myth

Pronunciation: 'mith

Function: noun

Etymology: Greek mythos

Date: 1830

1. a usually traditional story of ostensibly historical events that serves to unfold part of the world view of a people or

explain a practice, belief, or natural phenomenon

2. a popular belief or tradition that has grown up around something or someone; especially: one embodying the

ideals and institutions of a society or segment of society

3. a person or thing having only an imaginary or unverifiable existence
4. the whole body of myths

my·thol·o·gy

Pronunciation: mi-'thä-lō-jE

Function: noun

Inflected Form(s): plural –gies

Etymology: French or Late Latin; French mythologie, from Late Latin mythologia interpretation of myths, from Greek, legend, myth, from mythologein to relate myths, from mythos + logos speech

Date: 1603

1. an allegorical narrative
2. a body of myths dealing with the gods, demigods, and legendary heroes of a particular people
3. a branch of knowledge that deals with myth
4. a popular belief or assumption that has grown up around someone or something

All Contents: Copyright © 2005 Joshua Faulkenberry

All rights reserved

Reproduce as you please

Apocalypse Tao

Contact: joshua@apocalypsetao.com

Cover photo by Joshua Hancock Faulkenberry

Walking down the street lately, more and more it seems that the people I see passing me by give off the impression of having a complete lack of any semblance of an inner life. Seemingly entirely empty on the inside; stuck in their right-off-the-shelf consumer worlds of nothing but work, watch TV, work, spend money, watch TV, sleep, work, watch TV, spend money, watch TV, sleep, watch TV, spend money, work, and on and on and on. Although some of them may actually pursue some mild extracurricular pastimes to feel like they have something left outside of their work, they never seem to find any real fulfillment in life save for a new television, more channels, a new car or house here or there, essentially more stuff. It appears to me that most people cannot think, much less live, beyond the most basic passive/aggressive psychological levels.

Even worse, children today do not appear as though they will end up any better than their parents, their lives spent raised on PlayStation, MTV, sex, and Pepsi. By the time most kids reach the age of five, they have already become perfect little prepackaged consumers. These kids willingly fight and claw to buy into whatever next big new trend the media “happens” to

• push (a media that you cannot escape without going to the wilderness… and even then ). Children seem to worry more about what name brand they will sport on a particular day than how they can contribute to the world or gain fulfillment as a human being. Parents do not seem

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to supply any real guidance to their children in becoming a fully functional human being . I guess they expect the schools to take care of that, though it seems pretty clear that the television does most of the childrearing in the America of the twenty first century.

Even assuming that the vast majority of homes in the US claim one religion or another, how spiritual does this next generation really seem? In lieu of church and family, these kids must have developed one skewed semblance of a mythological system (if you can even call it that). A system that must consist of one very elaborate framework of superstar rappers and athletes regularly implicated in various criminal activities, television and movie characters so shallow and self-absorbed that they appear interested only in fucking and getting fucked, and a giant wad of celebrities that offer children a view of a life that they will probably never have and then tell them to go out and drink a Diet Coke. Of course, I would imagine this mythology must include some actual religion somewhere in there, as well (as if that really makes things any better).

The accepted mythology of “modern” civilization appears to me somehow based on the idea that we all know that we all want and feel something more to this concept that we call reality, but everyone has made an unspoken agreement just to give up and simply wait around for scientists and the theologians (the “experts”) to explain it all. On the other hand, maybe the people who control us all have set up an elaborate system contrived, in part, so that all myth will die out resulting in the populace now seeing the idea of Heaven on Earth as an empty dream thus embracing the status quo. Alternatively, maybe people have actually come to think they can really find Heaven on Earth if they spend more money, or win that next trophy, or get that next fix whatever the form it might take (and just maybe our masters planned this all out as well). Most likely, all three and much much more factors into the equation.

In any case, like the proverbial hole in the ozone layer, the hole in the collective unconsciousness of America shows signs of exponential growth. I imagine it as a giant gaping gash in the side of the psyche of all of humanity. Supposedly, organized religion does what it can to act as a bandage for the wound. Still in the dark ages, however, religion uses leeches, sucking the psyche dry leaving the original injuries entirely unaddressed. Bluntly, religion

A media whose agendas appear increasingly nefarious and increasingly tied to the agendas of others. †

Quite the contrary, assuming that kids learn by example.

appears to have become just as corrupt and just as much a part of the closing of minds and the hardening of hearts as have the media and government. (I find it exceedingly difficult to find a difference between the three these days, anyway.)

