Moments of Ecstasy

One of the first things I noticed when I started looking into the Beatles was the fascinating reactions they were able to elicit from hordes of girls, across the world. I was both fascinated by this because of the group psychology, but also from an individual experience perspective.

I hope to get to a group psychology analysis soon, but not today. Today, I just want to show a couple pictures that I think of when I'm examining the mythology.

This experience of "Beatlemania" reportedly had girls in such an ecstatic state that they would sometimes faint, and the bleachers were said to be "soaked with urine" after the shows. The Beatles caused these girls to loose complete control of bodily functions. Impressive.



I can't help but think this Ecstasy might have been similar to the spiritual experience of St. Teresa.


"The two central sculptural figures of the swooning nun and the angel with the spear derive from an episode described by Teresa of Avila, a mystical cloistered Discalced Carmelite reformer and nun, in her autobiography, ‘The Life of Teresa of Jesus’ (1515–1582). Her experience of religious ecstasy in her encounter with the angel is described as follows:

“ I saw in his hand a long spear of gold, and at the iron's point there seemed to be a little fire. He appeared to me to be thrusting it at times into my heart, and to pierce my very entrails; when he drew it out, he seemed to draw them out also, and to leave me all on fire with a great love of God. The pain was so great, that it made me moan; and yet so surpassing was the sweetness of this excessive pain, that I could not wish to be rid of it. The soul is satisfied now with nothing less than God. The pain is not bodily, but spiritual; though the body has its share in it. It is a caressing of love so sweet which now takes place between the soul and God, that I pray God of His goodness to make him experience it who may think that I am lying." <source>

"[B]ut then you also have moments of ecstasy. The difference between everyday living and living in those moments of ecstasy is the difference between being outside and inside the Garden. You go past fear and desire, past the pair of opposites ... into transcendence.

"This is an essential experience of any mystical realization. You die to your flesh and are born into your spirit.You identify yourself with the consciousness and light of which your body is but the vehicle. You die to the vehicle and become identified in your consciousness with that of which the vehicle is the carrier. That is the God.

"...Behind all these manifestations is the one radiance, which shines through all things."

Joseph Campbell & the Power of Myth with Bill Moyers, (p.134, small paperback edition)

Here's a great blog with more about the symbolism in Bernini's statue of the Ecstasy of St. Teresa for Extra Credit http://sexualityinart.wordpress.com/2009/08/28/berninis-portrayal-of-the-ecstasy-of-saint-theresa/