Man (Un)Caved

(Un)canny: The Tapestry of Life: Sacred Stories, Spiritual Journeys, and Awakening in the Everyday

• Shane Coyle

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Embark on a journey through the mystical pathways of storytelling as I, Shane Coyle, weave tales that unravel the threads of spirituality and transformation. From the ancient wisdom of Dogen Zenji to the enduring epics and parables that have shaped our collective consciousness, we explore how these narratives are more than mere stories—they are blueprints for personal growth and understanding. As we navigate the symbolism imbued within our human odyssey, I draw on my background in psychology and religious studies to reveal how reconnecting with both our spiritual essence and the natural world around us can illuminate the path toward enlightenment.

This episode also offers an intimate glimpse into the everyday magic that permeates our lives, if only we choose to acknowledge it. I share anecdotes from the seemingly mundane—like finding the profound whilst caught in traffic—to foster an appreciation for the beauty and spirituality that lies in the simplicity of the now. Through these stories, I invite you to cultivate practices that anchor you in the present, urging acceptance over the fruitless pursuit of control. Together, let’s discover the peace that comes from embracing life's rich tapestry, one extraordinary moment at a time.

Speaker 1:

I think it's basically put nicely from Dogen Zenji, this Buddhist philosopher. He says in the mundane nothing is sacred. In the sacred, nothing is mundane. Welcome back everybody to man Uncaved. Welcome back everybody to man and caved. Today's episode we are going to set sail. We're going to set sail and navigate many different lands and the idea is to explore our own perspective, to explore our own sense of consciousness, to expand our own sense of consciousness, to expand our own sense of consciousness. Again, it is within that that the shifts of perspective tend to live, and within those shifts of perspective is actually transformation, is where transcendence is, it's where healing is when we expand our own visions. Let me put this into place that to understand that we by nature are storytellers. All sacred texts are written in story format, from the ways of the cross with Jesus. We have the hieroglyphics, we have cave paintings, we have the epic of Gelgamesh, the Bhagavad Gita and the Joseph Campbell and the Hero's Journey. Carl Jung once said man and his symbols and it is within these stories is great teachings and great messagings that to take the literal meaning of a word is actually the lowest meaning you can give that word. There is a spirit beyond those words. There is a message to receive I think it's basically put nicely from Dogen Zenji, this Buddhist philosopher. He says in the mundane nothing is sacred, in the sacred, nothing is mundane and it is within. The fault line between the sacred and the mundane is the separation from spirit and deeper consciousness, and that is that journey that I like to refer to as the alignment that we are aligning the spirit and the ego, if you can put into those forms where we have lost our way. Now again, going back into stories, we've heard stories such as, you know, the tree of knowledge, where the origin, where man has fallen from grace, and that tree of knowledge, we've relied more on our thinking. And it is within that story, the tree of knowledge, that where man has fallen from grace we can also see this portrayed where we have relied more on our own thoughts Good, evil, right, wrong and within that engagement of our own human experience, it's thought versus our own sacred heart, where our divinity lives, where love lives beyond the fear, and that, 18 inches from our mind to our heart, is where that journey lives, called transformation.

Speaker 1:

Start to pan out and look at all the parables and symbols. It's a pointer. They're pointing to transformation and looking at how can we make the everyday existence. And looking at how can we make the everyday existence, the daily grinds, the chores we must do to complete, can seem so mundane and challenge us in our own growth, in our own understanding, and we get challenged within those concepts. And healing is start to understand this from a broader lens, standing within these parables again. This simple idea is to understand this from a broader lens, standing within these parables again. This simple idea is to understand the existence. Even tattoos in themselves. These were initiations, these were initiations and rituals taken to transform boys to men and so that idea of moving in from a boy to becoming a man.

Speaker 1:

We must go through pain and that's the symbolism of these tattoos. We've seen that in the crucification of Jesus in itself, where he is being crucified in this pain and as you watch this, watch him go through the grieving process, father, why me? To the acceptance and the letting go. And he is grieving his ego, he is grieving the child within to recognize the spirit of who he is. We see this portrayed in movies Lion King, the character overcoming their own conflicts, their own challenges of life to triumph and evolve, to grow, to learn. And of course this is not an easy process. There is pain there, there is loss there, there is fear there and these symbols and parables within these stories are really pointing to the rebirthing process.

Speaker 1:

And many of you don't know, I majored in psychology. I also have majored in religious studies, so we took a look at a lot of these sacred texts from Christianity, judaism. We've looked at Native American spiritual teachings, eastern philosophies, and broke them down into discussions and to look at the deeper meanings behind them. And seeing the teachings within these sacred texts and they will always be written into any transformational journey is these three major ideas of what is called birth, death and rebirth. You know EO Wilson is a biologist.