I feel that we need to reawaken that “inner something” that has started to slowly dissipate from within all of us for whatever reason. As opposed to using concepts like “the soul” or “the spirit” to describe it, try to think of this “something” more as a connectedness with your own humanity and beyond that, a connectedness to the whole human race and beyond that, a connectedness to the universe and so on and so on until you have achieved a total connectedness

with everything . The achievement of this total connectedness has many names: Tao, God, Nirvana, and so on. Nevertheless, in every religion, it appears that to reach such a level, one must start the journey from within. I think of mythology as one of history’s (or even the collective unconsciousness’) ways of teaching us the means of achieving that connectedness.

Through the use of mythology, we can obtain a vision of the total commonality of the human experience. These stories work at such a base level that every human being can relate to and learn from the archetypal symbolism universally present in all mythology. Man’s myths may or may not answer all of the questions burning deep inside the heart of every person—the search for truth, the search for a deeper understanding of the universe and of our own nature, and the search to discover why we exist at all. However, they at least offer us some direction through the various quandaries that we all must face in the course of our lives. By paying attention to and properly following the guidance of our myths, we can each find our own ways of discovering the answers to these questions for ourselves maybe sooner than later.

It appears that today the evolution of world mythologies has hit a perpetual dead end, if not a steep recession. Take, for example, the obviously dominant religion of the world, Christianity. Christian mythology has not changed for probably one thousand eight hundred years (except of course for the occasional “necessary” rewrite). Christianity’s very nature essentially disallows that its mythology can ever change – at least until Jesus comes back and sets everything straight. Christians sit back and pray and wait for their messiah to come and make the world a better place for them (and them alone) while the world goes to, well, Hell. Or even worse, they actively try to quicken Jesus’ immanent return by trying to bring about the

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Apocalypse .

The problem with most of the prevalent belief systems in the world today appears clearly right in that very phrase - belief system. To join into most religions, one must first accept and

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more importantly believe in the mythology of their religion of choice . Thus, these “true believers” come to look upon these stories as undeniable historical events. Instead, one should attempt to interpret mythology as intended - as a metaphor, a symbolic system that attempts to bestow the gathered wisdom of the ages. I find any sort of belief in general both restrictive and dangerous; I prefer having ideas to having beliefs. That said, one need not believe in the absolute “truth” of any given mythology. However, all mythologies can appear real in the sense that they come alive and grow in the collective unconsciousness of humanity as well as in the mind of the beholder.

Anyone with an even somewhat open mind can see that all the mythologies of the world more or less boil down to the same basic concept - the same basic story, even. I think that maybe all mythologies taken as a whole can tell the story of humanity - the collected learnings and

Although - the idea of “everything” comes from within the human mind, thus making it meaningless in describing any “true” reality.

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Many fundamentalists actually believe that if another world war happens, it will trigger the second coming. ‡

Atheism works more like a religion in this aspect in that it requires that one believes in the nonexistence of any greater aspect of reality beyond the “real”.

teachings passed down from the dawn of man and even beyond. With out too much effort, looking within each mythology one can find representations of just about every “personal” drama that one could ever possibly experience along with guidelines of what to do and what not to do. One way or another, this story more or less always ends with a connection with the Eternal. This could simply represent the inevitability of death, however, if we continue to and look at mythology in terms of a metaphor, we see that it begins to go beyond the human condition and starts to map out the human psyche, itself (this includes, of course, the full blueprints for Heaven and Hell).

As an example of archetypes in the mythologies of the world, in the Christian mythology, we hear of Jesus Christ, son of God, crucified on a cross. Well before that, in ancient Greek mythology, appeared Dionysus, son of Zeus nailed to a cross. From even further back than that comes several tales of the god-man Krishna crucified on a tree in Hindu mythology. All of these savior figures happened to come as a half god/half man and inevitably ended up returning from the dead and in one form or another and ascending into “Heaven”. The half man/half god (a recurring theme in most mythologies) symbolizes every person: the flesh and the mind in one. The sacrifice and death symbolizes the final and complete release of all of one’s guilt, remorse, hatred and all of the negative emotions that we have learned and cling to – those things that separate us from our connection to everything else. The resurrection and the ascension into eternal paradise represents the metaphorical rebirth of the new you, now with a complete connectedness with ones true essence. In psychological terms, the universal story of the sacrifice of the savior represents the death of the ego and the rebirth of the true self.

