Just for the record, the word "myth" is used in the popular culture to mean
"untruth." In my profession, the word is used to refer to a story that has
significant truth value of the kind that is accessible only through
interpretation as symbol, metaphor, or anagoge--usually some combination of
those three. Prophesy is usually expressed in the form of myth also. A mother
of rough-housing kids might say, "There will be tears if you keep this up."
This is prophesy. If she said, "Billy will bite Johnny on the nose," then that
would be fortune telling. Prophesy couches the future in some symbolic
terms--"tears" in this case, which is probably an example of anagoge since
Johnny might actually cry if he got bit. But in any case, the prophesy usually
has a restrictive clause: "if you keep this up."
In Oedipus the prophesy is "You will kill your father and marry your mother."
If those terms are symbols then "father" is a symbol for God or the Absolute
(depending on your predilections) and "mother" is a symbol of nature--marrying
"nature" would be an entanglement with it, or as this crowd would put it, a
severe lack of detachment. The "if you keep this up" part is often left out of
most re-tellings of the story. Oedipus seeks out the oracle in order to learn
who his parents are. The oracle doesn't answer his question and instead
delivers the famous prophesy, "you'll kill dad and marry mom." The oracle
always speaks in symbolic terms (it was set up that way) of what a present
trend will lead to if continued. So we have to conclude that in some way the
oracle has information about Oedipus that allows her to "see" that he has
already killed dad and married mom in a symbolic sense. How does she know?
Well, here comes a very young prince who's
obviously had all the advantages of money and power. Yet he is not content
with his position which includes a King and a Queen acting in loco parentis for
him. He has parents who love him and care for him, in other words--so what if
they're not his parents in a physical sense--they are in a spiritual sense. He
also has responsibilities as the heir to the throne, responsibilities which he
is most definitely shirking at the moment--he's left home to go on a dangerous
journey to find information rather than truth.
Judy took violent issue with my interpretation of Hamlet a while back--which,
by the way, she has not seen in any full sense. Hamlet is full of references
to Oedipus, nor am I the only critic to have seen that.
----- Original Message ----
From: John <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Friday, December 21, 2007 1:58:00 AM
Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: blame it on Star Trek
--- In FairfieldLife@ yahoogroups. com, Angela Mailander
<mailander111@ ...> wrote:
>
> You are assuming that ancient cultures interpreted their myths
literally, as you seem to do, but this is not the case. The play
Oedipus Tyrannus by Sophocles deals with this issue (among others)
Oedipus believes the myths (and the oracle), taking both literally as
a young man. But when he gets older, he rejects them all because,
like any thinking adult, he figures out that they cannot be true in
any literal sense. It does not occur to him, however, to seek their
truth in spiritual rather than factual terms. That, in fact, is one
definition of his blindness, which becomes literal because it was a
precondition of his mind and consciousness. So, as far back as 429
BC, ancient Greeks understood this situation. Myth is not science
and cannot be read or understood as such. It is always false as
such. But that doesn't mean that it is incapable of communication
great spiritual truths and insights. We live in a fundamentalist
age, and we could say that
> our culture suffers from the kind of blindness Oedipus also
suffered from. In that sense, the play is prophesy. It is
absolutely stunning that a Rabbi doesn't have the education to
understand his own religious tradition as myth and rejects it on the
grounds that it is not literal truth. It was never meant as literal
truth, and the only people who interpreted it as such were the
uneducated masses. A play like Oedipus was intended as
an "educational" play. It was also intended as a "spiritual
experience," but if taken literally, it is a set of unbelievable
coincidences, even if it serves as grist for the psychologist' s mill.
Angela, you've made an excellent point and observation here. The
ancients were not as unsophisticated as some people may think. For
example,
Among biblical scholars, Moses is credited for writing the first five
books of the Old Testament, which includes Genesis where the story of
the Garden of Eden is narrated. We can assume that many of the
stories in this book was handed down by oral tradition among the
Hebrews. And, it was Moses who wrote them in text for preservation
of the knowledge.
Christians are divided on how to interpret this story. The Catholic
Church regards the story to be a myth, but considers the moral and
faith message in the story to be factual. However, some Christian
denominations accept the story to be literally true. Hence, we have
a controversy in the USA regarding the teaching Darwin's theory of
evolution in public schools.
In the Hindu texts, stories are narrated and are embedded with
symbols which corroborate the message inteded by the author.
Specifically, there is a story in the Shrimad Bhagavatam of two
guards in heaven by the name of Jaya and Vijaya. These guards
prevented the entry of the four Kumaras, who looked like children but
are in reality very old and ancient seers, and who wanted to enter
the gates of heaven. Because of this act the two guards were cursed
by the Kumaras to live their next three lives on earth.
Many astrologers believe that there is much more to this story than
meets the eye. In a deeper sense, this story actually is presenting
a jyotish principle which states that the entry to heaven is shown in
the jyotish chart by the lunar node, Rahu and Ketu. And, salvation
can be attained by the observation of the four pillars of life, i.e.
dharma, artha, kama and moksha.
There are many stories like these in the Hindu texts which shows that
the ancients were very meticulous in conveying their messages through
words and symbols. Their stories cannot be regarded as simple myths
and fairy tales.
> ----- Original Message ----
> From: tertonzeno <tertonzeno@ ...>
> To: FairfieldLife@ yahoogroups. com
> Sent: Thursday, December 20, 2007 2:54:11 PM
> Subject: [FairfieldLife] blame it on Star Trek
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> A Rabbi writes (USA Today blog section):
>
>
>
> Rabbi wrote:
>
> Actually, come to think of it, Star Trek has definitely contributed
>
> to my rejection of religious principles!!
>
>
>
> I remember the first time I saw "Who Mourns for Adonais" - wherein
>
> the erstwhile crew of the Enterprise ("A", if you will…) stumble
upon
>
> the lonely "God" Apollo, the last of the remaining figures of Greek
>
> mythology after they all "retired' to a planet far away.
>
>
>
> I remember thinking, "yeah, that makes as much sense as what those
>
> Biblical stories claim about Yaweh talking with Adam in the Garden
of
>
> Eden or walking with Moses in the desert."
>
>
>
> But, as I said earlier, I grew up in Sci-Fi household â€" accepting
of
>
> science and rejecting the myths and fairy-tales of scientifically
>
> illiterate cultures as just that: make believe stories!!
>
>
>
> So blame it on Star Trek!!
>
>
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