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The Phoenix
The legend of the phoenix
The interpretation of the phoenix
The phoenix tells only half the story
The Phoenix is a mythical bird
that consciously consumes itself in flames to be reborn new from its
ashes. It is important to our creative endeavors in that it is one
of the myths which probably best describes the transformation that
our
ego must undergo in a creative endeavor. The phoenix is the
symbol of the transformation of human consciousness and
our creative spirit that each of us must undergo to one degree
or another to create what we desire. The method that is used is our
choice but the process is inescapable.
The legend
of the phoenix (Top)
The are several versions of the
legend of the phoenix. They all seemed to place the origins of the
phoenix in Egyptian mythology. It is seen as a mythical bird that
lived in the Arabian Desert. What is interesting about the Phoenix
is that when it saw death draw near, or when it choose, it would
consciously consume itself in flames to be reborn and rising new
from its ashes young and beautiful to live another cycle. To do so,
it would make a nest of sweet-smelling wood and resins. It would
then expose itself and its nest to the full force of the sun’s rays
until it burnt itself and the nest to ashes in the flames only to
rise rejuvenated from the ashes.
Legends vary. Some say the Phoenix consumed itself every hundred
years or so. Some say every 400 to 600 hundred years. Some legends
say it rose rejuvenated from the ashes in three days. Some say it
just rose from the ashes others say that it would arise from the
marrow of its bones. In any case its essence was seen as very old
and indestructible. Only its form would change. One version of the
legend says the Phoenix was about the size of an eagle graced with
the features of a pheasant. Others say the Phoenix was half eagle,
half pheasant.
The pheasant is symbolically seen as representing family, fertility
and sexuality. It is a bird of the earth. It lives in the
grasslands, grain fields hedges and brush to survive in the wild.
The eagle is symbolic of the illumination of spirit, healing and
creation. It is seen as having an amazing ability to soar and hunt.
It has an ability that has amazed people for centuries. With its
strong talons to grasp and hold, it is able to utilize things of
earth yet soar to unimaginable heights. It is a bird of the sky that
needs to remain attached to the things of the earth to survive on
the earth.
The
interpretation of the phoenix (Top)
The interpretation of this legend
has been that the Phoenix symbolizes the resurrection, immortality
and mankind’s indestructible spirit. But to look at this myth as the
spirit as normally defined and described in religious and/or
spiritual traditions is to miss the myth’s full meaning, especially
its meaning relative to our inherent creative power and creative
ability. Rather, the myth refers to
our creative spirit and the
free will and choice we each possess to recreate ourselves. It
is the story of our
creative life energy being made manifest in physical form only
to die to that form and be reborn in some new form
The phoenix as a symbol of our creative transformation. The Phoenix
Myth is an ancient myth that describes the overall process that is
encountered before, during and after a creative transformation. It
describes the transformation that each human has the option to
choose to take and/or be forced into by death at some point in time.
It is said each human has the option to choose for the mythical bird
does consciously consumes itself in flames to be reborn new from its
ashes. Our problem is that we are not sufficiently awake and aware
to see that death is near so we do not adequately prepare for what
we need to face. But it needs to be understood, the death to which
we refer is not always physical death. There are many deaths we face
at many different levels of our being and many different times of
our life.
As long as we see ourselves as a human being who is born, lives and
dies, we will miss the power of the phoenix myth. However, if we see
ourselves as our conscious awareness and begin to observe that
awareness, we will see that our awareness never changes. What
changes in the form or filter that we use to experience Creation. We
will see there are many levels and dimensions to this filter of
which viewing Creation through the interpretation of a human brain
is only one such filter. If we observe carefully, we will see there
are an infinite number of such filters, some more important than
others in any given moment. Yet, our awareness is capable of
choosing any filter it desires if it is aware and awake to the
existence of the filter. In the end, the phoenix myth is a
description of the process of changing the filter we use to
experience Creation.
The phoenix myth is in many ways the door way to our freedom as
beings of unlimited creativity to create the reality we choose. It
provides a key understanding of the creative process. Something old
must be destroyed and transformed to make room for the new. So there
always will be a sacrifice of something. The question is whether or
not we hold onto what needs to be sacrificed.
The fire that destroys the nest we created and consumes us can be
experienced as a
Dark Night of the Soul that literally and figuratively burns up
your ego. However in this same process there is a tremendous heat
energy released in the fire that is available to transform any
existing structure. That energy being made available is what we feel
both as the
Kundalini rising and as a huge rush of energy and unfathomable
bliss and joy that accompanies the rush of energy. The rush of
energy may also be accompanied by a sexual awakening.
