This is what I have learned.

I have learned that life is myth. Every aspect of our lives can be interpreted as mythological. When we walk through campus in February snowstorms, or late August sunshine, it always seems to be the perfect place to start a new story, a new myth. Myths always start on days like these, ones that seem normal; but every detail of the day is remembered – not as part of the myth, but because of the myth.

                Myth is the precedent behind every action. In other words, every single thing we do, every step we take; every part of our life is driven by the myths of the past. Is there no creativity anymore; has everything been done before, are we just here copying the myths we have forgotten? Our history is what defines us as people, not the history of humanity, but what we have personally experienced. All of our experiences have been thrown into an endlessly growing pile of us. We are all unique, everyone experiences the fun of life in a different way; but if myth is the reason for every action, are we not all taking experiences from the same source?

                We have been reminded that the three basic parts of myth are separation, initiation and return. With all of the complexities of life, this seems rather simplistic to be the basis for all that we know. But there are many ways to interpret all three parts. We all are born. We all live for some unimportant amount of time. We all die. What differs is how we handle it all; what we do with our life. Everyone of has experienced the middle, the initiation, but we have no idea about the other two: separation and return. What were we separated from, and what will our return entail?

                Separation can be a painful experience. Losing something comes with its obvious hardships and consequences – years can be spent mourning over separation, and in certain cases it causes death. Nobody can be separated from the atmosphere, or their brains. Where were we before we came into this world? I can’t answer for everyone, but I remember nothing from that time. Nobody can say whether it was too dark to see; or too bright. We don’t know if it was empty or crowded, warm or cold, we can’t even accurately say that it was nothing. It may have been an absolute utopia. It could just as easily be something beyond nothing; some colorless void of immeasurable loneliness. But we’ve all been separated from that place; whether you want to call it an escape or an exile, none of us are there. We are all here.

                So far as we know, this is the only step of our great personal myth where we can communicate, we can interact and feel. Our entire life has been labeled as one big initiation, according to mythology. We tend to think of initiation as a test; an obstacle that must be crossed to prove ourselves for what we are. We each presented an initiation; be it drinking until you pass out or sticking your hands in a glove full of angry biting ants, these painful experiences have been used to define life, to define what is we are doing here. What are we being initiated for; what experience could be waiting that requires such an intricate initiation – the return.

                We will return. That colorless void of unbounding loneliness will be our last arrival. Whether we choose to think of it as a place worse than hell itself, or a well-deserved paradise, it will be infinite. Nobody knows what it is until we get there, any and every guess has an equal chance of being right and wrong. We will return to the unknown, whether it will be the same or entirely different from what it was before the separation, we will return.

                Live life to the fullest, be the best initiate you can be. Our return will bring us back to what we were originally separated from. Our initiation may or may not be the only time we have to enjoy these experiences, but who wants to take the chance? Pain is only an associate of initiation, not a requirement. Instead of relying on the idea that we will have the afterlife to be who we want, embrace life as if it’s the only chance you have. Be who you are, take risks, gain experience at life; for all we know once we die we just sit in a box in the ground and rot until we become nothing.  Do what you want, live life with no regrets and just enjoy it while it lasts. This is the only time we have on this earth, so make the most of it.

That, anyway, is what I have learned.     

Air "Quotes"

Are we ever really quoting ourselves?

Quotes are used to refer to things that make argumentative points stronger, or to make people think; but air quotes are the ugly step sister of these written beauties.

Most of the time the air quotes are simply used to offend people, to make a funny joke. Some one may be expecting one answer, like when a girl tells a guy 'I love you,' she expects him to say, 'I love you too;' but if we throw some air quotes around the important word - love  - 'I "love" you too,' it becomes a horribly offensive statement - especially when she was serious about it.

Air quotes are close to sarcasm, but are a little different. When used, the phrase put inside the air quotes is immediately noted to be taken in jest, and often as the opposite of what they really mean. They can be sneaky little things, that almost look like devil horns growing out of the word, making it sinful and harsh.

Many times they are funny, but it's up to the other person to decide how far they go, and we all know that they will take it too far.

Apollo and Daphne Displacement

Mary was a beautiful, intelligent girl who had a terrible secret. She was addicted to drugs. Coke, meth, heroin, you name it and she had it. She would find jobs that fit her perfectly but eventually her employers would find out about her issue and fire her.

She was out of the job for a few months and was getting desperate for money. She decided to move out to Portland with her cousin Sarah. Before she left, she had to get enough money to eat and survive as she traveled across the country.

She went down to the local bank and robbed it. She got away but through security cameras and previous offences - mostly drug charges - the cops were able to identify her and let out a press release identifying her as the culprit. With almost all of New York knowing she just robbed a bank she had to avoid all trains/buses/etc. She decided to just start walking and hope that anyone passing by didn't recognize her.

After weeks of walking and getting short rides from strangers on the road, she came upon a diner along the highway in Ohio.

Pete was a nice guy. He was always in between jobs and had moved from city to city working odd jobs and just going through life as a typical nobody. He had a tendency to cling to anyone he cared about, whether or not they had similar feelings.

Pete was also in the diner. He noticed a girl walk in the door and recognized her from the highway. He walked up to Mary and they started talking. Pete was also going to Portland, just to find work and start a new life.

