A Few Good Memes

I just finished reading Robert A. Johnson’s “We” (thanks to my dear friend Oceansmiles’ recommendation).  It would not be overstatement to say it may be the most important book I’ve ever read.  It should be required reading for every westerner, especially western men.  He uses the Arthurian legend of Tristan and Iseult in a Jungian framework to skillfully disentangle the notions of romantic love, from what he calls “stir-the-oatmeal” love, exploring companionship, commitment and friendship in the process.  He implores us to come to an understanding of and connection with our own deep spirituality, our own religious experience, whether by traditional religious means or otherwise (with useful suggestions for modern people) so that we can free ourselves from the unconscious projection of the anima onto our otherwise mortal and flawed beau/partner/spouse.

The book is written mostly as an examination of Tristan, the symbol for the male psyche and is extremely enlightening to this western male.  I think it is probably very informative for women as well.  I would love a similar treatise told from Iseult’s perspective (or whatever myth might be appropriate).  I know Johnson has “He” and “She” as well as several other myth-meets-Jung books.  I’m likely to read many or all of them.

This book has shone a blazing spotlight on the mistakes, missteps, misunderstandings, and miss-whatever-her-name-was that I’ve made in past relationships with women and how they all have come from some flawed, yet completely understandable assumptions carved into my bones by our western culture over the last 900 years or so.

If you are a man who has ever loved a woman or a woman who has ever been loved by a man, read it.