Finding Axis Mundi

"The Experience of Sacred Space makes possible the founding of the world: where the sacred Manifests itself in space, the real unveils itself, the world comes into existence."
            - Mircea Eliade

I write for myself and no one else.

The more I find myself walking through life, the more I find that I am not living life. I am starting to feel that it has become too sterile. Maybe the reason is because I am failing to break free from the emotional bonds that I have had ingrained in youth. The Judeo-Christian ideal of selflessness in order to sacrifice for the greater good, the women ran schools and classrooms where we were told it's not okay to be boys, where we were forced to sit quietly or face the wrath of authoritative figures. We have been trained since birth to believe in the inherent good which abides by the rules, is subversive to the status quo, and doesn't rock the boat in order to satiate the needs of the greater society. This means men that have had the life blood drained from them since childhood.

I have read in Mircea Eliade about finding Sacred Space, but what is Sacred Space?

Sacred space as a mirror of the cosmos, with the axis mundi at its center. Such a unique position stations sacred space as a bridge between the sacred and the profane, linking man's everyday actions with the work of the gods and thus transforming them into sacred acts.

So Sacred Space sits outside of time and space of the profane,  i.e. for most of us, our home, office cubicle, grocery store, favorite restaurant would be considered profane space. Most religions in pre-modern and tribal societies could enable Sacred Spaces in cathedrals, sanctuaries, mountains, and rivers. Something that the culture deemed outside of time and space from the profane and could connect you to the cosmos.

So how do I find my Sacred Space, my Axis Mundi? Life isn't making six figures, or even being in a job that you love, or having "nice" friends, or dating a "good" woman. Life is adventure, it is love, it is uninhibited emotional rapture, but how do we get to that point? Where is the map or Rosetta Stone to decipher the archaic way to find this emotional rapture? While everyone is different, the closest I have found is a certain field of Jungian psychology that focuses on male archetypes and how to activate them. The easiest way to approach this field is to dive head first into Joseph Campbell.

Myths are public dreams; dreams are private myths.

• Joseph Campbell 'The Hero with a Thousand Faces'

Joseph Campbell was a professor in mythology and taught at Sarah Lawrence College for several years as well as travelling the world to generate his understanding of comparative religion. He helped bring light and understanding to complex tomes of religious and mythological works.

Joseph Campbell's book "The Hero with a Thousand Faces" is perhaps the penultimate work of the intersection of Mythology, History, Psychology, and Philosophy. It is a profound work that has inspired movies such as Star Wars, but it is more than a recipe for a good story. It is actually quite funny how it has been shifted from it's original intent of how to activate the Jungian archetypes to a scientific recipe for creating a blockbuster movie. Approaching Campbell's works with the mindset of "I will live by these principles" rather than "this is how to tell a good story", turns Campbell's work into one of the greatest self-help books of all time. I would even recommend it to people who believe that they don't really need a self-help book, because the findings are so profound, that it can help anyone to create their own "Hero's Journey".

So now I combing Mircea Eliade's studies with Joseph Campbell's studies. In order to find my "Sacred Space" I need to embark on my own personal "Hero's Journey". The hardest step of this is always the first step, accepting the call to action. So what is my call to action? Where can I embark to find my Sacred Space? That is the tough part, the journey calls to you, you don't go looking for it. That's not to say it's passive and you will have to be plucked out of your ordinary life. It will come to you once you embark in life. So the real question is "How to embark on my journey in life?". I think that this can be answered by first fixing the immediate relationships around me that weigh me down and leech on our life and purpose. Once we get rid of these people, situations, habits we can free ourselves to begin to start experiencing life.

So for me it is:

I want to become a mountaineer

But first I need to only surround myself with people who will be supportive of this habit, get rid of those who won't, put this over alternative situations (staying out late, working overtime, etc...), and remove bad habits that would prevent me from achieving life (i.e. eating junk food, watching tv, not working out). Once this is achieved, I embark in life, and once I embark in life, the hero's journey will find me when I least expect it, and I will have to answer a difficult call to action.

Then I can start to finally be free...