{"id":33902,"date":"2023-11-16T01:00:36","date_gmt":"2023-11-16T09:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=33902"},"modified":"2023-11-13T10:18:29","modified_gmt":"2023-11-13T18:18:29","slug":"ill-bet-the-smurfs-had-tarot-cards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/ill-bet-the-smurfs-had-tarot-cards\/","title":{"rendered":"I’ll Bet The Smurfs Had Tarot Cards"},"content":{"rendered":"

I was never allowed to watch The Smurfs.<\/em><\/p>\n

You see, growing up in Wisconsin as a Catholic, and then becoming a Pentecostal in a pretty legalistic home, there were so many cartoons, daytime dramas, bedtime network shows, and movies that my parents, pastors and youth pastors deemed to be “off limits!”<\/p>\n

Don’t even get me started about Pokemon, The Power Rangers, My Little Pony, Rugrats or The Simpsons.<\/p>\n

Even after visiting Oxford, I still haven’t seen any<\/strong><\/span> of the Harry Potter\u00a0<\/em>films!<\/p>\n

Even a glimpse of these shows, whether at a friend’s house or in secret at home, would cause me to break out with heavy guilt. Catholics (and you gotta know: “once a Catholic, always a Catholic”) are brokers in guilt<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Guilt has been called the “gift that keeps on giving.”<\/p>\n

So imagine my horror as I read Spellbound\u00a0<\/em>by Daniel Lieberman, with all of its magic, tales, alchemy, mystical numerology, and, God-forbid…tarot cards. If he had mentioned The Smurfs, I tell you, I would have tossed the book across the room, and spent the day praying in the Spirit!<\/p>\n

I read the bulk of this book on various airplane trips, and found myself shifting uncomfortably in my tight seat, while turning the book away from possible onlookers, lest they read chapter titles such as “The Keys of the Tarot and the Perfection of the Soul.”<\/em> Yikes.<\/p>\n

I might as well been holding an issue of Playboy. I was that uncomfortable!<\/p>\n

However, like much of our doctoral degree, my mind is ever expanding. And for that, I am grateful. Lieberman went down a number of corridors and alleys that I simply have never negotiated. And yet, often the pathways felt strangely familiar due to the intertwining of the works of Joseph Campbell (Lieberman, 113), and Daniel Kahneman (66). As well, the backdrop of the supernatural and divine made me feel at home.<\/p>\n

And I certainly understand EGO.<\/p>\n

Lieberman’s opening line, “There’s someone living in your head besides you” speaks to the unconscious; that which is out of sight and out of mind – and yet, strangely IN MIND. Most people don’t think about these unseen aspects. We don’t think about the unconscious, and yet it is so massively important and determinative to our actions and behaviors. We also have “the ego” which is the part of the mind that we are aware of. Ego is the “I” and is not to be directly associated with being conceited. Let’s be honest, everything we do is ultimately motivated by our self-interest. We want to feel good, maintain our reputation, and avoid things that cause us pain. We (and by “we” I mean “me”) want to experience, consciously and unconsciously, moments that are, in the words of Lieberman, “numinous.”<\/p>\n

Numinous means “having a strong religious or spiritual quality; indicating or suggesting the presence of the divine.” Both Dr. Clark and Dr. Lieberman connect this to the “ineffable.” It can’t be described in words. It has to be experienced. Even now as I write this blog post, I am looking out a California hotel window looking at the Pacific Ocean which is only a dozen feet from me. The sun is out (praise!). All is well with my soul.<\/div>\n
\n

\"\"<\/a>Numinous. Ineffable. The Sublime<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The sublime leads you and I to wonder. There aren’t words to explain a beautiful sunset, the pounding of ocean waves, or the smell of a newborn baby.<\/p>\n

Numinous. Ineffable. Sublime.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Lieberman says that which is ineffable is familiar, personal, invigorating and stimulates yearning (Lieberman 42). It feeds the “I” – the ego.<\/p>\n

Friends, I want<\/strong> my conscious mind (ego) to be regularly invaded by the unconscious. Call it magical, call it divine, call it transcendent. Call it what you will.<\/p>\n

I want it.<\/p>\n

I want to see it and feel it in the woods, at the beach, in the arms of my wife, in the snuggle with my grandchildren. I want to sense it our church services, and in fellowship with a brother in the Lord. I want to identify it in my neighbor, barista, coworker, and enemies.<\/p>\n

I want that which is numinous, ineffable, and sublime<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

And I want to watch an episode of The Smurfs…guilt-free.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was never allowed to watch The Smurfs. You see, growing up in Wisconsin as a Catholic, and then becoming a Pentecostal in a pretty legalistic home, there were so many cartoons, daytime dramas, bedtime network shows, and movies that my parents, pastors and youth pastors deemed to be “off limits!” Don’t even get me […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":172,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2310],"tags":[2899,2156],"class_list":["post-33902","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-doctor-of-leadership-3","tag-spellbound","tag-lieberman","cohort-dlgp02"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33902","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/172"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33902"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33902\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34088,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33902\/revisions\/34088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}