an introduction

Joseph Campbell speaks of their being two major mythical archetypes, the right handed path and the left handed path.  The right handed path is one where myths create stability and comfort and protect the village compound.  The left handed path is one of the journey, typically outlined by quest narrative's or hero's journeys.  We can live our lives on the right handed path or the left handed path, and both are important and valuable.  I have found myself on the left handed path.  I do not consider myself a hero, but i often understand myself in the mold of a mystic.  I am left to wonder, why are so many in our culture today on the left handed path.  In New York and New Orleans and even during my 4 month journey through europe, i met so many that were on the left handed path, it seemed normal.  There are so many who have set off from home, in search of something, something they can't find.  By those on the right handed path, the left handed path seems selfish and dangerous, and quite frankly it is, we are testing the boundaries of what is "acceptable"  we are engaged in creative vision in opposition to rational vision.

My path has led me to Amite Louisiana where i am the pastor of a small Presbyterian church, full of folks who are on, for the most part, the right handed path.  I struggle with what it is that i have to offer to them.  This is compounded by the fact that each village is different, the village supports the right handed path, and the village that I grew up in, the one in Rochester, NY, is very different than the one in Amite.  

I know there are others on the left handed path, and maybe they struggle with a right handed world.  Since on the left handed path we are not guided by the village in the same way, we must rely on defining our paths for ourselves, and to explore and trust in ourselves and develop ourselves, it is scary.  Since, while on the left handed path i can only truly define myself in hopes of it being valuable to others, i will write of my experiences.  I will write daily (or as often to daily) as i can about what i discover, what i find, in hopes that it will mean something to someone some where.  I am a christian pastor, and unabashedly so, so i plan to write from a Christian Perspective.  although i am essentially alone on this journey, i am throughly and comfortably guided by the life of Christ, who in many ways also took the left handed path by leaving Galilee behind and leaving his family behind.  I also believe in our role as christians to be the body of Christ in the world, which i have always interpreted as spreading love and service and compassion, and lifting up those that have been disenfranchised by society.

May these postings offer love and compassion to those that find themselves on the left handed path, for it is a scary place, and we don't have the safe haven of a village, or in modern terms: a church.  While we are out on the road, left us find some refuge in each other.  While we seek, let us seek in communion.   Let our church be beyond the walls of a physical structure, let our church be universal.