Melinda Peirce
LIT285 - Mythology - Final Paper
Dr. Michael Sexson
December 7, 2010
One of my mythical belief's. I believe that Stonehenge, the great pyramids and other wonders of the world were built because humans had strong interactive relationships with the Sky Gods and Goddess of their times. These civilization were destroyed when humans started believing they no longer needed the Gods and Goddesses and these humans were banished from the lands.
Then the Gods and Goddess return to the sky to watch humans in comic action. This made their days and this is why we have astrological gods as symbols for each month of the year.
I think this happened with many ancient civilizations before our time. It is the only truth that makes sense for all the marvelous things left behind in such grandeur without having the lifting and moving technology we have today.
Topic for Final Paper
Unable to wrap my mind around the reading of Henderson and the Rain King, I chose one of the alternative topics to write my final paper on. The topic - What I've Learned That I didn't know Before. When I read this, confusion set in because one of the first things we learned in Mythology was that we already know and it's all been done before. That education is not the act of a professor teaching, but a professor helping one recollect what they already know. So, I am rewording my topic - What I Already Knew and Learned to Remember.
Early Understanding of Mythology, Storytelling and Legends
I have always been fascinated by other cultures and how they seem to incorporate myths and stories into their everyday life. In my mind our American culture seems cold, black and white, restrictive in thought and actions. Reality is that there is more than "the white man's thought" and this seems to me this scares the American culture. Being Caucasian always bothered me until the day I realized I had actually grabbed the wrong colored skin suit on my way to this world.
Being open minded and having the desire to read about other cultures and their legends, rituals, ceremonies, gods, goddesses, spirits and deities, helped me find spiritual meaning in my life. Until recently my focus books were on Native American, Buddhist and Hindu culture and belief systems. My focus has definitely expanded now that I've taken this class.
Sometime in the mid 90's I was introduce to Joseph Campbell through a PBS special. I immediately went to the local library and checked out the VHS series "Power of Myth". 
This changed my life and Campbell's philosophy on the importance of myth and storytelling fascinated me, on top of his extraordinary talent of telling primitive mythical stories. Campbell is also full of some of the most amazing life changing quotes like, "Myths are public dreams, dreams are private myths" and "We must let go of the life we have planned, so as to accept he one that is waiting for us" and "Follow your bliss and the universe will open up doors where there were only walls". These are just some of the ones that change my life forever.
This changed my life and Campbell's philosophy on the importance of myth and storytelling fascinated me, on top of his extraordinary talent of telling primitive mythical stories. Campbell is also full of some of the most amazing life changing quotes like, "Myths are public dreams, dreams are private myths" and "We must let go of the life we have planned, so as to accept he one that is waiting for us" and "Follow your bliss and the universe will open up doors where there were only walls". These are just some of the ones that change my life forever. My understanding of myth and storytelling from books I've read before LIT285 gave me a sense of what I believe to be the true way of living "authentically" on our Great Mother Earth. It brought the true meaning of why one needs to respect and treat all sentient and non-sentient life forms the same. Books like - The Book - Allen Watts, Myths To Live By - Joseph Campbell, Vision Quest - Steven Foster, Four Archetypes - CG Jung, Chop Wood Carry Water - Rick Fields, Ceremonial Circles - Sedona Cahill and The Buddha and His Teachings - Samuel Bercholz and many more. This has enabled me to live in color with my stories, myths and ritual. Giving this "white" person more depth in her life and psyche and I don't mean Easter, Christmas or to church or mass, etc. I mean deep mythological things like.......brushing my teeth (smiling).
What I Already Knew and Learned to Remember
Before Mythology LIT285 I had no recollection of any Greek or Roman Mythology or any of the characters, gods or goddesses and all those below. I looked at the material we were being asked to read and panicked. How was this professor ever going to get me to remember this? I started rethinking what we were told at the beginning of the course - we already know everything and it's already been done. What came to mind next was, "this professor has his work cut out for him."
Ovid, The Golden Bough, Myth and Reality and the countless other books and stories referenced in class. How was I going to "remember" all this? Between the thousand stories and hundred thousand characters, could I really fill my memory back up? Then and not with all, the stories started sounding familiar. Their connections to the past, the present and even the future started showing through the pages. Even though it took the entire course, I can now see how Ovid is a book with all stories of all stories in it. As much as I struggled with it, I am actually excited to re-experience the book again and probably again after that, I have this new desire to find all the ways Ovid's stories can connect to the past, present and future.
LIT285 also helped me recollect information that was truly familiar to me, but a stranger too and remembering just woke my mind to one thought after another. It was like someone put the VHS on fast forward. This had nothing to do with the actual stories we read, the movies we discussed or the other books we should read. I connected most with "ideas and philosophy" of the world in which Mythology danced.
