What’s Mything in Your Life?
“Myth is, for me, more a mode of thinking or imagining rather than merely a collection of old stories, ancient wisdom, sacred rituals, or a particular body of knowledge. Myth extends itself into practically every domain of life and influences nearly every human thought and endeavor. If myths are, as Joseph Campbell once suggested, public dreams, then the study of myth is the royal road that leads to the understanding of the human heart.”
—Bradley Olson
Surely you’ve felt it; it begins with a vague sensation, welling up from the deep unconscious; an inkling, a hint of the merest longing for something more, a suspicion that you are more than what you have been, that you have yet to fully live. Perhaps this disturbing and simultaneously exciting sensation grows, and you feel that your best life is summoning you into an unknown, unclear future.
Or, maybe you feel as though you’ve failed to find your purpose in life. Maybe you want to experience a greater sense of meaning. Or maybe you’re simply wondering what the next act of your life will look like. Whatever it is, the ability to see through the literal, material presentations of the world and think mythically about your life can make all the difference.
There is a way to approach the challenges of life with courage and humor, a way to live knowing that there is no predetermined, compulsory path to unleashing your passion, and discovering who you are. How can there be? If there were, you wouldn’t be you.
This process of self-discovery is not geared towards a final destination or goal, because as long as we are breathing, we are learning. Self-discovery is ongoing, and the symbols and narratives of mythology are powerful tools that make that process more conscious and more understandable. They’re indispensable aids that help you discover what is “the great thing” that makes you do what you do; what is the calling of your life, what moves, frightens, or excites you? What is the myth that lives you? After all these years, these are the questions I still love to explore.
Working with myth and learning to think mythically, you can transform the difficult and disturbing experiences of life into objects of wonder and fascination, and come to see how they shape a most absorbing, exciting, and wondrous journey through life.
The beauty of your life is that it’s going to continue to evolve and you can consciously and intentionally participate in that evolution right now, in this moment. Later will take care of itself. It always does.
About my Book:
The Mythopoetic Impulse
Myth reaches into nearly every domain of human experience, and influences nearly every human thought and endeavor. Myth has the power to delight, console, inspire, fascinate, and illuminate, while simultaneously touching upon the deepest mysteries of human existence. Myth is a world-building tool with the power to imagine symbolically the archetypal energies and forms that contribute to the order and structure of daily life. There can be no doubt that myth shapes our world, and when the symbols and stories of myth are taken literally or understood as dogma, the worlds it helps create are inevitably brutish, greedy, and unjust.
These selected essays explore myth as it intersects with psychology, literature, art, and culture studies, and each domain lends understanding and relevance to the other. This essential reciprocity moves one into a deeper relationship to beauty, to the fascinating mysteries of existence, to nobility and creativity-in short, to life itself.