(My Commentary:  Myths are pervasive throughout cultures, and in many ways support us in all we are.  At this time, it is well to look at the ideas within both ourselves and our culture as things change so rapidly and concepts morph and take on new meaning and symbolism. The Divine Spark always holds within itself a bit of madness, but then madness is something that can take on many forms and is, at times, the sanest approach to a shifting vibration.)

The Myth, The Hero, And The Lie

By Tom Kenyon

The concept of a living myth has intrigued me for many years, ever since I discovered Dr. Carl Jung’s work with archetypes during my undergraduate training. The idea of a living myth is alien to many in our materialistic society. For most people, myths are imaginary stories from another time, seeming to have little modern relevance. But a living myth is forged in the depths of our psyches, and it is both alive and potent with psychological power. Although living myths exist only in the subterranean passages of our unconscious, they nevertheless affect our outer world in very direct ways.

These mythological realms live unseen for the most part in the shadowy mists of our underworld. But occasionally they push through the veil of self-forgetfulness and land splat in our conscious everyday world. The young man rushing for the last touchdown of a football game, the crowd driven to their feet by mass hysteria, has suddenly been thrust into the myth of the hero. The mother who rescues her child from danger becomes, for a moment, the heroine.

There is power in myth, and every society instinctively knows this. In times of national crisis (i.e., war) societies quickly cast themselves as the Hero within their own minds. Anyone who opposes them becomes villainous. And when a culture begins to turn fascist, people are viewed as villainous just for asking intelligent questions about national policy and cultural attitudes. This pattern has been clearly repeated, ad nauseam, throughout all history, our current global crisis being no exception.

But no matter how unwieldy the global situation appears, it is fundamentally fueled by individual spiritual, psychological and economic choices. As individuals change their personal choice making, we will see an immediate shift in global affairs. And so it is to the individual that I wish to turn my attention in this discussion.

It is a long strange road we will take together here. We shall travel through lands of psychosis, mental illness, creative brilliance and spiritual illumination. Hopefully, we will gain some insights, along the way, that will help us in our own lives. And perhaps we will find, in the experience of others, some insight to help us in the extraordinary psychological and spiritual challenges we are facing at this time.

And so let us begin.

to read more, go to:    http://www.spiritofmaat.com/sep11/myth_hero_lie.html