How to read a mythology

[northjetty]

It is obvious in this day and age that societies have been founded on 'cultural myths and custums' that have proven to fail in terms of producing 'balance and unity' over the centuries. Many people have been persecuted and put to death over expressing conflicting issues with forms of Government that had used 'literal interpretations of mythology' as there foundations of 'knowledge'-age of the earth and creation etc. There is, and has always been, a great deal of 'confusion' concerning world mythology and the later 'theologies' that have evolved over the years. This 'confusion' is certainly the source of our 'past failures' over the centuries that stem from using a foundation of 'cultural myths and custums' as the basis for many different societies.

It is well in order to conduct a proper study on 'world mythology' and see where the 'confusion' associated with founding our societies on 'past myths and customs' has arisen? There's a valuable lesson to be learned in all of this research that certainly involves the modern discover of the WSM. The main theme found in these ancient mythic stories, the "Hero Mythologies", which is the metaphorical expression of a 'unity' between the 'one and the many', the 'infinite and finite, has been overlooked and undermined over the years by different societies-this has no doubt been the 'sole cause' of much of the 'confusion' associated with the societies that have founded themselves on the basis of neglecting this most ancient of truth's. Here's a thread that investigates the 'cause' of this 'confusion' in great detail and in the most 'obvious' way of understanding the issue. Hope this brings some clarity to the past confusions.

northjetty/space

[northjetty]

THE MEANING OF MYTH


"Let me begin by explaining the history of my impulse to 'metaphor' at the center of our exploration of 'western spirituality'. When the first volume of my "Historical Atlas of World Mythology, The way of the animal powers" came out, the publishers sent me on a publicity tour. Many of the disc jockeys and newspaper people neglected to actually read the material before the interviews took place.

The First question I would be asked was always, "what is a myth?" That is a fine beginning for an intelligent conversation. In one city however, I walked into a broadcasting station for a half-hour program where the interviewer was a young, smart-looking man who immediately warned me, "I'm tough, I put it right to you. I've studied law."

The red light went on and he began argumentatively, "The word 'myth' means 'a lie'." So I replied with my definition of 'myth'. "No, myth is not a lie. A whole mythology is an organization of 'symbolic images' and narratives, 'metaphorical' of the possibilities of human experience and the fulfillment of a given culture at a given time."

"It's a lie", he countered.

"It's a metaphor."

"It's a lie."

This went on for about twenty minutes. Around four or five minutes to before the end of the program, I realized that this interviewer did not really know what a metaphor was. I decided to treat him as he was treating me. "No," I said, "I tell you it's metaphorical. You give me an example of a metaphor."

He replied, "You give me an example."
I resisted, "No, I'm asking the question this time." I had not taught school for thirty years for nothing. "And I want you to give me an example of a metaphor."

The interviewer was utterly baffled and even went so far as to say, "Let's get in touch with some school teacher." Finally, with something like a minute and a half to go, he rose to the occasion and said, "I'll try. My friend John runs very fast. People say he runs like a deer. There's the metaphor."

As the last seconds of the interview ticked off, I replied, "That's not the metaphor. The metaphor is:John is a deer."

He shot back, "That's a lie."

"No", I said, "That is a metaphor."

The show ended. What does that incident suggest about our common understanding of metaphor? It made me reflect that half of the people in the world think that there religious traditions, for example, are FACTS. And the other half contends that they are NOT FACTS at all. As a result we have people who consider themselves believers because they accept metaphors as FACTS, and we have others who classify themselves as ATHEISTS because the they think the religious metaphors are LIES."-Proffesor Joseph Campbell


This is one of the main problems in society today. The ancient metaphors are pointing towards a unifying understanding about the 'man and cosmos'. To take the metaphors as facts, is to debase there intended meanings. To take the metaphors as lies, is to debase their actual reference to the 'ultimate factors of existence', the 'unity' between the 'one and the many'. We live in a day and age where science has finally properly located the actual physical relationship between the 'one and the many'-the actual 'hard facts' about this metaphorical relationship. People don't understand metaphors, they want 'concrete facts' as this quote seems to indicate. They seem to want 'facts' that can be accepted or negated.

