have to eat in mindfulness. Otherwise we will be eating

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the flesh of our own children. The situation the Earth is in today has been created by un-mindful production andconsumption (Hanh, 2008). If we invite the energy of mindfulness to manifest[;] practice mindful walking andbreathing to generate [it], and invite that energy to take care of [what is] making [us] suffer we can reverse the damage to the Earth. This is a daily practice and lifestyle; for the important purpose of the practices [are] to relate ourselves to the sacred and to become sacred through that relationship (Wangyal, 2002). This is connecting not only our internal anima/animus relationship distortion, but also our relationship with the Earth and the gods of the Earth. It begins with how we imagine we want ourselves to be and how we want our ecosystem to be, thus [t]he true situation of things is modeled in the imagination and developed in experience in order to overcome perceptual and cognitive distortion (Wangyal, 2002). All this time, then, our [e]nemies [have been] our own creation, based on our own habitual ways of seeing (Wangyal, 2002). To move forward in mindfulness we must recognize the distortions while neither activat[ing] nor support[ing] the negative behavior (Wangyal, 2002).

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V: To Consciously Express the Relationship

Today, in all forms of artistic expression, we are subconsciously projecting these distortions, our shadows. We can begin to recognize them through mindful awareness of the messages being portrayed. The lack of awareness has caused much internal confusion and internal confusion becomes external manifestation (Wangyal, 2002). However, we can regain a foothold through our entertainment venues. Hanh believes that [f]ilmmakers should...inspire awakening (Hanh, 2009). I could not agree more, as long as we consciously absorb the message of the movie and are watching the right movies to inspire awakening for we are witnessing our shadows in these film projections. We need to be looking for examples of what our imagination is telling us of where we are in our collective psyches and of this new shift approaching and earn the trust of these shadows. We need to imagine and integrate these shadows; be present to create a world of beauty once more for as long as it can sustain us and Pegasus will burst forth in our epiphanies. Movies, for one example of art reflecting our unconscious, can show us a reflection of ourselves we can not quite tap into in the current culture for each of us feels that we lack something. And we wander around lookinglike a saucepan without a lid. We have an inferiority complex and believe the true, the good and the beautiful dont exist in us (Hanh, 2007). These reflections help break us out of our habits to see larger as we may be possessed by [our] projects,worries, fear, and [we] pretend to be there but are not really there (Hanh, 2007). The hungry ghost perpetuates the cycle of projects and distractions. We keep ourselves from becoming aware; we water the seeds of form and sensory input and let

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wither the seeds of emptiness. However, ...the nature of reality is described in terms of the inseparable union of emptiness and form (Wangyal, 2002). The union of emptiness and form create a natural state, a balanced state. Distractions from the natural state means greater elemental imbalance (Wangyal, 2002). This state of imbalance has been our normal state for over 2 millennia. We continue to spin this egoic based culture and maintain the patriarchy through our modern but mostly misinterpreted mythologies, our lore (i.e.: werewolves, vampires, and zombies represent different levels of instability whether it be a mental imbalance of chi, or a chi imbalance of a physical nature; these are not natural states), and now our movies and books are bringing this darkness to the light.

VI: Modern Lore of the Hungry Ghost

Daily spiritual practice guards against the attack of both inner and outer negative forces (Wangyal, 2002). In this way we prepare mentally and physically for phenomena which arises at random points in our day or night; what appears to be outside is actually phenomena arising in awareness (Wangyal, 2002). Movies serve as an example of outside appearance invoking awareness, and potentially a transformation of perspective; and a transformation of experiencealways includes a change in the quality of bodily experience (Wangyal, 2002). Current movies such as: American

Zombie (2007) which shows a lack of mindfulness; Rammbock (2010) is an excellent

German Zombie film where those infected, as are we all, can be mindful and remain normal or lose control and go zombie; Make Out With Violence (2008) is a film regarding deep love for someone gone zombie; Mutants (2009) again, shows a caring

HUNGRY GHOSTS: REFLECTIONS WITHIN WESTERN CIVILIZATION for loved ones gone zombie. All of these films listed reflect a deep seated shadow

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within our collective psyche and serve as mind-bells (a term Hanh uses to alert us back to awareness). And, these are but a handful of the thousands of versions of the same story we pour out into the phenomenal realm of manifestation. We are at times so sensitive about our words, can be so dogmatic as to lose touch with the deeper, larger meaning. It is not words or concepts that are important [but] our insight into the nature of reality andway of responding to reality (Hanh, 2007). Someone can say one word and we spiral into anger or distress. Were more vulnerable to illness, to depression, [and] to negative forces. (Wangyal, 2002). The movies of this horror genre of Werewolves and Zombies utilize words which invoke old Wives Tales which are conceived in our modern world as that which is to be scoffed at and deemed contrived and frivolous (a base superstition, in other words) which only serves to prevent us from consciously becoming aware of the shadows message. The hungry ghost is synonymous with the current cultures zombie motif. We maintain ourselves on this threshold between past and future, reaching out to bring in that which only leaves us subconsciously vulnerable (as we may not know what to look for) to others who would perpetuate the hungry ghost and a hellish realm in our presence. Reaching out is reaching in when we have developed practices that connect the two (Wangyal, 2002). Selfish cravings and blocked pathways combined with attachment and desire leaves an easy opening to verbally knock someone down; to use speech to invoke dualistic thinking. [Hellish] speech is impure speech [which includes]speech that supports a dualistic view and dualism leads to attraction or aversion and the result is

