MYTHIC CONNECTIONS (MYTH IN PRACTICE):
(A)ETIOLOGICAL MYTH In a sense, the communicative nature of myth can be extended even more specifically to the nature of myth as stories that (try to) explain various natural phenomena or engage in essential questions that directly and indirectly affect not just humanity but life in general. Thus, etiology refers to the causes that the mythic narrative touches upon. The statement that myth teaches is most directly noticeable especially in this respect, as the “observers” who pass on the knowledge through myths can be said to represent a proto-scientist, engaging his audience (for the most part, this role was reserved for males of a given society) with narratives explaining everything from natural phenomena as let’s say lightning (generally attributed to storm and sky gods, such as Zeus or Indra) to the way the world comes into being (creation myths) or even marginal events dealing more directly with humanity (how a particular tool or part of a human body is formed, why death comes in being). The more pragmatic wisdom of age-old traditions is becoming more and more prevalent in science in research, where for example Buddhist practices about mindfulness reveal concrete, medical benefits and are not mere mumbo-jumbo. I mentioned creation myths. They are a culture’s ultimate account(s) of its origins. As such, we can distinguish different creation stories, in some cases even within the same religious tradition (i.e. Egyptian, Christian): ex-nihilo or out of nothing creation (Christian), earth-diver creation (Slovene), breaking of the primal unity or world-parents myths (Egyptian), creation through the dismemberment of a primordial being (Babylonian) and emergence creation (Pueblo). There are numerous variations on these “big bang” events, however, the desire is always to provide a beginning or a cultural starting point, so we can always know where we come from and what it may all mean. Again, how speculative or how factual all of that may or may not be, is a matter of debate that often gets trapped in hermeneutic cycles, plus it opens an ideological can of worms that has deeply burrowed into our minds and lives. In the contemporary world, where much of the arcane knowledge of old has already been deconstructed and science has made leaps and bounds into the future, few of such “explanations” inspire the reader to treat myths seriously. Of course, this modern factual bigotry has made us complaisant, since our “truths” have greatly evolved from those in many myths. The relevance and essence of myth lies beyond the mere factuality; if every word of Jesus would have been taken verbatim, his teachings would make little sense. More than that, as far as great life teachers go, the accounts of great (especially Axial Age) teachers such as Jesus, Confucius, the Buddha and Socrates were written by their followers, not themselves. Any second-hand accounts, let alone extremely progressing thinking of figures that have shaped the course of humanity in general, must be taken with a large grain of salt. Factuality, misinterpretations and tongue lapses shape the oral nature of teaching and historical (in)accuracy comes into question. These issues are also central to all mythological accounts. While mythology embraces such differentiations (of fictitious nature) as the richness of the mythic narrative and the possibility of wider application of these stories beyond its original time and place, history per se (rooted in factual accounts) cannot cope with discrepancy, so when a view is taken, it becomes steadfast and “true” (and I’m not even considering the pop-culture and mass-media often blatantly wrong shortcuts to comprehension). Religion is essentially stuck between the eternal truth and the constancy of changes in the spheres of culture and time. While myths account for variations and are central “doctrines” in every religion, the institutional nature of religion needs to implement order that is generally accepted as factual, true and everlasting … paradoxically in the Universe of constant flux, hence the reason why religion fails in the eyes of science. While we cannot scientifically fathom that first generations of humans might have lived for hundreds of years, as many scriptures advocate, we can and must see the message of the myth in its transcendence and full(filling)ness of the story. Long before we could factually theorize that our world is but a spec in the much larger reality, has the Hindu wisdom preached about the many layers of being, the numerous worlds that exist beyond what we can physically see and even sense of. While mythic factually is temporal, mythic wisdom is transcended. Food for thought.
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November 2017
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