The WSM cosmology supplies the 'facts' that stem from these early 'mystical intuitions' that originally inspired the writing of these ancient metaphors. They speak of a 'unity' between the 'infinite and the finite', 'the one and the many', the 'God and the man'-john 10:30 " I and the Father are one", "Thou art that", Hindu Upanishads. We're showing the 'necessary connection' involved in this ancient concept and how it relates to the modern era through our evolving 'physical science'. Here's a look at the four functions of a mythology for anyone interesting in gaining a solid foundation of knowledge concerning their intended meanings.


1. "The first function is that of reconciling 'consciousness' to the preconditions of its 'own existence'-that is, of aligning waking 'consciousness' to the 'mysterium tremedum', 'mystery' of this universe, as it 'is'. If one can not affirm 'that', one is not affirming 'life', for that is what life 'is'. Whether one thinks of the mythology in terms of the affirmation of the world as it is, the negation of the world as it is, or the restoration of the world to what it ought to be, the first function of mythology is to arouse in the 'mind' a sense of the 'awe' before this situation through one of three ways of participating in it: by moving out, moving in, or 'effecting a correction'. This I would regard as the essentially religious function of mythology-that is, the mystical function, which represents the discovery and recognition of the dimension of the mystery of being".

2. "The second function of a traditional mythology is 'interpretive', to present a consistent 'image' of the order of the 'cosmos'. At about 32,000 BC the concept of a 'cosmic order' came into being, along with the notion that society and men and women should participate in that cosmic order because it is, in fact, the basic order of one's life. In the period of the high civilizations, one comes to the experience of a great 'mystery' that manifests itself so 'impersonally' that one cannot even pray to it, one can only be in 'awe' of it. The 'Gods' themselves are simply 'agents' of that 'great high mystery', the 'secret' of which is found in 'mathmatics'. This can still be observed in our sciences, in which the mathmatics of 'time and space' are regarded as the 'veil' through which the 'great mystery', the tremendum, shows itself".

3. "The third function of a traditional mythology is to validate and support a specific moral order, that order of the society out of which that mythology arose.
all mythologies come to us in the field of a certain specific culture and must speak to us through the 'language and symbols' of that culture. In traditional mythologies, the notion is really that the moral order is organically related to or somehow of a piece with the cosmic order. Through this third function, mythology reinforces the moral order by shaping the person to the demands of a specific geographically and historically conditioned social group".

4."The fourth function of traditional mythology is to carry the individual through the various stages and crises of life-that is, to help persons grasp the unfolding of life with integrity. This wholeness means that individuals will experience events, from birth through midlife to death, as in accord with, first, 'themselves', and, secondly, with their 'culture', as well as, thirdly, 'the universe', and, lastly, with that 'mystery' beyond themselves and all things."-Joseph Campbell

"Likewise it is 'mystery' as to 'why' space exists with wave properties that allow us / complex thinking life to evolve. We know it is true - our own existence confirms this." -Geoff Haselhurst

We can take a look at these four functions in relationship to the 'science of our own era'. I have been doing that for about the last year by researching through the WSM cosmology. Campbell believed that the 'old horizons' are gone now and that 'space itself' is the final frontier for mankind-the eternal mystery. He believed that we are on a slow path towards 'unifying as a planet', rather than continuing to be separated into small "exclusive 'in-groups', or "chosen people groups", as has been the case in our past- he said, "It can't last".

The point of bringing the WSM cosmology into all of this is mythological research is quite simply that it is a 'common understanding' that directly applies to 'eveyone on the planet'-everything in the 'continuous wave medium of space' as it goes. So we're heading into a new era, a 'quantum paradigm' where the proper reconciliations between 'science and religion' are available and can be readily recognized- the world can focus on the final frontier of infinite space as one large scale unified population of a 'common substance' and being-with the proper knowledge foundations to describe this. The foundational 'knowledge' for this long expected unification to finally take place is now well in order with the emergence of the WSM cosmology as I'm seeing it.

northjetty/space