When this type of discussion woke my memory to things like framed stories, truth, reality, conscious, unconscious, knowing before we remember and so forth, I was truly in my element of knowing with a kind of newness. This made the worry of trying to remember which god or goddesses did this or that or who they were related to, easier to let go of. A story is a story no matter what character(s) you assign it. I realized that once I got to know the story, the characters became (most the time) easier to place within the story. No guarantees this will last.
How Recollecting What I Knew Makes a Difference
One of the downfalls with our world today, especially the United States, is that everyone is in a hurry. They hurry to work, to school, to play, through vacations and so forth. Taking Mythology LIT285 reminded me that even I was racing through life again. I realized that this world, these thought patterns were being pushed aside again for what I thought was more important to do or get done. Actually, between taking Philosophy last semester and now Mythology I realized that I needed to bring myself back to myself. Living with myth and rituals is part of who I (hopefully we) am. It makes me stronger and more confident. It brings more meaning to everything I do, from the smallest task to a major project. Without living and acting within this world of thought, I am (we are) just blood, body and bones being dragged through life.
The consequences of taking Mythology LIT285
Some of the consequences of taking this course are 1) I realized that I am completely normal and our Universe/World makes even more sense. 2) I now like the statement, "don't take life too serious." This response can really sneak upon one fast and before you know it, you're swimming in a soup of fear, worry, stress and sickness. Living under an umbrella of color and creativity is far better than in The Fog. I truly look forward to meeting up again with the "book gods" like, Ovid, The Golden Bough, Primitive Zen and Power of Myth to see what "AWE's" they can trigger in my mind's eye.
Dreaming into Reality
A few weeks ago I had a dream. It involved thinking of that which always is and eternal, going and coming, parallel worlds/universes and how different life is as a child vs. as an adult. I am not an English or Literature major as you can probably tell, but I really wanted to get across my visions/dreams of this picture of my views of Mythology.
Before I was taken to the next level of myth in this class, I had an understanding of stories, legends, myth and the mind. I really feel that today minds are blind to the world of knowing within them. As stated many time in class we are taught to grow up and give up the fantasy stories and fairytales. REALLY? No wonder the U.S. is screwed up.
In representing what I think is some summation of Mythology, I designed this sculpture. Do we all remember Plato's Allegory of the Cave? Well if you forgot, I will remind you.
Plato's Allegory Of The Cave
Three prisoners have been chained deep inside a cave for their whole life. They are chained so tightly that all they ever see or experience are the grotesque shadows cast on a wall from a fire that is burning behind then. This is the only reality they have ever known. Then one day, a prisoner is released. He is blinded by the light outside the cave and astonished to see a completely new reality of people, animals, and objects casting these shadows into the cave. He scurries back to tell the prisoners the news, but to his dismay, the prisoners do not believe his frantic stories of the world outside of the cave. For the shadows on the wall are the only reality the prisoners have ever known, and therefore, to them, that is all that will ever exist.
This is the perfect representation of my sculpture. Let me break it down for you. The sculpture is a plain white mask of a face, holes where eyes should be. I propped this mask up in front of a series of mirrors, against mirror on mirrors, the mask facing away from the mirrors. Below is my vision of humans today facing the allegory of their cave.
Mythology - Allegory of the Mind
There are prisoners of the modern world chained deep within their beliefs of money, greed and technology. They see only this world and what they can gain from it, blind to the mythical wonders of their past, present and future. One day from years of chaos some woke from their deep sleep and saw the light. It was blinding, but after some adjustment their visions were clear. The myths of their minds were showing themselves and it was an AWE never seen before. These few tried to remind others of this mythical wonder, but because the reality in front of them was too strong and fear was too great, they ignore the others for this is the only world they will unfortunately see or know.
The materials I used in the making of this sculpture have meaning too. The blank, simple white mask of a human face, facing away from the mythical wonders (mirrors). The blank human face, facing this way represents to me all those looking at a false world. The blank inner mask facing the mirrors represents all possibilities. The front of the face will only know what is told to them by the world in front of them. The inner face (mind) facing the mirrors will know all that is already known and that has been done before. Mirrors represent infinity, imagery and imagination. Mirrors capture truth and reality.
Some of the most fascinating topics discussed in class, I thought were those on the framed story, all ends begin again, knowing before we remember and it's all been done before. Like in class I will bring "movie and book" references in to play here. I won't explain them, but I hope if you don't know of them you will watch or read them.
Horton Hears A Who
Sliding Doors
Vanilla Sky
A Beautiful Mind
"What The Bleep Do We Know?"
THE END