In order to understand how to properly utilize any given mythology, we must first have a common understanding of symbol and symbolism. Merriam Webster defines a symbol as “something that stands for or suggests something else by reason of relationship, association, convention, or accidental resemblance; especially: a visible sign of something invisible” and “an object or act representing something in the unconscious mind that has been repressed”. In mythological terms, any object, individual, event, or “other” can symbolize any given trait, idea, concept, teaching, or whatever else you can imagine. Merriam Webster defines symbolism as “the art or practice of using symbols especially by investing things with a symbolic meaning or by expressing the invisible or intangible by means of visible or sensuous representations: as a: artistic imitation or invention that is a method of revealing or suggesting immaterial, ideal, or otherwise intangible truth or states b: the use of conventional or traditional signs in the representation of divine beings and spirits.” Symbolism, then, appears as a quite valid instrument serving in the interpretation and the continuation of mythology.

In polytheistic religions, each deity possesses its own unique persona and quirks as well as its own specific function in the order of the universe. Furthermore, these patterns of personality and function seem to repeat from one mythology to another. For instance, it appears that in one form or another, the majority of mythologies have possessed at the very least a savior figure, a prankster god, a father god, a heaven, a hell, and so on: part of what C.G. Jung referred to as The Archetypes of the Unconscious. Jung described an archetype as “a tendency to form representations of a motif (meaning a significant, thematical element that has a tendency of recurring over and over)—representations that can vary a great deal in detail without loosing the basic pattern”. These motifs transcend the human consciousness and each one represent different defining aspects of the human mind.

Jung explicitly defined several major archetypes that dominate the top of the list in every person’s consciousness. The first, he called the Shadow, which represents all of ones lusts and fears; in essence, all your darkest wishes that you keep buried so deep down inside that you won’t even admit them to yourself. Christian mythology symbolizes this, for instance, by Satan and his total rebellion from everything supposedly “right” in the world as well as with the concept of Hell itself. The Anima and the Animus personify those aspects that your personality lacks in achieving full completion, often related to repressed aspects perceived as belonging to the other sex. A man, therefore, consciously and unconsciously suppresses his Anima while women do the same with their Animus. All the time we see the union of these two aspects symbolized in the movies when two entirely opposite characters end up overcoming all odds to fall in love and live happily ever after. The most central of all of the archetypes Jung called the Self or the True Self. Self characterizes the inner essence – free of ego, a consciousness that has completely come to terms with the rest of the archetypes and assimilated them all, symbolized by the Christians with the concepts of God and even Heaven. In other words, in order to get in

touch with and to become the True Self , one must accept all the facets of themselves that they chosen to ignore, fight, or repress.

Many westerners have the misconception that the followers of all polytheistic religions actually believe in the actual physical existence of the many gods they worship, just as Christians believe in the actual physical existence of their one God. One should not interpret the many gods of the Greeks, the Hindus, the Norse, the Egyptians, and so on as literal entities, but instead, should interpret them as archetypal personifications of the many facets of the human psyche. Each deity’s persona, powers, acts, and role in the way of things all tie together to represent different aspects - good and bad - of human nature. The savior figure who will sacrifice everything for the good of the world, the hero who vigilantly fights against all tyranny and injustice, the villain out to conquer and destroy the concept of good, the ancient master always willing to impart his wisdom; all of these represent archetypes present in each of us. Some act more or less dominantly than others. By observing the stories of the many characters in myth, we can learn about those aspects of ourselves that they symbolize and how to accept or change them.

Joseph Campbell, probably the worlds leading expert on mythology up until the time of his death (and still, probably), once said, “For a mythology to work in the modern scientific world, it must itself incorporate the modern scientific world.” As we have already discussed, mythologically speaking, civilization has pretty much reached a point of complete stagnation. Some world religions’ mythologies, such as Voodoo and Hinduism continue to grow and evolve with the modern world. However, these systems can appear as foreign and complicated to even the most interested westerners, not to mention not all that welcoming. Therefore, we need a new mythological system for the west. One that fully integrates the modern era and in every respect symbolizes the archetypes that have always existed in the mind of man. One that will help stir up that something deep inside us all and to help guide humanity through what looks like some tough times ahead.

With even a basic understanding of symbolism and the concept of the archetypes, one can see that these concepts pervade popular media still to this day. You could say that many people today follow the mythology of and by the media. Television and the cinema do indeed represent the archetypes in their own way and obviously incorporate our contemporary times, but for the most part, corporate pre-packaging and advertising (not to mention government intervention) have virtually buried any wisdom that one could gain from these sources. Furthermore, people typically watch television shows and movies for entertainment; principally the media as a mythology has no lasting value (although, if properly used, it does have that potential). And this

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brings me finally to the idea of Unit Mythology and eventually into the concept that I call The Mythology of Now.

Enlightenment, Satori, Communion with God, etc.

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An acquaintance of mine, Avi Morgan, developed the concept of Unit Mythology and imparted it to me in one night, therefore I wrote the following based on my loose interpretation of his ideas.

