The Artist and Mu

I'm getting a number of questions about Mu.  Not least, the overall question of... "Say, what?"

First, Mu.  To use Christian language, I would say that Mu is like Ecstasy.  (No, not that ecstasy.  And not that one, either.)  Nevertheless, they are similar.

Mu is that inner peace that comes through lack of fears or desires.  You get there through practice, disciplining the mind not to give way to fear and desire.

As a result, you know greater clarity of sight and mind (because you are no longer distracted with useless clutter).

That's the textbook answer.  There's a deeper one, too:  Mu, like Ecstasy, is a metaphor.

Which isn't too surprising.  I've long thought that all religious concepts are handy metaphors for the feelings we struggle to explain.  Mu is no different.

Take Salvation, for example.  All faith traditions that I know of focus on Salvation.  From what, though?  From either a burning Hell or the absence of God altogether (Judaism, Christianity and Islam).  From the curse of rebirth, from daily fear or desire (Buddhism).  From delusions that you exist apart from the Brahman (Hinduism).  From rigidity in thinking and, therefore, life choices (Taoism).  The list goes on...

Interesting how universal the question.  Also interesting how different the answers turn out to be.  And that's the cool part.

Cue the artists.

Throughout all time and place, it's the artists who come up with the metaphors that give us a handle on abstruse explanations to...well, you name it:  Resurrection, Detachment, Divinity, Damnation, Delusion, Creation, Redemption, Singularity, Grace, whatever.  Point to any religious concept and you'll find a bevy of artists who've crafted wildly different metaphors to help us all get a handle on it.

(They can't help being wildly different.   They're artists, after all.)

Even so, that the question is universal to all religions, inevitably leads to some similarity among the answers.  Take Mu again  - with its serenity borne from lack of fear or desire - one does not have to search very far among the mystic traditions in any of the religions to find similar metaphors.

For example, in Christian mysticism, Mu strikes me as remarkably similar to the Ecstasy one knows from union with God here and now.  (Rather than waiting until after you die.)

Funny, that.  I expect it will always be that way, so long as humans continue to dream up their own faith traditions.

Which means, I suppose, artists will be helping us grapple with our religious dreams...well...forever.