Esoteric Coffeehouse

Even as I was deeply immersed into research of the Hermetic tradition and the god Thoth, I could not avoid being drawn into the current events of Barack Obama’s US election. I have always thought that the esotericists (particularly those of Hermetic extract) have been men and women of the world, engaged in the transformation of the world into a better place. Perhaps it is down this line that I want to live as well, so please understand if I may from time to time jump thousands of years from Thoth to Barack Obama and back again. This exercise is, of course, carried out in the spirit of esotericism: looking at the underlying trends behind the surface.

It has hence occurred to me that Obama’s image and story can be compared to Joseph Campbell’s myth of the Hero, which Campbell called the “monomyth” (1). Whether consciously or unconsciously, people – and sometimes Obama himself – tend to project this image upon him. As early as 2006, he was called star and legend (2), and recently I have even read an online blog where the writer called him ‘savior’! (3) Mind you, I’m not laying a claim of profound originality on this –  I discovered then that George Lucas has already made note of Obama following the Hero’s Journey (4) and there are two bloggers that talked about it, albeit sketchily (5, 6). However, I would like to look at this more in detail than the others I have read.

Let’s start with the beginning. For those that don’t know, Joseph Campbell (1904-1987) was one of the foremost mythologists of his age (7). He is primarily remembered for his groundbreaking book, The Hero with a Thousand Faces. It is in this one that he articulated the myth of the hero’s journey, which directly influenced George Lucas’ Star Wars, Disney’s The Lion King, and countless movies and books ever since (8). The book ‘deconstructs’ the journey of the hero in a number of steps. It is my intention here to compare these steps with the story of Obama’s rise to power and Presidency.

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I will start by saying something more or less disturbing: I am not a big coffee drinker. Sure, I used to drink coffee everyday at work, but this was more of necessity than pleasure: I am not a morning person. If I drink too much coffee I get giddy and antsy and rather short-tempered.

That being said, I do admire coffee for the following reasons:

• It’s dark. There is a purely earthly quality to coffee in its dark and ‘thick’ nature. In other words, there is a mystery in coffee that only coffee addicts can explain.   It has the potential of creating a haven and a world of its own making.
• It’s liquid. I see the element of water as a symbol of the uniting fluid that lies beneath all things. Thus, in my mind, coffee stimulates esoteric discussion. Its fluidity is also given by the endless combination of coffee products that exist: mocha, Americano, cappuccino, frappucino etc.
• It’s fiery. Coffee gives that boost that people need in coping with the ‘real’ world. People come in a coffeehouse, drink a cappuccino and leave refreshed and energized to their own purposes.

I believe that ‘coffeehouses’ have brilliantly capitalized on the qualities of coffee I already mentioned above.

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Welcome to my Esoteric Coffeehouse – I am your host, Jo, and I invite you to take a look around my place and then have a sit in a comfortable couch, sip on a virtual coffee (or perhaps a spiced chai) and engage in a real discussion on esoteric topics.

First, it is perhaps desirable to clarify the term “esoteric” in our conversation. To be sure, there are numerous academic definitions of what is meant by the term “esoteric”, which I will expand in a future post. However, we are not here to engage in a purely academic discussion, but a friendly exchange on a topic broadly defined as ‘esoteric’. Surely, as it happens with every interaction, the definition we will use for ‘esoteric’ is bound to evolve.

To begin with, I will propose to start with a fairly large perspective of ‘esoteric’ as ‘a spiritual vision of what lies beneath the ordinary’. I believe that the esoteric is actually about an attempt of ‘seeing’ beyond the surface, hence challenging common perceptions. In this, ‘esotericism’ is a meeting between the intellect and the spirit; moreover, it is generally associated with a practice or technique that allows someone to delve into the vision. In this framework, I envisage such wide-range topics as:

• Alchemy
• Magic
• Hermeticism
• Rosicrucianism
• Alternative medicine
• Astrology
• Neoplatonism
• Scientific views
• Philosophy
• Mysticism
• Freemasonry
• Sufi practices
• Movies and books with esoteric theme
• Art & music
• Mythology
• Folklore
• Esoteric or esoterically-related thinkers
• Academic esotericism
• Esoteric lifestyle
  

What I am basically proposing through this blog is to incite in-depth, substantial and thoughtful discussion on esoteric themes.

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