The era we live in appears defined by scientific realism and the vision of our visible natural world sum total of existence, as opposed to the mystical view that defined ages of old. Subsequently, we must establish our new mythology at least somewhat defined by this naturalistic vision as well. So, like Joseph Campbell said, we must actually base our mythological system in the modern scientific world. Our modernized minds can no longer accept the notion of gods and goddesses as the symbols for our archetypes, so we must look somewhere else for personifications of these ideas and given the situation, our new symbols must come from the modern world. Popular culture and the mass media generally fall quite short of providing this. As well, take into account the apparent steady decrease of the emphasis on the sort of imagination and creativity required to imagine and create one’s own mythological

symbols in the West today for whatever reasons (most likely nefarious ). So then, where in the world should we look for such an array of diverse personifications of the different aspects of ourselves?

According to the system of Unit Mythology, one can find these mythic characters closer than you would think—your very own friends and enemies, or anyone else whom you have encountered. To practically employ these concepts in daily life, you must actively choose to perceive certain individuals, if not all that you have ever encountered in a totally mythic light. You consciously let each of them symbolize archetypal personifications of the many facets of the human psyche and you deify them for it. We already characterize others this way in a very real sense on a regular basis; we just never really consciously acknowledge it.

Take into account the adage that goes something like, “you hate in others what you hate

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about yourself. ” You get absolutely pissed off by a certain annoying behavior someone exhibits when in actuality you yourself act the same way and do not realize it, or maybe you do and refuse to acknowledge it. On the flip side, you can get very annoyed by another’s traits because you lack in these areas and in a conscious or unconscious sense feel jealous. In these cases, we usually end up mocking and ridiculing others for those attributes we do not possess. Unit Mythology attempts to overcome this negative behavior by doing the exact opposite. It aims to embrace those qualities in others with which we find ourselves at odds or of which we are jealous.

In every polytheistic mythology, it appears as though different deities exist to represent the same general motifs of the human character. It would seem that this occurs because that there exists a finite array of recurring personality characteristics, and therefore a fixed number of

personality types . When you observe another person, recognize those archetypes that they most exhibit and see if those archetypes do not coalesce into a familiar character motif. Next, imagine that person transcended into a pure, mythological symbol of that archetypal idea. Like the deities of polytheistic religions, some play minor roles and some the major ones, positive and negative, but only from your perspective.

However, unlike the deities of the old mythologies, the gods of our new mythology actually exist in the real world and more importantly, you can interact with them. Follow and learn from those that you have designated as the symbols for positive ideas and learn as well from those that you see as negative. Mimic those positive qualities in others that you recognize yourself as coveting and attempt to become aware of those traits that you dislike in others, but

With that kind of imagination, one might get all sorts of ideas like the thought that the idea of having to sell yourself every single day just so that you can have your most basic needs met just doesn’t make sense when you realize food and land and water exist for all to share. And with that kind of creativity, you might figure out a way to actually do something about it.

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This whole notion originated with Jung, by the way.

Psychologist Dr. David Keirsy has narrowed his list down to only sixteen distinct personality types. truly dislike in yourself and learn how to change those traits in yourself for the better. You metaphorically visualize your deities’ trials and experiences, even the words they speak as mythical stories full of symbolism and import.

If we then go one step further by taking all of these different mythical symbolisms that you as well as your friends have conceived and synthesizing them all, you begin to gain something of a true mythology, A mythology of the group - a Unit Mythology. With luck, when everyone comes together to compare notes, the motifs that each person in the group represents to the others will universally correspond in each individual’s own symbol system. When differences appear, analyze the opposing viewpoints and attempt to learn from the contrast between the dissimilar characteristics observed and then attempt to integrate and (or) evolve them into an even more universally felt motif. By seeing oneself as a deity surrounded by other deities, each with his or her own specific role in the ways of the unit, one should feel more freedom to do and say what one truly feels. As a group, by visualizing yourselves as a mythical pantheon of gods and goddesses functioning in your own metaphorical Mount Olympus, everyone has the ability to step back and learn from each other’s and his or her own faults and virtues and trials and tribulations so that everyone can feel open and grow individually and as friends.

