Sponsor |  KingBoy | May 15, 2007 7:00am | #10: From this:
'im writing this blog and posting images, check it out if you want'
to this:
'I didn't place the link to get traffic'
- there is discrepancy of intent, which may help explain my skepticism.
This part of SU is a discussion forum. If you think your links are relevant to the discussion, why not include a quote that relates to the function of myth? I have no problem with links and images per se; I dislike when they are crowbarred into a discussion for no good reason. If you have a good reason, by all means share it. If your next post contains further obfuscation and attempted points-scoring, I will probably ignore it. |
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|  Poseidon4 | May 15, 2007 11:04pm | ok, let me give it my last try. forget i posted the link to the page, ill copy paste the content here. Following is what i think about "the function of myth" but not from the perspective of studying ancient cultures and the myths they developed, but from what it would be if we were creating myths ourselves, based on what we understand of human nature "as we live it" and not by what others have written about it.
take care,
®
From a particular point of view, fractal mermaids, as the artist "creates" them, are muses who "sing" to him to get him into "the zone" and give him inspiration. As the original image is re-created smaller and smaller on each level, it looses resolution (becomes pixelated) and as a result each "part" of the whole expresses a different and unique "feeling" that when put together as a complete Creature, adds to the mysterious and mystical aspect that is characteristic of this fantastic Beings.
The original expression sometimes changes into something funny, cute, dramatic, powerful or macabre.
The spectator too, focusing his attention on the detail of the artwork, will loose himself in the image, as if the Mermaid would be hypnotizing him/her.
Another important aspect of this "theme" or "style" is that it is contemporary, being done as we are living our lives, and might return us into the interest of what ancient mythology was all about. Exposing our human characteristics, inherent in everyone, and how they affect our lives, relationships, moods, etc. How we fall on traps or jump precipices. Like the stories about Narcissus, Oedipus, Sisifus, etc.
For example, in our contemporary digital world, with computers and the internet rapidly evolving, 60 something % of its use is for Erotica (some call it sex sites or porn. And well yeah, much of it is very... Primal) . A lot of sites refer to (certain. i consider all) Women as Goddesses. What if they really are Goddesses? What if that is what being a Goddess is all about.
Women have been gaining more and more rights in our society that were negated to them by men, for whatever the reason the system was designed like that. If they continue like that, what if they gain control of everything? They will be responible for all the desicions and we wouldnt have to worry about anything nomore. We would spend our life pondering about it, sharing anecdotes (from which the best ones will beome stories or tales [tails] for the kids) and designing tools and creating art. and doing all the Macho work to get our bodies toned without even noticing. And everything for them, which would get them very flattered.
That would be Heaven if you ask me.
Returning from the tangent, the author believes that the original models for the fractal mermaids should retain their identity, instead of becoming an abstract representation of an archetype: "the mermaid". Why? Because we are sharing the same world, the same life. For time immemorable artists have paid tribute to the beauty of Women. Why limit ourselves into the original "idea" of what a Woman is, when we can pay tribute to This Woman, and this one, and this one... and as a return for the labour what do we get? Them. There.
Artists shouldn't create for future museums or collections but for ourselves, now, to become then ourselves re-created by our creations. If we go to a museum to look at paintings, for example, on paintings about women, we are not told Who they are, its just a body, depicted in a Style.
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| | Greekgeek13 | Jun 2, 2007 2:09am | Some very thoughtful posts here. Poseidon, I particularly like your musings on contemporary and social facets of myth.
Functionalism is sometimes poked at by mythographers as a reductive fallacy, in the same way that religious scholars wrangle over whether it's justified to approach religion as a result of social, economic, political, or other external "non-numinous" factors.
Nevertheless, when talking about the functions of myth, you almost have to bring in old Joseph Campbell's Four Functions of Myth, which he reiterates and rephrases many times in his writings. Lemme see if I can recapitulate them:
1) "Making Sense of Everything" function. I forget his term for it, but basically, our world of lived experience includes some pretty terrifying and awful stuff: evil, death, and having to consume other beings to live. These are things that bother us. Many myths help to make sense of the awesome, impersonal, arbitrary forces impacting our lives.