Speaker 1:

He said if you take a organism out of its natural habitat, it will lead to social and psychological breakdowns. Since we've become so separated from nature and existence, beyond Wi-Fi buzzing our nervous system and overhead lights and cubicles and work and buildings that kept us more separated, we've lost ways with understanding nature. As Einstein said, look deep into nature and you will understand everything better. The seasons of change and understanding the greater meanings of fall, with the grieving process and the death, of winter, to the rebirth of spring and the sharing of the summertime, those big meanings would help teach us, as a species, what it is to live. The yeoman farmer that used to be out, the dad and his son tilling the land, would actually see birth and death in 24 hours the sun that comes up, the sun that sets and that is the death of the day. So there was much more happening, more spiritual connection in life and speaking of death, from indigenous tribes looking at certain things like plant medicine and with psychedelics and the ego, death, the tribes. There's tribes actually in Africa that take extreme amounts of ibogaine or mushrooms and what they're doing is to actually simulate an actual death. I mean, they take it in such high quantities to actually simulate the death, to become reborn again and really understanding the ego.

Speaker 1:

Just to put a couple words on that, if anybody's read the Course of Miracle, the objective of the ego is to keep us separated from the spirit of who we are, and I tend to make a joke about it. I once saw this t-shirt that said your ego is not your amigo. However, my thoughts is it should be, because it is in alignment with an understanding that ego, those identities we have attached to. We want to get to know those, the idea of finding the sacred in the mundane is connected to a lot of great lofty teachings from religions Zen, buddhism, to Western psychology with positive psychology. So these have been interlaced within the fabrics of our existence for 5,000 plus years, shifting our thoughts.

Speaker 1:

The idea of I have to to I get to, the beauty in the idea of I get to it could be as simple, you know, it could be hard for a lot of people. I have to work today, I get to work today and we've heard these shifting of a couple words and it actually stimulates a different experience to it. And so, within that again is taking these mundane tasks, these daily tasks, and bringing a deeper meaning that could be more sacred to us. And that's the whole idea behind this transformational journey, because it can be challenging, especially as we are walking through difficulties, dark nights of the soul. Life itself can be just challenging. Again, the daily grinds and what we have to do within human existence to make it and survive can be challenging.

Speaker 1:

But the idea is that if we can consciously infuse these daily tasks with a greater meaning and connect it to our own personal goals and value, you know, like living in a tidy home has actually no meaning in of itself. However, when we bring it into a perspective of a broader goal and aligning it the mundane so that it's in accord with our own passions, and maybe that's what can lighten the journey and lighten the load of our dailies and the existence, and then that brings in deeper questions when do we find our passion? Sometimes we're so stuck in the mundane and that we've lost connection with our own passions. So this could include taking time with ourselves, finding what those things are, of course, surrounding ourselves with supportive community. Now community, be friends, attend friends it could be three, it could be five that you really can connect with. Family.

Speaker 1:

I love the idea of working with other men that will explore and challenge with you, of course men and community that is in alignment with purpose and challenging themselves, so they can also challenge you in your own personal growth. And there's a sense of accountability there. And I think there's some beauty within finding these little sacred moments within our daily. Look, you're not going to catch them all. We will get stuck in our own way. I will get stuck in my own way. I'll just tell you that, to be honest, where I don't see the sacredness, I don't take that moment and that beautiful pause to witness the beauty that, to be honest, where I don't see the sacredness, I don't take that moment and that beautiful pause to witness the beauty that might be going around or could lighten the load a little bit, could bring a little breathing room for your daily existence, ability to relax into the day.

Speaker 1:

Instead of being tense, I find myself at times just tense, the body's tense through the day. You know, getting from A to B and I live in LA, so there's much traffic Moments within that where I got to really explore myself, my own thoughts, right when I want to be. I want to be there, I want to be there already, all these people are in the way, so I just found myself colliding with everything. People are in the way, so I just found myself colliding with everything, colliding with the drivers, colliding with traffic, colliding with so much, and I caught myself spiraling into this, complaining and blaming and being irritated and angry, one grasping for some sense of control. It was the sense of superiority, that I am more superior than traffic and that the world needs to operate the way that I want the world to operate, and it gave me a moment to catch myself, to breathe into it and I could make that change right there. Like I've said before, transformation is instantaneous. It just gave me a moment to relax.

Speaker 1:

So finding beautiful moments where the sacred lives, the spirit lives in our daily existence, and not so attaching to this mundane of it. And just to put out the disclaimer, gentle, because we're not going to catch all of it. We're not sitting on a mountaintop all day long where we get a chance to do this. We're all contemporary, we live in this daily lives, here in the world today, in society today. So there will be some challenges. So it's a practice. Again, what is your practice? Is the big tool, that one with me sitting in traffic? That was my practice.

Speaker 1:

If I keep complaining and I keep coming irritable and I keep coming angry at what is that idea of the is-ness of the moment, I was trying to rearrange it. I was trying to rearrange it to make it more comfortable for myself. Comfortable for myself is the way that I want it to be and the way that it should quote unquote be according to me. And there it was, the letting go and the pain of that experience. Now, again, pain is all relative, but the letting go in that moment was the letting go of control and moving to acceptance, and that could be challenging and painful for most of us. I'm hoping this helps people, because this is something I am striving for and working through and practicing in my own daily life is finding those beautiful moments. Please let me know what you think of this episode. It really helps me a lot. Please leave reviews if you do like it, and maybe it brings just a nice inhale and exhale through your day Again. My name is Shane Coyle and this is man Uncaved. We need to come out of hiding.