I have noticed (and this might just have appeared in my own interpretations of my own experience) that although I have gone through several groups of friends in my life, the group, itself, stays basically the same. It seems that I have always had one friend that plays this role, one friend that plays another, and so on in every group of friends I have had. So, in the words we have used thus far, it has appeared to me that the motifs and archetypes represented by the different friends I have had over the years transcend the friends, themselves. I think that maybe we draw to ourselves those archetypes from whom we need to learn. Or maybe some outlying pattern exists as to how the different archetypes fit together. Maybe some pattern exists in whom we choose as our friends. I’ll just leave it up to you…

This idea of symbolically raising those around you up into divine beings also serves in an aspect to bring about the much less restrictive and more mystical view of society that has virtually died away since the scientific revolution. With this loosening, we can more easily stand back and not take others or ourselves (or life in general, for that matter) so seriously. By seeing others in a mystical light, we will hopefully give them more reverence and show more willingness to learn from and with them. As well, it makes the world a much more entertaining place. Socializing becomes elevated to the level of the Communion. Any person you meet can end up for you symbolizing any given motif you can imagine. (You could meet your Jesus at the bus stop!) You can choose to associate others with or imagine them as any of the world’s mythical deities or creatures from the past or present (or even from your own imagination), just remember to look past the associated mythological character to the archetypes they represent. You even have the option of mixing and matching; your options appear as limitless as your imagination!

Always keep in mind however, the temporal nature of reality and, more importantly, the temporal nature of personalities. You must always allow your mythology to evolve and grow. Allow your vision and symbols for others to change as readily as they do, but always keep in heart the true essence of the individual, that part which drew us to them in the first place. To “walk the path” and to grow as an individual requires one to go through countless changes, some positive, some negative. Maybe with our freer, less restrictive view of the people around us, hopefully this realization will come about a little easier and we will all help to see to it that we all continue to change in a positive way.

The question that arises next, after having digested the basic concept of Unit Mythology (at least in my mind anyway) basically goes like this, “Yeah, this seems great and all for concepts like personality, character, and some different aspects of a person’s Shadow, but what about the deeper questions of life, questions about our existence, our purpose, even concepts like heaven, hell, and reincarnation and so on? Where do they fit in?” I could not answer this question for a while, and I could not answer it until I came upon yet another question, “Sure, in this line of thinking, one has a “role” in the group, a mythological motif others see them as representing at the time, but what about oneself? One should most certainly not limit his or her self-image to the interpretations of others or to his or her own interpretations of him or herself. So then, where does the Self come into play?” With this thought came the concept of The Mythology of Now.

The answer came to me when I happened to come across Jung’s description of the archetype of the Self. Jung saw the Self as the embodiment of everything divine as God and this fits in perfectly with the ideas we have discussed. When talking about the Self, we mean to talk about that perfect image of yourself that exists somewhere in your head, the you that cannot do any wrong and cannot do any harm. I propose that you worship this idealized vision of yourself as the highest of all the gods and goddesses in your pantheon, as the Creator, as the Holy Spirit. Strive most of all to imitate this vision of your Self, to become that perfect You. Whatever motifs you might symbolize to others (or to yourself, I would hope), represent your outward personality, not your True Self. As your personality (and therefore what you represent to others and yourself) evolves hopefully your vision of your True Self will grow as well. Therefore, you must allow your mythological vision of your True Self to grow as well.

After I figured that out with Jung’s help, I realized how to address and incorporate the bigger questions. Since we live in the modern scientific age, we should look for these answers from modern science. Science, in a very real sense, approximates to a religion, anyway. Everything we have learned through science has derived from our own human interpretation; we cannot “know” any of those interpretations as absolute truth. We can never really “know” anything for sure, just ask any scientist. For instance, evolution has all the qualities of a creation

myth :

In the Beginning, existed Nothing. Then came forth a Big Bang, and all of

creation sprang into existence. Yae, and unspeakably hot Plasma shot forth in all

directions, thus creating the Universe. After some time, it came to pass that the

fiery masses of Plasma came to break apart and cool down and through the holy

act of Gravitation, the planets and the stars came into being. Lo, and after eons of

Universal chaos, some semblance of order came into being on a small planet, the

third planet from its sun. Out from the sacred Primordial Ooze came Life, itself,

ready to use the Universe it had inherited. However, Life could not last forever.

After some time, Life learned to split in two. Over the course of many many

years, Life learned to evolve into many different forms and reproduce in other

ways. After much evolving, Life finally came forth and evolved into Human

Kind.

Here we have the basic ideas of creation as science presents them. We have no way of really knowing if things happened this way, but most everybody accepts them as general fact. I propose that you look at it as it appears, as mythology, a way of explaining and understanding how we got here. Or if your ideas of our origins oppose those generally held by popular science, you can go with those, just always keep in mind that those ideas still symbolize guesses at what

I just remembered how as a young Christian, i spent many a church morning trying to correlate the story of The Creation to what i knew of evolution, and they seemed to fit together rather well to me than as they do now. we can not truly “know”, and therefore still represent the archetypes. I believe that String Theory proposes that we actually exist in eleven dimensions that seem to form together into an infinite number of what they call “Strings”. That seems to me a cool mythology to have. Take a look at any of the revolutions made by Quantum Physics and you will find a plethora of material for your Mythological Framework. And with this viewpoint, we fully begin to venture into the realm of The Mythology of Now.

