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Jan 16, 2010 6:01:35 AM
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Myths are not inspired by the life experiences of those who have written and created them; they are taken from the unconscious mind. Although thought goes into them their inspiration comes from somewhere else, the realm of art and perhaps one could say spiritual insight. They are filled with archetypical images and symbols that reside in all human minds, these images are not ordinary they are psychological imprints derived from the life experiences of the human race and are imprinted in your brain, they evolved like genetic traits. This is what Carl Jung discovered and if one wants to understand mythology well one should study his works because he has a scientific explanation for what is nearly unexplainable, his works come close enough to grasp a meaning that the conscious mind can somewhat understand. Some readers of myths believe passionately that the Gods are real. Gods are created by man, or should I say the concept of God as a metaphor for something the human mind and words cannot grasp, is created by man. This is because what God truly is transcends all form of human thought; it is beyond the capability of our understanding using our mind. We can feel what God is but can’t express it well, so metaphors are needed. We can use metaphors and say that God is like this and that, he is like a father, a mother, a great spiritual force that has something to do with creation or sustaining our lives. But one thing is for certain he is not a bearded old man who lives in the clouds and will punish us so we will burn in hell for eternity but he loves us. That is what religion does, religion sets up a moral code with blessings and punishments and myth does not do that. Myth relates you to others, the plant and the animal world, our planet and the universe. And this is not something that we can think and explain, it is a thing we can know and feel in our hearts. What is written about interactions between men and gods may be mythological but they are metaphorical in nature. They are written by those that have the understanding that the words they write are nearly useless so they must infer a meaning that they feel, an artist draws something into a painting that doesn’t seem to belong, shouldn’t be there, but there it is and for a mythological reason it works, but we perhaps we don’t understand why. If you want to see the mythological meaning in God, a written myth or a work of art you have to look past the mental concepts, beyond what people say God is, see what is written between the words and between the brush strokes and venture into the realm of the transcendent. Then you will know and feel what is beyond the realm of the conscious mind of man.
by Thai sean
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