Throughout their journey, Pete started falling for Mary. She found him to be overly nice and that put her off for most of the drive, but it was better than walking. They eventually got to the city and Pete dropped her off. She gave him a few hundred dollars and thanked him, and he left.

About two months later, she noticed Pete's car parked outside. She didn't think anything of it, plenty of people have trucks, and his one happens to be red just like Pete's. But when she looked again a few seconds later, the truck was speeding off down the street.

There were a couple nights over the next few weeks where she thought she saw that same red truck creeping by her window, each time speeding off when she approached the window.

Sarah was about to get a promotion to branch manager at her job, but had to attend a conference about management skills in San Francisco. She was going to leave for a few weeks and would be back as soon as she can.

The first few nights were just fine. She would go out to bars and drink or stay in and watch movies and was doing fine on her own. Then she noticed Pete's truck outside one night.

She knew she was in trouble when she approached the window and he didn't speed off, instead his lights went off and the engine died. She ran back through the house to get out the back door but he was already in the house by that time. He called out to her and she ran through the neighborhood.

He followed. His gun was out and he had to find her; after all, he was in love with her. For hours they ran, she was always within shouting distance and he could sense where she was going - the ocean.

Out to a cliff over the beach Mary ran, wishing she could do anything to get away. She knew she was at a dead end, and there was only one way out. The way out would be permanent  but it was clearly the better option.

She saw his dark, horrifying figure come out of the distance and took the jump.

The Storyteller

Over the course of the semester, we have talked many times about C. G. Jung’s idea of the collective subconscious. Each of us has a subconscious that is connected to everyone else’s. This goes hand in hand with the idea that we don’t learn anything, we just remember. The moment we come into this world, we already have all the knowledge we could ever want. We simply need to be reminded of what we have forgotten.

“Talking the way a storyteller talks means being able to feel and live in the very heart of that culture, means having penetrated its essence, reached the marrow of its history and mythology, given body to its taboos, images, ancestral desires, and terrors . . . That my friend Saul gave up being all that he was and might have become so as to roam through the Amazonian jungle, for more than twenty years now . . . is something that memory now and again brings back to me . . . and it opens my heart more forcefully than fear or love has ever done.” (Llosa, pgs. 244-245)

As we go through life, we hear things and take in our surroundings, interactions, feelings and ideas and these shape the individuals we become. Our collective subconscious regulates what we remember and what we re-forget as we grow up; steering us in the direction we were meant to go.

Saul Zaratas is an exemplary case of this happening. He doesn’t fit in anywhere; he is constantly labeled as different, an outsider, a foreigner, because of his appearance. Our collective subconscious led him down the path where he would hear and experience the right things, he wouldn’t learn but he would remember a precise combination of pieces of knowledge, unique and different from everyone else. All of which would lead him to the Amazonian jungle where he would find his place.

Each person has their own path which is set for us the minute we come into this world. The collective subconscious of humankind influences what we remember, what we re-forget, and what never remember. Our paths are already laid out for us, we just have to be the ones unique enough to experience them in the right way.

Pederasty

In parts of ancient Greece, not all of it, there were certain things to do, hoops to jump through, before marriage was an option for you.

Just coming into adulthood, at about seventeen or eighteen, it was time to prove your manhood. The best option was to do the obvious. Go on a hunt, by yourself, and heroically kill an animal of significant size. Not a rabbit or squirrel, but something like an elk or large deer.

The other option was pederasty.

Pederasty is the consensual intimate relationship between a teenage boy and an older man. Yes, it was public and yes, it came with consequences if one opted out.

For whatever reason, being publicly raped by a senior citizen was considered to prove your manhood to the women who would be marrying you in a few years.

If, however, you chose NOT to do this and couldn't find any luck hunting, you were ridiculed publicly. You would be forced to grow your hair out, and wear dresses, like a girl. People would refer to you as a woman and you would not be able to marry in the future.

Apollo and The Sibyls

Page 143 in The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony begins talking about Herophile, who is a Sibyl of Delphi. Sibyls were granted the power of prophesy by Apollo, son of Zeus and Leto.  Herophile was also born from Zeus, although her mother was Lamia not Leto, which is why she claims to be the twin sister of Apollo. She would sometime refer to herself as Artemis, who actually is the twin sister of Apollo.

Artemis is the goddess who caught Actaeon looking at her naked body as she was bathing and turned him into a stag. He was then devoured by the hounds he had brought with him, as they only saw another stag to be eaten.

As the Sibyl of Delphi, Herophile prophesied the coming of Helen; which in turn caused the Trojan War, the destruction of Asia and Europe, etc. 

The other Sibyl mentioned, Demophile, is also known as the Sibyl of Cumae. She was granted the power of prophesy from Apollo, just as Herophile was, but she was given another gift. Apollo allowed her to live as many years as grains of sand she could hold in her hands. Apollo eventually tried to seduce her and she rejected him, so Apollo let her youth slip away and she became so old and disgusting that she began begging to die.

The story of these two Sibyls give just another of the infinite insights into the many sides of Apollo, one of the main gods throughout The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony. 

Hugging The Tree