Apparently, Space and Time appear in actuality as one in the same, not to mention relative, meaning different from place/time to place/time. Furthermore, everything apparently shows signs of happening all at once, in a single instant. As best as our top Physicists understand, all matter appears to consist of nothing more than hyper condensed energy, vibrating so fast as to give the appearance of substance! Physicists find the concept of the hologram as the most accurate way to describe the universe. No matter the size, any given part of a hologram contains the whole of the hologram. Scientists have, in a laboratory, proven that once two particles come into contact, they apparently maintain thereafter a permanent connection! No matter how far the distance between the two particles, when the scientists change the direction of spin of one, the spin of the other changes to match. As of yet, no “proven” explanation of how or why this happens exists, but the implications seem limitless. There could exist some sort of unexplainable connection between you and everything with which you have come into contact. On the other hand, the particles that make up your body apparently change on a constant basis, so who knows...

As well, look at the things happening in the world today. Watching CNN, one starts to wonder if maybe we truly do live on the brink of the apocalypse. Terrorism, the 2000 Presidential election, inequality, mass marketing on a global scale, cellular phones, corporate greed, police brutality, reality television, the war on drugs, starvation, record divorce rates, priests molesting children, popular music, 9/11, the Internet, sweat shops, the US’s declining economy and its apparent agenda of world domination, Global Positioning Systems, the war in Iraq, countries everywhere clamoring to get their own nuclear arsenal. All this seemed impossible just a few years ago. The world we live in today already has the makings of mythology.

I have attempted here to convey a message: We already live in mythical (and mystical) times! Science has shown us that apparently, some crazy stuff goes on in the universe and in us that we have thought unthinkable. Knowing that we live in a universe where such amazing things can occur, it certainly gives me more than ever the impression that anything really does seems possible. Who really knows the true nature of reality? No one does.

The Mythology of Now attempts to completely visualize the whole world, existence, itself, as the substance of myth. The participant envisions him or herself every second of every day as participating in a higher level of reality on a higher plane, the plane reserved for the presence of gods. Everywhere you look about you, you see the substance of myth. Every time you act you, you act as a character within a fable. Everything and everyone you encounter has become the stuff of myth and therefore, should have infinite potential and infinite meaning.

This mythical view of the world and more importantly of the Self could very easily breed arrogance. Therefore, absolute humility seems necessary if one would truly grow into his or her True Self. One should try always to imagine oneself personally as nothing more than a petty human, trying to one day eat of the ambrosia and gain godhood. The myth of the eating of the ambrosia symbolizes Communion with the Self, Communion with your one true God image. Use whatever real life metaphors work best for you. One must always keep in mind that one has a long path ahead if one truly will achieve this Communion. One must keep in mind all those things that keep us from it; those things locked away in your unconscious.

If your True Self should represent your image of God, then the Shadow could symbolize the Devil, always there by your side, tempting you to the dark side - tempting you into corruption. Only interested in the world of vice, the Shadow constantly vies to keep you separated from your True Self. “Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows!” I could not put it any better. All the “evils” that you have subconsciously held against yourself since birth, everything that gives you Fear, limits you, and holds you back, all these things the Shadow feeds and thrives off of.

The Unconscious contains both Heaven and Hell (and so much more), and therefore the realm of both the Shadow and your True Self. There they fight it out over control of the Savior,

your Ego . Like the archetypal Savior, the Ego must make the choice between accepting the temptations of the Devil (the Shadow) and fulfilling its destiny of making the ultimate sacrifice. The Ego must die and go through Hell (overcome and integrate all those things that the Shadow feeds upon) so that it can achieve rebirth and sit on God’s (the True Self) right hand side. Keeping with this theme, if we wanted to complete the Trinity we could say that the Holy Ghost represents our Collective Unconsciousness, giving us archetypes for the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost in every person.

One could also choose to imagine the Ego as the Devil and the Shadow as symbolizing his realm, Hell. Imagine this: you do the “evil” things you do because of your Ego attempting to maintain its place of dominance. “The Devil made you do it.” This includes dishonesty, hatred, greed, conformity, violence, or anything that a person can feel guilt about. The Bible calls

† Lucifer the King of Lies. You lie to yourself and convince yourself of your superiority . Whenever you feel bad like things just will not go your way, see it as your Devil coming through again, trying to keep your mind off your goal of achieving True Self. Why? Because to become your True Self, your Ego must die. God cast the Devil out of Heaven and condemned him to Hell because he refused to bow to humanity as the Creator’s greatest creation. Muslims believe Lucifer loved God so much, that he could bow to none other that Him. We put ourselves through Hell because we refuse to bow to other people as better than our vision of ourselves, our True Self, our one True God. The Christians say that Lucifer felt great arrogance and refused to bow to what he saw as lower creatures than himself. This “historical” confusion between these two interpretations of the story makes total sense when we look at it symbolically. In the second

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case, the Ego has grown so great that it believes itself the True Self .

