General Objectives
This lesson aims to work on myth in its real meaning as the human thought’s interpretative tool of nature when building his psychological structure.
Descriptive and Reflexive Text
The myth in its purely existentialist- nihilistic concept has been responsible for the perpetuation of a stratified civilization. It is necessary to recognize that myth has been renewed today, as an instrument of propaganda and/or a subliminal language which creates psychological dependence. The human being must get rid of its meanings in order to go in search of his very essence, his spirit: “You know the truth and the truth shall make you free”, said Jesus – this is the real underlying message to be worked around the context of the Spiritist Philosophy, and it is Jesus as the quintessential Being mistakenly turned into a mythological deity, disfigured by the cultural habits and customs, by the human misunderstanding and the theological process construction, who returns in Spirit and Truth contemplating humanity through the Doctrine of Light, the Spiritism, which eliminates His divine multiface and shows Him as the One who lives in essence, because His is the evolutionary model that, in the future, all the humanity will achieve.
This process is worked on the lessons of the Spiritist Philosophy course, which belongs to the SPIRITIST PHILOSOPHICAL STUDIES PROJECT.
“THE KEY ASPECT OF THE QUESTION OF THE HISTORICAL ORIGIN OF PHILOSOPHY LIES IN UNDERSTANDING HOW THE PROCESS IS BETWEEN THE MYTHOPOETICS MENTALITY (“MYTH MAKERS”) AND THEORIZING MENTALITY (..). NOWADAYS, MOST OF THE HISTORIANS TEND TO ADMIT THAT ONLY WITH THE GREEKS THE ADVENTURE AND AUDACITY BEGIN EXPRESSED IN A THEORY. ”
WE OWE TO THE GREEKS THE WESTERN REASON: THE PRE-SOCRATICS, IN SEARCH OF THE ORIGINS OF THE UNIVERSE AND HUMAN (ARKHE) ESTABLISH LINES OF REASONING BASED, NOT ON THE EMPIRICAL OBSERVATION, BUT ON THE CONSISTENCY OF THE ARGUMENTS THAT CONFIRM THEM.”
(EXCERPTS FROM THE COURSE BIBLIOGRAPHY).
EMMANUEL maintains this way of thought (The Way of Light, cap.X), and says the greeks belong to the palanxes of the banished from Chapel Planet (Arias), as the stimulators of material and intellectual progress and lack of devotional feelings and strict the sacred, characteristic of semitic peoples.
The sense of the sacredness among the greeks was linked to the manifestations of nature and still having no moral sense; ancient Totemistic and Animistic projections in essence, but far from the ritual mechanisms from where some religions are based to the present days, and the great reason for the myth of Jesus of Nazareth.
DEFINITIONS:
SYSTEM OF MYTHS: MYTHOLOGY
MYTH: EXPLANATORY CONTEXT MADE TO CLARIFY A FACT UNTIL THEN UNKNOWN
MYTHICAL REPORT: DEVELOPMENT OF NATURE POETRY, LITERARY, MORAL, THAT IS DONE ON A MYTH OR A FACT OF ANY KIND OF LITERARY OR HISTORICAL NATURE.
MYTHOLOGY: SET OF MYTHICAL REPORTS AND MAY INCLUDE SOME MYTHS OF PARTICULAR PEOPLES.
THE WORD MYTH COMES FROM THE GREEK: MYTHOS IS DERIVED FROM TWO VERBS MYTHEYO (TELL, REPORT) AND MYTHEO (TALK, NARRATE, ANNOUNCE)
AMONG THE GREEKS:
“MYTH IS A SPEECH DELIVERED TO LISTENERS THAT RECEIVE AS A TRUE NARRATIVE BECAUSE THEY TRUST THE ONE WHO IS NARRATING; IT IS DONE IN PUBLIC, THEREFORE IT IS BASED IN AUTHORITY AND RELIABILITY, THE AUTHORITY IS ARISING TESTIMONY OR TRANSMITTED BY SOMEONE WHO IS RELIABLE. (M. CHAUÍ)
MYTHS PROVIDE BOTH A PATH TO THE SACRED WORLD AND A GUIDE FOR LIVING IN THE WORLD OF EVERYDAY REALITY AS TO A SOCIETY THAT FULLY IDENTIFIES WITH ITS MYTHOLOGY ALL ACTIONS ECHOE IN GODS.