HUNGRY GHOSTS: REFLECTIONS WITHIN WESTERN CIVILIZATION that the elements in our personal dimension become unbalanced (Wangyal, 2002). We are separated by labels, by words. And, when we hear one of these words, it

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evokes an image and wefeel alienated (Hanh, 2009). This often leads to violence and further hurtful words upon even more of us. When fear [and] anger becomes collective, it is extremely dangerous (Hanh, 2007). Many a philosopher, David Chalmers, Daniel Dennett, Owen Flanagan, Tom Polger, Nigel Shardlow, William Seager (to name but a few), have batted about the hapless zombie in many a paper regarding philosophical zombies. Philosophical zombies resemble normal people, according to these declarations, and cannot be distinguished from normal people. This model displays a group of thinkers mired in their words and is decorated in a black/white and an either/or rationale without ever realizing how susceptible we all are, every day, to losing our potentiality due to various factors and temporarily becoming less awake, less present. This is a temporary state we all go through from time to time. It is natural but with mindfulness, we can zombie-out less, one would hope (http://consc.net/zombies.html).

VII: Mindfulness to Integrate the Hungry Ghost

This, I believe is why Wavoka of the Nevada Paiute received the vision of the ghost dance in order to help relieve the grasping and craving of the hungry ghosts who had invaded their lands. A [hellish] war is lost by becoming it (Wangyal, 2002) and Wavoka knew of this and tried to prevent it through this peaceful demonstration of dance shared by his people to other tribes throughout the region. Without

HUNGRY GHOSTS: REFLECTIONS WITHIN WESTERN CIVILIZATION mindfulness, were like a cow without skin, and we allow many toxins to penetrate us and destroy us (Hanh, 2008). We are barking mind patterns that have dominated human life for eons[;] mind patterns that have created unimaginable suffering on a vast scale. I am not using the word evil. It is more helpful to call it unconsciousness or insanity (Tolle, 2004). Daily contemplative practice in mindfulness, then, becomes so fundamentally important to the way we want to live, for if you cannot be presentin normal circumstancesthen

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youwont be able to stay conscious when something goes wrong. You will be taken over by a reaction (Tolle, 2004). So, if you arent capable of being in the here and now, you wont recognize yourself, your happiness, or your suffering. Furthermore, without your full presence, you wontrecognize others, and they will feel unseen,and unloved (Hanh, 2007). The first step in mindfulness is simply to recognize and embrace what is therepositive and negative (Hanh, 2009). Through diligent mindfulness we can deeply understand their situation to see the victimization then [we] will no longer condemn, judge or accuse; there will be compassion (Hanh, 2009). An authentic dialogue, carefully and delicately performed, can open between those who feel as if they are in different camps as awareness is a lively attention to the world as immediately sensed, so as not to be misled by names and labels (Watts, 57). The suffering we cause each other through our unconscious use of language can end. This is evident in the teachings of the Buddha in the 4th of the 4 Noble Truths that states that our suffering can end through our following a mindful path (Hanh, 2008).

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Mindfulness will open the pathways to see that afflictive states are due to a lack of understanding of the lack of autonomous reality of objects; they all exist interdependently. This was said by His Holiness, the Dalai Lama on the 4 Noble Truths from the Documentary of the same name (2000). When we see the nature of interbeing, barriers between ourselves and others are dissolved. We can enterinto this moment[;] see the nature of reality. [This will liberate us] from suffering and confusion (Hanh, 2007). Our karma will manifest through this awareness, this clarity. Currently, our karma is distorted by ignorance; ignorance causes great frustration. Realization of this sets us firmly in the now. I will close this rambling on the hungry ghost and its possession of the collective psyche of Western Civilization with a quote from a man who opened his eyes and looked around and lived interconnected with the entirety of the cosmos. Gurdjieff was quoted as saying my previous state seemed like a tunnel to me now. It was like a dim burrow, with only a few blurs of color, and twined in the shadow walls were the people Id been thinking about and the desires Id been anxious to satisfy. As if Id been, up till that moment, what the Tibetans call a hungry ghost- for surely I had not been truly alive (Shirley, 2004).

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