Once one has finally defeated their Devil and escaped their own Hell to become one with their True Self, one has reached Heaven. You could describe this as what Buddhists call enlightenment. You have stripped away all those things that you thought defined you as a person but only truly served to limit you, and the True Self comes out to its fullest. You have become “one” with God in Heaven. You have become that perfect image of yourself, that person that you always see yourself as. Oneself has become one with one’s Self, so to put it. The Ego, as well as the Shadow, has died and you can truly see the whole universe as Heaven.

Because many of the concepts I have mentioned thus far have centered on the individual, for a while I considered labeling the general idea The Mythology of Self. However, after some consideration, I decided it seemed most important not to focus on oneself, and the title Mythology of the Self pretty bluntly brings in that focus whether we want it or not. Also, I think, living for the day, for the moment, appears the most positive way to live life; so therefore, we have The Mythology of Now. In this light, we place the emphasis on the here and now of the

Basically speaking, your Ego is Keanu Reeves.

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Think of the three temptations of Christ. The Devil tried to convince Jesus of Jesus’ own greatness. ‡

This appears evident of the dominance that the Ego has achieved in the collective consciousness of Christianity and the Western World as well.

present day. However, since we have decided to think of a mythology as a symbol system, how then do we find and interpret the symbols that we encounter in the mythological Now?

With the obstacles in your day-to-day life, try to see if you can find some way that that experience can symbolize an archetypal idea. Say for instance, you get constipated. This could symbolize the feeling of not connecting with the Self. When you finally take that monster shit, this represents the release of all those things in the Shadow that have kept you from making that

connection . Your bowels could represent the Shadow. Anything that happens to you can have some sort of symbolic significance, if you just step back from yourself (do not confuse the idea of yourself for your Self) and look for it. Some of your most important revelations can seem entirely coincidental.

Jung had a name for coincidences that appear so meaningful that they seem almost impossible. He called these kinds of coincidences synchronicities. His favorite example of a synchronicity recounts a visit he had by one of his patients. The woman told the doctor about the dream she had had the night before, wherein she had a detailed vision of an Egyptian scarab beetle. Right at that moment, there came a strange tapping at the office window. For some reason, Jung got up and went and opened the window. When he did, a beetle looking exactly like a scarab flew in and landed on his hand. The strangeness of the event shocked the woman so much that the problems she had come to see Jung about ceased to exist, spontaneously curing her.

A synchronicity appears as a so-called coincidence that shakes one down to the Self, or at least makes one pause for a moment and think, “What just happened?” Some common, day-to- day synchronistic events you might have experienced could bear a resemblance to things like: thinking of a certain song and then turning on the radio to hear that same song, knowing what someone will say before they say it, seeing the same commercial on three different channels at

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once , picking up the phone to call someone to find that they had just dialed your number and didn’t even hear the phone ring, and seeing the same set of numbers everywhere you happen to go (like “23”). Synchronicities can also transpire in a much more complicated fashion. Say for instance, your cat runs and you go out to put up “Missing Cat” signs. While doing this, you happen to notice some other people putting up “Missing Cat” signs as well. A day or two later, you get a call that someone has found your cat. You get in your car and when you get there, you realize that the street they live on has the same name as your cat. Then, when you meet the ones who found your cat, you recognize them as the other people putting up signs. So, you begin to talk to them about the strange coincidences and find out that (although you live miles away) you both grew up in the same city and even knew some of the same people. Then, as you drive away, you happen to see a cat on the side of the road and recognize it from the picture as your new friend’s cat. The cat actually comes to you when you call it, even though they described it as scared of people, and you take it back to the grateful owners. I have few clues as to the implications of such synchronicities, but I do see countless possibilities for symbolic representation.

Those synchronicities that go one step further by having immediately apparent and important implications that bring us one step closer to our Self have even more significance for our purposes. Authors Allan Combs and Mark Holland characterize these more significant synchronicities as the workings of a mythical prankster god. He (or she) helps you on your path to the Self, but not nicely. He plays with you and tricks you (usually by your own stupidity) into making each step down the path, if only you learn from your stupidity. For a simple example,

I actually came up with this idea on the toilet.