HENCE, MYTHS DO NOT GENERATE SIMPLE STORIES. THEY PROVIDE SOCIAL COHESION, THEY ACT AS GUIDES TO THE BEHAVIOUR, MAINTAIN THE DELICATE BALANCE, THE VALUES, THE STRUCTURE OF EACH SOCIETY, AS WELL AS A ITS RELATION TO THE ENVIRONMENT, AND CREATE A SPIRITUAL SUPPORT FOR CUSTOMS, THE RITUALS AND BELIEFS.
” WE LIVE THE MYTH AND INCORPORATE IT, AND IT COMBINES WITH US. WHAT’S STRANGE IS THE WAY WE REBUILD IT. “(M. AYRTON, THE MIDAS CONSEQUENCE). AYRTON’S SENTENCE LEADS US TO THINK ABOUT THE CINEMA NOWADAYS WHICH CONTINUES TO WORK ON THE MYTH IN ITS ESSENCE. EX: “THE LORD OF THE RINGS”, THE TRILOGY “STAR WARS”, “GLADIATOR”, “AVATAR”, AS WELL AS THE CURRENT WAR FILMS THAT HIGHLIGHTS THE FIGURE OF THE MYTH WARRIOR, A MIXTURE OF HERO AND MARTYR ATTRIBUTED TO THE HUMAN IMAGINATION, BUT REFERRING TO A HUGE TRIBUTE TO NATIONALISM.
ANOTHER EXAMPLE: ALMOST ALL SOCIETIES REPORT THE WAY THE WORLD, PEOPLE AND ANIMALS WERE CREATED. IN GENERAL, THE MYTHS ABOUT CREATION EXPRESS AN EMPTY PRIMITIVE WORLD OR WATER AND ICE, WHAT IS FRAMED BY A CREATOR; OR EVEN IN A CYCLICAL BATTLE BETWEEN ORDER AND CHAOS. THE MOST COMMNON THEME TO ESTABLISH THE MYTH IS THE DESIRE OF A CREATOR GOD THAT SEPARATES THE LAND FROM THE SKY, SHAPES THE LANDSCAPES AND MOULDS PEOPLE FROM MUD, BRANCHES AND SWEAT.
IN MYTHOLOGY THERE ARE TWO KINDS OF HEROES. SOME ARE AWARDED BY MAJOR FEATS AS HERCULES. OTHERS GAVE GIFTS TO MEN LIKE CULTURE, ARTS, AGRICULTURE. ACCORDING TO CARL GUSTAV JUNG IN HIS BOOK: “MAN AND HIS SYMBOLS”.
MEN’S ANCIENT HISTORY IS BEING REDISCOVERED IN A MEANINGFUL WAY THROUGH THE MYTHS AND SYMBOLIC IMAGES WHICH SURVIVED. THE MYTH OF THE HERO IS THE MOST COMMON AND KNOWN WORLDWIDE. WE HEAR THE SAME STORY REPEATEDLY: A HUMBLE BIRTH HERO, SON OF A GOD WITH A HUMAN BEING (MIRACLE), EVIDENCES OF AN EARLY HUMAN POWER, REPUTATION, TRIUMPHANT FIGHT AGAINST THE FORCES OF EVIL, AND DECLINE BECAUSE OF TREASON OR AN HEROIC ACT OF SACRIFICE IN WHAT EVER DIE.
“THE MYTH IS THE PREVIOUS THOUGHT TO MOST CRITICAL REFLECTION. IT WAS BORN FROM A PRIMARY ATTITUDE IN FRONT OF THINGS, WITHOUT ANY RATIONAL RIGOR AND PERSONAL CRITICISM (PHILOSOPHICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE TIME).
REFLECTION, ACTIVE MEDITATION AND RATIONAL CRITICISM DESTROY THE MYTHICAL WORLD AND PREPARE ANOTHER TYPE OF EXPLANATION: THE PHILOSOPHICAL.
THE SPIRITIST PHILOSOPHY SHOWS THAT THE WORSHIP LAW IS THE RESULT OF A FEELING INNATE IN MAN, PART OF THE NATURAL LAWS OF HUMAN CONSCIOUSNESS; IT DEVELOPS IN SOCIETIES FROM THE WORSHIP OF MATERIAL OBJECTS TO ACHIEVE A HIGHER STAGE WORSHIP IN SPIRIT AND TRUTH.
Author: SONIA THEODORO DA SILVA
Translation: Salete Herance