2) Cosmological/cosmogonical function. Similar to #1, but a bit less philosophical: how did we get here, what is the world made of, and where are we? Creation myths, myths of geography, myths of origins and migrations, myths of how this or that animal or thing came to be... they all fall under this function. Nowadays we call it Science. ;)
3) Stages of life. People go through many of the same universal experiences: birth, childhood, adolescence, sexual encounters, marriage, childbearing or siring, child raising, dealing with parents, loss, hardship, aging, death. Many myths let us grapple with these symbolically, adding meaning and pattern to our experiences.
4) Social/religious function. Myths of the religion or culture help us accept and fit into our own local ethnic or geographic or tribal group. They teach us acceptable norms, behavior, ideas and ideals. They help oil the cogs of society. They instill pride and shared values, a sense of community. Unfortunately, myths like this often define "us" and "them" and can lead to stereotyping, fear, and prejudice in this much more global world we live in now.
Backing up a bit, there's a very important concept in depth psychology, heralded by Jung, which lies behind Campbell's comments. Jung believed that the patterns of human experience leave traces on the psyche which are inherited like physical organs. For example, since almost everyone has a relationship with a mother, over time, our minds have actually evolved patterns and tendencies that help us cope with and interact with "motherness". This "motherness" concept is vague and shadowy and never exists in an abstract form; rather, each culture and each person builds up their own image/myths of motherhood, a mother goddess that fits them uniquely. The "motherness" seed is the archetype, myths are the rees that grow from archetypes.
Does that make sense?
Also, Jung argues that while we tend to think in terms of rationality nowadays, we are somewhat deceived by the Age of Reason into thinking that consciousness and rationalism are the sum total of human experience. In fact, that's not so. Where do our urges, ideas, creative works, dreams come from? We don't decide to wake up one morning feeling energetic. We don't decide we're going to be interested in mythology, or have a fear of snakes, or a bad habit of always being five to ten minutes late. Feelings come to us. Ideas come to us. Inspiration comes to us. Dreams come to us. All these things come to us from our unconscious, that vast part of us that we (the ego, the part in charge) aren't aware of. The unconscious doesn't think according to rules of rationalism and logic. It's much deeper impulses that we don't entirely understand.
Therefore, it communicates to us with, and understands best, non-rational symbols which may not make logical sense but which help to tap into the emotional, deep and complex currents of the unconscious which we normally only experience in dream. Symbols can mean multiple things that can't be put into words. They help our conscious minds communicate with the rest of us, and they help our unconscious psyche communicate with our egos.
Myths are extremely powerful symbols. They don't necessarily make logical, "functional" real-world sense. But they do convey deeper meanings, or just plain inspire and satisfy, the unconscious and total parts of our psyche, in ways that facts, figures, and periodic tables can't.
That's the depth psychologist's answer to "what's the function of myth?" that I've been trying to wrap my head around for three years now. I'm still not sure I buy it entirely, but my unconscious thinks it "feels" right. ;) |
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| | janna122003 | Aug 27, 2007 12:23pm | | Some Myth could be half true and half false. |
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Sponsor | | Ogmin | Aug 28, 2007 7:08am | | Myths aren't supposed to be 'true' in the sense of reflecting factual incidents. They are stories humans have told each other to explain features of the natural world and aspects of the human psyche. |
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| | vodric | Aug 28, 2007 9:05am | | If you think that mythology has no basis in truth, then I guess you have never heard of Greek mythology. Every year uncovers more evidence of ancient archeology. The History Channel has done several episodes on how ancient greeks excavated and worshiped pre-historic remains that were found around the pelleponese. There is quite a bit of evidence that the cyclopse was made out of a re-arranged mammoth skeleton. Though a much better example is comparing the Iliad and the Odyssey to the archaeological evidence found in Troy, and Greece that directly supports the stories. |
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Sponsor | | Ogmin | Aug 28, 2007 7:21pm | | To be sure, I am no expert in this field. I figure that if myth had no basis in truth, there would be no value in passing it on; but it is psychological, empirical and philosophical truth rather than historical events that are the primary focus of myth. The Iliad and the Odyssey are epic poems. How many myths have a known author? Once upon a time, there was apparently an ancient city named Troy on the coast of Asia Minor, besieged and conquered by a coalition of Greek tribes. The event became a main element of the Hellenic oral tradition for centuries until Homer wrote it down, fully embellished with the gods of the Greek pantheon. A distant historical event served as a vehicle for the development of mythic themes, poetic observations, and morality lessons. |
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