"This is an absolute necessity for everyone. You must have a room, or a certain hour or so in a day, where you don’t know what was in the newspapers that morning, you don’t know who your friends are, you don’t know what you owe anyone . . . This is a place where you can simply experience and bring forth what you are and what you might be. This is the place of creative incubation. At first you may find that nothing happens there. But if you have a sacred place and use it, something eventually will happen."
-Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth
Most world religions use prayer beads--Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Christianity, and more. Prayer beads are used for a common purpose throughout, for pathways of meditation and spirituality. Through meditation with the help of prayer beads, we can withdraw from the materialistic world, personal desires and afflictions, stress, daily routines, and consumerism to focus on the spiritual being. Our religions may be different, but meditation and prayer are important for all. We focus not on ourselves or this world, but on our belief and its purpose--which in turn gives our life meaning.
"Christianity isn't moving people's lives today. What's moving people's lives is the stock market and the baseball scores. What are people excited about? It's a totally materialistic level that has taken over the world. There isn't even an ideal that anybody's fighting for."
-Joseph Campbell, interview with Tom Collins
Reflecting on spirituality with prayer beads gives us the ability to move away from our materialistic society. As implied by Joseph Campbell, many people focus their lives on money, sports, consumerism, and society. Through the use of prayer beads and their meditative power we focus on how our religion moves our lives and shapes our world, instead of allowing a materialistic society to shape who we are.
"Life is without meaning. You bring the meaning to it. The meaning of life is whatever you ascribe it to be. Being alive is the meaning."
-Joseph Campbell
How do you participate in life? What brings meaning to your life? I challenge you to step outside of society and bring your own meaning to life. Shape the world instead of allowing the world to shape you. Self reflection and meditation are key.
