I was told to be a mythic detective in this class. I thought about
it and realized that being actively looking for signs and symbols
that lead back to mythology was not the right way. I felt that
approaching it that was kind of like looking for love. When you
really want love and look for it every where the first person that
you go into a relationship with you think you love them. When in fact
you had just project so much emotion on to the situation it appears
that way. If I went looking for signs of myth in everyday life, I
would see connections that weren't really there or that where in fact
there but misread. So instead I decided just to enjoy life and when
things came to me I took note.
During my time in the class I have had many mythological
experiences, most have just been ordinary things that until now I had
no idea what the meant. The biggest one I feel is stumbling upon the
paintings. I was with a couple of friends waiting to get a table for
dinner. We were told that it was a 30 minute wait, so we decided to
walk down Main Street. We ended up in the record store, as soon as I
stepped through the door I felt that unexplainable pull. I was
uninterested and unaware of the things I walked past. I had no idea
where I was really going, but I knew my feet would carry me to the
place. Down stairs I found an art gallery and I knew I was in the
right place. There was painting called “The Doors of Perception”.
From a distance it looked as though trees were on fire with smoke
surrounding the trunks, and just maybe the ruins of some ancient
temple. As I got closer it disappeared in fact what I just described
wasn't there are all. Now as I looked at it there were faces. The
trees in fact were the eyes, eye brows, hair, mouth, and nose of the
faces. In front of me stared back three extraordinary musicians, Bob
Marley, Jimmy Hendrix, and Jim Morison.
How could this ever be mythological? Well trees are significant not
only in our world, but in mythology. People only think trees are good
for building things and fuel, but that is untrue. Trees offer
shelter, give us clean air to breath, and above all trees are living
beings that love and change. The trees in the painting changed,
metamorphosed, into humans. In mythology there are numerous examples
of humans being transformed into trees, such as Daphne. This painting
embodied everything that Ovid had to tell through words only it had
no words. This paint shows in every way possible the change,
metamorphoses, that humans and nature under go. It also shows that
what you see on the outside or first glance may not always be the
truth so you should take a deeper look.
Another mythological moment I experienced was when we discussed how
myth follow a particular pattern, Creation, Initiation, and Return. I
am an avid reader, in fact if I could read all day and do nothing
else I would, but after hearing this my reading world has flipped up
sided down and turned inside out. Like most people I have my favorite
books, and after talking about the pattern of mythology I found
myself reading them again. Sure enough they were there, the
beginning, the middle and the end. I'm not just talking how a book is
written, but some of my favorite books follow the pattern of myth. I
found myself comparing Harry Potter, The Princess Bride,
and The Hobbit to this pattern and all of them have it, not in
the same exact way. My biggest connection between Harry Potter and
the pattern was the return. When Harry sacrifices himself against
Voldemort, he ends up in kind of an in between. He can choose to go
back or move on. This is his trip to the “underworld” that most
heroes of mythology eventual have to journey too. The other books
have connections also, but I feel that one should discover them for
themselves. I will say though that The Hobbit is the best
example of “A Call to Adventure”.
Before having even enrolled in the class I had been doing this
assignment and not known it. I have always been a person who though
you should “Leap Before You Look”. To many times opportunities
fly by us because we are to scared to take the leap. On the rare
occasion that we do leap we often have a “security net” to catch
us, but that “security net” will eventually disappear. I had a
call to adventure and with out a second guess I leapt. Like Bilbo,
all I had to do was step across the threshold. I switched majors,
this was my “call to adventure”. Many people asked why, told me
my new degree was useless, said I wouldn't make money, and told me I
shouldn't change because it was hard. What nobody seemed to
understand is that none of that mattered, not to me anyways. Sure
it's nice to have money, but I would rather do something I love for
very little money than do something I hate for a lot of money.
Anyways because of my call to adventure, I have learned more than I
have in my entire life. Had it not been for my leap, I wouldn't be
writing this paper nor would I be able to look at a tree, a book, or
a person and now that there is more to them then they themselves
know.
Out of all my mythological moments this one was my last. Not last as
in never going to happen again, but as in last realization of doing
this assignment. This class has changed the way I perceive the world.
It has changed the way I have learned. I realize now that this
assignment which was given to us months ago, that is finished now,
will never truly end. I can't just stop. I can't just ignore the
pull. I can't just pull a blanket over the boxes in my mind. This
assignment will not stop here, but will continue the rest of my life
and beyond. When I look up at the stars I will think of the Callisto
and Arcas. Every tree I see will be Daphne, Baucis, and Philemon and
every spider will be Arachne. The world is a mythological place, but
we have been raised to not see it this way. This assignment may have
been given to us just as an assignment, but I see it now as a way to
change the future. To tell our kids the truth about the world. The
truth is... myth is the precedence behind every action.
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