I often see people decrying and denouncing canonical texts, traditions and old stuff that offers guidance on how to live your life in general. Ironically, the people who do this are often encouraging you to pay attention to them and accept their guidance. Although I am as wary as anyone about the dangers of organized religion and of 'guruism' in any path in life, and as independent-minded, I find myself wanting to say a few things in defense of inspirations, canonical sayings/poems/language shared by a community, and muses in general.
My potential bias
Examining myself ahead of this, I should declare that my bias is somewhat toward the 'old' material; that I am more likely to be wary of a contemporary figure's offers of enlightenment and perhaps also more likely to become enamored of some ancient figure.
Hence - Heraclitus. Subtitled 'the obscure,' his writings only extant to us in fragments, although many argue that he only composed 'fragments' - aphorisms, koans - as I said in my very first post here, he has been my 'muse' since I was about 18 years old. In times of despair, I have dreamt of him coming to me with reassurance (in his own words, too). One or another of his sayings helps me to shape my thinking about something almost every day. I have written many poems inspired by his fragments (one back-burner project is to complete a cycle of them).
So much by way of digression, to declare where my biases are likely to lie.
The usefulness and beauty of shared phrases
It seems that it is too easy for us humans to fall into herd instinct - hence the dangers of guruism or dogmatism despite many people's avowed desire to form their own conclusions and have their own experiences. Funnily enough, the most dogmatic and guruist people are often those who are most insistent on their independence of thought! (Some of the most fundamentalist religious people I have known have been atheists.)
I think it is important to note, here, that many religious texts themselves prohibit 'idol worship,' which really means any form of blind faith. With the possible exceptions of Mormonism and Islam, I cannot think of any 'organized religions' that began life with the intention of organizing and controlling the lives of their believers in the ways that they have ended up doing.
There is a deeper dichotomy here: an 'ulterior harmony' that allows for inspiration with eyes open. The underlying connection is that, as unique as we all are, as independent as we all want to be, we are also interconnected, interdependent, mutually completing. We cannot have a pure, unmediated experience without touching and being touched by other entities that are also having their own experience. Or, 'no man is an island,' and there I am, appealing to a recognized quotation.
The existence of a canon of phrases/words/songs/quotations that are universally recognized help us to understand our situation and also to feel empathy across place and time with others who have understood it. When you hear the phrase 'garbage in, garbage out' and remember that Jesus is quoted as saying that a man is not judged by what goes into his mouth so much as by what comes out of it, you recognize that this dichotomy, the question of cause and effect versus alchemical transmutation, has been experienced and addressed by others - a feeling of fellowship.
I practice suspending judgment about what diet (way of life) and what kind of activity allows each of us to be at our best, and notice how different the things that delight and nourish and teach each of us are. Then I remember the fragment of Sappho's poetry, saying that some say cavalry is best, or ships on the sea, but that she says that it is whatever you love in a given moment, I see that that wisdom, to recognize that a person is nourished by wherever their heart is, has been explored long before my time.
Inspiration to 'keep the torch burning'
Then too, the fact that I am so enriched by my engagement with the beautiful and haunting words of inspiration, empathy and wisdom from long ago also continues to inspire me to write, to make a signal to the underlying connection that holds us together, to inspire myself and hopefully to share with others also.
So, just because a saying is old, don't discount it. Just because it's a young guy giving the advice, don't discount it. Just because someone has become a guru, it doesn't immediately mean that you should assume that what they have to say is insidious and to be shunned. I am grateful for inspiration!