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Now that i think about it, most likely not a coincidence at all!

say you have gone to a bar and have met someone of the opposite sex that interests you and for some reason, every time you try to show off or misrepresent yourself, you end up tripping and falling, or someone spills beer on you, or you get a dart in the arm. Unlikely, but this story exemplifies the concept of the prankster god trying to get you to let go and act like yourself, at your own expense. Who knows, maybe all types of synchronicities have such significance, if only you look deep enough.

Some have theorized that synchronicities come from our own unconsciousness, somehow manifesting its needs in the material world. Knowing what we know of modern physics, who knows! I think that those attempting to live within the framework of The Mythology of Now should try to have as synchronistic a view of the world as possible. One should always question the full significance of what happens to them. In fact, the Eastern religions hold that as you get closer and closer to enlightenment, all aspects of life seem more and more coincidental almost like the experience of nonstop déjà vu. Since they also hold that by becoming one with the True Self, you become one with the essence of everything (I.e., God), this does not really come as a surprise.

When we conceive of our existence as a myth in the sense that we have discussed, then that means that we should therefore consider all of our experiences as mythical and therefore possibly of some symbolic import—including those experiences we have during our sleep. Humanity has interpreted dreams in all sorts of symbolic ways for as long as it has dreamt, so this idea should come as no surprise. Most everyone today should have a relatively strong familiarity with the basic concepts of Freud’s ideas on Dream Interpretation. Most people today generally accept that the workings of our unconscious play out in our dreams—that we wrestle with our Shadows and Egos every night in our sleep. This tells us that we should take our dreams much more seriously if we want to become our True Self. If we take this as truth, then your dream experiences have more importance and more significance to your personal growth than your experiences in the real world.

The final question, the biggest of them all, that a mythology seeks to answer seems to me, “Why are we here?” This one has boggled way too many a man’s mind. According to the Christian’s literal interpretations of their myths, we exist solely to entertain God, because he got

bored one day . Does that mean that all of existence serves as nothing more than Gods own reality television show?? Does that explain reality television’s popularity? Because God finds that even more entertaining to watch? I hope not.

From an idealistic viewpoint, my best guesses imagine that we exist to grow and, more importantly, to create and to connect with other. Just as we live to “propagate the species” in the physical sense by having as many children as possible to continue the bloodline, so too, we live to propagate the ideas we have gained from all the sensations we have experienced by creating and making as many connections as possible. So, we begin by committing ourselves to our Selves, committing to the path of personal growth. And from there, we set forth on our mythical journey. By sharing that journey with others, either by art, music, conversation, friendship, or whatever, maybe you can help them in walking their own path. By staying attentive and open, you can learn from others and their works.

The answer to that question, in terms of The Mythology of Now, I think of as the central idea behind the whole concept: We live to live for the moment. Right Now. Remember that we live in mythical times and know every second of every day as a mythical second. Know that when you breathe, you take in and exhale mythical breaths. When you walk, you take mythical

No wonder Lucifer and the boys (excuse me, the “its”) felt abandoned. Their antics didn’t serve to keep Him well enough entertained?

steps. Know that everyone you encounter has infinite ways to help you on your mythical journey, if you just see it in them. Know that you have more to learn from your friends than from anyone else. Know that they have just as much to learn from you. Know that you became (and remain) friends for this very reason. Know that within you exists all the potential to become your own God, if you can overcome your own Devil. Know that the mythical world we live in, itself, conspires every day to help you to your destination, if you let it. More than anything, create and connect as much as you can and always live for the moment.

Carpe Diem!

Sources

• Allegro, John
• The Mystery of the Dead Sea Scrolls Revealed, 1956 CE
• Campbell, Joseph,
• The Hero with a Thousand Faces, 1949 CE
• The Masks of God Vol. I-IV, 1959 – 1968 CE
• Combs, Allan & Holland, Mark
• Synchronicity: Through the Eyes of Science, Myth, and the Trickster, 1996 CE
• Jung, C. G.,
• Man and his Symbols, 1964 CE
• Keirsy, David & Bates, Marilyn
• Please Understand Me: Character & Temperament Types, 1978 CE
• LaVey, Anton
• The Satanic Bible, 1969 CE
• Various/Unknown
• The Bhagavad-Gita, Best guess: around 550 BCE
• The Egyptian Book of the Dead, Best guess: around 1500 – 1300 BCE
• The Holy Bible, Best guess: Old Testament - around 400 to 200 BCE, New Testament –
• around 200 to 400 CE, both with “updates” all the way up until to the present day
• The I Ching (The Book of Changes), Best guess: anywhere from 4000 to 3000 BCE
• The Tibetan Book of the Dead, Best guess: around 700 CE