An important point needs to be noted her in this myth. Is not only
the individual which needs to be transformed but the environment,
the nest which it created. There is both an inner and outer
transformation. Often we try and transform ourselves (the inner) but
do not understand how the nest we created (the outer) holds us in
our current form. The physics of the
pair production phenomenon and the
paper cutout analogy for how we create our environment fully
aligns with what this myth is attempting to communicate.
The phoenix myth is a description of the process of transformation
that we each much under go as our consciousness evolves or acts
manifest our dreams or desires. To evolve and/or manifest what we
desire require transformation of our at least our
enculturated ego and who we think we are. The myth provides a
rough framework to guide one through their journey into the
creative/creation process of
creation/Creation.
The more areas and aspects of life we wish to transform/recreate
and/or experience our unlimited creativity and freedom, the deeper
and boarder the transformation that will be required. Similarly, the
more expansive the creation you wish to manifest, the greater the
transformation of our life. To free ourselves the
cage of our own making to access our unlimited creativity and
claim
our birthright as the unlimited and
infinite creative being that we are is the most significant
change we will need to undergo. But, it needs to be noted, that, as
a being of unlimited creativity, we can create a
gentle phoenix at each and every level of our being.
The phoenix tells only
half the story (Top)
There is another aspect to the
transformation process of our indestructible consciousness and
phoenix in that it tells only half the story. Alluded to in the myth
is that there are cycles inherent in the nature of the universe. In
some ways these cycles act as what can best be described as a
default mechanism. Although it is not obvious to most individuals,
the evidence abounds that transformation is an undeniable fact of
human existence. We live with night and day, the cycle of the season
and the birth and death of living things. Yet we do not see the
ongoing cycles within our own mind. We “fall” in and out of love
whether it be for a person, thing or place. Some of us go through
life loving the same things. However, probably more often than not,
we either cycle in and out of our love or we find new things, people
and activities which old our attention.
In any case, there comes a time that our consciousness sufficiently
matures that we recognize this process and can free let go as we
move through our cycles. However, we can become so bound and blocked
we are forced into transformation. We are force to experience a
painful
death. Some types and kinds of death can be so intense the we
experience a
dark night of the soul. But it is death that allows us to escape
becoming trapped in any one given pattern. It is facing death that
the phoenix myth does not address.
The phoenix myth talks about being aware of death approaching. It
talks about choosing to destroy itself. In its conscious destruction
it rises to be born again from its own ashes. What it doesn’t talk
about is being aware and death arriving before the phoenix chooses
to destroy itself. That is a whole new story not addressed by the
phoenix myth. The easiest way to see the other story is to
understand, choosing to let go and facing whatever death needs to be
faced one will move into the proverbial heaven. To allow death to
overtake oneself and not being aware to face it or refusing to face
it, one is faced with the proverbial hell.
There is a paradox that governs our transformation which I believe
it was the Persian Rumi who said, “If you jump into the fire, you
will come out in the water. If you jump into the water, you will
come out in the fire.” If we are willing to be aware and awake and
sense the on coming death, we can jump into it freely letting go. In
doing so, we release the past and become free to move into a new
creation. If however, we remain unaware and death overtakes us
and/or we are unwilling to let go for the pain we face in letting
go, we are trying to jump into that water. That in turn, only causes
us to become bound in the past and torn between where the future is
trying to take us and the past is holding us bound. That in essence,
is hell.
As an
infinitely creative being, we have much greater control over
that time and method of our transformation in any situation than
what is currently believed and taught in most traditions. However,
we can become so blocked we are forced into transformation.
Addictive patterns and addictive behaviors are places where our
consciousness and energy become so fixed we no longer have the
freedom and ability to crate what we what or choose to create.
Rather the pattern itself controls us. We have given our creative
power away to the addictive pattern. But the pattern of the
addiction is not as import as to what is it that gave rise to it in
the first place. What were we trying to escape that lead us to the
addictive pattern we have.
Many of us are bound in a thinking addiction without realizes it.
Yet it is our thinking that keeps us from feeling and sensing when
death, at whatever level, is approaching and needs to be faced.
Recovery at any level will require transformation of our existing
world, the existing nest we have created. Our nest is part of the
transformation process. If we are not willing to recover and destroy
our nest, no transformation is possible. There has to be a choice to
change, a willingness to change. Then, in that choice,
transformation can occur. Because of
free will, we have to choose to recreate both the inner and
outer form in which we find ourselves. Depending on how we set the
intention, we can have more options available to us than first
imagined. One of those options is the possibility of creating a
gentle phoenix for any situation we face.
Related topics
(Top)
Choosing to become the phoenix
Creating a phoenix experience
The possibility of creating a Gentle Phoenix
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