Advocate for soul, renegade psychologist, men’s coach, artist, musician, cultural activist and host of the Howl in the Wilderness podcast Brian James writes on Poetic Faith, the recent anthology Poetic Faiths: New Religions and Rituals as Works of Living Art and his own development of Archetypal Shamanism:
Both Coleridge’s Poetic Faith and Keats’ Negative Capability elegantly capture the cognitive leap most of us moderns need to make in order for our hearts and souls to be moved by any narrative artform, whether it’s a film, play, novel or a religious ritual. It’s what another recent podcast guest Abi Millar calls “faith without belief.”
Essentially, it’s the recognition that in order for any ritual to be truly meaningful in the deepest sense, we need to leave our rational, materialist mindset at the door. A well-crafted ritual or artwork are often compelling and immersive enough for us to make this leap of faith, and there are certain practices (breathing, chanting, dancing) that are designed to help. And, when all else fails, a fair-sized dose of any psychedelic will certainly hurtle us across the threshold of disbelief/belief. But you can also loosen the stranglehold of the rational mind and increase your Negative Capability by regularly and consistently engaging in imaginal, creative practices.