Mythos of Place
an outline
What I am providing here is an outline that I hope will give you an overview of how mythos today can be spoken through our place, the very place where we live. I call it “Mythos of place” and see it as one way The Mythos of the New Age is coming through.
I have developed an extensive outline for one particular place, this very place where I live: Santa Cruz. If anyone is interested in seeing it, I will share it with you. I may eventually post it on my site. That outline I worked up for a lecture I gave locally I believe on at least three occasions, which was titled “Santa Cruz: Mythos of Place.”
See three poems on my site that directly tie in to this theme. They are on the Selected Poems page under The Giant Santa Cruz Poem title. They are: “A Space” “Give Voice to the Mythos of Your Place” “There must be those of us called...”
Orientation
Developing a sense of place: our sensitivity to place: How attuned are we to
our place?
The character of our place: Does our place not have a certain character?
The self-consciousness of place, self-reflection of place: What do people say
about their place?
Places have potential, just as individuals do
Could it be that a place has a destiny?
Could our fate be bound up with
place, the land itself?
Is there a power in the land?
Where there is Power that speaks
to us, there is the seed of Mythos
To bring into language, into all forms of culture, the feel and character of
place,
the life of place, the very Fabric of place
To let our place speak through us—it is to allow the Mythos of place
to emerge
To learn how to attune ourselves in order to speak the Mythos firsthand
What is Mythos?
My preference for the word “mythos” rather than the word “myth”
The contemporary negative connotations of the word
“myth”
By Mythos one is saying:
I am directly in touch with the
Power coming through.
I am speaking from that Source.
I am not merely “telling a
story,” recounting a myth, but am allowing that Greater Reality
to come
through into
Story as I tell it.
‘Mythos’: an ancient Greek word meaning “word”: but
the word as something told: a telling
What is meant then by “Mythos” is the narrative Word that tells
a Great Story (which can be stories
as all part of an interconnected Story) of our place
in, and relationship to, a Greater Reality (Cosmos)
The Greater Reality told of as Mythos was traditionally the Word of Divinity,
the Divine Word,
specifically the Word spoken first by the Gods, the Word of the
Gods, which then became words—
stories—(as poets uttered them) about the Gods, which,
over time, became “mere myths” about the Gods
Today, Mythos is the Word coming-to-us from the Greater Reality, which, first
of all, must be seen as
the Word of Being, which then we interpret as the Word coming-to-us
that is Spirit, which today
is the Aquarian dispensation—the Higher Self (our
own Divine Self) in a new relationship to the Gods
(however we come to interpret
the Gods today)
Mythos: The Word then that opens our “world” (Heidegger’s worldhood),
that reveals our Story
(the Great Story), so that
we can, in turn, begin to tell our Story (counter to all Postmodern
thought,
which is denial of Story)
By tuning into the Word we now have a Story to tell about ourselves in relationship
to Cosmos, to the
Greater Reality, to Being
This is Story revealing the profound Greater Reality multidimensional nature
of life
Mythos of place What is this?
The Word of the Greater Reality, of Spirit/Divinity, that comes to be spoken
through place, our place—
where we live
What is the God/Goddess/Divine or Archetypal Power speaking through this place,
where we live?
How is this Power manifested? How does it present itself?
In other words, What is the Story of our place?
And who—what persons give voice to it?
Today, if one were to say “the myth of our place,”
immediately there is the sense that some illusory
or fanciful impression, perhaps some misconception, is made
about our place:
there is perhaps some false impression going round about
our place that needs to be debunked
The myth is some pregiven, readymade, image like
cultural coin in the social context that does not
“exactly” match reality
The character of place
The self-consciousness of place: How does our place
reflect upon itself through the people that live here?
i.e. What do people say about their place?
How is Mythos expressed through the character of place?
What is the character of our place? “The character of this town.”
How is our place called? How do people talk about their place? (Certainly people
talk about their place.)
The psychology of place: Does a place have a particular psychology?
Does the name of our place have historical meaning? a deeper meaning?
Does our place have an alternative name? a nickname? some catch phrase? moniker?
What is the background to it?
The Threads of place: How are we woven?
This is the Mythos of place manifesting through
the Threads that weave a place into a tangible Fabric,
giving a place its own distinctive character, the Threads
that go into its Story
What are Threads? (a new
“concrete” philosophical concept)
The Threads that go into the Story of place
Examples of Threads:
The astral Power(s)/Divine Power(s)/Archetypal Power(s),
astrological sign/occult symbol that rules
and manifests through a place (the metaphysical/psychospiritual
dimension of place)
The
geography & geology of place
Major
natural features that are landmarks, that create the
setting of place
Sense
of direction (orientation) north-south-east-west of our place
Climate/weather
of place
Biohabitats:
the flora & fauna of place: How are they woven into the Fabric
of place?
How
do we let the plants, trees, & animals of our place have their
say?
Local
names (what they mean, what we have made of them)
The
history of place (who settled our place, founded our place, original
peoples): the Thread of
history woven into the Story, important & noted historical
events (cultural history)
What
ethnic groups live here?
Cultural
history and the kind of culture that has developed in our place
How
is our place inhabited: Is it farmland, rural, village, town, city,
suburb, metropolitan area?
Is
it quiet, sleepy, provincial, bustling, touristy, industrial, artsy,
cosmopolitan?
The
roads & highway system, airports or harbors: How do we get about
in our place?
Our
food supply, the water system: the basic necessities for life that
a place provides
The mini-worlds of place
What are the various mini-worlds/subcultures/social groups/social levels that
make up our place?
The people who live with us in our place: The life of others, weaving
them into the Story
Our place in relation to contemporary civilization
(in relation
to the greater world out there)
Is our place considered backward, traditional, mainstream, progressive,
cutting edge?
Is it an industrial center? A cultural/intellectual center? Or is it famous for its
natural beauty?
Is it a major world hub? The epitome of Postmodern civilization? or of Tradition?
How Psyche manifests through our place
Psyche: The name for Spirit come-to-us anew, Divinity of soul, the new Divinity
of Earth
How then do we experience Psyche in our place?
Our place in the interface between Technos & Psyche
Technos: The name for today’s all-embracing technological culture
How is our place playing out today’s increasingly important relationship
between technology
and spirituality?
updated January 2009