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THE SPIRIT OF ACTION |
If one could bottle the
elixir of motivation, one might make millions.
What moves someone from stillness to action?
- Dr Beth Anne Boardman
cultural mythologist
THE SPIRIT OF ACTION
If one could bottle the
elixir of motivation, one might make millions.
What moves someone from stillness to action? How does one overcome complacency or
emotional paralysis and take healthy, constructive, creative action?
Mercurial: difficult if not
impossible to pin down, grasp, define. Uncontainable. Not always apparent. Unpredictable. Written in the wind. Words point in the direction of mercurial; images, though, evoke more
complex meanings and help illustrate the enigmatic. Ancient cultures around the world drew or
painted or carved the likenesses of winged humans, angels, gods, fairies, and
mythic beings who moved between the worlds—between heaven, earth, and the underworld. Wings signify the unseen power of the air, the
mysterious aspects of communication (prayer, intuition, meditation) between humans
and what they perceive as invisible, divine energies outside of
themselves.
In addition to angels, gods,
goddesses, and other mythic beings, people also honor and pray to saints,
prophets, stars, the spirits of the Ancestors, and/or the planet’s natural
elements. Celtic tradition collectively
names these unseen energies the Otherworld.
Fantastical images and stories of otherworldly
beings emphasize that Divine Power(s) exist outside of the human world and thus
remain unpredictable and inscrutable to humanity. Jungian and Archetypal psychologies suggest
that each individual’s mind and imagination can reflect these otherworldly
energies, with the caveat that one may contain aspects of the divine but cannot
possess all the power of the divine. In
other words, we recognize Love in ourselves, but we do not command the power of
Venus or Aphrodite. One may embody
qualities of a Warrior or Defender, but one cannot bend the energies of Mars or
Aries to one’s personal human will.
Diverse sacred traditions admonish
humans not to gaze directly upon the gods.
The gods/the angels/the spirits – all shy away from explicit contact,
and their reticence must be honored.
When the Biblical Moses encountered I
Am that I Am on the mountainside, he saw only a burning bush, and through
this interaction, understood that the human form cannot contain or withstand
the actual power of God. In the Greek
myth of Semele’s contact with Zeus, her pleas to see him directly resulted in
the spontaneous immolation of her human form.
These stories and others like them reinforce the reality of human
frailty, our divinely ordained imperfection.
Early Greeks and Romans told of Hermes (Greek) or Mercury (Roman), gods who traversed between the worlds, passing messages between
gods and humans and accompanying beings that needed to travel to and fro between heaven, earth, and the underworld. Represented by wings on his cap or the heels of his boots (or both), Mercury’s essential responsibility and quality, therefore, is to come and go; and since he is a god, his movements are beyond feeble humanity’s ability to predict or command. Mercury gives a face to the unseen spirit of action, illustrates the ephemeral power of motivation. Alchemists, the philosopher-scientists of old, called this spirit Mercurius, the force they recognized as the power behind both worldly and spiritual transformation.
Early Greeks and Romans told of Hermes (Greek) or Mercury (Roman), gods who traversed between the worlds, passing messages between
gods and humans and accompanying beings that needed to travel to and fro between heaven, earth, and the underworld. Represented by wings on his cap or the heels of his boots (or both), Mercury’s essential responsibility and quality, therefore, is to come and go; and since he is a god, his movements are beyond feeble humanity’s ability to predict or command. Mercury gives a face to the unseen spirit of action, illustrates the ephemeral power of motivation. Alchemists, the philosopher-scientists of old, called this spirit Mercurius, the force they recognized as the power behind both worldly and spiritual transformation.
This is the mystery of
motivation: human will-power can achieve much, but only inspiration, the
visitation of the mercurial spirit of action, can lead us to accomplishments
beyond our planning. Mercurius provides us moments of its
otherworldly power to transform ideas into actions, dreams into realizations. Like
any of the other gods, the Spirit of Action will not be summoned, only invited. And when invited, it may or may not coalesce.
A humble stance honors that the great
energies of the universe defy human containment. Creative, purposeful action requires a
sensitive dance between power and receptivity on this spider’s web of
life.
In paying attention to the
quiet whisper of our inner guidance and gathering up our human willingness, we take
the first step on a new journey. Along
the way, we honor the otherworld and welcome the mercurial power of action to suffuse
us with inspiration. Honor the gods, the
old stories say, and remember to give thanks for those times when we find
ourselves wonderfully mid-action, not knowing quite how we got there, and
amazed at finding done what we thought we couldn’t do.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Beth Anne Boardman, RN, MA, PhD lives in California and New Hampshire. She travels and lectures on the Mythology of Sport; Women and Myth; and the Alchemy of Adolescence (her dissertation topic), in addition to consulting as a writer to websites.
Recently, Beth has served on the board of the Pacifica Graduate Institute Alumni Association and as Regional Coordinator for local alumni. Her career spans work as a registered nurse, the study of world dance and music, and the profound joy of raising two children.
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