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"The unexamined life is not worth living." SocratesMythology |
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Mythology is not stories told by ignorant, unsophisticated
peoples who had no science to make them aware of how the world worked.
Rather, mythology is the psychologically insightful representation of a
very sophisticated interpretation of society. When the Greeks told the
story of how the Titan Cronus swallowed his children to prevent them from
overthrowing him, they were not making a silly story about the creation
of the gods. They were telling the very real story of the family life cycle
of a domineering father who was willing to "swallow up" his children in
order to maintain paternal authority. Time was on the side of the gods
who would grow up and grow stronger and overcome the Titans. It is the
natural order of things that our children will grow stronger and we will
grow weaker until at some point, if we raise them right, our children will
take over the households and care for us. Cronus, which means "Time," was
a story about how time affects us all and will cause our eventual downfall.
Cronus, who carried the scythe that he used to castrate and overthrow his
own father, is the personification of two modern images whose connection
we tend to forget: Father Time and the Grim Reaper. After all, Time is
the Reaper that will harvest us all.
Mythology is about us. The stories are the dreams of humanity. We
must try to interpret our dreams.
E-mail Thomas Trevenen
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